97 Lesabre dies, will not restart, but will restart later. No codes

[Smith1000]

My wife's Lesabre quit on her yesterday. My brother-in-law got there first and said it would not fire, but had spark to the plugs. He said it seemed like it was starving for fuel, but wasn't sure. Tried to start it when I arrived and it turned over, but did not even try to fire. I towed it home on a tow dolly. Before unloading it in the driveway, I tried it again and it started and ran great like nothing is wrong. As far as gas, the car is on full.

She said it cut out just before,driving down a long hill. She said it kind of missed or "restarted on its own." She said about a week ago, she was driving up a long hill and it made a very strange noise, but she is not really sure how to describe it. It did not die, just made a noise. Other than that, about 4 months ago, it died on a bumby curve. She said it restarted easily.

There are no codes-at least no check engine light. I will double check for codes today. I am thinking that maybe the fuel pump is going out because that may not set a code. Beyond that, possibly the crankshaft and camshaft position sensors or the fuel pressure regulator. Does anyone have any other ideas or recommendations? I cleaned the battery grounds real well about 2 weeks ago. Had to replace the water pump a few weeks ago. Could the crank or camshaft position sensor be responsible, but not set a code? Thanks.

[polarzak]

Almost the exact story with my wife's 96 OLDS, and it turned out to be the fuel pump.

[Smith1000]

I bet that's the problem. I just checked for any stored codes and there are none. It would start on the tow dolly and ran for just a short distance. It died on level ground and now, will not restart at all.

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by Smith1000

Could the crank or camshaft position sensor be responsible, but not set a code? Thanks.

YES! It is very common for the CKPS to have an intermittent signal and not set a code. Usually the engine will hesitate first and then later, die when warm. You need to check for spark and fuel pressure when it will not start.

[Smith1000]

It is cold now and still won't start, so I am still kind of focusing on the fuel pump. I will check for fuel pressure though. Thanks.

[Smith1000]

I just went out and hooked the fuel pressure gauge on the port near the fuel pressure regulator. I cranked the engine and it is flat on the gauge (no pressure). It did drip out some gas, but that was it. Probably was residual from when it ran some this morning. Looks like it it a faulty fuel pump. It has 150,000 miles on it, so it is probably due. Then again, the crank pos sensor and cam sensor are probably due very soon too.

[Smith1000]

It was out of gas. The fuel gauge was reading on full or slightly under full however. Have had problems with the gauge in the past. I started to drop the tank and found it was bone dry. Put 5 gallons in out of a can and it now the guage reads a little over a quarter tank. My wife insist she put $25 in gas in not that long ago and she has only driven it a couple of times (not so sure about that). $25 in gas isn't that much gas anyway. At any rate, it started right up.

[HotZ28]

Thanks for the quick feedback. Yea, it's hard to get fuel pressure without fuel! I am sure that you have told the wife, that $25.00 is less than 8-gal at today's prices and @ 16 mpg (around town) that is only 128 miles!

[vair guy]

I have a 96 Lesabre that does the same thing. The weird thing about it is the power windows stop working everytime the fuel pump dies (I checked and there's no fuel pressure). Anybody have problems with corroded connections somewhere? It's my sons car and he has complained about the power windows not woking and then the car dieing out. I put in a new fuel filter and the car started right up. After driving a couple of miles the car died out and the power windows stopped working. A few hours later the car started and the windows where working again.

Thanks in advance for any help

[Bootsgamer]

My car has a bad fuel pump on it right now and it has the same symptoms. Im just going to let mine die before i replace it. Ask your wife if the noise was coming from the back of the car?

[Smith1000]

My wife isn't sure if the noise came from the front or back of the car. She said it kind of quit and then restarted itself. I think she means it just cut out momentarily. Probably was about to run out of gas.

A guy at work told me that GM gas gauges will often read correctly until very low on gas and then spike back up to full. He said they are defective when this happens, but you just get used to it. This gauge wants to read up fuller once the engine is shut off-kind of rides up. Seems to be reading okay otherwise. She'll just have to watch it closer. She had been off work for awhile, so she probably lost track of the gas situation.