Guest nevarmore Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 '87 buick with 3.8L Car won't restart after short hops. I'll be out running errands, drive less than a mile or two shut the car down. When I come back shortly later to restart it, it won't start. Battery is good and the starter turns it over nice and strong. It did this once last friday and sorted itself out and behaved for (oddly enough) a week until I drove another short hop. It also has stalled and immediately restarted once or twice. These problems seemed to start after a cold snap. I know its either ignition or fuel. The spark plugs are good, the tab has a nice ash grey color, the elctrode is dk. grey or black and the insulator is just a little bit brown on the end. It has a full tank of gas and had a bottle of injector cleaner run thru it last week. All the fluids are topped off, p/s is a bit dark but thats an unrelated problem. Driver thinks its ignition rather than fuel because of how it dies. It just cuts out like it was shut off, no sputtering, no lurching, no odd noises. He should elaborate more. AutoZone seems to thing its an ignition module that is old and is having heat issues. It gets hot on the short hop and then needs to cool all the way back down before I can restart. Ideas??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye1647545503 Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 sounds like zone might be right this time. Sounds like you are loseing spark when warm. Plugs are stil clean becouse when it is running is running right when it gets hot it just stops so it can't fowl plugs and the wet unburned fuel drys before you pull plugs. If the car is not throwing codes I would start with the module (and coils if you can afford, saves time and headaches later) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 Try to dissconnect the tempature sensor on the thermostat housing, this will put the motor a default setting. See if it starts then. What happens at times is that the sensor gets out of calabration so to speak. And it leans out the motor thinking it's hot when it ain't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevarmore Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 Damn I wish I read Desperados post before shelling out for and replacing my Ignition module and coilpack. Oh well, if it acts up again I'll try that sensor. If its not ignition, that means its bad wiring or fuel. Both of which seem to be a pain in the ass to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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