94 Grand Am Is Sluggish and Smokes.

kokola

Alright. So I own a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am with 101,000 miles currently. It has a 2.3 L 16-valve High Output Quad-4 in it. But for some odd reason it is terribly slow. Like 0-60 in 2 minutes. I took it to a mechanic and he said it was only running on two cylinders. The car is also difficult to start. But once it gets running it's good. Just slow and when you give it some gas it spews black smoke out the exhaust. I replaced the coil pack, spark plugs, spark plug wires, and I'm thinking of replacing the oxygen sensor next. Any suggestions?

kokola

Also when it is running for about 5 minutes the car starts to smell badly of gas.

67firebird

Sounds like the classic head gasket to me. :sick:

harley192001

I have a 93 with the 3300 motor runs really ruff changed the plugs about 3 weeks ago to autolites took them back out and they were really black it has plenty of fule pressure on the fule rail pulled the little cap and it sprays fule when you turn the key i had to change the harmonic balancer on it and it seems to run wores now also it it drinking gas like crazy any ideas would help thax harley... :sick:

kokola

Yeah I no longer have my grand am but I would try replacing the coil packs. That's what I did and my car ran great afterwards(it had the same symptoms as yours).

bison2

hi folks, i am a newby here, I hope you can help me out diagnosing a problem with my doughters 94 grand am. Quad 4 SOHC 2.3 ltr /AT/AC.

problem is a dtc 13 [ 02 sensor ] that whatever i do keeps recurring.

i ended up replacing the ecm, map sensor, oilpressure sensor ,tps.temp sensor,
i checked vapor canister and valve vacuum hoses, tested fuel pressure with engine off 39 psi and running 42 psi .fuel regulator works fine. No leaking injectors found. replaced sparkplugs and boots ,coil packs. I checked pcm wiring to 02 sensor[ replaced O2 S 4 times].
Before replacing coil packs I took the car to the dealer who figured after telling him all i did to it, that the 02 sensor was at fault and put in a new one again at a cost of 289 bucks including scanning and labor. Ses light was on again within 25 mls. I had told him O2 sensor was NOT the problem. After replacing coil packs the DTC went away for 4 days then came on again and is intermittend now.
Fuel pump was replaced 10k ago, intermitted seslight on and dtc 13 was present before that.

the engine was rebuild 35 k ago by myself and ran fine for 20 k till problem started.
other simptoms are at times start and stall a few times and stumbling while on the highway ,but most times runs perfect with lots of get go.
I should maby test a few more items but I have no tools for that.

I am at wits end and cant afford to put more money in it, at least no dealer time at 110 pop an hour.

What did i miss here, Any idea folks

Thanks up front ,Bison2

fire19

Did you ever figure this problem out ??? I am having the same issues.

deewm

Did you replace the coil tower-the part that the coil packs are assembled in. The towers are famous for going bad. Also make sure you installed the correct type plugs and that they are gapped at the correct size. I had the same problems with my 95 Quad 4. My car would run great for a 100 miles and out of the blue stall & miss. If scan is showing 02 sensor problem it may be your cataltic converter.