Cadillac Repair: Cadillac wont stay runnung, fuel pressure gage, adjustable gap

Question
Bill,
I have an '86 Coupe DeVille that won't stay running. First, about two-weeks ago I steam cleaned the engine compartment, changed oil pan gasket, replaced air struts with air shocks. Pulled car out of garage and drove for a couple blocks. Car died as if no fuel, all service lights came on on the dash, let sit for a half hour it started right up but died after about 20 seconds of running. Sprayed starting fluid but would not start, getting spark, after 30 minutes or so it will restart but then die and this continues. Have any ideas?

Answer
Hi Dave, On the '86 it is easy to check for fuel spray from the injectors while cranking. Hooking up a fuel pressure gage to the schrader valve is easy to do and should show 12psi. If so then fuel pressure is good. According to your description it sounds like to car ran normal up to the point of the steam cleaning. How did you test for spark? There is a tool with an adjustable gap or hei spark plug looking tool that you put the wire on and then ground the clip to the engine away from the fuel injectors and then crank the engine. It can be bought at the bigger parts stores. What might be happening is water found its way inside the distributor cap and under the coil allowing the spark to short out. Removal of the coil to dry out the cap should do the trick. Otherwise maybe the ignition module inside the cap is ready to fail and needs to get replaced. Checking for fuel and spark this way should point you in the right direction. It is possable that the ECM got shorted out somehow by the steam cleaning so if nothing shows up in testing it might be a good idea to have it towed to a shop for diagnosis before throwing parts at it other than a module. Hope that helps. Bill