Buick - Regal :: 1996 - Sulfur Smell - Rough Idle?
Feb 10, 2011
I own a 1996 Buick Regal with 132k miles on it, 3.1L six cylinder. The other day I was doing some general maintenance and noticed that the exhaust smelled like sulfur (rotten eggs). Now, I am loosely familiar with the causes of such a thing but not well enough to diagnose it properly the first time. The car has been idling rough since I got it (almost a year ago now), I have a feeling that it could be the O2 sensor causing the rough idle and the sulfur smell but I am not completely sure. I should have one of those fancy three-part injector cleaners done?
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My 2003 F150, 5.4L has been having some rough idle/misfires issues both at idle and under load.
I have fixed one big vacuum leak, replaced the PCV valve, new sparkplugs, seafoam and heet in the gas, replaced fuel filter, tested the fuel injector resistance. Coolant levels have not changed. The truck burns about a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so. The white exhaust is heavier than condensation, but it comes and goes. The rough idling comes and goes as well, and it usually happens under load and the CEL flashes.
The codes I get are random cylinders, po303, po308, po171, po174 were the most recent but there have been other cylinders as well. I clear the codes after each attempt to fix it and they come back different.
I notice that there is a small exhaust leak that drips water just behind the engine, and when I shut down the truck a lot of water will pour out of an area just behind the cab on the passenger side as well as out of the bottom of the muffler (small hole, looks drilled).
Usually the rough idle occurs after filling up the tank, but from different stations so I do not think it would be watery gas. I use Heet every fill up as well. Also, there is a sulfur smell after the rough idling occurs (catalytic converter?).
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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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I have a 95 Buick Regal, V6 3.8 Liter. The symptoms are the following: stuttering idle. And lack of response at times when I try to accelerate. Like sometimes I'll be driving on the highway, and having no problems. Then I'll be going up a hill at around 55 mph, and then the car will shudder as I try to maintain a speed of 55 mph. So I have to ease off the accelerator and slow down. At first I thought this was a transmission problem, but I am guessing it's the same problem that causes my choppy idle.
So I had this acceleration problem on the highway when I was going up a hill. And a weak idle. These problems have been going on for several months now. They were annoying, but didn't seem that serious. Then all of a sudden, on a rainy day, the car was really responding poorly to acceleration at all speeds. I was able to drive around, but I couldn't count on the car responding right away when I hit the gas pedal. And the car would shudder at times. Then, I didn't drive the car for a few days, and then it was dry, no rain, and the car ran better. So I am thinking humidity makes the problem worse.
I have also noticed over the past few months, that the car runs best when I start it up after a few days of not running it. Then if I drive the car a few miles and let it sit for about 2 hours or so, it would idle weakly when I would start it up again. The car's been doing that for several months now, but it wasn't really affecting the drivability or the response of the car when I hit the gas pedal.
Now it's gotten much worse. So, I've already replaced the following items myself to no avail: mass air flow sensor, oxygen sensor, and egr valve. I am guessing the next thing to fix is the pcv valve. But I also think it might be the fuel pump. My first guess though is the pcv valve. What else could it be? And is there any easy way to test to see if the fuel pump is going bad? Or should I just take out the pcv valve and see if it looks bad?
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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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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 own a 2001 Buick Century Limited that has 208k miles on it. A couple days ago I started the car up at a friends house and noticed that it had a loud rough idle and that the check engine light came on. When I drove the car home, the CEL would flash when I accelerated and I could smell something burning. When I released the gas pedal and coasted, the flashing CEL would return back to a solid state but I could still smell the burning. When I would accelerate, the CEL would start to flash again. Whenever I was stopped at a stop sign, the flashing CEL would again be solid and there would be a loud rough idle along with the same burning smell. Am I looking at an engine replacement or an easy fix? One problem or could it be multiple problems?
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How long does it take to change a crankshaft sensor on a 96 Buick regal custom 3.8L anything else I should change while changing that?
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My 96 Buick Regal acts like it is out of gas after driving for about 10 min. Takes awhile to start, then runs rough if at all. After it sits, it runs fine again for about 10 min. I changed fuel filter, fuel pressure sensor and fuel pressure regulator.
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I can't get my passenger door open. The car has electric door locks, they are working, the door does have a key, it works, both handles seem ok, but the door does not unlatch. I can't get the inside panel off since it is closed. I'm considering trying pop a lock???
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Greetings from the desert of the SW. I have a 1995 Buick Regal I inherited from my Mom when she passed away several years ago. It had low mileage at the time so when things started going wrong, I replaced things like a rusted gas tank, head gasket, thermostat, and belts and the car got me from the Midwest to the Southwest. It now has 105K miles and I've started to smell antifreeze when I drive. The temperature gauge needle will move from the middle line towards hot but never all the way to hot when the car is idling.
