[jimd83]

1998 Malibu 3100 145k

Okay last night I'm driving home and i pull into my driveway (slight incline)... engine cuts out. When i restart the car it starts knocking like crazy. Running very rough with misfires and stalls out after 5 to 10 seconds. Now the car will not start at all. When I turn the key I get about 1/4 crank then nothing. I can hear the fuel pump turn on when I turn the power on. Earlier in the day the car started to sputter while at a red light idling. And on the way home the car stalled out when I stopped at a stop sign. Check engine light would come on and off recently. When the car sputtered the CE light went off... Does that make any sense?? Think the CE light was the recent discovery of a small leak starting on the top of the fuel tank (thanks to road salt and crappy weather). A scan provided an EVAP code and figured that was the reason. Was planning on replacing the tank and now this. I have read something about the crank position sensor failing and not allowing the car to start. Could this be an electrical problem? If anyone knows what this problem is please help me. I am thinking my engine is shot. A blown head gasket? The car temp would go 1 to 2 notches passed the middle of temp gauge. I know 3100 run hotter as they get older. Is this the result of a bad intake gasket? I sounded like something broke apart in my engine the way it was running so rough. Could my timing chain busted? Please i need help.

 

[newfieprincess]

Just wodnering if you found a solution to this problem as we have aa 2000 malibu that will start and run and then stalls out. sometimes you can go up the road before it starts. had it on computer idling and when it stalled said the rpm's were 16000 but they weren't. we replaced crank sensor but the problem is still there.

 

[GermWar]

I think you'd get more help if you placed this thread in the right place?
Gen. 5&6 is where a Bu from the 90's would go.

 

[Pizza Man]

One of the mods will move it, I'm sure.

 

[Starship]

1998 Malibu 3100 145k

Okay last night I'm driving home and i pull into my driveway (slight incline)... engine cuts out. When i restart the car it starts knocking like crazy. Running very rough with misfires and stalls out after 5 to 10 seconds. Now the car will not start at all. When I turn the key I get about 1/4 crank then nothing. I can hear the fuel pump turn on when I turn the power on. Earlier in the day the car started to sputter while at a red light idling. And on the way home the car stalled out when I stopped at a stop sign. Check engine light would come on and off recently. When the car sputtered the CE light went off... Does that make any sense?? Think the CE light was the recent discovery of a small leak starting on the top of the fuel tank (thanks to road salt and crappy weather). A scan provided an EVAP code and figured that was the reason. Was planning on replacing the tank and now this. I have read something about the crank position sensor failing and not allowing the car to start. Could this be an electrical problem? If anyone knows what this problem is please help me. I am thinking my engine is shot. A blown head gasket? The car temp would go 1 to 2 notches passed the middle of temp gauge. I know 3100 run hotter as they get older. Is this the result of a bad intake gasket? I sounded like something broke apart in my engine the way it was running so rough. Could my timing chain busted? Please i need help.

Oh, man, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like something catastrophic happened (spun rods, bent valves, etc.). I'm kind of at a loss what to recommend.

 

[DrivenDaily]

I had a 90-something Cavalier 4-cylinder POS. It would start when cold, run fine all day, but when it was fully warmed up it was a crap shoot if it would start. Checked all sorts of things. Tried the coil pack - not that. Tried the device under the coil pack - not that. (Can't remember what device it was.) The manager at Auto Zone was super cool, too! I couldn't start the car in his lot so I was working on it in between severe downpours and light rain. While I waited for AAA to come I worked on it, too. (Got drenched!) Manager let me bring the part back in and I bought the crank sensor. It goes under the car and I couldn't reach it in his lot. Got the car towed (rain was so hard that I was on a 5-hour waiting list due to flooding all over the area) and worked on it the next morning. 15-minute job. When I had the car in the air and reached up to remove the old one it nearly fell out in my hand. It was so loose that once it was hot I guess the crankcase pressure had pushed it out too far, but when it cooled it somehow would get close enough to start (most times). The part was only $15-20 so I replaced it anyhow. Cured the problem.

Later the engine spun a bearing and I had to replace the car. It was a $200 junker to start with so it was no loss, but it was a lesson to share!

Electronics are weird to work on, especially if you're only guessing. They aren't at all like mechanical parts in that you can't see them or feel them or measure them in a physical way. You have to have or use electronic tools to assist you.

The way you describe the knocking allows us to take it in several directions. It could be predetonation, a rod bearing knocking, a crank bearing spinning, a wrist pin, a valve, a slipped tooth on the timing chain/belt, or something else. What leads me to believe it may be electronic is that it was still running and you felt you could start it again and drive it. Also, the MIL (malfunction indicator light, aka CEL, SES) came on and went off, suggesting that the PCM was sensing something amiss but that it came back within operating parameters.

I hope it's simple and cheap. Please post what you find. We'd all like to know!