1996 Chevy Lumina TROUBLE RE-STARTING CAR

1996 CHEVROLET LUMINA

133,701 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC

DRAGEFIRE04

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Looking for some answers...I have a WEIRD situation. I am hoping that somebody with knowledge can help.

This is a brief summary of what is going on:
I go out to my car to leave my home. Car starts fine, runs perfect with no issue at all. Once I have driven approx. an hour of constant driving (give or take a half hour), when I stop and turn off the car to go in to the store. I am in the store anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. I come back out to start it and it will not start and stay running. Then will not start at all. Once I have waited and tried to start it, by turning the key multiple times, this takes place generally for about 45 minutes it will eventually re start and again run with out incident or like it never had a problem.
This happens quite frequently, even on a daily basis sometimes.
Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you!!
dragenfire04@yahoo.com

Sep 13, 2010 at 7:17 PM

WRENCHTECH

CAR REPAIR CONTRIBUTOR
20,761 POSTS

All I can do is give you the procedure to isolate the cause.

All "crank, no start" conditions are approached in the same way. Every engine requires certain functions to be able to run. Some of these functions rely on specific components to work and some components are part of more than one function so it is important to see the whole picture to be able to conclude anything about what may have failed. Also, these functions can ONLY be tested during the failure. Any other time and they will simply test good because the problem isn't present at the moment.
If you approach this in any other way, you are merely guessing and that only serves to replace unnecessary parts and wastes money.

Every engine requires spark, fuel and compression to run. That's what we have to look for.

These are the basics that need to be tested and will give us the info required to isolate a cause.

1) Test for spark at the plug end of the wire using a spark tester. If none found, check for power supply on the + terminal of the coil with the key on.

2) Test for injector pulse using a small bulb called a noid light. If none found, check for power supply at one side of the injector with the key on.

3) Use a fuel pressure gauge to test for correct fuel pressure, also noticing if the pressure holds when key is shut off.

4) If all of these things check good, then you would need to do a complete compression test.

Sep 13, 2010 at 7:23 PM

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