ledzipper

BTW Barney, thanks but yes I bought the repair manual. it has been quite a bit of help.

Thanks for the encouraging words. this has been a whole new learning curve for me. I spent 3 months last year working on a ford 7.3 diesel and went through everything you v can dream of. after replacing the damaged body parts , I had really bad starting issues. Once I had that fixed it was chewing up batteries two at a time almost as fast as I could put new ones in. I had the alt. checked 10 times. Finally a kid no older than 20 checked the alt a different way at Orielly auto parts and said the alt was charging just fine only it was sending the current backwards due to bad diodes. New alt, ant a years worth of battles were over and it has run perfect ever since. point being, I am stubborn and I will win this battle. It has been a horrible couple of months for weather here in northern Colorado. I think that the crank sensor is either bad or has slipped out of adjustment. I had the car running well enough to drive but it was just running rough and after warming up it was running way too rich and getting 3 mpg. along with fowling plugs. then I drove it to work and when I went to drive hm it wouldnt start. It acted and sounded just like an older car that had the distributor spin a bit out of time or the timing chain jumped a tooth or two. Once it warms up here in iceberg land I will pull the harmonic balancer and check gap. I did check the cam sensor and replaced it. As soon as I did that it started throwing a check engine light that it had never done before. it is throwing a code of 041 and I have checked the current im getting a reading of 5 volts on on e side and 11 volts on the other side. The book says to trace the wiring for a bad connection or a short. it also says to check wiring at the ecm. I just want to thank everyone for the response and the help. Im not dumb just not trained or educated on this type system. I will get to the bottom of this one way or another. it is frustrating due to every single function works as it should with the exception of the dash idicator lights. that is somthing simple Im sure like the ac current relay or light sensor . when I do get everythingn n working and running proper, Im going to put the supercharger package on it. Man I see you have a Corvair convertible . my next door neighbor in Dallas had one when I was like 8 years old ...what a cool lookinh car THE ZIPPER

here is the label for emmisions

One more thing I cant remember if I mentioned. When I first got this car, It had no spark. I touched the coil pack and the top section was real hot. Like almost blister your hand hot. I pulled it off and the part under it That wires up to the coil pack was burnt and partly melted, I took both of those off and bought new ones and replaced them. at that point the car started for the first time. it just missed and ran very rich as i described when I first posted. ZIPPER

After reading the info on the Reatta site you have I am really starting to wonder about the timing chain. Has it jumped a couple of teeth. Jumping one would make it run with a huge miss and foul plugs . O e plug has come out clean every time while the other five have been wet and black. Jumping two teeth would cause it to not start and pop and backfire through the intake. what do you think? with 89k miles on the odo and not knowing any history of the car, replacing the timing chain couldnt be a bad move. if I get the car to run perfectly, it will need a timing chain sooner than later, right What are your ideas. I have never owned a v6 in my life much less one of this era. As clean as this car is I would really like to have it back to original running condition. LED ZIPPER

Well it took a while for me to get this done but here is my baby sitting all cold and lonely. ZIPPER

I am working on a Buick wagon I bought. It starts just fine and will idle forever. Everything works as far as lights , Heat, Ac, you name it. It shows 65k on the clock and I dont think it has been rolled over due to the interior being no wear and just beautiful shape. it is a 1986 with OBD1 Like i said it idles perfect . will idle for an hour if you like. When you give it throttle it boggs . If you try to drive you may get a block before it dies maybe a half block. It acts like it isnt getting any gas. It burns clean, no smoke. Any ideas ???

Hello All and I sincerely thank you for all the responses. We are still having a serious temp. problem here in northern Colorado. The days that have been nice I have been stuck on the job and no time for the car. Ok here are the codes that are being thrown B122, B123, E041 IF any of you guys can lead me out of this dark tunnel. It has started a couple of times since it quit running on me but it only will run for about 5 seconds and then dies and wont restart . I reached down to the crank sensor and the plug in for it but I cant tell if it is loose or not. The plug itself will wobble very slightly but i dont think it is any more than any other plug in. I really dont know how the sensor is attached. I read that you have to remove the harmonic balance to get access to it. And again, thanks to all of you for your help. I have been trying to work on three vehicles at once. It sure gets frustrating and $$$$ ZIPPER

wow again , I just saw your post Dave, I do have an 041..... I will check my crank sensor... its kind of funny in a way, I was talking to a Buick mechanic at the local dealership. I young guy about 35 or so I would guess.. He couldnt give me any advice except to buy the factory manual.. He told me, " We just never work on OBD1 systems. they all went away with the cash for clunkers" ZIPPER

HELLO all , we have been put in a deep freeze for this week and I havent been able to get under the hood due to the temps have been a low of 14 and highs of 25 or so .. I was thinking about the brake booster leaking and it seemed to me that when I did, it will start after sitting foe a get the car running well enough to drive, it seemed like I had to push on the brakes harder than a normal feeling brake. so I will check that out if I can get it to start again. In the present state , if I let it sit for a day or two, it will start and rub rough, but then after 5 seconds or less it stalls and wont start again for a day or two. not sure why it started doing that. Thanks again, ZIPPER

