1990 Buick Electra cranks over but won't start

GRAMMIE

MEMBER
1990 BUICK ELECTRA

Other Category problem
1990 Buick Electra 170000 miles

Hello! I really hope that someone can help me or at least send me in the right direction- I just bought this car 3 days ago I drove it about 50 miles before I bought it- in both day and night conditionsi it ran great- then drove a good 70 miles the very next day with no problems at all- then went to drive next day and now it will not start- it cranks over as though it wants to but won't- I also live in Minnesota and it has been in the -30/40 degrees in the past 2 days and am wondering if that has anything to do with it? But like I said it drove wonderful for the first 2 days and now nothing! Please I hope you can help in some form
THX Desperate Grammie

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,885 POSTS

Hi:You need to check for spark and fuel. Any mechanic could help you. If you want to check for spark yourself, take a good spark plug and remove one of the sparkplug wires from a sparkplug on the engine. Place the good plug in the plug wire and place the plug against a good ground like the engine block, exhaust manifold. Now have a helper crank the engine. Watch at the bottom of the spark plug to see if it's sparking. If it is, you will need to move on to the fuel.

To check for fuel, you will need to have the proper tools. I suggest that you have a mechanic check for fuel pressure and fuel pump volume.

I hope this helps.

Joe