Ribbie Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 Was wondering if I could borrow some advice? Car: 92 Buick Regal GS 3800 Series 1. Ignition module, plugs, wires replaced last summer. Here is the situation: Car idles like I have a one of the plug wires removed. All are actually attached and cannot see any arcing. Upon acceleration, considerably less power and still missing. When the trans shifts into OD the Revs drop to 1800 ish (which is norm) the car shakes badly, due to the miss. I am getting spark from all coils. I checked this by pulling the boot off each of the posts individually and starting the car and heard arcing. I know not the best thing to do, but I was at a shopping mall. Next step is to pull each plug, just to note I replaced the plugs and wires in the summer. Could the plugs have gone to crap in that amount of time? Thanks for any insight and advice, Cheers, D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 I would start by pulling the plugs and inspecting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted March 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 I would start by pulling the plugs and inspecting them. You had run into a similar problem did you not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 I would start by pulling the plugs and inspecting them. I would then make sure the boots on the spark plug wires are properly seated on the spark plug and coil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted March 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 I would start by pulling the plugs and inspecting them. I would then make sure the boots on the spark plug wires are properly seated on the spark plug and coil. Already done. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 You had run into a similar problem did you not? Yes I did, not too long ago actually. It ended up being my wires, but your wires arn't that old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteOut Posted March 24, 2004 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 Check the codes. I had a similar issue on my Trofeo a year or so ago and it ended up being a bad MAF sensor. It will run you about $20 bucks from a junkyard if thats what it is, that and five minutes to replace it. God I loved that engine, it was so easy to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted March 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 Check the codes. I had a similar issue on my Trofeo a year or so ago and it ended up being a bad MAF sensor. It will run you about $20 bucks from a junkyard if thats what it is, that and five minutes to replace it. God I loved that engine, it was so easy to work on. Thought of that as well, pulled the codes using the wire jumping method and nothing..... Thanks for your thoughts, keep them coming.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 ttt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 my car did the same thing when i got it, ended up being spark plug wires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 UPDATE!! To try and isolate the problem, I pulled the spark plug wires from the coils one at a time. All 'pulls' resulted in a change in idle, EXCEPT #1 !!! I put in the original wire no change, I put in an old plug, same thing. The plugs and wires that were on it before were ok just very old. So my thought is bad injector. Any thoughts on this guys? Would it not pull a code? Wish I had a scope to see if it is running rich/lean..... Thanks D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight rider Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 even though your wires are that new, if they are a "housebrand" wire from your local parts store they could be cross acring. A simple way to test this theory is to open the hood at night, start the car, and mist the plug wires with a spray bottle of tap water. If you got any breaks or acr points in the wires, you'll see them. They will glow kinda blue colored. You might also replace your air and fuel filters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight rider Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 After re-reading your post, I'd vote on a bad coil pack if your car has them. When you pulled #1 plug, was the end of it wet? if it was wet, the injector is working and you weren't getting any spark to the plug or a weak spark at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Might just be bad wires..... They are house brand. Was wondering if I am missing anything to try and isolate the problem? Plug was not wet, could not smell gas either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNT Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 damn, im having the identical same exact problem with the 1990 cutlass with the 3.1, same exact freaking problem, i changed the plugs and wires and it didnt change anything..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Sounds like a bad injector to me. When coil packs fail, the miss shows up on both cylinders that it operates....so the miss would be on #1 and #4. I'll bet its an injector.....they do fail......the only way to be 100% use is to do an injector drop test. Uusing a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and a controller each injector is turned on seperately for a certain amount of time, the pressure difference before it was turned on and after is then measure. Usually any injector 5% lower than the average is faulty. There really isn't a good way to do this (that I know of) unless you are at a dealership. I say, smell for fuel via the plug hole......or look to see if the plug is completely covered in fuel. It could be either plugged OR stuck open....both would miss and cause a lack of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted July 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Well here is what I have found as of late. When you pull #1 plug wire the idle does not change. On any other the idle changes. When pulling the injector connector off of #1 no change. But again when pulled off of any other, there is a change. So I took some redings with a meter, this is what I got: Between the two pin outs I got 12 ish volts (pink/black and solid black) Between any others I got 13.6 ish volts. All readings taken when running. Then I noticed you could actually feel the injector working. On #1 no feeling. Others there was. So I tried switching #1 with the one right next to it. The #1 injector would still not "feel" like it was working. But more importantly the right next to it (with #1 connector now on it), there was less of a "pulse" or "feel". As if it was not getting enough voltage to actually fire the injector. A few ideas now ran through my head, (a) Bad injector, and ( bad ECU, as I only saw 12ish volts from the #1 connector and 13+ from the others. Thanks again in advance D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted July 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 ttt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted August 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 ttt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted August 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Well I have solved my problem. But before I reveal the culprit, just wanted thank all that lent a helping word. We don't see enough of the problems actually have resolutions posted against them. Injector wire. That was it just a rotten wire not sending its signal to the injector. The key to finding this problem is problem determination. With any sputtering problem I ran down the list of things to check. Spark, yep Fuel, yep just not to #1 pulled off #1 plug wire lots of spark. So I am thinking fuel, pull off the #1 injector plug no change. So that led me to test the injector. These are low impedance, so I got 13 or ohms. That tells me the injector was good. So what sends the signal to injector? A black wire. Checked all injector wires at the computer for connectivity. All good but #1. So I have a break in the wire!!! While pulling it out of the harness it breaks about 8 inchec from the plug for ECM. BAH!!! There my problem! Quickly strip both end of the break and twist it together. run into the house, as giddy as a school girl, and it ran perfect!!!! 8 month problem gone, FINALLY!!! So the moral of the story is weed out all possible components involved. Cheers!!! D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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