Hey JPalmateer, Thanks for asking, the answer is "no, I haven't fixed it yet." My work gets super busy this time of year and I haven't put my hands on the 3.1 since my last post but I am going to post all developments, good, bad and ugly until the (bitter?) end. I talked to the guy again who said it might be the catalytic convertor and in our conversation I told him I suspect the fuel line and he asked if I had pressed down the little valve ( it looks like an air valve on a tire ) near the fuel rail, I said "yes, gas squirted out" and he said that shows there is fuel at the fuel rail so he believed that the fuel line was okay. I thought about it and said that I would run the engine till it quits and then immediately check that little valve again and I'll bet I'll find no gas coming out of it right after the motor quits, he agreed it sounds like a good idea. That is where it stands right now. After I posted last time I remembered that I had replaced the brake lines during all my repair work and I think I probably nudged the fuel line aside during that job and that probably knocked some crap loose inside that rotted fuel line. That's all I got fer now, Phil.

 

I started the 3.1 today and as soon as it died ( it ran for only about 30 seconds ) I depressed the valve near the fuel rail and gas squirted out so it seems like there is fuel right there at the fuel rail when the motor dies. I am not familiar with the internal workings of the fuel pressure regulator or the fuel rail so I will probably start tearing at the fuel line and hope to be able to remove the regulator even though I still don't see anything that looks like the drawing in the manual or like the drawing on the computer screen at Autozone but it has to be at the end of the fuel line and I am changing the fuel line for sure. If nothing else I am getting educated in working on these cars but there is no reason for it to be so difficult, I have old pickup trucks that I have plowed snow with and broke in half and welded back together that are more reliable than this, I'll keep you posted.

 

I went to work on the 3.1 again and I could see that everything beyond the end of the fuel line is hidden under the intake manifold so I looked at the manual to see how much work is involved to remove the manifold and I see that it is a major job. I'm not an engineer but I know from experience that fuel problems are rather common on internal combustion motors so why in the world is the fuel rail hidden underneath the intake manifold? In over thirty years of working on cars I have wrenched on fuel systems a few times ( we called them carburators ) but I never had to remove an intake manifold because nothing goes wrong with a manifold so why does GM come up with a backwards design like this and call it progress? There is no way I can invest the time required to tear off the manifold to chase a fuel problem I'm not even sure about, the odometer reads just over 100,000 and due to the fine? design work I see no choice but to throw in the towel on this one. By the time I would do what's needed to get under the manifold I could make enough money working on better things and buy something that actually runs ( Chevy truck ). I've got one more thing I'm going to try that doesn't require a major time investment and if that doesn't fix it I will probably try to get some money back on this heap by parting it out on Craigslist, new gastank, new front axles, body parts, etc. Sorry I don't have any good news but I didn't design this thing and there are only so many hours in the day and I can't throw any more at the 3.1.

 

Phil: Glad there is someone on the form that remembers what a carburator is. How about a generator and voltage regulator? Anyway sounds like you are in a quandry. If you had a intake manifold gasket leak (which the 3.1s tend to have) then it would be worth all the trouble.You could take care of 2 things at the same time. I had mine replaced and it runs like a top. But you don't so I hope you can recover some or all of you money by parting it out.

Jerry

 

This will have to be the last word on my 3.1 for a while because I only gave it until July and I have other projects to to work on. Last thing I did was replace the rusted section of fuel line but she still don't run. The only idea I have is to figure a way to suction out the fuel system without removing the intake monster..I mean manifold.That rust and crap is probably just sitting there blocking up the works and I'd like to believe that I can clear it without massive labor. I have an old 1981 Chevy van with about 250,000 miles on it, parked right next to the Cutlass and it has a similar problem, fuel all the way to the top of the motor but not into the carburator. The question is, how much easier will it be to fix the old 350 compared to the "improved" and "technically superior" 1992 3.1. We shall see. Later..Phil.

 

My 95 Olds 3.1 started having intermittent issues. It would run rough at times, accelarate at idle on it's own, choke at stop lights etc.
So it began, I parked it for a few weeks and decided to try and fix it. It would start and run differently every time, sometimes very good and sometimes very bad. So the thought was fuel pump. When i went to change it, moving it into the garage it would not fire. So I thought okay it totally quit working.
Changed fuel pump and filter the hard way. No luck won't fire. I have spark, so it must be fuel right?
Sprayed starting fluid in the Throttle body and it fired. Not Reccommending this as it is NOT SAFE.
The fule pump runs, can hear it and feel it. Checked fuel pressure, 42-48 PSI at the Scroeder valve. Good right?
We have spark can verify by turning it over and grounding plug.
SO changed the cam sensor, no help there.
Changed the ICM as the auto parts store said it tested bad.
No luck there either, won't fire.
So we have fuel to the rail and spark but it never loads up in the cylinder, so the injectors are not letting fuel in to the cylinders.
Changed out the fuel pressure regulator, which probably was not bad as the fuel pressure was fine.
Changed a relay that says fuel pump, allthough the pump runs anyway. Still no luck.
So does anyone know what could control the release of fuel through the injectors? I could see having a bad one, but no fuel in two different cylinders?
I believe I have an issue with whatever tells the injectors to spray fuel, but no one seems to know what that may be. It has OBD-1 so it is challenging to find a code reader, which probably won't tell me jack anyway.
ANy other thoughts out there as this thing is close to going to the boneyard

 

Make sure the port between the EGR and throttle boby is clean of carbon. Also try a new TPS switch and Idel Air Control valve. Those 2 would come to about $75. Hope things work out.

 

I also tried using carb cleaner and spraying EVERYWHERE to see if there was a vacuum leak, couldn't find anything.

 

From what I read here, its the speed sensor located on top of the transmission for a 97 olds cutlass. I have replaced mine 3 times and all the signs your speak of are the signs i saw.