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Buick 3800 barely runs on cold start...then runs fine

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Old 03-03-2011, 11:24 PM
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Default Buick 3800 barely runs on cold start...then runs fine

Hi all-

My wife'* car 99 Buick LeSabre just developed this issue. She thought she ran it out of gas (it was very low but I'm not sure it was out)

The car starts, misses and sputters like its running on 1 cylinder, but will after a bit, warm up and smooth out and run down the road just fine. When its misfiring I can smell raw fuel in the air and there is a loud woosh of air coming from the airbox (or under it).

It I turn it off and warm restart, it will miss (and not take throttle) for a minute or so but returns to normal again.

Not sure what the most likely culprit is: EGR, coils, fuel filter....?
Old 03-03-2011, 11:32 PM
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i experinced this with a bad coil bad MAF..unplug the maf and see if the car runs better after a little while if so theres your culprit if not try this test and also test the voltage of your coils, when did these issues apper?

https://www.gmforum.com/trouble-shooting-test-procedures-141/egr-solenoid-test-296250/
Old 03-04-2011, 12:01 AM
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I'll try unplugging MAF tomorrow morning. Does that trick work when the motor is still cold mode? It already does 'fix itself' when the computer switches into 'warm mode' now. I'll google coil voltage test and check that too.

This issue came on all at once. Car was starting/running fine. Wife came home for lunch, 30 minutes later she tried to drive off but couldn't go for all the sputtering misfire. Pretty bad misfire too. Kinda reminds me of a distributor thats 180 deg out of time.

Thanks for the tips.
Old 03-04-2011, 12:13 AM
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well test the coils and check your plugs as if you can narrow it down to a specific cylinder that would make it easier but cant do that till you test let us know how it goes
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