As soon as I get moving again, the temperature indicator moves back down to the middle line of the gauge. The anti-freeze level in the 'jug' is fine and the level in the radiator is ok too. I'm wondering if there might be a problem with the thermostat? Unfortunately I live in an area where there aren't any "real" car mechanic garages to take it to for a check up. I'm planning a trip to Phoenix in a couple of weeks which is 5 hrs away. Since antifreeze isn't pouring out of somewhere, I'm going to drive it and hope I make it there and back again.
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I own a 2000 Buick Regal, and have recently come across a gasoline smell while driving. While taking a longer drive, I realized that it would heavily smell like gasoline when I would go from park or from a stop. It really makes me nervous to drive my car not knowing what could be causing this problem. What is going 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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I have a 96 buick regal custom. I tried to program a keyless fob through the trunk it dint work and now my lock buttons on the inside of my car don't work but yet they automatically lock and unlock when I turn on the car when I go into and out of park gear.
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1991 Buick Regal. I'm driving at night a few days ago and all of a sudden the lights on the instrument panel go out. The headlights are still on and the radio is still playing.
So I click the headlights on and off and the instrument panel lights come back on. The next night this happens again. This time I just give the headlight switch a little jiggle and they come back on. Tonight they go out again, jiggle the switch and they come back on. They go right back out. Jiggle the switch again and they're on.
I drive for another five minutes and now I smell plastic burning; it's the typical electrical/wire short smell. I turned the interior lights on and there was no visible smoke.
I'm going to try and pull the dash tomorrow and see what's going on in there, but they want $400 for an OEM replacement switch! I found some used ones online, but I'd have to get them mailed from a junk yard for about $50 bucks.
So I'm wondering, is there a easy/cheap way to rig a headlight switch in the interim so I don't have a fire in this thing? I don't understand why a headlight switch has so many prongs on the connector.
The only caveat is that the guy who had this car before me rigged the ignition through the headlights (I was told as some kind of security feature?) so that the car will not crank unless the headlights are on. Maybe/hopefully some shoddy wiring on that is just causing an arc.
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2001 hyundai Elantra 97000 mi. perfect on Thurs. Engine light flicker, sulfur smell, rough running, low power on Friday
First thought / hope, Bad gas? Had Filled up on Weds.... I added dry gas and FI Cleaner.
Second thought / fear Cat. Converter
Third . .. . ???
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Ok, my 1996 Buick Regal is acting up. I got a CEL, which was a P0306 (Cylinder #6 misfire), took the car to my shop, and they diagnosed as a faulty Ignition Control Module. Fast Forward, a day later, the car now has a hard start problem and throwing the same code, plus a P0102 Mass Airflow Sensor.
So my questions are:
1) Could a faulty ICM cause a single cylinder misfire, did they just replaced a random part? I would think a bad ICM would a multiple misfire considering on this car each coil controls 2 cylinders.
2) Are the two codes related? ie fix one, and the other would go away? or are they separate issues?
3) What could be wrong with my car?
This mechanic has been in my family for years, however, I'm not very pleased that a day later, my car seems to have more problems than before. Am I being too harsh?
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My son is about to purchase his first car. A 98 Buick Park Regal. Feels like it idles rough, and has a little hang-up when it shifts. Seller claims it's due to needing a transmission mount replaced. Does this sound viable?
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2001 Buick Regal , 125000 miles ..
A couple weeks ago I notice that my car has started making some noise and has become a rough drive. Whenever I rev, especially between 0-30 mph, its like a mini jackhammer, or a sputtering/rumbling sound when I drive.
What it could be, and what I should do?
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1991 Regal, 3800 v6.
So here's an interesting observation. When i turn the ignition to ON, I hear no sound nor feel any vibration from the fuel pump. Is there any scenario where a fuel pump fails to prime yet kicks into gear after a start? So, I've got rough idles and misfires on cold starts. Before I start replacing parts my diagnostic plans is as follows:
Remove and inspect spark plugs.
Inspect and test starter coil/distributor (still have to research how to do this)
Test resistance on fuel injectors.
Test pressure drop on fuel rails.
Test compression for possible small head leak.
I'm wondering, if I do have a tiny head leak that is letting in a drip or two of coolant after hours of the engine sitting, will I be able to see this on the gauge doing a compression test? I've never done one before and still need to buy a gauge, but maybe I'm better off just doing the other tests and if they all check out I can be certain it is a minor head leak.
My assumption is that I have a leaking injector; just trying to do things the proper way.
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The equipment:1995 Buick Regal Custom 3.8
I noticed a year ago that my car would randomly stall out coming into work after a 20-25 minute drive. It then started to idle really high, very rarely. So i cleaned the throtle body, new air filter, new fuel filter, sparks, and wires. This is about where my expertise ends.
Its seemed better, however, it would act up now and again (stall) but I was fine with it.
Recently I have noticed that the car idles really high 1.5 in drive (compared to 900) and 2k in park after I have drove for 20-25 mins. So I put the computer to the car and all I have is transmission error codes which I have had since I owned the car at 80,000 miles and I am now to 160,000 miles. This car has been pretty good to me because it starts, goes forward, and backwards! What else can you really ask for. A better idle maybe?
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