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I have a 1999 Buick Century and when I start the car and begin to drive, it runs and idles fine. But about 5 minutes into my drive, when I begin to accelerate it stumbles really bad, causing the car to jerk. It hahas done this in the past, but after letting it sit for a day, it runs fine and acts completely normal. This happened about a month ago, and today it started to do it again. At first I thought it was the fuel pump, but if it was the pump I believe it would fail completely, not work then work again for a long period of time. My guess is coil or possibly plug wire, but I’m not sure and I wanted to seek your guys’ opinion. Let me know -Mike
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No check engine light on? see if this helps.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
I forgot to mention that there is a check engine light on…strangely enough it goes on and off and is on sometimes when this problem isn’t occurring.
my recommendation is too plug a scan tool in see what codes you get, and if you have questions about what the codes mean we can tell you and help you narrow things down.
on a side note…
a maltitude of things can cause missfires in the 3100 SFI from plugs and wires, too bad sensors and a lower intake manifold gasket leak. my first car was a 2000 buick century custom, the car had slight misses and stumbles at a steady cruse once warmed up and very occasional, i parked it into the shop at school too check it and the next thing i know its puddling coolant on the ground, right from the lower intake manifold gasket, a common issue for the 3100 SFI, and it can cause slight missfires if the lower intake manifold gasket leaks, now it would be wise not too make that assumption but its one of the small possibilities.I’ve had a suspicion that this car has a failing lower intake manifold gasket for quite some time, but i was never completely sure. Another oddity is that when this problem occurs, if you park the car and let it get hot and idle for 20 min, the problem goes away. I’ll go down later today and see what codes come up.
follow up with collage man and my recommendations and we will figure this out, the 3100 is a simple enough engine to figure out, plus like i said i owned a car with one, and have replaced the intake manifold gasket myself, if you want to do that i can help you a little, if your car has over 150,000 miles and its starting to get damp around the gasket, i would suggest replacing it because that car is about 16 years old now, sometimes they leak into the engine, and mix coolant with the oil, then pit and score your bearings, and that can be a very bad day, luckly for me it was a external leak on mine, and i was able to catch it before the car over heated, i was lucky.
Hey guys, sorry I’ve been away for so long, life, college and work happens so I dont have all the time I used to haha.
Anyway, this misfire issue is still unsolved. The car hasn’t had the misfire/stumble in quite awhile, although I’ll admit I haven’t been driving it recently. It has also developed several leaks, several of which were “fixed” (it still leaks in certain places just not as much) and since Dexcool and Transmission fluid are relatively the same color, I cant tell if it’s another transmission leak or a coolant leak as a result of lower intake manifold gasket failure. I take pride in knowing quite a bit about cars, but these issues have left me dumbfounded, as several mechanics have looked at the car and weren’t able to duplicate the misfire or properly fix the fluid leaks.
Just thought I’d give you guys an update, and once again I appreciate all of your guys’ help. If you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free to let me know -Mike
You can ID which fluid pretty easy. Go to the parts store and ask for a bottle of UV leak detector dye that is compatible with oil. Dump it in your trans. After running a bit, pull into somewhere dark and shine a black light around. You want to get as much outside light out of the area as you can so just the black light is shining. The dye glows flourescent under black light. You can get a screw in black light bulb that will go in a regular trouble light at somewhere like spencers, hot topic or a local head shop. Pretty much a guarantee to be at your local stoner supply spots, so if you see glass pipes and bongs sold there you should be able to find a cheap black light bulb. Smear a little dye on something so you know what it is going to look like, and look at your coolant with it too. If your leak glows under the light, you know it had to come from the trans. If it doesn’t you are looking for coolant.
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