[SEL] Off Topic - Car Troubles - Buick - HELP !

[jbcast at charter.net]

Francis, most engines need a cam and crank sensor to run, the Buick 3800 
is one of the few that will run without the cam sensor. On the first 
fuel injected 3.8's there were complaints of excessive cranking time, it 
had to see the cam sensor before starting the ignition fire, up to two 
revolutions of the crank. On the 3800 they redesigned the crank sensor 
and it recognizes cylinder position within a third of a revolution, 
injectors are batch fired until it sees the cam sensor. it then fires 
them sequentialy. The early engines would lose the magnet in the cam, 
service engine light would come on, otherwise you wouldn't notice. Crank 
sensors give some problems on these cars, but he gets lights flickering 
on the dash at the time of stalling leading me to believe a power 
problem. I checked the help line and they had some problems with the 
fuel pump ground, it splices into other grounds near the drivers seat on 
the floor, this also supplies ground for some interior lights, could be 
a problem here.
J.B.

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM, FRM8198 at aol.com wrote:

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM, FRM8198 at aol.com wrote:

> A similar problem happened to my 2001 Seville.  The engine  would 
> stall when sharply turning the steering wheel especially in a parking 
> lot.  Turning off the ignition and then restart the engine got it 
> going  again.  The problem was the cam position sensor.  The following 
> describes possible Camshaft Position Sensor symptoms:
>  "A failed camshaft position sensor will show up in a number of  ways. 
> The worst-case scenario is that there is no spark in the combustion 
> chamber. Other symptoms related to the position sensor can include 
> excessively  long cranking time when starting cold, rough running on 
> an intermittent basis,  poor idle, stumbling or hesitation, a drop in 
> mileage and stalling upon  acceleration. These position sensor trouble 
> symptoms may also be caused by a  failure in the wiring of the 
> sensor."
>
>
>
> Another possibility is a faulty fuel  filter.
> By the way, my wife's 2003 Buick will turn off and start the  engine 
> in the neutral position.
>  Francis Maciel
> Santa Maria, Ca