1989 Buick LeSabre stalling

[mmeyer]

Hey Everyone,

I have an '89 Buick LeSabre Limited with a 3.8L and today it started stalling while driving and while sitting at a stop. My wife had it stall on her and she could not get it started and eventually the battery went dead. I went after to work and jumped it and it started right up. I was able to drive it home luckily. When I got home it started again and again but would die after a bit.

I checked the codes by jumpering the connectors and I got nothin'! All I got was 12's which I understand means nothin'.

Any ideas. I was thinking fuel pump or maybe if I'm lucky, fuel filter. Any way for me to check these two myself?

Thanks in advance.

[Ebiz]

Alternator?

[Macgyver55]

Pretty tough guess without a code, but maybe a bad crank sensor, mass air flow sensor or a sticking egr valve?

[mmeyer]

Alternator is good as is the battery. I had considered the crank sensor but not the others. How can I check those?

Thanks for the help so far.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The first thing I would do is check for spark when it doesn't start. If there is no spark then I would be suspicious of the crank sensor also. Also does it have 3 individual coils or one coil pack with 6 posts?

[Macgyver55]

Years ago, I ran into a 90 Chev that drove me crazy for a few days. Sometimes it would die and restart, often it would die and not restart until a short while later. Every time I thought I figured it out, I'd drive it a while and it would do it again. I tested the crank sensor, mass air flow and everything else I could think of, finally it died and wouldnt restart. I towed it home and ended up finding an intermittently shorted injector that was shutting down one of the "quad drivers" in the computer. Luckily, that time it stayed shorted or I might still be looking.

[Jeremy airjer W]

2.8 liter Macgyver55?

[Macgyver55]

In 1990 it was a 3.1, I think thats when they bumped it up.