intermittent no start

[john evans]

hey guys,
i had my tta out on labor day and took the car to our local pool.went to leave and take my son to football practice and the car just cranked,sputtered like it wanted to start and then just cranked.i didn't have any tools with me,so i just tried to reset the ecu,didn't help.i also disconnected the cam sensor ,and that also didn't help.well good old triple a was called and i had it flat bedded back to my house.well,i check fuel pressure on it today,it goes right up to 43 psi with key on and i crank it over and it starts right up.anybody ever have this strange occurence happen to them and did you ever figure the car out.i'm thinking maybe the fuel pump relay on my hot wire kit.i will inspect this tomarrow.any input is appreciated.
thanks john

 

[chicagoTTA]

Not that low mile cars have less issues...

But create a signature that lists miles/mods, etc. That would REALLY help those with knowledge.

Otherwise, it's like throwing spaghetti at the wall... waiting for something to blindly stick.

A little background goes a LONG way.

M

 

[john evans]

the car has 57000 miles.i have the lti mass air meter and translator,o/e cam sensor, ac delco coil and module w/12000 miles, 1100 mile crank sensor-latest version.engine is rebuilt 1100 miles ago.1100 mile 50 lb. injectors w/turbotweek chip.mini starter.ac delco plugs,magnacore wires.12000 mile walbro 340 fuel pump w/caspers hot wire kit.a/c delco fuel filter,3000 miles.

 

[Razor]

Loose harmonic balancer since it has 1100 miles

Or fuel issue. Get one of those FP guages that go on the rail.. and try that.

 

[rex362]

Loose harmonic balancer since it has 1100 miles

Razor...your scaring me with this...explain please..

 

[TT/Ameasap]

Make sure battery is up to par.(depends on chip) Julio and I had this problem with my car in the staging lanes. Read SM and varify it is getting correct voltage while cranking.

HTH
Bo

 

[Lee_Burough]

Make sure battery is up to par.(depends on chip) Julio and I had this problem with my car in the staging lanes. Read SM and varify it is getting correct voltage while cranking.

HTH
Bo

I've had the same experience New battery fixed it.

 

[Razor]

Razor...your scaring me with this...explain please..

Sig says motor has 1100 miles.. so that means someone rebuilt it. Maybe they didnt torque down the balancer to 208 ft lbs and the bolt worked its way loose..next thing.. balancer walks forward and the interupter ring doesnt fire the crank trigger.. car no start.

 

[rex362]

ok...i was thinking that our tta's have a tendency 2 loosen up...

I'm just picken-up on these TTA's.....

while we are on the topic...in my old days the carbed buick 3.8's always had a not 2 calm idle ....even new ones.....they always said it was the inbalance of something....anyways....do we get a smooth calm idles in our 3.8 TTA's (unmodified)??

 

[src76ta]

I don't know how often this happens but I had a similar problem. Obviously there are many reasons for the no start you encountered. I'll give you my outcome and you can go from there. Under the oil filter mounting block there is an oil pressure sending unit that also acts as a back up to the fuel pump relay.This unit gives the reading to the gauge on the dash as well as giving power to the fuel pump in the event of a fuel pump relay failure. occasionally when I would try to start the car, the oil gauge would peg over to the right. After reading some posts on the Buick side of this board I decided it was worth the $18.00 to replace the part. The original unit had some oil on the plug side when I took it off. My guess is that the oil leaking through the unit caused an irratic failure. I have not had a problem since. Good luck!

 

[john evans]

the loose harmonic balancer would not allow the car to mysteriously start once i got the car home.the battery theory would have effected the cranking of the car ,wouldn't it ?of course ,every time i've tryed to start the car,20x,it starts right up now.the oil pressure switch theory sounds possible.i was reading about that in my service manual.i may order one of those along with the fuel pump relay.thanks for the input.

 

[TT/Ameasap]

The battery theory

The car will crank at what you think is normal cranking conditions, but in reality it is slightly under what the ecm is wanting to actually start the car.I believe you want like 11+ volts...If it drops to 10- then that would be a potential problem.

HTH
Bo

 

[john evans]

if this problem occurs again, i will look at the scanmaster voltage and keep a fuel pressure gauge in the car.thanks for all your input guys.nothing more embarassing than having your clean tta getting pulled up onto a flatbed.

 

[Lee_Burough]

if this problem occurs again, i will look at the scanmaster voltage and keep a fuel pressure gauge in the car.thanks for all your input guys.nothing more embarassing than having your clean tta getting pulled up onto a flatbed.

Maybe there is....I was red faced yesterday as the nice motorcycle cop was writing my well earned ticket....I'd rather be towed :frown: