Dead no start condition

mrtohil · Post by **mrtohil** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:08 pm

I'm seeing if anyones seen this condition. I have a '91 GT 5spd with a 3.1L.
The first time it did this(no start) was the beginning of this week. I was on a road trip and decided to drive the Tail of the Dragon (keep in mind I had driven down to Miami from Ohio and was on my way back ). It all went well. But at the end of it (the Dragon)my car stumbled. Like someone pulled the fuel line. But it regained power, so I kept it in mind but didn't let it concern me too much. But later down the road it just completely died. All systems seemed okay. It would crank but start. But if it did start it would stumble and immediately die. I had it towed. The local shop couldn't figure out what was the problem. Good fuel pressure, spark, nothing obvious, no faults in system (except for a/c pressure switch, but that's because there's no a/c system). The next day it started fine and ran fine. I drove from Tennessee to Ohio without a hint of a problem. Go to and from work the next day and did some errands(Tues.). Go to school the following day. On the way there, on the highway, it dies on me. And so far I haven't been able to start it. Had to tow it home.
There is a new fuel filter in the car that I had replaced in Tenn. And I just installed a new ECM with the Eprom transferred with same result.
Any ideas &/or experiences about this would be very much appreciated.

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Is the fuel pump ok? Just something strange to add, I went to help my friend with a Ford truck and almost the samething happened to it. I checked everything and it was all ok, the clutch fluid was gone and Ford had a fail safe put in to kill the engine if that happened. I'm a auto trans driver so I know nothing about this kinda thing. There was someone on here(can't remember what his name was,sorry man), his computer board was bad.

1988GTU · Post by **1988GTU** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:22 am

Check the crank sensor?

Bandit · Post by **Bandit** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:54 am

^^^ I'm with him. Crank sensor. Or *MAYBE* the ignition module is intermittently dieing? My only other guess would be maybe a short in a ground wire somewhere.

My first thing would be to check the crank sensor though. Then go from there.

mrtohil · Post by **mrtohil** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:58 pm

Okay boys & girls, I figured out what it was. I was waiting for better weather so I can dedicate some time to it. I was ready to do some crouching and contorting to get to that cranksensor. I was looking at wiring diagrams and checking procedure in the repair manual. For some reason I decided to do a quick check of the fuel injectors (since the harness connector is really easy to get too). What I found was that one bank was not in spec, resistance too low. Fortunately I had an extra set of injectors and I ohmed them as well. I had four good ones. The others were lower than the rest so I didn't want to chance them. I replaced the three. And it started immediately. Runs great too.
That's it. Hope this helps anyone else with this problem.

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:15 pm

That's good news! Hey, how many miles are on your engine? Just asking, I had 213k on my 3.1.

mrtohil · Post by **mrtohil** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 3:41 pm

Around 200k+. I don't know exactly since I'm still dealing with the inop speedometer.
Also, I just rebuilt this motor. So this motor has about 4k on it. But the injectors and acessories are original. Once I get more stable in my economic situation I'll start looking into new & improved injectors.

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:55 pm

Sounds good man! What's going on with the speedo?

mrtohil · Post by **mrtohil** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:42 pm

I listed on here before about it. When I changed the transmission on this car a few years back two things happened. One, I broke the speedometer sensor on the tranny & two, the transmission had a different type of speed sensor.
A few months ago I replaced the sensor, hoping that that was all that is needed. The current transmission uses a gear type driven sensor. The original trans had an induction type sensor. So when I replaced the sensor, the speedometer is now only going up to 15mph.
I was told that what I need to do is replace the e-prom to from a cavalier that had this type of sensor. Because the sensor goes directly to the ECM. So that's what I'm dealing with.

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:48 pm

Dang man, what a pain. Sounds like you'll have it done and working right soon.

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