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99 Bonneville Issues.


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evilnike
Novice

Mar 12, 2007, 8:27 PM

Post #1 of 2 (2089 views)
99 Bonneville Issues. Sign In

Ok, so here's the deal. This is a 99 Pontiac Bonneville SE. 3.8l V6 Front Wheel drive. Its my friends car, but it died on her a few days ago. We talked to several mechanics that told us to replace the Oil Pressure Sensor, which I did today. After doing a full tune up on the vehicle, I cranked it up and it immediately began clunking and rattling and died after about 20 seconds of running. I had to keep the pedal to the floor to maintain about 4500 RPMs, but when I release the pedal it fell to below 1k and then sputtered to death. I wasn't there when the car initially died, but the owner and sister says that the motor was making very much the same sounds when it originally died. They allowed it to sit and cool for about 30 minutes, and then drove it 12 miles to my house where its been sitting for a few days.

Assuming it was just because everything hadn't completly drained to its proper place, I pushed the car off the ramps and let it sit for a few minutes before attempting a start-up again. But, again, it started, clunked and sputtered and would only maintain this horrid running ability with the pedal to the floor, or very fast ' revving '. So total run time for the motor was about 45 seconds in two intervals, but several attempts to restart with no luck. I checked all the plugs, plug wires for proper attachment, and alignment (yes, I did make sure the plug wires were back on in thier proper order ) when I felt the rear exhaust manifold where it joins the exhaust tube going to the catalytic converter and found that even after that very short run time, the metal was EXTREMELY hot.

I searched through my chilton repair manual, made a few phone calls, and now its a guess as to what it is. Some of my friends think it could have jumped time, others think the cats are stopped up, some believe the fuel injection is clogged up and thats the problem.

So, if its the timing, is there a way to adjust the timing since this car doesn't have a true distributor? ( its one of those electronic gizmos that I know nothing about .)

If its something else, and anyone has a clue, please give me hints, or ask whatever questions I haven't answered, and I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks !


evilnike
Novice

Mar 13, 2007, 5:12 PM

Post #2 of 2 (2082 views)
Re: 99 Bonneville Issues. Sign In

Here's a bit of interest. I went out this afternoon and tried to fiddle with it some more. After reading the chilton for about two hours, I went through a checklist of simple things to check, everything from spark on crank, to fuel flow, down to MAF, EGR and PCV. Looks like the EGR got broken ( or possibly was damaged and malfunctioning prior to our work on the vehicle ) I pulled it out, and off pure curiousity cranked the engine. It sparked right up, although with a very horrid lope to the engine. Even plugging the EGR tube with my finger and trying to manually adjust the intake with my finger it wouldn't level out and run nice. But, it did run, and much better than yesterday. So, we've got to get that part before diagnosing anything else ( down side is, the owner doesn't have the money for the part right now, and I just can't spare the cash either. )

Quick question, is it worth hitting up a junk yard to see if we can snag one from another model for free/cheap ?






 
 
 






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