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Will crank but won't start

Tiny
JENADZIURDA
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 CHEVROLET LUMINA
  • 109,500 MILES
96 Lumina sputtered then died while at a traffic light, will not start, and leaking gas from around the engine. If you crank it more than a few times a little cloud of white smoke comes out the exhaust. It is also leaking fuel from the line or somewhere close to it. It was running great and gave me no warning signs. Any ideas as to what this could be? Any help would be appreciated.
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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 AT 2:16 AM

6 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,758 POSTS
Any fuel leak is a fire hazard. Be careful and find it first. Next, the white smoke sounds like coolant is getting into the combustion chamber. Check for evidence of coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant. You may have a bad intake gasket or head gasket.
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 3:32 AM
Tiny
JENADZIURDA
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I got under the car today and found where it was leaking from. I took off the air filter housing and found my air filter half sopping with fuel and a little bit of fuel in the plastic housing as well. Then I detached the intake hose connecting to the air filter and it was full of fuel. I researched a bit online and think it may be the pressure regulator but do not want to replace it if it won't fix the problem. I have a family member that is a mechanic but I'd like to find out if I can do it myself before having it towed over there. Any help is appreciated.
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 6:10 PM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,761 POSTS
Pull the vacuum hose off the regulator and if it has any fuel in it, the regulator is bad. It would have fouled the plugs too if that's the case.
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 6:43 PM
Tiny
JENADZIURDA
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
The vacuum line had some fuel dripping out of it. (It is the small hose that detaches easily from the top correct?) If that is the case could I fix this myself easily by just buying a new regulator and installing or is there more to it?
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 6:54 PM
Tiny
JENADZIURDA
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I also checked the plugs and they look perfectly fine.
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 7:00 PM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,761 POSTS
If you had that much fuel in the intake, I would have expected fouled plugs but if there is fuel in the vacuum line, the regulator is bad.
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 AT 7:23 PM

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