So, the other day I started up the "1990 Oldsmobile Delta 88" and let it run for a few minutes. Right when I went to back out of the driveway the car quit. I started the car and it died after about 20 seconds. When I turned the key off and back to the ON position again without the engine running the fuel injectors were firing just like the engine was running, but the Engine was OFF.
I then also noticed the dash lights flickering. When I tried to scan for codes the computer and radiator fan kept flickering on and off making it hard to see the codes. I then let the car sit for about 6 hours and then it started right up with no problems, is something shorting out somewhere to cause this?

any ideas,

Matt

 

You need to give the year, model and engine before anybody can begin to help.

 

Without knowing all of the specifics of the vehicle... I will go out on a limb and say poss. Bad pcm ground, voltage drop in pcm power circuit, wonky power relay to pcm causing voltage drop. If you truly want to diagnose it. You are going to need good shop manuals and wiring diagrams.

 

Sorry about that, It's a 1990 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham, It has the 3.8 V6 Buick Series 1 Motor.

 

Sounds like moisture is getting to the pcm unit..do you have a leak in the car? Firewall, sunroof, windshield leak possibly?

 

Basics, Basics, Basics...look, clean and inspect all the primary (smaller gauge wires) and secondary (large battery cables) systems for good clean connections, down to the starter and engine block. Look at the engine grounds to the battery and to the body(firewall). Then start digging in deeper. Without good grounds all bets are off when the transients try to find their way back to +, especially on a computer controlled car.

 

Seen this before. Tap on the ecm while it is running ok and see if the engine cuts out, if it does it has a bad ecm. The circuit board connections break loose causing a bad connection. I hope this helps.

 

First off, sorry for not getting back sooner. Buss Bars / Grounds look good. I think my injectors are shorted or messed up in some way. I ordered this set from Ebay last year due to my old ones leaking. They are made by Uremco. Anyways, I took the plug off a properly working injector and switched the plug to a poorly working injector (has a skippy feel to the pulse) and the problem injector did not switch spots with the one next to it. This tells me it is not the injector signal but the injectors themselves that are causing the Idle Missfire problem.

Could the shorted injectors have caused or played a role in the electrical problems I was having with the car? SES Light Flashing, Pulsing injectors by themselves, radiator fan flickering, ect?

Thanks again,

Matt

 

Matt you may have more than one problem. If your car fails to start (and you've ruled out the starter and charging circuits) I would say look at your PCM and ignition switch.

I had a 93 Buick LeSabre with the 3.8L V6. I had to replace the ignition switch because the switch and key became worn. It was having trouble starting and would sometimes die.

The same car also gave me a code for a Quad Driver Module in the PCM. I wasn't experiencing any drive-ability problems but once I replaced the PCM it fixed the code.