1986 Buick Century Sputtering and kicking

THEGREENFURY

MEMBER
1986 BUICK CENTURY
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
90,000 MILES

Not 100% on the engine specs I listed, but here is my problem.

When idling I get a very small sputter every few seconds. When accelerating it starts to sputter and shake really badly.

Saturday, November 28th, 2009 AT 2:16 AM

3 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Do you have a check engine light and when was the last tune-up?

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Saturday, November 28th, 2009 AT 2:29 AM

THEGREENFURY

MEMBER
2 POSTS

This just started happening on my way home tonight, so posting here was sort of a knee jerk reaction. Thanks for the quick reply!

I am a few months behind on an oil change, at least, so tomorrow i'm going to take is somewhere for that and tell them what's up. I saw some references to a "coil pack" on other sites, that gave some people similar problems when damaged. As you can maybe tell, i'm not much of an expert.

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Saturday, November 28th, 2009 AT 2:49 AM

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Here's your probable causes:

Dirty fuel injectors (cleaning the injectors often fixes this).
Bad MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor
Bad TPS (throttle position) sensor
Bad or dirty MAF (mass airflow) sensor
Low fuel pressure (leaky fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump)
Vacuum leaks (intake manifold, vacuum hoses, throttle body, EGR valve)
Bad gasoline (fuel contaminated with water or too much alcohol)

Sometimes, what feels like a hesitation is actually ignition misfire rather than lean misfire. The causes of ignition misfire may include:

Dirty or worn spark plugs
Bad plug wires
Weak ignition coil
Wet plug wires

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Saturday, November 28th, 2009 AT 3:32 AM