1995 Olds 88 - turns over but won't fire

LAKER_42

MEMBER
1995 OLDSMOBILE

I have a 95 olds 88 that died on me a couple of days ago. A little background on what happened: it was driving normally & then started to hesitate a little. Drove a little further & the hesitation go worse. It start to run really rough & wouldn't accelerate. Pulled into a gas station & shut it off. Started it back up smoke came out of the engine compartment & ran really rough. Shut it off & opened the hood to see where the smoke came from. Started the car again & the smoke came from the rear, center of the engine & smelled like antifreeze. Shut the car off again & now it won't start back up. It has been consuming anti freeze for the past month or so but never saw where it was leaking out of or to where. No pools of anything have appeared.

Here is what we have tried/checked so far. We do have spark at all cylinders but it is a yellow spark & not a blue spark. I had the 3 coil packs & ignition module checked at Autozone. They said they passed the tests. We have good fuel pressure. We hooked up a code scanner last night & it didn't give any codes.

Not sure where to turn at this point. Someone mentioned the crank shaft sensor but I was told that if that is bad, then there wouldn't be any spark.

Looking for some help!

Thanks!
John

3 Replies

SYNCRAIT

MECHANIC
235 POSTS

Well to start off if your leaking antifreeze and its not pooling under the car I would have both you intake and head gaskets checked to check the condition of the head just do a basic pressure test and I would just go ahead and replace the intake gasket. Because the car has over heated would be a good idea to replace both. If both test fine look for a disconnected hose possilbly on the bottomside of the throttle body or even on the bottom of the radiator possibly burning up on the exaust pipes. Good luck. :)

ps. Whats the engine and milage?

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Friday, June 16th, 2006 AT 9:55 AM

LAKER_42

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3 POSTS

It is the 3.8l engine with around 179,000 miles.

When this all was happening, the temp gauge never indicated that it overheated which was strange when it started smoking. Are you suggesting to replace both the intake gasket & the head gasket? Pardon my ignorance, but is the head gasket different from the tappet cover gasket?

How do I check these 2 gaskets? Do I need to remove them or can I get one of the coolant system pressure testers to see if coolant is leaking around from them?

I have been searching around the internet for more info on the car not starting. I have found several things to check: crankshaft postion sensor, camshaft position sensor, ECM. I believe these are all testable, correct?

Thanks!
John

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Friday, June 16th, 2006 AT 12:06 PM

LAKER_42

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An update on what I have tried today:

I took out the Crankshaft & Camshaft position sensors & had them tested. They both tested bad. So I picked up new ones & installed. I have the same issue. THe car will turn over & not fire. I think the only thing left to check is the ECM. Anyone know if this is testable to see if it is good?

Thanks!
John

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Saturday, June 17th, 2006 AT 9:17 PM