lumina dies when warm idles high when cold

Hi..Nice board:)

I have a problem with my lumina 92 3.1

it runs at high idle at cold but then when it warms up a bit it spits sputters and dies warms up a bit more and then doesnt want to start sometimes at high idle i can put it in gear and itll calm down..stick it in park and it stays that way.

any ideas?

Thanks!!

Reply to
kevinmisty
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lumina dies when warm idles high when cold Group: alt.autos.gm Date: Fri, Jan 16, 2004, 4:15am From: snipped-for-privacy@cox-internet.com (kevinmisty) Hi..Nice board:) I have a problem with my lumina 92 3.1 it runs at high idle at cold but then when it warms up a bit it spits sputters and dies warms up a bit more and then doesnt want to start sometimes at high idle i can put it in gear and itll calm down..stick it in park and it stays that way. any ideas? Thanks!! Check your fuel ressure regulator....Is ou ses light on? Steve C

Reply to
Steve Cook

park and it stays that way.

Rough idle at start is 95% likely to be EGR related. The high RPM and sputter/die behavior until really warmed up is a key indicator.

The other part - MAF is probably bad as well. What happens is the EGR valve and/or relay goes bad and it kills the MAF in short order. Both being dead results in a nearly undriveable car.

$220 in my car's case for both to be replaced. Runs perfectly now. If the MAF is dead, it's likely that your catalytic converter has taken a huge hit. Expect to need a new one come your next smog test. Mine survived, but just barely. When this all happened, I pulled the car over ten miles later at the garage and the cat was smoking and bright red from all of the unburnt fuel going through it. Passed smog yesterday by 4 points.(whew)

As for the starting problem - how many miles? I don't know if that engine uses a belt, but in my case, the timing gear's teeth(some sort of polymer and not steel) were ground down and it had slipped a couple of notches. The computers can compensate for a few teeth off, but when combined with a bad MAF, it's nearly impossible to get it to run. It runs okay but the timing is off, then the MAF dies and suddenly the engine is nearly impossible to start.

This is a common problem with GM engines. Get it fixed before the camshaft "button"(spring that holds it at proper position) eats a hole in the timing cover. In my case, the $400 job turned into over $700 just because of me needing a new cover and spring/button. (ouch) Replaced with metal one now and a better quality chain. The spring/button should be replaced with a bearing type and not the teflon base type they originally had. The mechanic says the car should only need a new chain every 80K now, and nothing else. $50 in better parts at the factory would keep this from happening - it's the #1 reason these engines die, in fact.

That I got 16 years and 140K out of the car with the original timing gear is astounding considering the wear and damage on the timing cog. It was running on TWO teeth! Every other one was worn down to a nub. The tensioner was in pieces rattling around in the bottom, and the chain had stretched half an inch. The camshaft was half an inch loose as well, which resulted in *thankfully* only one noisy lifter that I can live with as it's a very very faint ticking sound at ldle. It could have been a lot worse(as if $1000 isn't bad enough - sheesh)

Moral of the story - timing chain and gear every 70-80K miles on these cars, just like a belt, reguardless of what nonsense they say in the manual. Or - replace with heavy duty parts and then just worry about the chain every few years.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

What engine type do you have in the car? Is it an Quad4 with 2,3 litres

4-cyl?

"Joseph Oberlander" skrev i meddelandet news:cmXNb.13620$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthl>

in park and it stays that way.

Reply to
<187gustafsson

What engine type do you have in the car? Is it an Quad4 with 2,3 litres

4-cyl?

"kevinmisty" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...

in park and it stays that way.

Reply to
<187gustafsson

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