Buick Regal Dying Out And Starts Right Up

2000 buick regal 3800 supercharged. The service engine light and low tire light are on. Question = Hi, Ive been having a problem with my 2000 Buick regal supercahrged. It has been dying while i am driving and when it happens it usually starts right back up. When it dies, no lights are effected and the radio dose not cut out at all, only the accelerator and power steering is effected.

Lately it has not been starting all the time some times i have to wait 20 min. or longer until it turns over. It sounds normal when i am trying to turn it over does not bog down at all. And it also idles high.

buick regal

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ANSWER:

First of all, with the check engine light on, you need to get the computer codes checked. The stored trouble codes may give an indication as to what the problem is. You can them scanned at most of the large parts stores for free. The dying out problem may be a common failure of the crank position sensor on the 3800 engine. When they get hot, the cause the engine to stall

You would need to let it cool down before it will start. Another possibility is your Buick is loosing fuel pressure. This could be a bad fuel pump. You may also have a bad ignition module. You would need to check for spark at the spark plugs, fuel pressure at the fuel rail port and fuel injector pulse signal to determine what is missing. If one or more is not right, that will give a clue to where the problem is.

If you have no spark but the fuel pressure and injector signal are good, then testing of the ignition module would be needed next. If no spark or injector pulse, then I would suspect the crank position sensor. A high idle could be a vacuum leak. This would not cause the car to stall or not start, so it sounds like you have a few different problems with your Buick.


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Mine is a 2004 Buick Regal. I change spark plugs and wires. Now when the car warms up it seems to have a miss in it. Someone (a mechanic) told us it was the catalytic converter... is it possible?

What was the reason for changing the plugs and wires? Was it just for a basic tune-up maintenance?

I changed the 3/6 coil because it was bad and that didn't fix the problem so i changed the plugs and wires.

Does the engine miss at idle or any engine speed? Does it do it more on hard acceleration? Does it seem to have no power under hard acceleration? Is the check engine light on the dash?

Hard acceleration. Kind of pops at hard acceleration.

OK. Most misfires under acceleration ARE ignition related. Try spraying a water bottle on the other coils when the engine is running to see if you can cause the engine to misfire, You would see the spark jumping erratically around the coils towers. If you are sure that the other coils are OK, then i would suspect a plugged converter. This usually feels like a severe lack of power, more than a misfire. If you get the PCM scanned for codes, there may be a code P0420 stored in the computer. This is for catalytic converter efficiency. That would confirm a plugged catalytic converter and would need to be replaced before any other repairs. A bad misfire can cause the converter to go bad. Usually the engine light would be flashing, not just on steady.

Wow you are awesome thank you very much. I will check this out. Thank you so much.

You are welcome. Let us know what you find with your Buick.


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