Regal :: 96 Buick V6 3.8L Refused To Start / Radiator Gap Is Very Hard
Jul 24, 2014
I have a 96 Buick regal v6 3.8L. It ran good. Started from last winter, it started to act up. In the morning, 98% OF the first attempt to start the car failed: it started but died in a few seconds, but the 2nd attempt always got it start. One month ago, I drove it for 1.5 hours, and parked there for 15 minutes, could not get it started, opened up the hood, waited for 15 minutes, it started. Then I drove it to a auto shop, they replaced the starter. One five days later, I could not started it again after 1.3 hour driving and parked for 20 minutes. Wait for 15 minutes, it started again. The odd is that when it refused to start, the radiator gap is very hard (but not over heated yet), after started it and drove for 30 minutes or so, I feel the gap is cooler than when it would not start.
I drove it back to the shop, they could not any problem. Drove it back. three day later, it stalled when driving. I didn't realize the stall until I need to turn: lost steering and brake power, then notice that the whole dash board doesn't have any light on. Since the car shut it off only after half mile driving, it doesn't looks like heat related (It was on the mountain, it was about 70 F). Then I sent the car to a different shop.
At the shop, they took off the ignition model and tested it good, and put it back. Since then, they started the car several times per day. Finally, on one day, the car shut itself off after running for 2 hours, and they could not start it. However, they checked and didn't find any code was set (they said because service engine light was not on). The shop have been trying to start the car several times per day for 10 days they didn't have another failure. I am not sure what to do with the car. I read posts here, and have the shop checked short circuit, ground fault, fuel wiring harness, catalytic converter, they didn't find anything, and they said that fuel pump seems ok.
I plan to replace crank sensor, fuel filter, and fuel regulator sensor and use the car for work commute (2 miles). what should be done on the car (since it is old car with 120K on it, I don't want to spend more than $500 dollar on it unless I am sure the problem can be fixed).
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1993 Buick Regal 3.1l V6 Multiport injection
Problem: The care currently has a hard start, and a fluctuating idle. I bought the car a year and a half ago it still has low miles about 94,000. The care used to start fine but had a fluctuating idle in the range of 750 to 2500 rpm. My brother who is a mechanic and doesn’t live near, do all the gaskets when he visited. Then the idle fluctuation dropped to 750 to 1000rpm, when the car rpms fluctuate there is a whirring sound I can hear from the cab, like a pump or pull system. On occasion there is a vibration as well but it is inconstant and irregular. Fuel pressure seems to fluctuate as well. If the car will not start I give it a little gas and it will run fine after a minute or two, but then the idle starts to fluctuate.
No fuse issues I can tell and relays seem to be fine.Checked for lose wiring connections found, none. I have replaced:
- Hoses and gaskets
- Starter motor
- Battery
- Fuel Pressure regulator
- Fuel Filter
- Spark plugs and wires
- TPS
- Idle Air control Valve
- Crank shaft sensor
- PCV.
Right now I’m thinking it could be the fuel pump (a nightmare to change on this car), a fuel injector failing, and the ignition switch.
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1995 Buick Regal, 128k miles, 3.8L V-6.Problem: When running errands around town, car will temporarily not start after 3rd or 4th stop. Vehicle cranks, has spark, has fuel pressure at fuel manifold. No codes on computer (Wish it was a '96). Car will start normally after cooling off (generally takes at least 45 minutes). No problem driving to work, parking all day, driving home. Have not tried long distance driving since problem arose, due to concern about being stuck for awhile far from home. Have determined at EGR valve is NOT a part of problem.
Sample situation: Drove 5 miles to town. Shopped for 15 minutes. Drove 2 miles further with 5 minute stop. Drove another 2 miles with 5 minute stop. Drove 1 more mile and stopped for 30-40 minutes. Car would not start. Cranks strongly, has spark and fuel pressure (don't know if fuel getting to injectors). Still would not start 30 minutes later. Left car for several hours. Started promptly and ran normally on return. Weather conditions - 90 F, low humidity. Problem has been occurring for several months. No computer codes to dive guidance.
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My 1992 buick regal 3.8l initially cranked fine but did not start. I went to crank again and starter turned very slowly and finally just clicked got new battery and still same slow finally jumped it and got it to somehow start took it to shop they went to replace starter and told me that a weight had fallen off my flywheel/flexplate and lodged in starter so i agreed to let them replace flywheel starter 2 days later still in shop does this sound reasonable?
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1991 Buick Regal, 3800 V6
As the title says, when I start the engine cold I get a slight puttering and drop in RPMs followed by the engine revving itself to about 1100 for a few seconds and then normalizing at 600. It has only actually stalled out a few times. This does not happen once the engine is near operating temperature.
Now, I did not notice this issue prior to doing some maintenance on the vehicle (radiator replacement and transmission service) and I've read that this can be caused by a faulty coolant sensor. Possible?
