My friends car wont run?

Question

It is a 1994 Buick Le Sabre. 3800 V6. She said it used to run for a coupe sec, then shut off, and you could start it again, but it would die. I looked at it today, and i got it to "run" if i held the gas down a little. After that, i couldnt get it to start again. When you try to start it, a little bit of smoke comes from under the front exhaust manifold. It smells like unburned gas. i tried to read the OBD, but the connector is...different, so i dont want to mess anything up. Does any body have any ideas? Its her family's only car.

Ive heard bad things about the distributer-less ignition...
Im going to check the plugs tomorrow.

Answer 1

check the fuel pump for blockages, sometimes they can get like 99% blocked up, then it lets a little bit of the petrol through, then disperses ne build up wherever it can. also if its an electric fuel pump, make sure its not cutting out.

Answer 2

The best thing is to get it hooked up to a scanner,however if you cant get one to read the codes.The first thing to check is to see if you have spark at the plugs,either with a spark tester or by taking out a plug and ground it while someone turns over the engine.Second big test is hook up a fuel pressure tester to the fuel rail and see what the pressure reads.Pressure should read around 30 psi.If no pressure bad fuel pump or blocked filter.If there's no spark it could be lots of things .Good luck!

Answer 3

I would suggest checking the fuel filter for blockage, or possibly a weak fuel pump on the verge of going out. My brother-n-law use to have a nissan and it was doing something similar to this and it turned out to be a cracked distributor cap.

Answer 4

crank sensor or mass air flow sensor.

Answer 5

cos it doesnt have legs