1990 98 Regency problems

[90oldsregency3800]

Hey guys, nice to know I ain't the only one with problems..

I have read over some of the problems that kinda go in the direction of what I am looking for..

for the past 2 weeks, if that long, my engine cuts out randomly, so with that I started changing things, spark plugs, spark plug wires, pcv valve, fuel filter, and later today it's going to get a fuel pressure check done on it.. mainly to see if it's my fuel pump, which I hope to god it's not.. as for the fuel pump, I have heard these normally just die out, not linger on.. but it was said that I could have a weak pump so, I had to come here and start asking around..

I have seen something about a crank sensor.. where, and what does this do? and if need be how hard it is to change it out???

also, could an O2 sensor be the culprit? trying to adjust for a false reading?

A GM auto dealer told me that my ECM could also be at fault... because of the vibration it could possibly be getting.. but I don't see this one as likely..

sadly enough since this car is my only mode of transportation, I have to use it while it's cutting out..

when at idle it will stall, but that's the same case as it's cutting out..
I can't hear any vaccuum leaks, and other then the problems with it.. it's been a good car...

please help..

Chris

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF, lots of issues here , you need to check for spark when this happens and of course fuel pressure, the ecm is the last thing that is of concern usually. Do a site search for the crank sensor here, lots of info. If no spark the cps is most likely the issue but pull the ign module and have it tested also.

[90oldsregency3800]

well there are times where my engine runs very smoothly. and other times where it runs like crap..Still think something is either Sensors or the Fuel pump.. though having that part tested will happen thursday.

I don't have alot of money just to drop.. god knows I wish I did..

[Mickey#1]

Check all the battery connections before spending any money.
If the battery connections are good check the ground buss for corrosion.
Here's where you'll find the ground buss.

[90oldsregency3800]

what's that got to do with anything? might help if you explain more on what the ground buss actually does, and I found a checkers that still has the EDB 1 reader, which I am taking it to in the morning. but before I leave, I will try and check this ground buss thing.. not sure what else to do..

I will log on in the morning and see if you have posted..

Chris

[xeroinfinity]

Yes the ground bus does get corrosion build up.

It is as it sounds, a bus or junction box, where several grounds connect.
Insted of having all the wires attached to several grounds,
it uses 1-2 wires grounded to the buss, less mess and less hassle.

[Mickey#1]

That ground buss is where the fuel pump grounds & can cause the type of problems (along with the battery -hint -hint) that you're having.

Unfortunately I just realised that we're talking about an Olds 98. The picture I posted is for the Bonneville/88/LeSabre. Hopefully someone here will know if the 98 is in the same location. Please start by checking the battery connections.

[90oldsregency3800]

first off after I pulled out that bundle, everything was so clean under there with the exception of dust, I didn't bother untaping it to check the actual connections.. I don't have an ounce of rust or any other corrosion in that area so I disregarded it...

however, I found a checkers that has a EBD1 code reader...

Cam Positioning Sensor FAILIURE... <my problem right there...

second, MAP/MAF sensor LOW PRESSURE, I think this is related... because I have been driving on the bad sensor for 2 weeks now and it's making my computer and other parts of my engine freak out.. so, first off. I will replace the cam sensor, and see if that was the main problem, and then replace the other's accordingly..

anyone got any idea's as to where the maf/map sensor is, I know where one of these is.. just not sure which one...

found the cam sensor last night at checkers.. nicely hidden though.. right under my waterpump.. so now I got to take out my fluid bottles and maybe my battery to get to it... but 1 bolt, pry it off, replace it.. put car back together, and hope to god it all works... I will let you know when I get that far.. lol

[Alibi]

Cam sensor? Prolly a code 41. You'll need to verify that the cam interruptor magnet is still in place, otherwise a new sensor will do you no good.

http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/a/padgett46/cammag.htm

And as for the MAF, look at these pics and try cleaning the MAF (and other components) before replacing it. Just be careful with the electronics.

http://lesabret.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4054

[90oldsregency3800]

I will keep that in mind when I go to work on the sensor.. damn weather has been so frigid lately, I might have to wait till monday to do it when I go to my grandparents house.. just mainly so I can use the garage.. lol

either way, that sensor will be changed I suppose.. though, I hope it's the sensor at this point and not the magnet.. though, here's a question
would my engine still run without that magnet for the cam sensor?