Battery is new.
Also, when I say cold start I mean summer temps here in Michigan. So it's happening anywhere from 50 to 90 degrees F.
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Cars turns off while driving and may or may not start. The voltage fluctuates and dims the lights and such. Now it wont start.
The battery is good. The alternator is good. I put a new computer in it. I don't know what else to do.
On top of this awesomeness, I found this relay/sensor that seems to go nowhere (picture below). There is also a second something or another that you can see in the bottom right quarter (red wire grey attachment underneath cruise control module next to that bundle of wires) that seems to go nowhere. I didn't unplug these.
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2001 Buick regal started and ran left town for 10 days came back cranks but wont start I don't here fuel pump engage when I turn on ignition...
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Thinking about picking up a 2002 Regal. Major issue: it will not start without turning the lights on first and will shut off when the wipers are turned on.
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I have a 96 buick regal thats been giving me problems for over a year now. it from time to time acted like it was out of gas even though it might have a half a tank. Turns over fine but won't start after it sits for a couple of days then it starts fine. Last summer my son replaced the fuel pump after doing a pressure test and getting a low reading. No more problems until jan then it started doing it again. Well about 3 months ago it wouldn't start so I had my wife turn the key on and I stuck my ear in the fuel fill tube and I could not hear the fuel pump.
I checked the fuel pump relay by putting my finger on top of it and I can feel it click when the key is turned on. Also the air relay next to it is the same so I switched them no change so I replaced the fuel pump again and also the sending unit so every thing in the tank is new. Car still won't start can't hear the pump running and i checked for spark no spark now. My other son has been saying he thinks its the ecm so I just put a reflashed used ecm in. Did the security relearn procedure still nothing. whats next? Somebody told me check the cam and crank sensors and wiring. I also replaced all the ignition coils last summer.
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1991 Buick Regal, 3800 V6
Having a rough idle on a cold start. After some research and closer inspection of the vehicle, I'm quite certain I have at least one leaking injector that is flooding a cylinder and causing the car to misfire on a cold start. I'm also not at the gas mileage I should be at.
So I'm wondering, is fuel injector replacement as straightforward of a job as it looks? Any major issues I could run into in doing a replacement?
I'm planning on replacing all six injectors (I can get them for $50 each buying online with a discount code), but given that the vehicle is so old am I better off just replacing the faulty ones? I'm assuming pulling the spark plugs and seeing which cylinder is wet will tell me which I need to replace.
And one more question: Is there a way to depressurize the fuel system when I park the car for the night, thus preventing fuel (or most of it) from leaking into the engine until I get this fixed? I've read that just unscrewing the gas cap can depressurize the system.
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About the Car: It has 101,00 miles on it. I haven't own this car for long (less than a month). I bought it pretty cheap to do some grocery shopping with. I have no plans to drive it more than 10 miles in a trip. I have a bicycle with a trailer, but there are days in the winter when the weather says, "No" to bicycling. I had the fuel pump and filter replaced at a shop when it wouldn't start a couple weeks ago. They said the fuel pressure was low, and it needed to be replaced. It was fine for a little while, but then it wouldn't start for the past three days now. No cranking at all. I can turn on the radio and roll windows up and down, though. I do remember seeing a Check Engine, Battery symbol sign, and a couple other lights off-hand. I'm at work right now.. so I'll have to go home to see if the Security light also was there, too.
Also! I did find an electrical line that did not go anywhere... not sure if that has anything to do with the fact that there is no window washer fluid tank (wipers do work).
After reading a little about other Buicks in the forum not cranking, I will definitely try the Security Light issue after I get home from work.
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I have a Buick regal 1996 v6 3.8l . SO my car tends to over heat really fast with the reservoir still nearly full of coolant also my fans also turn on really late.. Ive came down to the conclusion that it might be the temperature sensor idk whatelse to do. Ive changed the thermostat about a month ago.
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I have a 1999 Buick Regal GS with a supercharged 3.8 liter engine and 161,000 miles. I bought the car off of my uncle and he said he would have to change plug wires every month to month and a half because it would start missing so bad. When I first drove the car it would quit on me at red lights and in parking lots, it only seemed to do it at low idle speeds. I live on a hill with a blacktop road and I had to give it a lot of gas just to pull the hill it was missing so bad. The plug wire had a lifetime warranty on them so I replaced them and it stopped quitting on me but I still had a bad miss at random but not as bad it would just be like hard jerks. I added sea foam fuel injection cleaner and had the fuel filter replaced. The mechanic checked the spark plugs and he said they were like new AC Delco. I also cleaned the MAF Sensor (the mechanic told me to and how) because the engine did not run steady at idle and it seemed to work that, but not the miss. Could my problem be the plug wires? They are carquest brand 7mm wires.
