HELP, 89CENTURY 3.3 STALLS intermittenly

[phatboy_inc]

I need help on this, I m so stressed, k, here goes, I have 89 Century 3.3L, its got 130000km on it. Its starting to have issues, I see lots of people with this problem, nobody comes back to say what fixes the issue. It will start great run for 10 mins or so, then stall, sometimes fire right back up and be fine, other times it will take 10 minutes to start back up. I even fried a starter trying to get it started. Anyways I have replaced the TPS, seemed fine for a day or two, then same stuff, The Cooling fan stopped working, so I replaced the motor in it, worked briefly, now won't come back on. Car dies, and I checked the little valve in on the throttle body, spews out fuel, I crank it, spews out more fuel, so I believe I have fuel. It cranks and cranks, then it goes. Seems like it won't go unless I have my foot on the pedal though. (weird for fuelly car) Anyways I have checked codes, at first I got 21/22/43, cleared codes, then just got 43, replaced TPS, got 21,29,43, cleared codes again today as soon as I hooked the battery back up after replacing the fan motor, SES light is on, it shifts funny into 4th, and the torq convertor seems to lock up and then unlock (WTF) BUT the fan worked, came home went out 2 hours later, no SES light and everything seemed fine, then a little stutter, get to the mall, and it just idled right up like I had a line lock on it, and then it was fine. Shut it off, come back in an hour, drive home, it stalls like 3 times, 1 time I was able to start it back up while rolling, and other times took a bit. This is when I checked to see if I have fuel.. K so what do I gotta do, I read something about if there is a 1 bad ground on an an injector, it could cause the injectors to stop workin, but I have fuel, I have heard Crank Sensor?? but would it be so intermitten? Why did the cooling fan not kick in??? Should I replace the sensor, I have swapped all the relays around, cause a relay is a relay, and same stuff, but it did work briefly, going to try and give the fan 12v's make sure it works at least in the morning. This is stressin me out. Heard something about pooring water on the CRank Sensor if it starts right back up, thats the problem.. (where is it by the way)?? CAN ANYOnE HELP ME BEFORE I GET REALLY VIOLENT with this poor BUICK!!??? Thanks in advance.

[stoned_pimp420]

My 90 model century w 3.3 done the EXACT SAME THING!!! I was about ready to do like you and push it off of a cliff but i didn't checked everything just like you and even thought the same as you about the crankshaft sensor, but it is going bad and you need to get it replaced. the more you drive it like this the worse that focker is gonna get. What it is, when the crankshaft sensor warms up something (not sure what) breaks connection or can't take the heat, and thus you lose all spark or it has spark but at the wrong time. My advice is next time it does this, pull off a plug wire and have a friend turn it over while you WATCH NOT TOUCH the coil pack, and if it has no spark you know the problem. Mine cost about 110 dollars to get replaced by a shop and unless you have the proper alignment tool you'll have to take it to a shop too. If that ain't it you might have discovered another famous buick problem. Hope that works out for you.

[phatboy_inc]

Hey thanks, update on it, I had problems getting it through the emissions test, but I put two bottles of methyl alcohol in it, and some sunocco 94, and the it passed amazingly. So thats good, but yesterday, during the Etest, stupid thing wouldn't kick the cooling fan on, so I jumped the sensor, and the new fan worked. All day yesterday drove more then normal, and nothing happend.. Makes me happy, but its also been super cold here, so that could have something to do with it. I guess I gotta replace the cooling sensor for sure now, and I guess I should do the crank sensor. I don't know why so many things are going wrong.. My thoughts are that I replaced an alternator not long before this happened, and the bisted one was undercharging, as soon as it had a loud, it droped voltage like a mofo.. Only thing I can think of.. Anyways any help is appreciated..

[stoned_pimp420]

The altenator is yet another part known to go out. The starter is another one of those little things that fail at times but if you can get around all the electrical things and can ignore the sound of the loose front crank bearings they are a really good car. There is no need to worry about the bearing it gets slack in it around 20,000 miles and will last till about 250,000 to 350,000 miles unless you just drive it like you stole it. If you have any questions about your century just pm me and i'll help you if i can.