QuestionVan, I know you stated '99 or older, but I believe the GM 3800 V6 is pretty generic. We are the orig owner of a 2000 non-supercharged Bonneville with only 57k orig miles, and meticulous maintenance. It developed a very intermittent miss (like only once in about 1,000 miles), then eventually increased in regularity. It's a very abrupt misfire. Of late, however, it is increasingly noticeable. We changed plugs and wires, which seemed to cure it for about 2k miles, but has resurfaced. This time, my wife says the car completely quit, but restarted immediately. She noticed that before it died, that the engine quivered a bit and the needle on the tachometer dropped to zero before the engine quit. I realize the problem could be a number of things, but could it be the crankshaft sensor, coil pack, or fleck of carbon stuck in the EGR valve? I don't suspect fuel delivery problems because the symptoms don't mimic that. Thank you in advance for your help.
AnswerHello Carl,
It could be any of those things you mentioned, but if the fuel pressure drops, like the pump shutting off, it will do the same thing.
It won't stumble around like a carb running low on gas...it will just quit.
But sounds like loss of spark to me.
Strange it could cure like that for a couple thousand.
Could also be a loose wire, but you would think if it came loose enough to kill it, it wouldn't start, but worth checking all the connections.
Van
