Help us help you. By posting the year, make, model and engine near the beginning of your help request, followed by the symptoms (no start, high idle, misfire etc.) Along with any prevalent Diagnostic Trouble Codes, aka DTCs, other forum members will be able to help you get to a solution more quickly and easily!
Shortly after purchasing a 1999 Buick Regal for my son, it became hard to start and ran rough for a while every time it rained then one day would not start at all. You could hear the fuel pump kick in and I had fuel and pressure at the check valve, leading me to believe it was a ground or a spark issue. so we cleaned all the grounds we could find and I bought new plugs, wires, and relays but nothing changed. A local mechanic I talked to told me to try shooting starting fluid in the throttle body to make sure combustibles made it into the motor. If it fired, it was a fuel issue, if it didn't fire, the culprit was the coil pack. I did what he said and it did not fire but being low on $ I bought a used, tested, coil assembly with coils from a reputable salvage yard and swapped them out anyway. The car started right up. It has been starting and running like a top since June but for no reason at all 2 days ago, it would not start again and it is doing the same thing. Only now, in Wisconsin it is very cold, not rainy but I thought because the last set of coils were "used" and could have failed again, I bought 3 brand new coils. Again, it will not fire even with starting fluid, yet I have fuel and pressure at the check valve. I am hoping someone can help me figure this out because I don't want to be a parts changer anymore...lol
My simple code reader does not show any sensors being bad and I'm not sure what to try next. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Jeff and Caleb-
It's not difficult to check these coils for spark during crank. Check out some of ScannerDanner's videos regarding testing the 3.8L waste spark systems with a test light.
