Buick - Century :: 1991 Won't Start - Only Got A Slow Crank Like A Low Battery
Apr 1, 2013
I bought a well-used 1991 Buick Century for my son in December '12. At that point I put in a battery that was bought brand new just the month before. The car ran fine until a couple weeks ago. He tried to start it but only got a slow crank, like a low battery. I tried to jump start it, with no difference. Since the car was at his school, I asked his auto shop teacher to take a look at it. The teacher tested the battery on two different machines and determined the battery was bad. I returned it to the store I bought it at, where it was tested as working fine. I then swapped the battery from my car for his, and his battery (the one that was tested bad) started my car with no problems while my battery would not start his car. It produced the same slow crank. I talked to the shop teacher again, who pulled the starter and took both the starter and the battery to various auto parts stores. The starter tested good, but the battery was tested bad at 3 shops, and weak at a fourth. So the car is still sitting at the school, and we're at a loss. What might be causing this problem and how can we get his car running again, short of just buying another car?
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I have the GM shop manual and I have gone through the flow chart for an engine which cranks but does not start. I have confirmed that there is fuel pressure and spark, but the injectors do not fire when cranking. I have gotten to the final troubleshooting step of disconnecting the crank angle sensor connector, jumping A and B terminals on the connector, and momentarily grounding the jumper with a test light. The injectors fire as confirmed using the GM injector test light (in place of an injector). The flow chart conclusion is that the crank angle sensor is bad or misadjusted or the connector is making a bad connection. I have replaced the sensor twice and adjusted it using the GM adjustment tool. The connector terminals appear clean and undamaged. 1989 Buick Century 3.3 liter ...
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My 2004 Buick Century is parked outside, it starts up fine and runs fine every morning and anytime it sits for a period over an hour in any kind of weather including minus 25 degrees. Sometimes when I shut it off for say 15 minutes or half hour and then go to start it again it will crank over fine but not start up. I can try several times, same thing.. But then if I leave it alone for maybe another half hour and try it again it starts and runs fine. also no warning lights etc. It's like something needs to reset itself. What is causing this ?
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I have a 1991 Buick century with 160,000 miles. It wasn't driven for about a year and about 8 months ago I changed the plugs, wires, and oil and it has run great since then...until yesterday. Now, every time I slow down to come to a stop (or below 20mph) the car jumps and jerks and acts like it is wanting to lock up and stalls. It starts back up put every time I put it in drive (just drive) it stalls again. I end up having to put it in neutral, rev the engine, then put it in drive real quick. Talking to my dad, who I got the car from, he told me it used to have this same problem and that is why he quit driving it. We have a couple of theories
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I have a 1999 Gmc Truck 1500 5.0 v8. Notice my truck starting heavy..like a low battery or something. This started getting worse over the week till the point where it cranks real slow. So i bought a new battery. Installed battery and still the same issue...slow crank like it wants to lock up. So i removed starter and notice some wear on the fly wheel so i replaced flywheel. Still the same thing! So this week i bought a new starter and guess what same issue. What is cause for a slow crank.
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2003 Buick Century draining fully charged battery overnight. Have tried almost everything and cant figure it out. The high blower is not working either and I am wondering if a short in that can cause the battery to drain? Changed fuses, alternator, searched for shorts, an so on. Cannot find location of the blower.
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I have 89 buick Century custom cpe had it out on the highway last night and the Batt light started to flash intermittently. after a little while it calmed down. Had it out running around today and no problem. what should I check besides the battery terminals?
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I have a 2000 Buick Century that I cannot get to start. While my wife was driving home it started to sputter (like running out of gas) and did a little back firing. She made it home and I put in some gas (Just to make sure) and the care cranks over but will not start. I have replaced the fuel filter, checked the spark plugs and replaced the CAM Sensor. The car still will not start.
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My 03 Buick century is overheating. I changed the thermostat and the water pump. And still overheats as soon As I start driving. I am also getting when it is overheating some misfiring in cylindar 1. I am going to reflush and bleed the coolant even though it seems to be full . i dont think it is disappearing. Is it Possible i have a blown headgasket or intake manifold leak?
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2002 Buick century will sometimes not start. Seems to correlate with warmer weather and happens after long drives. I try to restart within 10 minutes of turning off and it will start and then in a few seconds the car shakes and the engine dies. I can restart multiple times, but it will always die in a couple of seconds. If I wait an hour and retry, no problem. Once someone banged on the gas tank and that solved it. Mechanic cannot diagnose problem unless it dies while he is there. Should I replace the fuel pump or could it be something else?
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Most of the time it has no problem what-so-ever, but once in a while it just doesn't start. It will turn over and over but that's it. Most of the time if I just let it sit for a few minutes (5-20) it will start right up no problem, but I've noticed when it does it often revs up as if I had my foot on the gas. (that took me a while to realize since I often touch the gas anyway.) Once it's running it runs great. The idle settles down to normal after a few seconds and the car runs as if there was no issue. It does this randomly.