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My 1995 Buick Regal seems to loose gas pressure. Have had several repairs done, fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter and nothing seems to work. It seems that the repair shops are guessing at the problem. Sometimes it even stalls out completely but usually starts back up.
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Here over the last week or so I've noticed my car start to have a bumpy ride around 35-42 ish mph, and around 65-70 ish mph. It feels worse probably around that 40 range, and seems to be even more pronounced during acceleration. It's not a super high frequency or anything, maybe just a couple hundred HZ. I have been driving it considerably more over the last month with my new job (around 140 miles a day, mostly highway/interstate driving). I've got an oil change/ fluids checked about 3 weeks ago or so.
2000 buick regal ls ......
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I just picked up a 1991 Buick Regal for a good deal, but already the repair costs to get this thing up to speed are mounting :
Right now I'm dealing with all four tires losing pressure. The 24 year old car still has its original wheels (15 inch aluminum) and I'm assuming that they are losing pressure at the seal. The tires are only about a year old and the stems look okay, so do you think I'm on the right track?
There is one strange part to all of this: The vehicle with its equipped tires is rated at 30 PSI and if I fill them to 30 they are all down about five pounds within a few hours or after a drive. However, they do not lose more than or much more than 5 PSI. The front tires lose more air and lose it faster, but the lowest I've seen them is 23. Is only losing a few pounds of air and not going flat evidence of a seal leak or am I in the twilight zone?
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I have a 2001 buick regal with the odometer lights out. How do I fix this? Do I have to take the dash off to get to the light?
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I have a 2000 Regal LS that has no heat. The cooling system is full of water. The heater hoses are warm. The fan blow lots of air and the speeds can be changed by the heater controls. The heater controls light up and you can change the fan speeds. My guess is the control doors are not working. What should I check to figure out what is wrong.
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my 1995 buick regal does not have a spark, and I have had 2 mechanics look at it. The sereptine belt broke while I was driving, I believe it was because the water pump was bad and locked up. the belt got wrapped up in the crank pulley and I removed it. The AC has not worked in a really long time so I do not think that it is that pulley. It is not getting a spark. I have replaced the water pump, and the car sounds like it wants to start but it is getting no spark to it. I have had the crank sensor tested and the coil something. none of those seems to be the problem. some one suggested that it is the computer brain. I suggested that it was the timing. Though I do not really know. the battery is good so i know it is not that. and it has fuel. and i know that the engine is getting fuel. I know that the spark plugs are not getting spark (tested with a screwdriver in the socket on metal) So what is wrong with it.
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My Regal has no dash lights, I checked the 7.5 amp fuse inside car and it is good.
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I have a 1995 Buick Regal, with a 3.8L engine. When I start the car sometimes it rough idles and I have to give it a lot of gas and then it runs fine. This is completely random. Sometimes it runs just a little rough, other times really rough. The rough idling when starting the car happens about 1 out of 25 times. Sometimes when this happens I get a check engine light, most of the time not. When I am driving around I also will randomly get a check engine light, but I can't tell anything common to it. It has come on while braking, while coasting with foot off the gas and brake, normal city driving, highway driving. Also my CEL always turns off when I turn off the car and doesn't come back when I restart the car. Always.
I haven't been able to figure out what is wrong and since my car is transition OBD1 to OBD2 I can't use a OBD2 code scanner (it is an OBD1 port), nor will shorting the pins in my OBD1 type port give me codes. Being this the case I took it to a local mechanic and they scanned the computer and said they got 16 error codes. They reset the codes but couldn't get the CEL to come back on. I took it drove it for a couple of days the light came back on so I took it back to the shop and they got 18 codes out of it, but they were mostly different, with some of them giving the opposite readings of before (O2 sensor high one time, then low the next check). They said they didn't know what was going on but wanted 3-4 hours to diagnose the PCM (Powertrain control module) and would probably replace the PCM (~500 on top of the diagnostic fee). That was a bit much for me, so I took the car back.
The things I have checked are fuel pressure (seems fine at idle and revving the car in park)Vacuum is 19 and when I rev quick it drops to zero or so then up to 25 and slowly goes back to 19 (I think that means vacuum is ok). I put the gauge in the O2 sensor before the CAT and I didn't read any pressure, so I think the CAT is ok.I put on a new fuel pressure regulator, and a new fuel filter. I got the same PCM at a Pick-n-pull place and put it is my car 3 days ago. Yesterday I got a check engine light while driving again. The mechanic will charge me to check the codes, but I think it is just doing the same thing as always. I am sort of at a loss as what to do. I though it I was to dive around with a scanner hooked up and the light went on then I could see what the sensors were doing when all the trouble codes fire. I was looking at the Actron CP9190, but it doesn't log the data stream for OBD1 cars, only for OBD2.
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