Hello,

My sunbird recently started fouling the two end sparkplugs and I don't know where to start to solve the problem. I will list the possibilities and things that I have noticed in the past month.

1. Battery light briefly flashes on between 60-70 MPH. Above that is fine, below that is fine. This indicates that the Alternator is not charging correctly right?

2. #4 Sparkplug wire seperated at clamp that goes on sparkplug. Clipped and replaced clamp that is inside the boot, cylinder fires again just fine.

3. Replaced Sparkplug wires with Autozone sparkplug wires last fall...I get this problem over the winter.

4. Replaced MAP sensor, Intake Air Temp sensor and sparkplugs once a week each time they foul and the car won't start.

5. Replaced battery with SEARS DIEHARD battery...same issue with battery light flashing on at 60-70 mph. Had battery tested and it's still good as new. :confused:



My suspicions are:

1. The coil is going out and not giving enough spark to ignite fuel completely. I've no idea how to test this or where....

2. Sparkplug wires were faulty from the shop and are damping the spark and need to be replaced. I'm gonna replace those things anyway with some performance wires.

3. Fuel pressure regulator is faulty and sending too much fuel to the cylinders.


Please help,
Dm of mD


<img src = http://home.earthlink.net/~mgdm13/_images/JKrew-MD.JPG>

i'd say number 3. sounds like your getting to much fuel. do they smell like fuel when you pull them out?

also, stay away from bosh platniums. they will burn out in half the time a standard set will. (just took mine out the other day, was one of the reasons for my backfireing from hell)


...

Its fouling two at once? What type of foul? Black or white?

Yes, the car started doing this when I had those stupid piece of crap Bosch Platinum plugs in the car!!!!

I wish I had known. Now I need new plug wires and had to swap two sets of plugs out so far to keep the car running. The plugs were black fouled....and they smelled like Gas.

I was so pissed cause I spent some money on those stupid "Platinum" plugs and they were crapped out within months of putting them in.

I am researching a new Fuel Pressure Regulator right now.
I last put new plugs in the car on Monday. The car is still running fine today but I will see how it is doing and if it shows the same symptoms by this saturday.

Thanks,
Dm of mD


<img src = http://home.earthlink.net/~mgdm13/_images/JKrew-MD.JPG>

Stick to AC Delcos



1991 3.1L V6 Sunbird LE
15.365@88.52
Full Interior...3-Speed Automatic.

Satisfied Customer of:
POWERSHOP PORTING SERVICE

Hmmm....

According to everything I've ever read both here ad on V6Z24, I have the absolute worst ignition system ever- Accel coil packs, Accel wires, and Bosch Platinum plugs. And I've been running this setup for a little over two years now.

The thing is- I never have any ignition problems, ever. Maybe I'm just really lucky, or maybe everyone else just blames Bosch and Accel for other problems......

Not saying that its something else in your car, but I just don't understand why I never have any issues.......

Mr Cahill,

The car once again failed to start. It definitely is the ignition coil/ignition control module. When the temperature dips below 35 degrees outside the car will not start. Above that it will start. The car has a very weak spark at the plugs. I took them all out individually and checked for the typical fat blue spark and there was a weak little hair thin spark. I went through the same crap on my motorcycle when the coils on it died and I replaced them with dyna coils and got a huge fat radiant-blue spark.

I am going to replace the ignition-coil\ignition control module with this....



According to the guy at Advanced Auto Parts this is the coil that fits my 1994 pontiac sunbird 2.0 car. What sparkplug wires do you suggest I buy?
The crappy ones I have in the car now must be replaced as well.

Please advise.
Dm of mD

James Cahill wrote:Hmmm....

According to everything I've ever read both here ad on V6Z24, I have the absolute worst ignition system ever- Accel coil packs, Accel wires, and Bosch Platinum plugs. And I've been running this setup for a little over two years now.

The thing is- I never have any ignition problems, ever. Maybe I'm just really lucky, or maybe everyone else just blames Bosch and Accel for other problems......

Not saying that its something else in your car, but I just don't understand why I never have any issues.......

<img src = http://home.earthlink.net/~mgdm13/_images/JKrew-MD.JPG>

Well, the solution has been found.

The Coolant Temperature Sensor was faulty.
It caused the car to not know the correct temperature of the engine and thereby flooded the cylinders with gas because the broken sensor fooled the car into thinking it was colder than it actually was. Which in turn fouled the sparkplugs constantly and kept the car from starting. I replaced the 17 dollar part and the car runs great!
I still need to replace the alternator but that will be easy in comparison to what I thought the problem was. I will replace the sparkplug wires with high-quality wires as soon as I have the money.


Dm of mD

Well, problems are still here....

The car starts now but still runs crappy.
It will go as long as you either press the pedal lightly...or FLOOR it.
Anything in between those two extremes and it sputters and pops like it's not getting gas...yet I smell gas coming from under the hood through the vents.

My suspects are:

- Fuel pressure regulator (But that doesn't explain the gassy smell under the hood)
- Leaky Fuel Injectors
- Cracked Vacuum lines somewhere
- Bad alternator? No warning lights....


I don't understand it. Does anyone else have a clue as to what is going on?
Thank you in advance for the help.

Dm of mD