Problems with my 2000 Buick Park Avenue.

mattattack7mattattack7 Member Posts: 2
edited April 2015 in Buick
we have been having a bit of trouble with it lately.  It was sputtering, then it would run fine. Then it would shut off at a stop light, then run fine. We got a new fuel filter and some sea foam and it started running better. 
I went to the store and back since I repaired it, it ran perfect. This morning I tried to start it and it wouldn't even try really.  Just kept making a clicking noise! I'm broke as a joke and it's our only car. Any suggestions? :/

Answers

  • mattattack7mattattack7 Member Posts: 2
    edited April 2015
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,531

    This morning I tried to start it and it wouldn't even try really.  Just kept making a clicking noise! I'm broke as a joke and it's our only car.

    Sounds like either a bad battery or starter. How the headlights act while someone
    attempts to crank? Do they dim?

    Sometimes tapping on the starter moderately with something with mass
    to vibrate it while someone turns the key may help it make connection
    if it's the main contact inside which is moved by the small solenoid
    you're hearing making the clicking. The main contact corrodes or gets
    oil on it (is your engine dripping oil under the front valve cover down over
    the area where the starter is?).



    Are you able to try to jump it to see if that helps the symptom of a weak/bad battery?

    Check the battery cables including the grounds to the engine.

    Check the connections for the positive cable from the battery to the connections
    next to the fuse box with the red positive connection.



    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,531
    I went to the store and back since I repaired it, it ran perfect. This morning I tried to start it and it wouldn't even try really.  Just kept making a clicking noise!
    There's one other possibility. Have you been losing any coolant lately? With the engine not hot, take off the radiator cap and check the level inside the radiator. Is it low?

    If you are getting headlight dimming when you get the click, it might mean your car is hydro-locked IF you have been having coolant loss. That might also explain the sputtering which could be due to coolant seeping into the intake manifold through the seal around the intake manifold.

    The pattern is if the coolant is hot after the engine is driven a while, it pushes more coolant through the seeping seal. Then when the car is shut down, more coolant leaks due to the residual pressure in the radiator. That coolant just happens to be going into a cylinder with the intake valve open when the engine stopped. It fills the cylinder with some coolant and as the engine starts to crank that piston tries to compress the coolant. Can't. And the engine won't turn. Symptom is headlights dim due to the starter drawing high current but can't turn the engine. The interior lights will usually show the strong dimming.

    If this is the case, it needs to have a new upper intake manifold and seal installed. I recommend the APN upper intake with a metal sleeve in the tube where the EGR gases are put into the air stream as well as the new seal that's part of the intake. (ineedparts.com).

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

Sign In or Register to comment.