Questions and Answers
Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Problems
Q. Hi, Thank you for taking my question. I have a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with 130,000 miles on it. It has Air (doesn't work), P/S, P/B, 6-cylinder 3300. The motor runs great, it seems to be one of those engines that you can really trust. I replaced the battery recently because it seemed like it was working a little hard.
We do work and live in Michigan, so winter may come into play there. One morning after work the car just wouldn't start. It was cranking great, but it just wouldn't fire. It was the first time it showed any signs of not firing since I've owned it. It was a real surprise. So there I was at 3:00 a.m. 40 miles from home and needless to say I was real glad It was me and not my wife. A friend pulled up and offered a jump. I told him it wouldn't help because it was cranking really good.
I got desperate and decided that if the car was going to die so be it, so I pushed completely down on the accelerator to force a choke on the engine. (I hadn't touched the accelerator until now) The car finally caught a spark and I knew that I may take off soon. Well after several short attempts it did start. On my way home the car ran as good as ever. 15 miles down the road, or so, the lights came on and I was coasting in for an unscheduled pit stop. I thought, time for a wrecker, but when I stopped and put it in park it fired right up and off I went.
Well the happened a total of three times on my 45 mile trek home. The next day I took it out for a drive to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't. I pulled in my drive and let the engine idle, looked under the hood to see if I could see anything abnormal. Nothing. I thought I'd let the engine idle for awhile and see what happened. After 10 minutes or so the car died and wouldn't start. The next day it started right up so I pulled it into the garage and there she set's. I was hoping you could get me started in the right direction on some things to try. I do my most of my own mechanical work. Aside from the basic fuel filter (which I haven't tried yet) maybe you've heard or have run into this problem.
Thank You,
MarkA. With that many miles it could be anything! My first guess would be the fuel pump if it hasn't been replaced yet. When you floored the gas you actually put it in the "clear flood" mode which means it could have been flooded. It could also be a sign of ECM failure or ignition module.
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