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hey guys and gals. i have a 93 buick park ave will crank but no spark. i put a screwdriver in the spark plug wire and held it close to the coil post and no spark. i find it hard to believe all 3 coils went bad at once. also every so offten the car will start but most of the time it wont. the car was bought off a dui offender and had a blow and go (breathalyzer) insatlled. i just got the car tonight and did not get to look at the wiring under the dash yet. any ideas? thank you in advance.
john
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It may have an issue with the breathalyzer wiring however you could look into the crank sensor. A lot of vehicles will refuse to spark if the sensor is malfunctioning. Is the car cranking normal or is it slower than usual?
Disconnect the breathalizer apparatus and check your Crank position sensor… It has nothing to do with the vehicle cranking… If the CKS does not detect rotation, the engine will not start… This is a common problem on a 3.8…
-Karl
with Karl on this one right on man, check your crankshaft position sensor, the crankshaft position sensors on these GM cars go bad all the time, especually if you have a 3800, if the crankshaft position sensor goes wonky you won’t have spark!
check the wiring too it the terminal connections and the sensor itself, the crankshaft position sensor has the distinct job of telling the PCM what position the crankshaft is at, this tells the spark plugs when too spark, and various other things, without the crankshaft position sensor functioning properly, once again you will not have spark.
crankshaft position sensor located behind the harmonic balancer in the front of the engine, you may have to remove the harmonic balancer too replace component.
Whats the best way to check the crankshaft sensor with a multimeter? It has 4 wires coming out of the harness.
Just simply follow the wires from the crank sensor to the first connector. If the corresponding wires change colors, they should remain this color all the way to the harness at the ICM.
ok i went to pull the passanger side wheel so i could test the crank shaft sensor and the wheel was stuck so i hit the rim a few times with a hammer and then took the splash gards off and moved the harmonic balancer with a wrench to see it it was do able without a breaker bar then had my asst. turn the key to see what way the motor was spining due to it being a long day with other things. to my suprise the motor started. do you guys think its the crank shaft sensor and when i hit the rim it jared it? i do know its gonna be hard to test now that its running again?
sometimes a vehicle can run without the crankshaft position sensor operating correctly until the PCM hits closed loop operation! once the PCM hits closed loop operation it will then rely on the sensors of the engine too tune and make adjustments such as ignition timing and AF mixture..
if your crankshaft position sensor is bad the car may run ok when cold, but as soon as it reaches operational temperature and the PCM hits closed loop the engine usually shuts right off, and all attempts to re start the car will be futile until the car cools down and hits closed loop again, then it might start again until it warms up and the PCM operates the engine under closed loop.
I think, for the cost and effort, since you’re almost there I would replace the crank sensor as it’s a known issue with that engine.
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