1995 Buick Park Avenue Car not starting

Tiny
DANAG1
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 BUICK PARK AVENUE
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 99,750 MILES
I have a 1995 Buick Park Ave, with 99,750 original miles, and today, after I filled up the tank, all of a sudded, 2 hrs later, the car cannot be started. I hear the noise of the fuel pump, it is cranking but didn't start. Any idea what can be wrong or what I should do? To me, looks like doesn't have a spark but the way things want looks sooo suspicious: started without any problems, went to fill up the tank, came back home and 2 hrs later, no start at all.
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 AT 6:15 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,758 POSTS
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.
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Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 AT 6:27 PM
Tiny
DANAG1
  • MEMBER
  • 91 POSTS
Well, I manage to fix the car today. I changed tha ignition module. Nothing. Changed the camshaft, nothing. Finally I changed the crankshaft sensor and finally the car starts! Well due to the position. Took me forever to change it!
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Friday, August 20th, 2010 AT 8:00 PM
Tiny
WRENCHTECH
  • MECHANIC
  • 20,758 POSTS
Running the tests I gave you would have saved you some money in unnecessary parts. As soon as we saw there was no injector pulse in addition to not having spark, we would have gone right to the crank sensor. That ignition module wasn't cheap and the noid light was under $10.
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Friday, August 20th, 2010 AT 8:04 PM
Tiny
DANAG1
  • MEMBER
  • 91 POSTS
I am sure you are right about the price of the parts, but considering the fact that I bought them from a junk yard and took them from cars that had a very good position to take them out, I guess wasn't that bad. I fix it myself so, no money for labor either. The only bad thing was the position on this kind of car. It is the third time, on 3 different cars, when stop starting all of a sudden and need to change that specific part: crankshaft sensor. I am guessing when similar thing will happen again, that will be the first thing to change:) Thanks for the idea/advice anyway!
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Friday, August 20th, 2010 AT 9:43 PM

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