1996 Buick Riviera supercharged many problems

MYKKIMBALL

MEMBER
1996 BUICK RIVIERA
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
117,000 MILES

Ok sorry about the story but I might as well list all the problems. I have a '96 buick riviera supercharged 3800 seriesII engine v6 3.8L 240HP with 117,000miles on it. Many problems with it, the car gets horrible gas mileage, accelerates slow unless you put it to the floor, spraying/hissing noise coming from under engine and a little bit of white smoke possibly leaking coolant idk, its hard to start up and dies out sometimes, rough idling, lots of white smoke and smell of gasoline coming out of the exaust, doesnt move foward when in drive unless you press the gas, check oil/check coolant lights come on for 20 mins then go off just had oil change and coolant is full. Any insight or feedback will be greatly appreciated this is my first car and dont want to put too much more money into it.

1 Reply

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

If this is what you say, the service engine light must be on unless it's missing. Have the engine scanned for codes. Most auto parts stores will do this for free. If there is a code look into fixing it or having someone do it. You might have a bad head gasket making the hissin gnoise or a radiator that is leaking. You might have a clogged converter as well. You need to run a vacuum check on this to find out though. But my guess is you have ahead gasket/intake problem.