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1992 Lumina 3.1 sedan, died, starts with ether, sort of


Chris2012

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Started having acceleration problem a few months ago (stumbling? Kicked or whatever when attempting to accelerate over 50+ back then). Mostly remained a higher speed problem. Got worse 1.5 weeks ago. Today, Walmart battery died again. Friend jumped me, I ran it for 5 minutes, put it in gear - it gave up the ghost.

 

He looks at it - saw some sparking around the plugs. Pulled a plug - great long spark. Valve with cap, inner plug when depressed made a geyser of gas and you can hear the fuel pump. Fuel filter changed last week. Don't scream - wires and plugs nearly 4 years old. Sprayed starting fluid in intake, each time car would start with gas on the floor, but ran horrible and I could rev the engine, but died when I released the gas.

 

Disconnected battery, no change (but measured current draw, didn't seem like anything there, nothing to do with not starting, just wondering if there was a short somewhere).

 

Payed an idiot to replace ignition module about 3.5 years ago. Whenever it rains car won't start until I put a heat gun or spot lamp on my wiring in back of radiator/fans for a short time. No rain today though. I wish I could say that was the problem ...

 

Haven't tried to pull any codes yet. He visually inspected fuses and relays. I didn't check anything inside the passenger compartment yet. Nothing was added to the fuel system at all. Other then the ignition module nothing was done to this car since I got it almost 5 years ago, had 88k, now has 192'.

 

Any clues gang? Computer, a sensor? We're stumped for the moment. Thanks in advance.

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I just threw out some advice on a similar issue

 

http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php/78212-91-Lumina-Euro

 

I'm guessing you have a bad fuel injector, which has shorted out internally and is dumping fuel and/or shorting out the computer...

 

Other then removing the manifold, etc., which Ihave to do for another relatively small problem anyway, is there any way to determine that? Look for dry plugs? I pulled 1 plug already and it was dry. Can't smell gas when.cranking either. I imagine it could be the fuel pump still. But oddly there was a thread on, of all places, a vintage computer forum that talked about fixing problems by replacing capacitors in the ecm. Caps can be charred, bloaded, corroded, even exploded. Replacing one teensy eensy one can work wonders.

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