[SOLVED] 1999 Grand Prix starts and dies instantly!

Whitetail Crazy · 06-23-2008, 08:12 AM

Ok this is FYI.
I get the call from my brother. His wifes car won't start all the time and sometimes runs rough. I have been down the road of trying diagnose over the phone, so as he tells me what it is doing, I just keep telling him to bring it down, drop it off and I will fix it. Over the phone he tells me that he talked to a guy that works on cars for a living (I don't want to call him a mechanic) and he is 100% sure that it is the fuel pump. So my brother buys and installs a fuel pump. He tells me that the car has never ran so good, he takes it around the block a few times and parks it. His wife goes to take it somewhere 10 minutes later and it won't start. My brother says that he gets no fuel out of the fuel port on the engine (which is why I will not diagnose over the phone any more). I keep telling him to bring it down and I will fix it. The next day I come home and my wife tells me that the car was dropped off and brought in on a trailer. I start the car and go for a ride. It runs fine so I park it in front of the garage to check a few things anyway. Someone shows up with a different issue and takes me away from the Grand Prix. As I am walkingf by the car I reach in and hit the ignition and the car will not start, sort of. It starts and dies instantly. I hit the fuel pressure port and fuel sprays everywhere (again, why I don't diagnose over the phone with certain people), I put a fuel pressure gauge on it and the fuel pressure is fine.
So I think, I have seen this before but it was on a Toyota. In that case, I was working on the car and had the air piping off (mass air flow sensor in the piping) and it would start and instantly die, put the piping back on and everything was fine. So I start looking for the MAF on the Grand Prix, bolted into the aluminum housing. I take it off and cool it with the air hose since this thing only seems to act up when it is hot, put it back on and the car starts. I let it run for a few minutes, shut the car off, let it heat soak for 10 minutes and try to start it, won't start, cool it again and the car fires up. Run this scenario on more time but when it won't sta this time I simply unplug the wires to it. The car starts and with it running I plug it back in and the car dies.
I replaced the MAF sensor and all is well.
This car had no fault codes or anything to lead to this.
I just wanted to put this out here for anyone that may run into this and not have the advantage of seeing it before.

Aron

BUDFAN8 · 06-24-2008, 05:28 PM

i have just also ran into something similar to this only the miata would start and idle fine with the air flow meter unplugged. (air flow meter is fancy old saying for MAF) when i plugged in the air flow meter it would instantly die. when it was idleing good tring to give it gas would kill it also. replaced the air flow meter and runs fine.

Bud.

Whitetail Crazy · 06-25-2008, 06:44 AM

doesn't seem to be anything to lead someone to this except past experience. That is why I threw this out here in case anyone runs into this in the future.
What led you to finding it on the miata?

BUDFAN8 · 06-25-2008, 09:55 AM

i forgot to plug it up after the repairs. so when i did plug it up the car would only crank over instead of the idleing it was doing before. so i then unplugged it again because that is the only differant thing i had done and it would idle again. so i knew it had to be the AFM or a wire.

pretty much just lucky i forgot to plug it in before i started the car after repairs or i may have been searching for a while.

Bud.

06-23-2008, 08:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
Whitetail Crazy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Illinois Posts: 29 OS: windows xp	[SOLVED] 1999 Grand Prix starts and dies instantly! Ok this is FYI. I get the call from my brother. His wifes car won't start all the time and sometimes runs rough. I have been down the road of trying diagnose over the phone, so as he tells me what it is doing, I just keep telling him to bring it down, drop it off and I will fix it. Over the phone he tells me that he talked to a guy that works on cars for a living (I don't want to call him a mechanic) and he is 100% sure that it is the fuel pump. So my brother buys and installs a fuel pump. He tells me that the car has never ran so good, he takes it around the block a few times and parks it. His wife goes to take it somewhere 10 minutes later and it won't start. My brother says that he gets no fuel out of the fuel port on the engine (which is why I will not diagnose over the phone any more). I keep telling him to bring it down and I will fix it. The next day I come home and my wife tells me that the car was dropped off and brought in on a trailer. I start the car and go for a ride. It runs fine so I park it in front of the garage to check a few things anyway. Someone shows up with a different issue and takes me away from the Grand Prix. As I am walkingf by the car I reach in and hit the ignition and the car will not start, sort of. It starts and dies instantly. I hit the fuel pressure port and fuel sprays everywhere (again, why I don't diagnose over the phone with certain people), I put a fuel pressure gauge on it and the fuel pressure is fine. So I think, I have seen this before but it was on a Toyota. In that case, I was working on the car and had the air piping off (mass air flow sensor in the piping) and it would start and instantly die, put the piping back on and everything was fine. So I start looking for the MAF on the Grand Prix, bolted into the aluminum housing. I take it off and cool it with the air hose since this thing only seems to act up when it is hot, put it back on and the car starts. I let it run for a few minutes, shut the car off, let it heat soak for 10 minutes and try to start it, won't start, cool it again and the car fires up. Run this scenario on more time but when it won't sta this time I simply unplug the wires to it. The car starts and with it running I plug it back in and the car dies. I replaced the MAF sensor and all is well. This car had no fault codes or anything to lead to this. I just wanted to put this out here for anyone that may run into this and not have the advantage of seeing it before. Aron

06-24-2008, 05:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 193 OS: XP	Re: [SOLVED] 1999 Grand Prix starts and dies instantly! i have just also ran into something similar to this only the miata would start and idle fine with the air flow meter unplugged. (air flow meter is fancy old saying for MAF) when i plugged in the air flow meter it would instantly die. when it was idleing good tring to give it gas would kill it also. replaced the air flow meter and runs fine. Bud.

06-25-2008, 06:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
Whitetail Crazy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Illinois Posts: 29 OS: windows xp	Re: [SOLVED] 1999 Grand Prix starts and dies instantly! doesn't seem to be anything to lead someone to this except past experience. That is why I threw this out here in case anyone runs into this in the future. What led you to finding it on the miata?

06-25-2008, 09:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 193 OS: XP	Re: [SOLVED] 1999 Grand Prix starts and dies instantly! i forgot to plug it up after the repairs. so when i did plug it up the car would only crank over instead of the idleing it was doing before. so i then unplugged it again because that is the only differant thing i had done and it would idle again. so i knew it had to be the AFM or a wire. pretty much just lucky i forgot to plug it in before i started the car after repairs or i may have been searching for a while. Bud.