[xeroinfinity]

No your car wouldnt run if the cam magnet was gone.
Also you can test the cam sensor to see if its actually bad or not.

[90oldsregency3800]

Ok. I got the sensor off, and I can see the magnet.. not sure if it's good or not.. anyone got some cleaner pictures of the original installed part?

[xeroinfinity]

I would like to correct myself on that magnet missing.
It will run, obviously, without one, but it'll run poorly.

Sorry I dont have any pics of any cma magnets.

[90oldsregency3800]

Well I think the magnet is damaged. or something.. the new sensor didn't help matters much.. the magnet is about 10 bucks.. and I am not sure if I really want to get into the depth of working on it like that in the cold winter..

but like I said if anyone has the stock sensor magnet installed and has pictures of how it's supposed to look.. I would appreciate it.. but to me it looks as if the magnet has deteriorated..

is the stock part also a top hat design? ifso, how the hell am I going to manage on getting that out of my cam sensor hole without any of the plastic falling into the timing cover area? or will what's left be drained with the oil during my next oil change?

I need more information as to what I exactly need to do.. I really don't want to screw with the timing belt let alone taking half my engine apart just to satisfy a damn magnet..

Chris

[pizzaguy4hire]

Hello... I'm wondering if anyone is still monitoring this thread? Even though its like 4 years old!

Anyway, I have a 1990 Olds 98 Regency Sedan Brougham. (say that 5 times fast!)

I bought it for $600 at a buy-here pay-here lot when my wifes saturn was about to die, but it was literally the cheapest thing in town. It had 3 codes being thrown to the OBD I computer, which I read as they "System Normal" (why you lying car!?!?) And the O2 Sensor fault and the MAF Sensor fault codes.

So, in the meantime I also took it to a friend and he popped the hood and ferretted out about a dozen vacuum leaks. We went to Autozone and spent a few bucks on some vacuum line and he replaced all those. Ran great for about 15 minutes as I was driving back across town. Then, it started dying randomly in traffic yet again, almost causing me to be rear-ended a number of times.

Went to the dealer and told him about it. He says to go buy spark plugs and the O2 sensor for it and see what happens. Well since I was broke by that time, it was a week or 2 before I could get those done, but when I did all the plugs were absolutely disgusting and the O2 sensor looked basically like one big piece of carbon. It did run marginally better after that, but still crappy at best. And the fuel economy was still horrendous.

I reported back to the dealer, and he said to take it to his exhaust people where he got a discount, and have them look at it. They said the cat was all clogged up and falling apart and needed to be replaced. So I reported that back, and the dealer had me take it to his mechanic's house. I was to leave it there and wait for a call. I did. Next thing I know, I'm being called by the exhaust people to come pick up the car and was told that when they found it the cat was cut off and so they welded in a straight pipe and that was all they could do.

Picked up the car, dint run much better than before, and fuel econ still horrible, died a couple times but not AS bad or often as before. I went to another dealer on a whim and talked to him about a trade-in and we got to talking about what had gone on and was basically telling me what I was dealing with was somewhat illegal and I needed to get my money back - but since I had no money and no way of doing anything about it, I just let it be. I still owed that other dealer $200, and I sure wasn't paying that till the car was running right.

Next step, I replaced the air filter. No improvement, but it was nasty before. I bought some MAF sensor cleaner. No improvement either. The honeycomb air baffle was all dark and nasty and after cleaned it was still yellowish and tarnished looking. The actual electrode looking things with the diode-looking sensors were coated with carbon it looked like, and so were the diodes. I sprayed them with the sensor cleaner and there was no difference. I sprayed them with WD40 and a lot of the black came off. So I hit it with the sensor cleaner again to clean off the WD40 and put the thing back together. Then I reset the computer by unplugging the battery for a few minutes, went back and plugged it all in again, started up, MAF codes still being thrown.

It was quite a while before I was able to afford the MAF sensor, but once that was replaced, the MAF codes were gone and I was able to start and drive the car 99% stall free. But the fuel economy was still bad - but better than the 6mpg I saw on the computer before! Gets about 13 to 18 around town, and 23 on the highway.

