Well of course it happens at the worst possible time. I am 200 miles from home on a work assignment. Been having some fuel pump noise, getting noticeably worse last night. I planned to order parts tomorrow and fix it ASAP. But no...this morning the valet guy at the hotel got in to bring the car down from parking garage, and when he turned the key there was a BIG bang under the hood. I opened the hood to find the engine cover blown off, and the intake blown in half. Car ran great when parked last night..What the hell happened? The explosion happened as soon as the key went to the ON position. FPR problems or what? A buddy is coming to haul it home for me, and I am going to attempt to fix it myself as it looks like an expensive deal..Anybody have any ideas what happened or waht I might be in for?

thanks in advance.

Mike

Would this be an intake failure, possibly added onto by a backfire?

A guy on the Buick Regal site had this happen to him. It was caused by a backfire through the intake. My recollection was that the probable cause was a leaky injector that left a pool of gas in the intake that ignited upon startup. I might be able to find the link...

It'* posted here already. Not sure where.....

Here is the link:

http://www.regalgs.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9749

Looks almost identical to what you describe.

Thanks guys for all the input. So I am going to buy a new intake from the eBay guy for $125. How much work is it? Do I need the shop manual to get it done? I am thinking a leaky injector might have puddled some fuel. Car has 110K, but is in outstanding condition. I bought it new. So, I think I'll just go thru the whole fuel system (fuel pump time anyway) maybe replace the injectors and FPR? All that plus my new MSD coils and wires and some new plugs and it should go another 110K.

Mike

You might check with your local dealer. They may repair it for free (that was the case for the guy in the link I posted). Sounds like this is a little more common than I would have thought. Anyway, it can't hurt to ask...

As I suspected, the fuel pressure regulator went south, flooding the intake with fuel which caused explosion when cranked. I bought a Dorman intake off eBay for $115 and put it on. Pretty easy really, only took about 2 hours. I decided to do a lot of other stuff while i was getting dirty. Replaced FPR of course, and also changed hoses, serp belt, PCV valve. Installed new Delco platinum plugs, MSD coils and 8.5 wires. Big difference in driveability, much smoother. Car runs great! I also finally got around to replacing noisy fuel pump. I ordered a pump from gmpartsdirect.com and they sent the wrong one. Guess I should have checked before taking the car apart. Had to buy one at retail from local dealer.

Anyway, the Dorman intake seems to be very high quality and is obviously more robust than the factory stocker. Documentation even says it is strengthened to withstand backfire.

Now all I gotta do is find a new engine cover. Mine is blown to pieces!

Hopefully good now for another 110K miles.

Engine cover just keeps that puppy too hot. If you get a new one, mod it

GM has a recall to reflash the PCM to avoid this exploding intake.
They do not recommend starting the car with hood open before the
upgrade. Its very dangerous.
Look for TSB 97-C-02 on the NTSB web site.