Oldsmobile Alero ran hot now wont start no spark

Asked by jewel75 Mar 24, 2016 at 12:49 PM about the 2001 Oldsmobile Alero GL Coupe

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

About 3 weeks ago ran car hot for a while was out
of town middle of no where  trying to get to secure
place. Now car will not Start turns over . But no
spark please help can't afford another motor or car
what could it be . Thanks

3 Answers

135

How come there are hardly any answers or replies on this site...or a lot of them on this (except the security crap...which it isn't)about this. Hi here is my expierence. I just bought a feul pump about 3 weeks ago and had it installed...I bought a new battery first as to that one was pretty old and had died and wanted to be certain that wasn't the issue(like a cylonoid in it)I was what I thought lucky on that because I bought the feul pump for $58 total and had it installed for $150... the battery was $90... it ran perfectly fine until last Wednesday and I was on my 3 hour trip back to my home town...it died in the middle of the highway going about 60 -70 miles and hour, almost to a bridge with semis and cars speeding past. it made a weird noise like it was running out of gas and like it wouldn't shift into gear..so I hit the brakes panicing...it died...I tried to start it and it turned over but wouldn't start like 3-4 times then it wouldn't even crank and made what I call a weird air compressor sound...like air going thru something really fast with no crank...so had to have it towed to my mother in laws...luckily an officer came to direct traffic around me so I wasn't hurt(or my 3 dogs I had with me...I was scared n crying at this point...and frustrated cause I just had all that money(while at a deal still expensive)and work done...this is what it did before. well my starter got fried...so we replaced it and now it cranks over again but wont start...there isn't any spark to the plug wires... plug wires I was told are still in good condition...so I took the coils and the pack in to be tested they are good...we went on and changed the feul filter since I really should have done that with the pump but didn't(don't know why) I'm taking it to get tested tomorrow and hopefully something shows up, but again that is a common problem in this car that nothing shows up so I am worried about this.. I have common car knowledge from cashiering at pepe boys for 2 years n helping my sons dad(ex) and my older friend mike work on cars and learn a smuch as I can...I have watched countless hours of video and looked at countless blogs on what it could be...there is a number of things. what scares me the most are a few things...like coolant got into the engine....which is really bad for any car but these ecspecially since they need warmed up before driving and most of the time probably aren't and this messes up the pistons and valve system in the engine ...whih can hit the exhaust valve and cause it to stay open and things to that nature...then u are screwed unless u know someone well enough to take engine apart and fix it for u which is pretty hard and if it can be fixed...the other thing is a broken timing chain and the same thing applies to that... the other things are scattered throughout honestly and if its not reading on test it will be a hit and miss if you wanna put that much money into it. if codes don't show anything I have a few more things to look at before I decide to scrap/sell it. oh yeah starter was $160 for this car. ive put in over $800 in this car and that's not including tow fees in the last 2 months... I wanna cry scream amd blow it up all at the same time. heres the list of what I know people have talked about that could possible be wrong and cause this/these issues(quite long list...and not even sure I have everything down just as much as I could l learn being stranded for 6 days at inlaws 3 hours away from where I work about to lose job if I don't get fixed and get home...plus my roommate has one of my dogs up there and ugggg)but here we go oooo also if it is turns over look for crank and no start problems not not crank no start issues 1st. if u test ur coils and are getting voltage then it is from the pickup, crank sensor, ignition module, or primary wiring.....if it has no voltage it is usually from ignition switch or ignition circuit wiring. ok to the long long list(psh).. I'm not putting this in order where it is just the list of possibilities 1)faulty/bad ignition switch 2)crankshaft sensor 3)camshaft sensor 4)ignition module(assuming this is fancy name for the pack...if not then the pack too) 5)ignition coil/coils 6)broken , loose, cooroded wires from pcm 7)your computer reset and isn't registering or learned something wrong from not being fixed and understanding the issue 8)fuses 9)knock sensor? haven't studied this one sorry 10)starter 11)feul pump 12)feul filter 13)altenator 14)battery..get it tested to be sure cylonoids go out and cause issues u can miss 15)bad temperature sensor....most people wouldn't think of this but can shut your computer down in your car and u wont get proper reading and can get coolant inside your engine(doesn't always lock up when engine is bad) 16)intake manifold gasket 17)head gasket 18)no wires touching exhaust manifold...this will ground them out 19)vaccum hoses...make sure all tight and not cracked ecspecially around clamped areas...they have to be tight and get proper suction to flow and work properly 20)faulty park/neutral safety switch 21)o2sensor...will cut engine off 22)throttle positioning sensor 23)map sensor 24)idle air control valve 25)make sure to clean and change transmission filters and clean fluids throughout 26)clean or replace MAF(mass air flow) sensor...you nhave to take this off to clean it and let it dry before reapplying it 27)CAI cold air intake 28)catalyc convertor 29)check the injector pulse? (haven't looked into this one) 30)passive system? (haven't looked into this one) 31)broken timing chain...your screwed 32)piston misfiring hitting exhaust stuff your screwed(bent valve from piston) 33)haven't heard this but helped a person on a video...key unprogrammed itself so had to replace 34) this one is odd but worked for someone so on the list it goes #37 fuse which he thought was ac/compressor fuse... I had checked my number 57 because its for the feul pump but not this one...so will do tomorrow. 35)plugs and wires so this is the list of stuff ive compiled so far.. u can sort through some by where the issue is but it could be something out of the blue on this car it seems. also remember piston slapping is normal for this car so it sounds loud or knocking at first but once it warms up it should go away. also if anyone has any input on what this could be on my car plz answer...im on my father in laws pc so not sure if its his info saved but my email is tigerlilysue@hotmail.com also to all females ...learn what u need to know to not get taken advantage of on parts and pricing...show u are capable of car knowledge just as well...learn it and do it....yes this is predominately a mans world ...show them what u know to earn repsect...that's how this field works, and I'm tired of people saying they were taken advantage of because their sex...while at some point this could be true most time its not and u don't have the knowledge so one of two things are going on... A) they flat out take advantage of u to make money B) they don't know or understand whats really going on and are trying to make the best possible guess..or C) they just don't know or have the knowledge and are trying to hide it or not make it known(they don't wanna look bad at work like everyone else...and they deal with frustrated people on the daily in this filed...so show a little respect it can go a long way)

2 people found this helpful.
135

36) forgot the security issue....just watch a video is a simple fix until u have money for someone to do it...around $100 to reset the codes

2 people found this helpful.

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