The dealer called me up and told me to either get the remaining $200 in to him or he was sending out a wrecker to repo it. So, I took the receipts and some cash and sat down in his office and he was like "What do you want me to do with this?" when he saw the receipts. I told him all the hassle I had gone through, and how I had been fired for non-working vehicle (I was delivering for Pizza Hut) and reminded him that he told me he would go 50% on the repairs. Well, he did 50% on the plugs and O2 sensor, but he told me he would never say that about stuff like that, and he was only going to do 10% on the MAF sensor which would've been only about $15. I did eventually get him to do 25% on the MAF and he said he "ate" the "$100 on the exhaust work" and I got out of there giving "only" $140. But, the car was still a POS and was still sitting untagged and uninsured in my back yard because I couldn't afford to do anything with it, let alone fill it.

We moved out of the house we were in the 15th of December because we had an electrical fire on the first, and then finally having it tagged and insured, I was driving to the store on the 30th of December and got rear-ended by an SUV that apparently didn't want to yield. Out of that, the rear bumper was damaged (not mangled, and didn't totally destroy the rear end) and busted the air shocks on both sides so I'm sagging like a ghetto cruiser, and busted the plastic reverse lense cover and slightly bent the trunk lid just a tad. One would figure that with 177k on the clock and all that damage, the adjuster would total it out and haul it off. Not so! They said that because their measurements didn't add up to the damage on their insured's bumper (mind you my rear end now is several inches lower than previously) the only thing they were paying for was the damage to the plastic and the repainting of the plastic parts. They claimed my crushed bumper and the jacked ends of either rear fender were all "old damage" and absolutely REFUSED to acknowledge that the discrepancies in the height measurement were due A: to the air shocks being damaged thereby lowering the ride of the car to its current, post-collision height, and B: that upon braking, the offending vehicle's front end would likely have been LOWER than its typical standing height! (1993 Ford Explorer 4dr).

Now, I have a seriously jacked up butt end, over $1000-$1500 in damages I'll never be able to afford to fix, screwed up back, hip & neck - made worse by the position I was in while stopped checking traffic as I was leaned forward in my seat looking over my left shoulder - AND even though the car is - miraculously - still drivable, I now have to deal with a driver's side cv shaft that was also somehow damaged by the collision being the car was at a dead stop when impacted and then was jammed forward such as it was.

But, in addition to all the items previously purchased for the engine stuff, with part of the previously mentioned $400 I just bought new plugs, wires, and an ignition coil because my mechanic told me I needed them. I also got a fuel filter and oil filter do do those changes because I figured they're probably due. The mechanic is also the one that told me I needed the CV shaft - but would neither confirm nor deny that it was the wreck that damaged that.

My mechanic was going to do the cv shaft, oil change, fuel filter, and plugs, wires, and coil all for $400 nice and neat (the first total was like $430-something, but since all I was getting back was the $400, he cut me a deal if I did it all at once.) For the parts & labor from friends and buying myself at Autozone, the whole mess should be done for less than $300, and maybe less than $250, including the blower motor resistor I need. (Getting the hood up and down every time I go or stop somewhere inmy condition is quite the pain in the neck - literally!)

So, now I'm also going to need to do SOMETHING with the rear end issues. The trunk lid still is 100% functional, no leaks, lock cylinder is still good, and still opens from the remote button so I don't care about the very minor issue of it being slightly bent. But, I'm going to need to do something about the bumper if possible, the fenders are probably a non-issue, but the plastic piece for the lense cover and trim I would like to have back and the sagging butt I really want to take care of as well.

So, how do I go about all of those things, and how do I get the spark plugs changed? Do I need some special tool or something for that?

If anyone has any specific advice, I would genuinely appreciate all suggestions. And not necessarily about just the car itself, but anything surrounding the whole mess. If anyone specifically knows stuff about the laws, I'm in Kansas so that would be the governing rules to play by.

I will be monitoring for however long the thread remains, so anyone at any point, I appreciate it.

Oh, and I just remembered some more issues:

The driver's side armrest is coming off the door, and that's where all the window and mirror controlls are, and the windows don't go up or down at all, or if they were to go down, they don't come up. Also, the door lock electric action is weak, you have to push the control button like 10 times to get them completely up or down. Then, I also have the light sentry switch so I ca set the lights to go off right away or have a delay, but if I use that feature, there's a short somewhere that causes the lights to flicker and if the car sits with the switch on it will drain the battery over a short period of time. And, the last thing I can think of right now is that the courtesy lighting will usually or always work for any door BUT the driver's door, and only works once in a great while for that one. What's up with that?

Ok, I hope that's it and I don't have any more sudden realizations. Thanks to everyone!

Zach
[email protected]