1996 Chevrolet Lumina driveability and emissions

MIKE2016

MEMBER
1996 CHEVROLET LUMINA
3.1L
6 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
185,000 MILES

While driving the car slowed dowand suddenly stopped running, when I looked at the dash there were no signalsto indicate what the problem was. The "$ervice Engine Soon" light has been on for nearly 8months, so I had a new control module, spark plugs and wires, pcv valve, air filter and thermostat installed, yet the car will turn over but will not start, and the "Service Engine Soon" light remains on. Is the problem, a bad fuel pump?
My second question is, is there access to the fuel pump behind the rear seat or through the trunk base area under the rug.

1 Reply

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,761 POSTS

You can't have any idea what the problem is until you do some testing.

All "crank, no start" conditions are approached in the same way. Every engine requires certain functions to be able to run. Some of these functions rely on specific components to work and some components are part of more than one function so it is important to see the whole picture to be able to conclude anything about what may have failed. Also, these functions can ONLY be tested during the failure. Any other time and they will simply test good because the problem isn't present at the moment.
If you approach this in any other way, you are merely guessing and that only serves to replace unnecessary parts and wastes money.

Every engine requires spark, fuel and compression to run. That's what we have to look for.

These are the basics that need to be tested and will give us the info required to isolate a cause.

1) Test for spark at the plug end of the wire using a spark tester. If none found, check for power supply on the + terminal of the coil with the key on.

2) Test for injector pulse using a small bulb called a noid light. If none found, check for power supply at one side of the injector with the key on.

3) Use a fuel pressure gauge to test for correct fuel pressure, also noticing if the pressure holds when key is shut off.

4) If all of these things check good, then you would need to do a complete compression test.

Once you have determined which of these functions has dropped out,
you will know which system is having the problem.