1997 Le Sabre no start

[gbonne]

Hi I'm new to this thread so I will try my best at giving all the info I know about this problem. First off I have a 1997 Buick Le Sabre, 3.8L V-6 with about 140 K on it. The other day it cut off about a mile from my house. I had problems with it stalling now and then with a problem code of PO102 showing on the reader. Had it towed home, went to check it out the next day and it started, ran for about a minute and shut off again. Have plenty of fuel pressure, but will not start. Can the Mass Air Flow sensor make the car not run. All help is appreciated, thanks in advance>Gbonne

[maxwedge]

Do you have spark, disconnect the maf see what happens.

[gbonne]

maxwedge , I have no spark and disconecting the MAF does nothing. I was reading in an vother tread about a screwy tach. I also had the tach witch some time died and sometime worked, any ideas>Gbonne

[maxwedge]

If you have no spark and no injector pulse this is usually caused by a bad crank sensor, the wire from the sensor to the ign module, or a bad ign module.

[hinton08]

Yes a mass airflow sensor will cause a no start. P0102 is a code for Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor Circuit Low Frequency. 99% of the time replacing the MAF will eliminate the problem. However, 3 things can cause the code...faulty MAF, faulty PCM, or wiring problem in the MAF circuit. Not always, but most of the time, problems such as the crankshaft or camshaft sensor will throw a DTC and check engine light. If P0102 is the only code, I would diagnose this problem first and then check the operation of the vehicle after the P0102 is fixed. Like mentioned, I would just put a MAF sensor in it because 99% of the time, thats the problem. However below is a link to the GM Service Manual for that DTC. Hope this helps!

http://gsi.xw.gm.com/si/showDoc.do?d...=Jun+1%2C+2010

[maxwedge]

Correct me if I am wrong here, but disconnecting the maf causes the pcm to got to default and it should start but have poor power/response .

[hinton08]

No not all the time. Yes some vehicles work that way but not all of them

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

Correct me if I am wrong here, but disconnecting the maf causes the pcm to got to default and it should start but have poor power/response .

This is mostly a correct statement when talking about Buick's, which is what this forum/thread is about. I have replaced two bad MAF's this week, on two different Buick's '96 & '98 (which use the same MAF) and in both cases, with the MAF disconnected, the cars had excellent throttle response & power throughout the entire RPM range, with the only noticeable issue being a high idle. In addition, both stalled while driving, and would only run for about 2-sec with the MAF harness connected. Both had a P0101 & P0171 DCT which is common for a failed MAF. As mentioned, the OP may have a combination of CKPS & MAF problems. Hard to diagnose without some live scanner data.

[hinton08]

Yeah thats true. You definitely need some live data to get a feel of what is really going on