Hairdo12 Posted November 7, 2004 Report Share Posted November 7, 2004 ok, here is what happend. Friday night i was driving down the road at 50 mph and everything was perfectly fine. I slowed up a little bit and the transmission downshifted and my rpms went up and i began accelerating when all of a sudden i lost like 90% power and the motor began run like it was running on only 5 cylinders. The exhaust also had a terrible smell (like too much gas and burned plastic) to it too. Now I was able to limp it to a friends house and I replaced all 6 spark plugs, wires, MAP sensor, event the O2 sensor and fired up the car and it showed no improvement. I drove it about two miles and when i returned to the house i looked under the car and saw on top of the catalytic conver it was glowing red. Today I unclamped the cat and put in a strait pipe and there was still no improvement. here is some extra info that might help: about 5% of start ups it would start and run fine. spark plug 3 showed more wear than the others and 6 was also slightly worn. the tank of gas in the tank i drove on for about 100 miles before this started to happen. I have an appointment for a full computer diagonstics... but does any one have a clue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 injectors died? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intlcutlass Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 Injectors or coils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 Ignition Control Module... mine did the same thing before I replaced it... $85 at AutoZone. They will have them in stock too, because this is a VERY high failure rate item on these cars. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihela816 Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 They shouldn't have mounted them under the exhaust manifold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 I would go get this thing diagnosised properly. The shotgun apparoach doesn't work.......you've already replaced a ton of parts that where perfectly fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted November 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 It goes to the doctor tomarrow... I hope it isnt too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w-bodys_are_the_best Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 sounds like a coil it is exactly what happened to my car on I-90 doing 75, same red hot cat, same bad smells, i thought it was the cat plugged, turned out to be the coilpack, and the cat just got red hot, cause of the unburned fuel being dumped into it, i made the mistake of cutting mine off too, but later put it back on when i found out it wasnt that, might be that ICM too, like somone else said. my cutlass is a 94 with the 3100, but it did the exact same thing, ran on 5 cylinders had no power, ended up being the #3 coil cheap and easy, yet mine was going out for over a year and a half, ever have any misses under high load like in OD and starting to climb a hill? mine did, for a year and a half, thought it was the tranny, but after that coil was replaced it never did it again, weird what a $35 will do (i bought mine used) but it was good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 It ran on 4 cylinders... multiples of 2 on this motor... if one coil pack stops working for any reason, whether it be a bad spark plug, a bad ICM, or a bad coil itself... each coil does 2 cylinders... each spark plug fires twice per cycle too. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted November 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 Ok, I went to the shop to have it tested and here is what they said: "sorry man, your engine checks out perfect... we think its your transmission." I responded by asking them to identify the smell, the put-put-put noise from the exhaust, and the extremely rough idle even in park and neutral. They couldnt. so anyways these responces here have been very helpful - i think because with ur help i was able to stumble on something. I didnt have time to do all 6 cylinders, however i got a cylinder pressure gadge from autozone (loan a tool) and tested the front three. Pressure tests were great (i think) showing 161-164psi in the cylinders. However, remember i did change all 6 plugs when this first started happening. the spark plugs in cylinders 3, 5 showed the usual carbon on the edge of the threads.... #1 however does not even look like anything fired at all. i didnt have time to check #4 for similarities but i am going to the junk yard on thurs to get an ICM and 3 coils to test and see if it works. Is it possible for these motors to run on only 4 cylinders? and when this happend to others did it feel like you were driving on rumble strips when you were in 4th gear with TQ lock up? Oh it is also progressivly getting worse... i tried to move the car and it started stalling as soon as i put it in gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted November 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 oh and yes for over the past two years i have been bitching about a misfire at high rpms. I would hit the gas, it would miss at about 4k, took my foot off the gas and then romp on it and the motor would catch and continue to accelerate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted November 10, 2004 Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Take it to a shop that actually knows what they are doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted November 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 It turned out to be the ignition control module if anyone is interested. The Lumina is back in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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