Took the GN out this morning...died and won't start

[JeffW]

My 87 GN has been running great for several years without any issues. This morning I took it for a short errand. I was cruising along, no WOT runs or anything.

Suddenly the car just stalled. The GN was running smooth as silk, then it just died.

All the connections seemed tight. I also check the hot wire to the fuel pump, and then bypassed the hotwire.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Check the fuses, battery connection, any wires that might have grounded out and check for fuel pump pressure while starting.

 

[SlickTR]

Does it do anything at all when you try to start? Mine did the same thing yesterday. Got a jump and it fired up and two minutes later just died again. It was the battery. Never had a battery just go like that before. Fired right up at the house then after driving for a while the battery was just went completely dead and would not hold a charge. Pulled the Altenator and battery, went to the Autozone down the street, the altenator was good battery was toast.

 

[JeffW]

Could it possibly be the crank sensor?

 

[SPOOLN]

is your fuel pump coming on? it could be the crank sensor. I had one go out without notice..

 

[JeffW]

The fuel pump is coming on. I've got a FP gauge and it's going to about 42psi.

The car is turning over, but not cranking. Probably the crank sensor.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Check the rotor in the cam sensor.

 

[JeffW]

Check the rotor in the cam sensor.

Chuck,

If the rotor in the cam sensor is in the incorrect position, would'nt the car run very rough as opposed to not starting at all? The car just simply died while I was driving.

If it is the crank sensor, do I just need the sensor, or do I need the bracket too?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Scott231]

If the ecm does not see the cam signal at startup, it will not begin the fueling procedure (if the ecm loses the signal while running, it goes into batch fire mode).

Simply connect any scan tool to verify that you are getting a crank signal. If not, all you have to purchase is the sensor and re-use your old bracket.

 

[turbows6]

It's possible it is the cam sensor, but probably not, because it would have thrown a check engine light and run... until you shut the engine off then it wouldn't have started again. It's probably the crank sensor for it to have such an abrupt stop, or possibly a bad wire connection.

 

[Thumper]

How bout spark, do you have any spark at the wires, A bad ign module can do this also intemitant or all the sudden.

Thanks
Bill

 

[ChavoLC2]

Temp sensor

Seen the temp/coolant sensor on driver's side of intake manifold go bad. The engine would turn over had plenty of fuel but no spark. Cost 11 bucks installed it and car turned over and started immedeately. Hope it's that simple, sounds crazy but if the ecm doesn't see this sensor it won't allow engine to START.(NO SPARK) You might try it before you start throwing money at cam sensor or ignition module..

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Not sure how the ECM doesn't use the cam sensor for start up as both my rebuilt motors wouldn't start until I redegreed the cam sensor with Caspers Cam Tool. Both cams were WAY out and the car wouldn't start until I got them back in spec.

 

[Rodney87GN]

How bout spark, do you have any spark at the wires, A bad ign module can do this also intemitant or all the sudden.

Thanks
Bill

+1...if you don't have any spark check the CCCI fuse first. If it's blown, then you get no spark. Then you have to figure out why it blew.

 

[JeffW]

I got a scanmaster on the car. I set the scanmaster to show the RPMs while attempting to start it.

The RPMs show 000. Isn't this an indicator of a bad crank sensor?

The FP went from 0 to 42psi on the same attempt to start.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[BOSS 6]

It sounds like the crank sensor or,maybe its the coil-pack my car did the same exact thing about two years ago took the coilpack mogule off of a friends car and put it on mind and it fired right up.

 

[JeffW]

Yeah,

It could be the coil pack. I've had 2 coil packs go bad. When they did, The car didn't die at all, it ran very rough, sputtering and missing.

The car was running very smooth and suddenly died.

Hopefully it's the crank sensor:wink:

 

[JeffW]

Well,

Greg Friend (MeanBuicks) came out today to troubleshoot the issue with my car. We first replaced the crank sensor, thinking that was the most likely suspect. It still didn't turn over.

Greg broke out the Buick manual and we began going through the no start troubleshooting tree.

Finally figured out no spark was getting to 2 of the cylinders. Was it the coil pack or ignition module? Greg figure out the ignition module was sending a signal to the coil pack, but the coil pack wasn't send out spark.

Picked up a coil pack, replaced, and now it's running like a champ again

A big thank you to Greg for all of his help!

Thanks,
Jeff