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no-start condition


96montecarloz31

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today my buick left me stranded, i realize it is not a w-body, but it is still 3800 powered

 

basically, it will turn over fine, but will not start. there is fuel pressure at the rails, and spark at the coils. i have replaced the plugs/wires within the last couple months, no blown fuses or anything either.

 

the car has been mysteriously loosing coolant (at a decent rate it seems) from what i am now assuming to be the intake gasket. my question is if burning coolant can foul out spark plugs in a short amount of time? the car was feeling like it was hesitating/missing just before this (engine light also blinked which i know indicates misfire)

 

or are there any other theories

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well small update, it almost started this morning, but not quite. i pulled the front 3 plugs and they are soaked in fuel. i am assuming its not a fueling problem at this point. that leaves spark, timing, or compression. im picking up some plugs here in a few and changing them (not gonna be fun as it is sitting in the grocery store parking lot and its raining) and see how that goes.

 

any other suggestions or known issuews that would cause this?

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I'd lean towards an ignition issue(sparkplug/ignition coil/?), but it sounds like you've been over most of that. The only other thing I can think of is the fuel pressure regulator. Best of luck

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plugs go it running, but now its billowing white smoke and coolant in the oil. hoping its just intake gaskets. really dont have the time or money for this!

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it does turn to sludge, car is parked until further investigation. trying to determine the easiest way to find what is causing it. leaning toward compression test as that should rule out head gasket or cracked head. unfortunately every guide i find for it says to have the engine at operating temp, and i really cant do that w/o risking bearing damage

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Pressurize the cooling system and look around. If you don't see any external leaks, take the air inlet tube off and open the throttle plate and listen for bubbling or hissing....take the oil fill cap off too and have a listen there.

 

 

Do you have a fuel pressure gauge? You obviously don't want to be testing it while she's running but if you have a vacuum tester/gauge as well you can just prime the fuel pump (key on engine off) and hook your vacuum pump up to the nipple on the fuel pressure regulator.

 

 

At normal vacuum around 35 PSI from the regulator (give or take a few, as long as it's steady) is good. Pressure should spike at 45 or so PSI with vacuum disconnected from the pressure regulator (think of it like you just floored the pedal...very little vacuum in the manifold = max pressure at the FPR)

 

 

Obviously your FPR isn't causing the issue with coolant/oil mixing but it's possible that it's dumping shitloads of fuel into the cylinders, which would explain the plugs soaked.

Edited by brake
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