Wow, I just got back home from running errands, I surely wish i had joined this forum 3 months ago. You guys are awesome. I am partially disabled and this car is a beauty, It wouldnt take much to make it a real gem. It also only has 87,000 miles original. It has a 3.8 litre and I have been told that is a really great engine. I love the touchscreen and how everything lights up, It has almost every bell and whistle. One of the reasons Ive been so frustrated. All options work great with the exception of the cassette deck and the speakers are pretty well shot or shoddy. One other item that does not work is the dash lights that show you which control is where. i.e. wipers, headlights etc. I have seen them flash on for only a moment. I will go to my job tomorrow with a whole lot brighter outlook thanks to you guys. My son has been helping me with this but the car is quite a bit older than him. He has been to school and was the first one to explain the difference of obd1 and obd2 to me. he also ran the codes after reading the book. like i said it was running well enough that i got it up to hway speeds but as of late it just gave up and doesnt want to start. I did have it close enough that it would start with just a bump of the key. I sincerely hope i didnt fubar it by driving it running so rich. Thanks guys I will get you all the info I can. THE ZIPPER

Members 1 I hope im putting this in the proper place. Hello, I am brand new to this forum. I sure hope someone here can point me in the right direction. I bought a 1988 Riviera with just shy of 90k on the clock. This car had set under a cover outdoors in Colorado for 5 yrs or more. It is in great shape. Previous owner had hit a deer and was rebuilding the cosmetic damages and just as he finished he passed away. I bought the car from his estate and was told it needed a fuel pump. I finally got it installed found i had to replace the ignition control module. I had to replace the coil pack as well the two coils at the top were getting very hot. I replaced these along with the oil sending unit and got it started. I have never been able to get it to run properly. It had a bad miss and was running so rich that it was flooding out the plugs badly. It ran well enough it could be driven but was flooding out so badly it was only getting 4 mpg. along with that it was puking gas into the oil. after exhausting my guessing I ordered the manual that comes for the dealership mechanics. I have replaced the Fuel pump , the inline filter, the injectors, the cam shaft sensor, spark plugs , plug wires, fuel regulator, oil sending unit or sensor, air flow sensor, ignition control and coil pack. I am still having a massive problem with it flooding. I drove it short distances around town hoping it would clear up. The one thing that troubles me besides it not running correctly is that before I replaced the cam sensor it never had an engine light stay on. as soon as I replaced it the engine light never goes off. I drove it about 2 blocks to where I was working and parked it. At this time I have driven it a total of around 300 miles total over 3 months time. When I went to leave work, The car started up quickly as usual but then after 3 or 4 seconds it stalled. It had done that before but this time it would not start again. I checked the oil and it had gas in it again. I changed the oil. I pulled the plugs and 5 out of 6 were completely fouled. I cleaned the plugs and now the car still wont start. It pops and tries to start but acts like it is way out of time. I checked the voltage on the cam shaft sensor wires and they are supposed to be at 10 volts or so on both channels, I get 10.5 on one side and 5 on the other side. I am totally lost on this one fellows and Pretty tired of spending money If it werent is such great condition I would have already sent it to the grave. when I have done diagnostic check with the touchscreen all it says is the computer detects an electrical problem. Every single thing on this car is working except the fact that it wont run. I have aquired a 1986 century estate wagon That pretty much has the exact opposite problem. It will start and idle but as soon as you give it gas it is starving out for gas so badly it stalls within a very short distance. It will idle for hours if you just let it sit and run. the wires to the cam sensor are testing out the same way on one side it is 11.4 v and the other side is 5 v ALL I CAN SAY IS HELP!!!!

Hello, I am brand new to this forum. I sure hope someone here can point me in the right direction. I bought a 1988 Riviera with just shy of 90k on the clock. This car had set under a cover outdoors in Colorado for 5 yrs or more. It is in great shape. Previous owner had hit a deer and was rebuilding the cosmetic damages and just as he finished he passed away. I bought the car from his estate and was told it needed a fuel pump. I finally got it installed found i had to replace the ignition control module. I had to replace the coil pack as well the two coils at the top were getting very hot. I replaced these along with the oil sending unit and got it started. I have never been able to get it to run properly. It had a bad miss and was running so rich that it was flooding out the plugs badly. It ran well enough it could be driven but was flooding out so badly it was only getting 4 mpg. along with that it was puking gas into the oil. after exhausting my guessing I ordered the manual that comes for the dealership mechanics. I have replaced the Fuel pump , the inline filter, the injectors, the cam shaft sensor, spark plugs , plug wires, fuel regulator, oil sending unit or sensor, air flow sensor, ignition control and coil pack. I am still having a massive problem with it flooding. I drove it short distances around town hoping it would clear up. The one thing that troubles me besides it not running correctly is that before I replaced the cam sensor it never had an engine light stay on. as soon as I replaced it the engine light never goes off. I drove it about 2 blocks to where I was working and parked it. At this time I have driven it a total of around 300 miles total over 3 months time. When I went to leave work, The car started up quickly as usual but then after 3 or 4 seconds it stalled. It had done that before but this time it would not start again. I checked the oil and it had gas in it again. I changed the oil. I pulled the plugs and 5 out of 6 were completely fouled. I cleaned the plugs and now the car still wont start. It pops and tries to start but acts like it is way out of time. I checked the voltage on the cam shaft sensor wires and they are supposed to be at 10 volts or so on both channels, I get 10.5 on one side and 5 on the other side. I am totally lost on this one fellows and Pretty tired of spending money If it werent is such great condition I would have already sent it to the grave. when I have done diagnostic check with the touchscreen all it says is the computer detects an electrical problem. Every single thing on this car is working except the fact that it wont run. I have aquired a 1986 century estate wagon That pretty much has the exact opposite problem. It will start and idle but as soon as you give it gas it is starving out for gas so badly it stalls within a very short distance. It will idle for hours if you just let it sit and run. the wires to the cam sensor are testing out the same way on one side it is 11.4 v and the other side is 5 v ALL I CAN SAY IS HELP!!!!