Questions and Answers

Pontiac Bonneville Smells II Q. Vince, Hi! I have one more question for you which is related to my original question and your response. My husband removed the spark plugs and cleaned them. I SUGGESTED that he replace per your recommendation. But, after cleaning and fueling with NO ETHANOL, changing the fuel filter, air filter and adding fuel injection cleaner the car ran great for two weeks.

We then went 1½ hour each way out of town to St. Louis MO and he filled the tank with 10% ethanol. The car is again acting with the same symptoms as before with the service light on.

I suggested getting a true tune-up. Replacing the plugs and wires. He feels that he did all this already by cleaning them. Also, I begged him not to put the fuel injection cleaner in it as he had just used one two weeks prior when the original symptoms started.

Any idea if a tune-up will take care of the problem or if it is something more serious? And, can you tell me if it damages the car by over fueling? I believe in stopping the fueling when the pump clicks, while my husband will try to get every drop he can in it pushing up and down on the trunk (and then he put those fuel injection cleaners on top of an overfilled tank).

It just makes it hard when it is a shared car. As I had a reliable mechanic before we were married and of course he isn't good enough for my husband. And, I always got my cars tuned-up every fall knowing that the mechanic is not going to charge me if he didn't need to replace anything.

Just one last question and I promise to let someone else have a chance. After I e-mailed you this morning, my husband took the car to pontiac and they did a diagnostic test and said that the 02 sensor is the problem (hopefully they will tell us exactly which 02 sensor they are speaking of).

I was reading some info on your question and answer area and noticed that sometimes the problem could really be the Manifold Absolute Pressure. We have had problems with the manifold in the past (along with most Pontiac dealers) I was upset when I first wrote you last month so I sent a e-mail to Pontiac about owning up to the fact that they know the cheap manifolds are bogus and they responded quickly.

I did ask for a recall as I care about other consumers too. And left it that we thought our problem had been solved and maybe WAS NOT the manifold this time. Do you think it could be the manifold? If so, I plan on pursuing it with Pontiac.

Thanks again,
Natalie

A. Well, your plugs are platinum and are supposed to last 100,000 miles. After cleaning them, how did he clean them? Most technicians use a sandblaster. Sounds to me like you should stay away from the blended fuel. Also I would pursue the intake problem if you had to pay for it out of your pocket. You were also complaining about an odor. Did this stop? What codes are stored in the PCM for the check engine light? Sounds like it's running too rich.