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1994 Buick Century Rough Running When First Started

Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 1994 BUICK CENTURY
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 58,000 MILES
I have a 1994 2.2L Buick Century Custom. The car has been giving me this problem for about a month. I start my car and it idles rough. I put it in drive and it continues to idle rough. After about two minutes of driving it, it will flatten out and run great. It is not always when it is a cold start though. I will turn it off to run into a store for five minutes and the same thing will happen when I come out. Any ideas?
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 AT 12:02 PM

10 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Hi:
Has the check engine light ever come on? Als, I would suggest checking for vacuum leaks near the intake and the EGR. Look for dry rotted hoses, disconnected, or missing. Also, a hissing sound is usually a good indicator that there is a leak.

Let me know what you find, and we'll go from there.

Joe
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 AT 4:00 PM
Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I have a vaccuum gauge hooked up to my car. (Since I bought it about 9 months ago, I have had it) I have not noticed a change in the vaccuum level. Also I took the car in to the tire store where I used to work and there were no codes registered.
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 AT 5:14 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
Sorry for so many questions, but I'm trying to eliminate things. Has the vehicle been tuned reciently?

Joe
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 AT 8:35 PM
Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I haven't taken it to a shop but I put new plugs in and cleaned the throttle body. To do the distrubutor and the wires, I have to drop the engine mount a little because it is in the back of the engine. Which seemed like more pain than it was worth.
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 AT 9:55 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
I understand. And, yes it is a pain. Did you try to access the plugs from under the car? That is how I have always done it. I realize you don't have a rack to put it on, but if you could safely raise it enough to gain access, it's not too bad.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Joe
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 AT 12:07 PM
Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
It would be possible. Difficult but possible. I just wanted to know for sure if that was the problem before I undertook the project. Even though the problem is intermittent and the car runs fine after the first 2 minutes, you think the distributor or plug wires is it?
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+1
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 AT 1:40 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
If the plugs and wires haven't been replaced for a long time, it could be the problem. Keep in mind, when the car is first started, the computer runs the fuel mixture richer until the car starts to warm up. If the plugs are old, they may not be able to burn all of the fuel.

Please understand, with this type of problem, it could be many things. The problem is the computer hasn't picked up on the problem for some reason, so we don't have any hard evidence. This is one of those situations that one needs to try to make educated guesses, or wait until the problem gets bad enough to set a computer code.

Please let me know what you find. And, I wish I had an easier way to do it for you.

Take care,
Joe
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 AT 8:53 PM
Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I finally figured out what was wrong. I had a blown head gasket and anti-freeze was leaking into the cylinders. When the car stopped, the the anti-freeze would solidify onto the plugs and when it started the car would have o burn it off which caused for rough running. Just thought I would let you know what I found.
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Saturday, March 28th, 2009 AT 10:08 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,747 POSTS
I'm glad to heat you found it, but sorry to hear of the type of problem. How did you finally locate it?

Joe
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 2:21 PM
Tiny
JOHNNYLOESCH
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I realized there was no anti-freeze left in the car. My dad and I realized that must have been the only problem being that the car didn't leak anti-freeze.
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 AT 4:31 PM

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