1992 Bonneville possible intermittant starting problem

[duster1979]

I've got a 1992 Bonne SSE with just over 200,000 miles on it that has always been a great, reliable car. A couple of months ago I shut it off after driving home from work (40 mile commute with no problems), didn't drive it over the weekend, and when I went to drive it to work the next week it wouldn't start. Some "shade tree" diagnostics determined that it wasn't getting any fire. I fooled with it for a couple of days with no better luck,then we had a baby and I didn't have time to check it out further.

This morning I tried to start it on a whim; the battery was too low to crank the starter, but after putting it on the charger for a couple of hours, it started right up and ran great.

I don't know if this is going to be an intermittant problem, or if it was just a freak thing. Any suggestions about what might have caused this would be greatly appreciated!

[paradisepoint]

I too have a 1992 Bonneville, had the same problem ...seemed like it only started when it felt like it. I had to take it to my mechanic on this one. He took it to our local Pontiac service center for more diagnostic information. They determined that it was the crankshaft sensor. Since I got it out of the shop, it's been running fine!
Good Luck!

[duster1979]

Thanks for the advice. I'd heard that crank sensor failure was a common problem on these cars, but I've been fortunate enough to have two of them with well over 100,000 miles with no problem until now.

Do you remember what the labor was to replace it? Of course labor rates vary greatly, but if you have an idea how many hours you were charged for it would be a big help. I plan to sell the car and just need to determine whether to fix it or just give the new owner a "heads up" about the potential problem. I don't expect to get much for it either way, so I really hate to put much into it.

Thanks again!