having problems with 1993 regal gran sport

[RahXephon]

I just bought this buick regal gran sport 1993 model for $1,000 with 130,000 miles on it.
However when i drove it the first day it ran fine then later that night i noticed the warning lights that said "service engine soon" come on and almost right after the idle started choking and dies every time that light comes on.
it runs fine just when the warning light comes on it starts giving me crap and dies and yet when the light is off it runs smoothly.
someone said that it's the oxygen sensor or the idle sensor.
is this right or there's more than what it appears to be?
thanks for any info ya'll can give me.

[RahXephon]

anybody?
i guess no one cares.

[dwalmop]

NOT the oxygen sensor. Could be idle speed sensor, but I also doubt that. you could have a bad fuel injector, or even something as simple as a broken spark plug or bad plug wire. check the simplest things first. If you're a bit savvy, you could jumper the obd1 scanner and pull the codes from the service engine soon light yourself, or take it to a place like autozone where they'll do it for free. Once you have that done, the problem will be very narrowed down, if not solved.

[RahXephon]

ok thanks.
i will check them out and someone did mention the fuel injector too, so i'll look into that too.
again thanks.

[elmrfudd]

Originally Posted by RahXephon

ok thanks.
i will check them out and someone did mention the fuel injector too, so i'll look into that too.
again thanks.

A sticky EGR valve will also create symptoms you are describing; stinky fumes, rough idle, loss of power, and sometimes a loss of power braking. I know this by experience with an S-10 that I have.