EDIT: Meant to post this on the main board. Mods, my apologies, please move this should you see fit.
Asking for the benefit of my boss' wallet.
'89 Olds Cutlass Supreme, 3.1 auto, 110k, sweet digi-dash. Came out one morning to find it dead despite having been a flawless runner for the past several years.
Cranks beautifully, catches VERY briefly on a cylinder or two for a fraction of a second, and dies immediately. No CEL(light still works fine). He had it towed to the local Meineke(dubbed The Beatin' Shack), and they're just throwing parts at it.
New since the death:
-battery, it was due
-good name brand copper plugs and wires, as were they
-supposedly lift pump by the Beatin' Shack, despite having plenty of fuel. Reads 34psi at the rail, so they say.
Spark and air confirmed, injectors tested to be functional. Any ideas before they rape his wallet dry? I vote for crank position sensor(as yet untested by the Beatin' Shack).
Check all the fuses and do a compression check?
This sounded similar and crank angle sensor was also suggested. Probably couldn't hurt. Did you check the timing yet?
Aha, I knew I forgot something. My one role in this was a fuse check at 4am one day.
Every fuse in the car removed and checked, all are good. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been over timing or compression yet, but from the eagerness to crank, I'd venture timing is at least close. Compression is audibly strong while cranking.
No warning signs whatsoever, just a great runner until it was parked overnight last week.
Thanks, ECM!
Old saying: It takes four things for an engine to run.
Compression, fuel, ignition, and all at the right time.
Find which one is missing and go from there.
34 psi with the key on and engine off is low enough that I'm thinking fuel pump too. Should be nearly 10 psi higher, and that's before you are even running any fuel through the injectors.
In conclusion, since I hate these threads with no solution when Googling for answers, the computer was all sorts of melted down internally. Car met with the hook to Valhala, someone's going to get a great 3.1 and digital dash at the breakers.
Thanks for the help, all!
sad. A used computer would have (possibly) fixed it cheap.
Moral here, Muffler shops are for mufflers, not driveabilty issues.
Agreed completely. Unfortunately, that area is still small town America; two repair shops, one chain, and a one man outfit that takes gravy work over diagnostics.
The car was also due for tires(I gave him four new Bridgestones I'd been sitting on for seven years), brakes, struts, ball joints, a windshield, and a little rust work. Cheap fixes(my GOD parts for those are cheap!), but a losing proposition if the new ECU didn't work out, resulting in a never-ending goose chase through wiring.