I can drive it for days or hours with no problem, and then suddenly it just decides to leave me stranded. Usually i wait and it gets me home, but a couple times it didn't. I've drained the battery twice on two different occasions months apart trying it, and waiting and trying it. Both times with barely enough juice the following day to turn it over, it fired right up, rev'd the engine, then ran fine. I don't think it's an issue with fuel because on one occasion while trying to start it I laid into the peddle until I could smell gas under the hood- and it never has issue while running, only on start-up.
So far the only thing I've done is replace the spark plugs- it runs better now, but doesn't start any differently.
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I have a 1987 Buick custom 3.8L that will not run or start with the EGR valve connected to the evr selenoid. How can I verify if it is the EGR valve or the vacuum solenoid? When I connect the egr to the vacuum solenoid the valve opens all the way up and the engine stalls.
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When damp or foggy, my 1990 Buick Century 3.3 will either not start or start and idle rough. Spraying WD-40 on coil packs and wires work. I tried click and clack's method of misting water on the 3 coil packs and wires when idling, and got arching on middle coil, # 2 wire to top of coil pack. Do I need to replace that coil, or just the spark plug wires? The slight mist of water on that middle coil stalled the engine, and it would restart after WD- 40 was sprayed on the coils/ wires.
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[URL] I even pulled the same P0170 code. And what I need to do before I spend a boatload of money and wind up sleeping in my car instead of driving it to work or lack therof is to start a troubleshooting list starting from where Sabot's update left off, i dont even know where the vacuum line is that he mentions and if i sprayed carb cleaner on it would i get a jump in engine RPM or a stall as a test?
What I have done: Cleaned MAF sensor, changed fuel filter.
What I have not done: Checked all vacuum lines, Tested fuel pressure, Tested for compression issues due to blown head gasket.
there is also a puffing noise coming from the exhaust side of the engine, im gonna grab a bottle of baby powder this afternoon and test for air leaks, i dont believe it is a misfire...
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I have a 2000 Buick Century and i just recently had the fuel pump replaced because it was totally shot. Everything was fine except i realized when i started it sometimes it would crank really slowly, i thought it was the battery because the one i had in there was like 4 years old. One day it just straight up wouldn't start in a Public parking lot so i bought a new battery and it still wouldn't start. Every time i try to start it, it makes one click then a weird electric swirling sound, but wont crank at all. My buddy who has a lot of experience with cars thinks its the starter. We tried banging on it but no luck. How to confirm if this is the starter?
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The car died on me the other day at a stoplight but started up again (It resisted for a sec but then caught). Now it's taking a bit to start and sounds very faint when it finally catches and the turn over is slow. I'm no mechanic but I can replace parts. I'm just wondering if it's the fuel pump or injectors, maybe low fuel pressure. I haven't had a chance to do anything to it. Where to start?
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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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Getting the Banana ready for it's smog test appt at the shop last night (it WAS today) Check engine light had popped on and it had been starting to sputter and surge at the idle occasionally for the last few days so I took a look at the MAF and saw dirty wires. Aha I can fix that, a couple squirts of MAF cleaner, plug it back in and voila! No more light, the Banana ran down the road around the block, over the hill and through the dale like a champ. I shut her down and call it a night.
This morning, hop in and fire the Banana up like usual and all I get is a nice peppy crank over. The Banana has had a bunch (pun intended) of new parts throw at her recently... new battery, starter solenoid, plugs and fuel pump relay and fuel filter. All within the last couple of months.
Out of complete disbelief, I ground on the ignition for a little while and she finally kicked over and sputtered to life. I let her idle a couple of minutes and things seemed fine so off we go. I make it about a block before the Banana starts hiccuping and bucking like something possessed and dies.... kaput.
The Banana has a 3.0, manual transmission and at least half a tank of fuel. Long story short and a tow truck ride home again, half a day trying unsuccessfully to pull a code, any code.... nothing. She will half-heartedly cough and spastically run with ether shots and near as I can tell I'm not getting fuel to the fuel rail relief port. I'm really hoping there is some way to diagnose a faulty fuel pump without having to drop the tank and fish the damn thing out.
I'm not hearing it run when the ignition is turned on but then again I don't think I've ever heard it run. Any other things to try before I replace the pump itself???
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I have a 96 buick skylark. I just recently had the parking pawl fixed because it was broken. Now when I slow down the engine idle seems to start looping and almost stall, it in fact has once. As I slow down, and I can feel the car somewhat trying to pull forward as if its not down shifting correctly. when I finally get stopped the idle will come back up and idle normally. the car upshifts great. I know that one of my rear wheel speed sensors has a broken wire.
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If I leave my truck sit for a couple of days, the batteries are noticeably weaker. It's fine overnight, but two nights and it's slow to crank. Three and it won't start without charging the batteries. I checked for a drain last night and found that it was drawing 1.2 amps.
That seems like a lot, no?
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I first thought my issue might be the ignition switch or maybe the neutral safety switch but through some info I've come to realize that my issue appears to be from the anti theft system. I did a test where I turned key to start and backed off to run and then leave car for 10 minutes. I did this 3 times and it was supposed to go around the security system and then try to start but it didn't. I went through two trials with the same result. On the first of 3 times in each of the two trials the security light was not on but the 2nd and 3rd times it stayed on. I've heard this problem can be nearly impossible to trace and repair.
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