Electrical, Crank bolt, CPS

[thegreathoustano]

Okay Ill start from the beginning.
About a week ago my 92 buick century, 3.3 L v6, with about a 140,000 miles on it started to stall randomly when it had been idleing in my friends parking lot. It did it again and again and only seems to happen once the car has heated up and will start up again after 5-30 minutes. I replaced the ICM, had it tested first and it was bad, thought that that was my problem but the stalling continued. had it retested to make sure i didnt short it out or something crazy and it tested fine. I did some research and found that CPS has a tendency of causing this and this should be my next course of action. Tried to get to it, and when I was attempting to remove the crankshaft retainer bolt it wouldnt budge. I have a fairly decent impact gun at about 300 lbs max and i couldnt get it to move. I heard if theyre frozen you need to block the engine from moving from the starter. Thats cool, but do I have to take the starter out to do it? I even read on a site that they reccomend you remove the oil pan! I just want this 10 dollar part in and out so I can continue/suceed with this diagnosis and start driving around the shitbox again but this is really frustrating. Is there any tricks to blocking up that engine? Also, if this doesnt work, what should my next course of action be? Ive found some conflicting information. ITs not giving me any codes, the old ICM gave me one for it, but that was it. I havnt had an oppritunity to check for spark and fuel once it stalls because up until now i thought this was gonna be a whole lot easier. It needs new plugs and wires.. Could that be causing the stalling once it heats up? Wouldnt that just make it run rough? Its gotta new fuel filter, air filter, just changed the oil, and a shiny new ICM,, help please..

[thegreathoustano]

while its sitting there soaking up the sun i tested the fuel injectors for resistance and they all tested fine

[kurfbird]

I used a large OLD jack handle the ones with a flat tip on the end. I put it between the engine block and the flywheel. I then used a 3/4 drive rachet and a cheater bar. It was still a bear. But it finally came loose. I did not remove the starter. But the plastic or metal dust housing was removed.


I dont think plugs and wires would cause a stall. They would just make it run rough or miss

Some other things that could be causing your stall. Your ignition module could be going out. When they get warm they can cause the car to stall.

I would change the plugs / wires first.
Then the coil caps then the igntion module.

The coil caps are 30.00 each and the ignition module is 165.00

I got a new igniton module from ebay new for 65.00 seems to work great.

[thegreathoustano]

okay, so tried to replace the crankshaft sensor but finally after getting the crankshaft bolt out, couldnt remove the harmonic balancer! Apparantly the puller on this is different than any one that murrays autozone napa or carquest carries so i gave up and decided to direct my attentions elsewhere. I had removed one of the spark plug wires a couple days ago to get more room and had it snap off in my hand. I knew they were old but these were OLD. so I replaced all of them after struggling to get them off along with all new plugs. Now I put everything back together and it started smoking from the exhaust manifolds. More in the back than in the front. It sounds like its running strong and then its getting backed up! maybe i had a duel problem, the ignition module bieng bad, along with bad wires and plugs, were creating improper ignition, and thus improper exaust? This maybe caused my cat converter to back up faster. The exaust itself is pretty f-ing loud and it looks new from behind the cat. does any of this make sense?!? Im going NUTS!!!

[rhandwor]

Normally the harmonic balancer puller looks like a Y with slots in it for bolts. Find the correct bolts usually three are required. They change thread sizes so you have to check for the correct bolts. You always appear to be in a big hurry and cause yourself problems. If you take your time and think you should figure out the problem. Disconnect the converter at the flange and move it back about one inch. If this corrects the problem buy a new converter. I've broken the stud at the flange drilled it out full size and used a bolt and nut to fix it.
A bad crankshaft sensor doesn't usually cause smoke but does cause a no start problem. A bad camshaft sensor also causes problems. If the coil is disconnected a ohm meter should go from zero to one if working.
My better logic probe will flash the yellow light on a pulsing circuit.

[GM Line Rat]

Originally Posted by rhandwor

A bad camshaft sensor also causes problems.

This car doesn't have a camshaft position sensor in it, just a "Crank Position Sensor" in it. In order for a new crank sensor to be installled in this car, the sensor needs to be positioned correctly with a special tool.