whats up with my buick? SOLVE THIS ONE!

[hopeandbrandon]

well lets start from the begining.i have a 1990 buick electra park ave3.8l vin c.since we got it there has always been a problem with the vehicle dieing yet it has allways started back up.after idle for a few minutes it begins to choke.i have replaced the fuel pump and sending unit as well as the fuel lines and filter fuel injectors , intake gaskets , fuel pressure regulator throttle body positioning sensor, throttle body ,mas air flow sensor,alternator battery and termanals,fuel tank,and fuel cap, ignition system and wires as well as the spark plugs,and have checked out all the wireing in this car. still it runs shotty and it chokes out at stop lights.somtimes it works itself out and i can keep it runing well if i give it a touch of gas from time to time . also the car will not hold a charge for 8 hrs and i have already cut the blue wire to the trunk security system.



HEEEELP!!!!!!!!

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF, try and disconnecting the egr, and/or remove it and clean it up. Choke means what, in addition. Was all this work done to correct this?

[hopeandbrandon]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

Welcome to AF, try and disconnecting the egr, and/or remove it and clean it up. Choke means what, in addition. Was all this work done to correct this?

thanks for the reply. you are the first person who replied and i've seen your coments to other people.i think you have good knowledge.
I have not cleaned the egr valve or dissconnected it,except for the harness.it didn't make a difference. "choke"=sputtering,it will idle good and without warning it struggles and will shut off,every start is different,sometimes it will rev itself up and pull out of that struggle. it sometimes sputters at stop lights and wants to die so i put it in neutral and keep it revved. today i cleaned the icm plate,sanded it,it made no difference
i have also replaced the catylic converter,it made no difference. i have had this car for 2 years and it has had this problem ever since and have done all this work myself to fix this problem. i love this car and wouldn't put this much work into it otherwise. i want it to be my winter car so i can park my other vehicles. any other suggestions? also the fuel system is testing at 40-45 on the pressure gauge-tested today.dispite this problem it always starts right back up.

[janmom5]

MY Father in law had a simular problem with his pa it ended up being a sensor and after hundreds of $ he took it in and had them run a computer test on it. the tech took it out on the road with it hooked up to a laptop computer system. I will find out what the sensor was and get back to you.

[HotZ28]

also the car will not hold a charge for 8 hrs

This would be my first concern!

You need to find out what is draining the battery before anything else. First, check the battery voltage before you start the engine. It should be 12.67V. Next, check the battery voltage after you start the car, it should be 13.2 to 14.5 and then taper off to around 13.0 after it runs a few minutes. The ECM depends on a steady voltage (12V, or above) in order to maintain sensor reference voltage and to correctly interpret sensor feedback.

Bnaylor (Bob) and myself, did some extensive posting last year on the subject of "parasitic drain" in the Olds Delta 88 forum, or in Pontiac Bonneville forum. I don’t have the time to search for the thread right now, however, you can go to one of those forums and do a search yourself for “parasitic drain” and you should find it. You have a lot of power going to ground somewhere, and that drain must be found!

[Ron AKA]

On a 1992 Dodge, I had a similar problem. It turned out to be the Idle Air Control Valve (IAC Valve). It took a bit of a leap of faith to buy a new one as it was expensive. All my attempts to determine if the old one was working were not conclusive. I finally replaced it and after that it ran perfectly. The general feeling was that the engine needed more gas right after startup and only giving it more manually with the gas pedle kept it running when it was cold.

[hopeandbrandon]

Originally Posted by HotZ28

This would be my first concern!

You need to find out what is draining the battery before anything else. First, check the battery voltage before you start the engine. It should be 12.67V. Next, check the battery voltage after you start the car, it should be 13.2 to 14.5 and then taper off to around 13.0 after it runs a few minutes. The ECM depends on a steady voltage (12V, or above) in order to maintain sensor reference voltage and to correctly interpret sensor feedback.

Bnaylor (Bob) and myself, did some extensive posting last year on the subject of "parasitic drain" in the Olds Delta 88 forum, or in Pontiac Bonneville forum. I don’t have the time to search for the thread right now, however, you can go to one of those forums and do a search yourself for “parasitic drain” and you should find it. You have a lot of power going to ground somewhere, and that drain must be found!

i found the shortn in the system!!! it was the heater fan, wich explains why it held a charge as long as 8 hrs and then died !! it was a relay, thats it! well i also cleaned up the egr valve and reconected it.also checking the vacume lines for cracks ect and found nothing. the pa still runs the same . what next?runaround

[HotZ28]

Several things have not been discussed here, so we need to ask a few questions.
1) How many miles are on this car?
2) Have you checked for codes?
3) Have you ever had it hooked up to a live data scanner to monitor sensor functions.
4) Have you checked the cam position sensor and cam magnet?