Help Diagnose Car Problem

[phantom1131]

please see this link and give me your thoughts

1989 Pontiac Grand Prix Engine not running

[gewecke]

Even though fuel pressure is up,and sensors are good your fuel filter could be plugged.Some gm cars have two filters,one in the tank as well as up front. Just guessing,but if it dogs out on acceleration then that's a clue. A hayne's book is worth it's weight in gold too!
N9ZAS.

[phantom1131]

put new filter on when I did the fuel pump..thinking this was my problem at first..have a haynes manual but not much help..

[gewecke]

Maybe these guys can help?
N9ZAS.
www.jonko.com/autorepair

[phantom1131]

that is a pay to website..looking for free advice

[Caddop22]

Have checked the crankshaft sensor? I have heard this causing this type issue as well.

[APTN]

AutoZone.com | Troubleshooting

I second the recommendation of Haynes manuals. I own several for different vehicles/machines.

[phantom1131]

Originally Posted by Caddop22

Have checked the crankshaft sensor? I have heard this causing this type issue as well.

that is about the only thing I have not checked...it is getting spark so I am assumming the CPS is good but I will check it

[phantom1131]

checked the crank sensor today.It is good reading .3-.6 volts steady as engine is cranking

[JWJ]

Not sure of cars history, and how often you drive it. As a long shot; Is it possible catalytic converter or exhaust is stopped up?

[phantom1131]

I took the EGR valve off and cleaned it to no avail..thought about the converter but have not checked it yet.
I'll take a look

[shaft]

Not sure about your car, but take a look at the mass air flow sensor. It might be between the air intake filter and the motor. I had one that had similar issues as yours, and turned out to have just a bit of dust on it. I took it off, cleaned it with electronics cleaner, left it off over night and installed it back. I havent had an issue in the last 10 mos since then.

[phantom1131]

checked the cat conv. getting good flow..
any thoughts..I'am still thinking timing jumped

[Raven95150]

Those "car pros" sure don't seem to know much.

That 2.8 has distributorless ignition, so a timing light won't do you much good because you cant adjust the timing anyway. Sounds to me like the timing chain jumped, especially since you say it died while you were accelerating. The only way to know for sure is to pull the timing cover off and take a look. If it did jump, you will want to put in a new timing chain because the old one will probably just jump again.

[OldsDoug]

I went through a similar problem with my '88 Firenza last winter... it's a different engine (2-liter OHC 4 with a throttle body), but this might help... I threw all kinds of parts at it... fuel pump, relays, sensors, computer, pickup coil, ign module... the car would start, run for 10 mins and quit.

It turned out to be the fuel injector itself... the little electric squirter on the throttle body. When it would warm up, it would start acting up... I finally found it by switching it out with a junkyard one after changing out all the other stuff mentioned above.

I'm sure your car isn't throttle-body, but am throwing this out in case it gives you or someone an idea. Good luck... my car never set a code and I had nothing to go on. I didn't read all the stuff here and in the other forum, but I take it you checked the spark?

(Someone mentioned timing chain, that could be a possibility too.) And the pros aren't necessarily pros - one local ****hot guy here kept insisting that my problem was the crankshaft position sensor... the Firenza doesn't have one! (I see somebody mentioned that as well, that could be it... I do know that that is a typical problem on the Buick V6 (3800).

Again, good luck!

D

[phantom1131]

it was a bad fuel injector