Thread: help needed imediatly!

Well crap, the one thing I dont have, texting. Well I do, but its not unlimited. Well okay, I just thought it may be a bit easier if we were talking ear to ear. I got unlimited home phone with LD and cell plan with LD and lots o minutes.

Well back to where we were then, Im going to go through the thread and make a summary and post it up so we know where we are at before we start duplicating ourselves.

Heres what I got so far, I would have posted sooner but I was trying to help someone else troubleshoot, LOL.

Issue:
*Rough Idle
*Stalls
*SES Light (most likely a P0300)
*Wont restart

Work Done:
*Replace LIM 3000 miles ago
*New Air Filter
*Fuel Pump can be heard activating and tested at the Schrader valve showing 42psi
*Spark at cylinders #1, 3 & 5, others were not tested
*New Spark plugs were installed, autolite 103's, unknown gap.
*Replaced spark plug wires
*Replaced Fuel Pressure Regulator (Note: Started after replacing the FPR, ran for a few minutes and then died, again)
*New MAP sensor (not yet installed)
*ICM was tested and shows good.

Questions I have:
*What are the plugs gapped at? (not that I think this is the issue, just want to know for troubleshooting purposes)
*What plug wires were used?
*What mods do you have if any?
*How soon after the spark on cylinders 1, 3 & 5 was tested, was the FPR installed?
*Who tested the ICM, and did they stress test it?
*Any unusual sounds when the engine ran after the FPR was replaced?

I have two thoughts or possibilities in my mind. I just cannot bring myself to be convinced it is the CPS at this point, it just doesnt add up, most notably of which is the fact you have spark. The car will start without the tach signal, it wont start without that spark which you have checked and said is there. If its there that means the CPS is working in the most critical section.

Okay, well I cannot bring myself to believe the CPS is bad, it just doesnt add up and it sounds like you still have spark which would further prove that the CPS is at least working in that sense.

What Im left with at this point is the cam position sensor, but Im not sure how to say definitely that is what it is.

Prior to it first acting up and stalling on you, were there any signs of trouble? Were there any leaks or performance issues? Anything out of the ordinary?

Do a compression test, I think I told you that over at clubgp. You have fuel and spark, so you should atleast be able to turn it over and it fire. If the engine doesnt have compression it will run like crap or not run at all. Also, get someone to pull the codes. If your coolant seems low you may have blown a headgasket.

Well one of the ways to check for a blown head gasket is to check the compression, which you might as well do to rule it out if you feel up to it and have the tester to do so. As well, you can also check your oil and see if its milky in color. Pull out the dipstick and see if its the typical dark golden brown, or black if its really used oil, or it it has a light milky color to it.

A blown head gasket can dump coolant into your oil and it would mix in the oil to turn that milky color.

Without looking specifically, it should be around 120 - 130 psi if I remember correctly. The best thing to do is just post up each cylinders reading so we can all look at the data and see if anything is going on.

I surely hate to see you have to take it there, but I understand you got to get your car running too. If it comes to that I surely hope you post up here what they found. This has me really curious and my thoughts tend to lean toward the camshaft position sensor. I just dont know of anything else that has the potential to keep the car from starting when air, fuel and spark are present.

Let us know what you find if you check the oil on the dipstick and if you do the compression test.

Well, if you think about it too...with all that smoke it just might be a blown head gasket. Sorry, but when my neighbor blew the head gasket in his Saturn SC2 a couple years ago I remember it looking like a fire in the garage. Smoke spewing every which way.

If not, it could just be from the cold and major build up of gas. Is the MAF eliminated here? If not, you could try unplugging it and seeing if that is the issue also. Another GTP owner around the KC area had a bad MAF and it would die after about 2-3 minutes of idle that was rougher than my XP Cam...anywhere from 500-2000...changed the MAF and everything was fine...

I would though, replace the Autolite 103's you have with either Autolite 104's or NGK TR55's. 103's are WAY too cold of spark plug for your mod list. You'd need a cam/rockers/headers/IC to make good use of 103's IMO.

I think the smoke is likely from all the cranking and fuel that was dumped in. I think too the 103's are too cold of a plug but it wouldnt keep it from starting and thought I would bring that up after we had the thing running again.

I dont think the MAF has been eliminated either, but again I dont think that would keep it from starting which seems to be the major issue right now, but you are correct in that it could be the source of the stalling.

Well it will allow it to run and then stumble and stuff like that, but Ive never seen one keep an engine from being started which is why I didnt really consider it an issue.

So i think im going through a similar ordeal, heres what happend soo back in september i was coming home on the highway and i wanted to fast soo i did and i got it up to 112 then it just kind sputtered and the ses light came on soo i slowed down and brought it home, it drove fine and anyways i brought it home and hooked up my tech 2 and it gave me a random cylinder missfire code, well that was the last day i drove it cause my sticker ran out and it was time to put it up for winter, soo every soo often i would go outside and start it up, well it starts up just fine soo one day i took it for a ride and now it just bogs right down and no power at all but she idles fine and starts up fine, soo idk i'm gonna give it a huge tune up this spring, ill get new spark plugs, maybe msd wires dont need aftermarket coils cause our coils r fine, a new fuel filter, new t-stat an hopefully tht will fix it.

Thats kinda what I was getting at when I asked about the relation to checking the spark when the FPR was replaced. I had wondered if the CPS was intermittent, but nothing seemed to be supporting that so I steered away from there. Sucks though, I wish I had been more confident it was the CPS.