Last night I drove the Bonneville to town. Within 1 miles of leaving the car just died. We had it towed back home. At times the car will start and run fine. Then we shut it off and start it again it either a) won't start b) starts but runs rough and the engine surges. We can hear the fuel pump in the trunk working so I don't think that would be the problem. Unless it can work at times then other times not work because it is going bad?? Anyway does anyone have any suggestions.

Add another thing: The oil pressure gauge is high. It just goes up to 250 and stays there.

please put your trim level in your signature, we need to know what motor you have.

your oil pressure sender is bad, when they go back, they peg out. a new one is $40-50

first thing you need to do is get the car scanned, otherwise we are shooting in the dark. autozone or similar should be able to do this for free. report back here when you have the codes, if there is any.

Similar thing happened to me. It turned out to be the MAF sensor.

It is a Bonneville SE.

I can't get it to Autozone or any place like that unless I have it towed. Going to change the oil pressure sender first.

Do some basic troubleshooting first. All you know right now is that your fuel pump is turning on.

First pull the plugs and check them for anything obvious.

I'd go ahead and just replace the fuel filter. They are only a few bucks and easy to replace.

Since you can start it sometimes, but it runs rough, get it started and pull one plug wire at a time. It should get worse when you pull off a wire. If it stays the same when you pull one of them, you most likely have some ignition problem with that cylinder. If the plug, wire, and ig module check out, you could possibly have a stuck valve, rocker, pushrod, etc. and you can check that by just checking the compression with your finger over the plug hole (be sure and disconnect the pcm fuse first, so the car doesn't start).

If that doesn't give you any info, buy a can of carb cleaner, and while it is running, spray around the intake gaskets, vacuum lines, etc. If you have a vacuum leak, the rpms will increase when you spray carb cleaner on it.

If you have no luck with the above steps, then go to autozone and check out a fuel pressure gauge (and probably a vacuum gauge to double check since you are already at the store) to make sure your pump and fp regulator are working.

If none of those help anything, you are likely looking at some sensor as you have good ignition, fuel, and vacuum, which are three key things your engine needs. Then see if you can round up a scanner.

DM has good advice there.. be warned when pulling the wires with the engine running..you will get zapped.

Check for obvious items. Vacuum lines.. brake booster lines..

Was any work done to the car recently?

And just because you hear the pump running..this means nothing. Your problem could be fuel related. It takes about 40+lbs of pressure for the car to run.. and more for it to run and drive.

We replaced the oil sender unit and the oil pressure guage is working OK. We can start the car and it will run nice and smooth. But then the next time we start it runs rough and dies. We disconnected the MAF sensor while the car was running and it made no difference. WE will try to above suggestions tomorrow. Any more suggestions?

Still having problems and can't figure out what is wrong. .It starts but then either runs ruff, idling up and down and has no power or just starts and shuts off right away. Occasionally for a minute it will start and act normal. I have pulled the maf and it does not help. I put a new fuel filter on. I put another fuel pump in, not a new one I got it at the wrecking yard.On the other post a guy said something about swicthing some fuses around which I tried but nothing seems to be working. I also scanned it and it didn't show anything wrong. Help?