I am seeking help from Buick or GM experts...

Elmo187

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
1,055
Location
Brandon, FL, USA
Car(s)
Cobalt SS/SC-SN95 5.0 Stang-Toyota Corolla AE86
ok, about a month ago, me and my fiancee bought a 2003 Buick Century with the 3100 V6 with 62,xxx miles because we already have a kid and we have one coming on the way. so pretty much the Cobalt, Mustang, Yaris (which was traded in by the way), and Corolla aren't really family cars.

so anyway, on with the problem.....

coming back from a SuperBowl party just about an hour ago the first few minutes it was working fine. once i went over a steep incline that included railroad tracks, the car starting acting real weird. it seemed to have just lost alot of power. so i hit the gas and all i hear is this rumbling and then the car starts to shutter. about 30 seconds later, on comes the "Service Engine Soon" light and continues to blink. came to a red light to a complete stop and the car sounded like it was about to die. i limped it the rest of the way home. i went in, grabbed my high intensity flashlight and checked the oil (about the only thing i could really do at midnight:30). it was absolutely fine. it was the right color, it was at the right level.

what could this be? fuel system? ECU?
 
That sounds like fuel starvation. I wish I could be more helpful, but I can't think of what might be causing it.
 
Well, stuttering/loss of power usually means it's either fuel or spark. Electrons are rarely affected by inclines, so I would look into the fuel system first, perhaps the fuel pump itself.
 
Oh, how much gas was in the tank at the time? I had a similar problem as your are describing in my Jeep at one point because of all of the crap in the gas. Also, because of the ethanol in gas now, it can cause water to separate into the gas which will then cause the engine to run very poorly. One cheap fix to try, is put a bottle of stp gas treatment in.
 
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That engine is (in)famous for intake manifold gasket problems (both lower and upper), among other things. It's hard to say from your description, but this is one of the known problems with the engine.
 
I dont know what to tell you,

Ive driven up some steep bumpy hills with almost no gas and Ive never had any problems, Ive got the same engine too
 
I've also had similar stumbling problems in old cars that had junk blocking the fuel line. Its possible that the railroad crossing dislodged some crap in the tank and caused it to get sucked into the line.
 
It does *sound* like a fuel system problem now that I think about it more. The easiest and cheapest thing for you to try yourself is to change the fuel filter and see if that clears it up. If not, you'll probably have to have someone look it over for you.
 
well its in the shop right now. i'm still waiting for a phone call from them.
 
If I am not mistaken, flashing CEL means mis-fire. Most likely a fueling issue.
 
got a call back from the shop.....

all it needs is a regular tune-up plus a new coilpack. never knew it would be that simple lol.

alright, well......

it didn't just need a tune up. the shop called me and informed that it still ran like crap after they did the tune up. they're taking the engine apart to see what's wrong with the internals of the engine.

SWEET! a stripped rocker arm. that is just fucking AWESOME!
 
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