My son has a '99 Grand Prix GT 3800 n/a with just under 100k miles. Things were fine when he started off to work which is mostly expressway. After exiting the expressway, the car stalled at a stop sign (about 20 minutes drive time). It started right up, but had little power. He managed to sputter his way to work about a mile from there. Now, the vehicle will not stay running. It kicks right over, but immediately dies. If the pedal is put to the floor, it will sputter a bit longer, but still dies. He changed the O2 sensor last week, plugs and wires today after the problem started. A couple of terminals on the coil packs were rusted, that needed to be cleaned up.

Removing the plugs indicated they were fuel soaked. The O2 sensor was removed and found to be coated with carbon (black rather than usual light brown). The original was put back in. Compression is good (finger test), the fuel pump can be heard pressurizing the system, and it is getting spark, however the spark is weak and a gold color, rather than the usual strong, bluish/white I'd expect. There are no codes stored. Any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated.

BTW, I'm newly signed up, however I've been a lurker for about 9 months. The site is great, useful, informative and fun!

At first i was going to suggest manifold problems, but you may have a leaky injector, or somethign to do with the fuel system no doubt. FPR may have gone out, or your PCM may be wonky. Maybe resetting it (pull battery out for over 30 min) will fix that. otherwise check for codes if you can, any autozone, etc should do it for free.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that he had disconnected the battery. It was probably disconnected for 6 or more hours. I also checked for codes, there are none. I did find a post in another forum where there were similar symptoms, although he said he had no spark. Cause was a blown ECM fuse. I'll check that, and may have to wait until Monday to see about a used computer. I was also thinking possibly the ignition control module, but it would seem that would throw a code. Thanks for your quick response.

99? Not supercharged? Is this the leaky FPR recall from the factory that blows the manifold apart?

that'* right, you should go to the nearest GM dealer ASAP and get inspected.

Get that in ASAP! This should be a factory recall, and no money out of your pocket. Especially if the plugs are fouled with what seems like fuel. Be VERY careful with the car in the meantime. Towing would be the best option. There are a couple posts regarding the recall. This is the most recent:



http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...gulator+recall

Thanks guys. I headed out to "B.F.E." where his car is again today and this was what we found. As he wanted to get the car running, we decided to "bite the bullet" and picked up a fuel pressure regulator at Autozone. The old one did not have a manufacturer listed, but was stamped with "Made in Germany" so it likely is not the Delphi regulator. Putting the new regulator in seems to have helped with the fuel soaked plugs, but it still does not start. It acts as if it wants to - but quickly stalls out. It did run for a short time, but it surged as if trying to find the proper idle speed for about a minute, then died and went back to the same symptom of firing up roughly and quickly dying.

A visual inspection of the upper intake manifold does not reveal any problems and no unusual sounds occurred when the problem developed. The coil packs were found to have rusted terminals, so those were replaced. The spark now appears stronger, and the plugs are showing where the carbon is slowly burning away. Would the FPR problem in the recall cause a no start situation?

Recent part replacements, either as P.M. or working on this problem are: Plugs (AC double platinum), premium wires, coil packs, PCV valve, O2 sensor, fuel filter, oil change (no indications of antifreeze contamination), air filter and ICM. A problem that he says he'* experienced since he bought the car used about 6 months ago was the surging at start up until the idle settled (RPMs up and down) after about 20 seconds. Also, what was noticed yesterday was the the traction contorl showed off, and could not be turned on, but that went away today. Don't know if related or not. Fuses are good, and fuel pump relay was bypassed to eliminate the possibility of problems with the fuel pump resistor. Still no codes stored in the computer.

If you think there may already be unseen damage done to the intake, we'll get it towed to the dealer...the only option as it can't be driven there, as it won't start.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

Got the car back from the dealer today. The problem was the MAF sensor. Apparently not defective enough to set a code, but bad enough to keep the car from starting. The checked for recalls while they were at it, and said there were none for his car. I hope that they're right - I think we've heard that story before. Thanks again for your help.