2000 Buick Century Fuel Injected Starting

JREZ

MEMBER
2000 BUICK CENTURY
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
84,000 MILES

Hi: My friend's car had ben sitting in the yard for a month while she was away. She asked me to start it. When I tried, it cranked but didn't start. I tried several times, and pumped the gas pedal a couple of times, but it still didn't start. I left it.

Next weekend I was over checking the house again and she asked me to try the car again with the remote starter. I tried twice, no luck (i later found I had to hold down the remote button til it started, but didn't know that at the time). Since the remote didn't start it, I got in and tried to key start it again. On first key turn I heard a huge noise like a "pop!" Under the hood. I opened the hood and the oil cap was gone and the plastic cover over it was cracked. I had her on the cell phone with me, told her what had happened, and she said just to leave it and she'd have her son check it.

She called last night and told me I'd blown her engine by pumping the gas pedal when I tried to start it. That it was a fuel-injected engine and I wasn't supposed to pump the pedal.
OK, maybe it doesn't help start an FI to pump it, but can it blow it up like this? Did I really ruin her car?

Thanks for your input.

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,747 POSTS

I really doubt that you caused the problem. Fuel injection doesn't work like the old carbs. In the old days, when you pumped the gas, an accellerator pump would shot gas into the engine helping it to start. With injection, you can pump it a milliion times and it doesn't pump fuel into the engine.

If I had to guess, I would say when you were trying to start it, there was no spark and fuel built up in the engine. After you tried again, it got spark and backfired. However, that rarely causes the engine to blow up.

Did they tell you why they think it blew the engine? Also, if you want my hones opinion, I feel the remote start is the problem. They are aftermarket item have been known to cause many different problems. It may have cranked the engine, but that doesn't mean the ignition was working. For it to blow the oil cap off, there had to be a lot of gas in there. If it was getting gas and spark, it would have started for you the first time.

For what it's worth, that is my opinion. Again, I would recommend having the compression tested before saying it is bad.

Let me know what you find or if you have other questions.

Joe