DD HELP needed- Mechanics step in

[fabjunkie]

For about a month and a half the car has been dieing on a whim. It's a '97 Grand Prix with the 3.8 non supercharged. There is nothing that seems to cause it, no signs it's going to die, no hesitating, no stalls, no codes, nothing. 50/50 chance of it starting right back up or making me wait 5-30 minutes to start again. When it dies and when it won't start, I have full power to everything, the engine cranks fine, but will not fire. When it runs, it runs great and normal.

I can't figure it out, the dealership had it for four days and couldn't figure it out. Of course it didn't do it while they had it. It did it again today for the first time since I got it back from the dealer about a week and a half ago.

The only thing anyone can think of, including myself, is that the crank sensor may be going out. But at $400 to replace on a whim, well.....

I would do it myself but don't have the time as I'm in the middle of taking my wife to our new home in Tulsa 500 miles away, finding a new job for myself, and then moving all of our stuff, and trying to sell our house on top of it all. I'm towing the car up there this weekend and leaving it until I get there (get to drive the Blazer in the mean time ) and have it fixed up there so at least I have someone to take it back to if it still has problems.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I'm at a loss on this damn thing. Can anyone think of anything else that might be causing this?

 

[BadBob]

have the intake gaskets been replaced yet?

 

[bigblock72]

Without actually getting the car to act up and seeing first hand I would definitely suspect the crank sensor as well. $400.00 seems a bit steep for that repair, seems like the last one I did for a customer was $270ish parts and labor with a cam sensor.

 

[fabjunkie]

That's good to know bigblock. The dealer didn't give me an exact price, the service guy just said, "oh around $400", but they also charge $100 an hour. My wife's g-pa knows a good mechanic up where we're moving so I figure I'll let him tinker with it for a bit before doing anything to see if he comes up with something else. At this point, with everyone I've talked to, everything points to the crank sensor. I'm suprised no one else chimed in, I know there are a lot of mechanics on here.

Badbob, I think that if it were the ignition module, I'd be having different syptoms that what I've got.

 

[jekquistk5]

can you hear your fuel pump kicking on??? I know thats a problem on grand am, I figure it be the same for the grand prix's

 

[ryan22re]

Go buy a dampner puller and do it yourself.

Sensor should only be 30-60 bucks.