Intermittent dying
 

Hi all,
First post here, trying to fix my son's 1992 Bonneville. Had the dreaded intermittent dying problem that I see is not uncommon. Did a lot of forum research, cleaned all the battery terminals (not bad to begin with) so attempted to replace Fuel Pump Relay. Found relays below right dash, nearest I could tell is 4th one up on right was the relay based on a forum members description of "position H". Replaced with new relay (after much grunting and muttering) and car would not start. After multiple attempts I decided to reinstall the original relay, still no luck (new relay was now warm so would indicate it was getting power). I also tried starting with relay out during swap out, to ensure right relay was removed. As expected it turned over and did not start (and now won't).

Anyway, did I somehow screw up and replace the wrong relay position and possibly damage something? I have search the internet over and have not found a drawing of either the interior or under-hood relays/fuses that would help me figure this out.

Any other ideas are welcome also.

Thanks,
Jeff

Well, I got a great relay panel picture from gtpsuprchrgd03 and along with some other posts I found determined that I did not screw anything up, but did replace the wrong relay last night (midnight...go figure). I replaced the correct relay this morning, plus cleaned up the ground rail on the passenger side (looked pretty clean), jumped the Bonnie and it started right up so at least I didn't break anything last night.

I let it run for about an hour while I cleaned it out (2 trash bags and 1 clothes bag...wow), and took it for a spin for about 20 minutes. Everything ran fine but after running at 65 for about 5 minutes it did start "skipping" (momentary loss of power) a few times, almost like spotty fuel flow, but then my turnaround exit came and it went away. I ran another 10 minutes back home at about 60 and had no other issues.

So, not sure if it's fixed or not (probably not, as it's always been intermittent) but we'll see. Any other suggestions are welcome. We ARE getting a free pickup out of this, though. My wife made a Facebook comment about me working on Stephen's car and jokingly said "anyone got a cheap car to sell?". Well, turns out a good friend has an '87 Mits MightyMax they've been looking to give away to family or friend as they bought a larger truck to use in remodeling their house (they're kinda loaded).

Still would like to get this Bonnie problem identified and fixed, though <G>.

Jeff

how old are the plugs and wires? what model is it (SE, SSE, SSEi)? Those will help with getting better information.

Oops, forgot to mention it's an SE.

Wires? Not sure, we've had it about 2 years and not done it, but we did put new Bosch split-type plugs in a couple months ago when this all started. It's also had a rebuilt transmission last year, and it "may" have had a fuel filter replacement, but I may be getting that confused with my other kid's car.

Jeff

I would pull those Bosch plugs out. They will seem to work fine for awhile new and then the problems begin. They just Dont like GM motors. Don't no why but alot of members here have had problems with them including me. I put them in a Camaro I had and things went from bad to worse. Finally switched them out for the old plugs on the advice of a garage friend and the engine ran fine. I went down and bought AC Delco to replace them and it ran great till the frame fell on the tires.

My son reminded me that they were indeed put in before the problems began, we'd changed them out after the car started taking longer to start up.

Have these plugs been linked to this sudden dying?

Btw, he took the car out today after work and it died twice during a 5 mile drive, so it's still not fixed :(

Jeff

Seriously, my Camaro would go dead in the water, not start, then start later like nothing was wrong. Towed it over to a friends house after it stuck me in a snow storrm, he laughed at me pointing to the Bosch plugs. I had the old ones which we put in with me thinking this isnt going to solve a thing. Vroooom, it fired right up and behaved. And this after I had previously changed the coil and ignition module a couple nights earlier. :mad:

Dude, if that's all it is, I'm gonna flip...and if I don't my son will. Sounds like a good Sticky Note if so.
I'm picking some up after work today and try it out. Would be nice if he doesn't have tags for the pickup yet, since Mom needs the car the rest of the week.

Thanks,
Jeff

Hope it works out. :) I'm certainly not clairvoyant, And a number of things could be going on w/your car. But after reading your symptoms and the fact you switch to Bosch plugs reminded me of sitting in a snowstorm in a dead car. And the fact that others here have had mysterious ignition problems after using Bosch.

Seems like everything Bosch doesn't like our engines. Try switching to Autolite plugs. A lot of members use them with great results. And they only cost about $1.79 each.