88 lesabre wont start

[mattambo]

88 leasabre...cranks and starts to turn over but wont... replaced plugs, pcv, air filt. etc..... car runs smooth but cant get it started..first start of the day only, if I get it started I have no problems starting it for the rest of the day but if it sits and cools down it wont start..please HELP!!

[buickmastermind]

Okay, I had a similar problem to this, when my car wasn't mine. If you give me some time, I'll ask my dad and find out what ended up being the problem. I think it has something to do with the computer, ICM, the belt, and the timing chain, but not really sure until over Thanksgiving, when I'll be able to talk to my dad. Let me guess, you get it started in the morning, go to work/school, go to start it again, and it won't turn over. After maybe an hour of continually trying to start it, it might start up, but not always. Has left you stranded in parking lots during the day, and sometimes at night.
At the moment, and I'm not entirely sure why it does this, but try spraying some belt dressing on the belt when it won't start. Sometimes that did the trick for us, and sometimes it didn't.

[mattambo]

thats pretty much it except it would be hard to start in the morning, after sitting 8hrs, for the rest of the day it would start up almost right away..now it cranks but it wont turn over at all anymore, ive tried spray, I changed a vac leak I had, plugs, wires...plenty of fuel pressure...this car is drivin me nuts!!

[buickmastermind]

Well, I was able to figure something out. This is what I got from my dad through the e-mail, so I quote:

"The timing chain on that engine goes bad between 90 to
120 k miles, most are closer to 100 k (ours was 110
k). I don't exactly remember why I changed it but I
remember talking to the guys at the auto parts store
and they all pointed to the timing chain - the car was
acting real strange, something I never ran into
before.

I also had issues with performance and that's when I
went through the fiasco of changing out 2 ignition control modules and 5 computers before I got a combination
that worked (using a new computer and original
ignition module)

the more I think about it I believe that it was the
timing chain."

So, there you have it. I am fairly sure that the timing chain has nylon gears, and those may be warping. Oh, something else we learned, if you change the ICM, change the coils as well. Everything will work for sure. What had happened (as we figured out at 160,000 miles) is a coil had went bad, and was shorting out the computers. He he. Not fun. It wasn't until he got new coils that the thing started working correctly.
As for the belt...it was going bad, and slipping on the altenator pulley. Funny, huh?

[mattambo]

thanks, ill have to check my timing belt since I bought the car with 130k on it and since then the odometer broke at 137, I think im at about 150k now...all the other entries on this website are pointing towards the crankshaft and cam sensors and igniton coils