1992 Olds 98 problems


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Old 06-13-07, 10:18 AM
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1992 Olds 98 problems

I have 1992 Olds 98 with a standard 3800 motor that I have owned for about a year, and it has several issues.

Recently, whenever driving the car at cruising speed, it has a very bad miss, the car jerks terrible, almost like it is choking for fuel, however, when I give it gas, it runs like a champ. The other day, I discovered that by stepping lightly on the brake, it seems to come out of it, but only for a few seconds, and then it's back to the same thing. Have put a new O2 sensor on it and cleaned the MAF sensor. Kind of ruled out fuel filter because it would run bad all of the time, not just when trying to maintain speed. When this first started happening, the car would idle fine, but now, it does not even idle correctly. The only time it seems to run good is when the pedal is to the metal.

Other things that happen (all of these things have been happening since I bought the car a year ago): 1) every once in a while the car will just start running fast. This only seems to happen when the car is warmed up and has been running for a while. The only way to slow it down is to shut the car off and turn it back on. 2) when have cruise control on, every once in a while the "check engine" light comes on and kicks it out of cruise. 3) the ABS light is always on
 
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Old 06-13-07, 10:23 AM
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Sounds like a possible vacuum leak, either from a hose or maybe the idle air control valve.

If not the IACV, it maybe the EGR valve.



I would change your fuel filter to be safe anyways.
 
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Old 06-13-07, 12:55 PM
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"whenever driving the car at cruising speed, it has a very bad miss" - Sounds like ignition misfire to me. Have had several 3800's and what you describe sounds what misfire acts like with that engine. Punch it and it runs OK. Could be ignition coils, wires, or sparkplugs.

"every once in a while the car will just start running fast" - As in fast idling? These engines are programmed to do this when the coolant temp is getting too high. Start checking for a bad thermostat, plugged radiator, bad pump. etc.

"every once in a while the "check engine" light comes on" - Read the code by shorting the two adjacent terminals on the Assembly Line Diagnostic Link together and turning the ignition to 'on'. Report back with the code #'s.

"the ABS light is always on" - You can have the ABS code read at a dealer for a fee (I think you have a Bosch ABS system - most aftermarket readers won't work on it). If it's the ABS brain/pump module, its a $1200 part - without labor - from GM. Most people learn to live with the light.
 
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Old 06-13-07, 01:35 PM
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suspect if you read codes you may have one for the throttle position sensor and is likely whats causing the high idle at times.
as per your miss sounds like an ignition problem probably a bad plug or plug wire misfiring at cruise speeds would suspect a new set of wire and plugs would likely fix the miss.
 
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Old 06-13-07, 02:47 PM
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I'd start with a basic tune up and definatly change the fuel filter if you haven't sense you bought it. Chances are it never has been changed if u didn't and that can cause other problems also like stopped up injectors. I was having problems with my 93 and changed out the filter and it was so stopped up you couldn't blow through it. Engines these days are a cat and mouse game if you don't have a diagnostic machine to hook it up to. And it can also get expensive by trial and error. If you can find someone with a machine fairly cheap, let them check it for u and save time and money. And then again if your always broke like me, hope u get lucky, LOL.
 
 

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