'93 Park Avenue Resto

[BuickGirlFromMars]

The wires are NGK they all came labeled. I did them one by one but I will double check to verify. I didn't take the snout off when I did the wires so I just pushed them through the best that I could. I didn't know that crossing them would mess it up that bad. I can go through and redo those. The dipstick handle was glued together when I bought it. It snapped today when I bumped it. I have another in the mail. The egr wires got chewed before I bought it. I drove it 6 hours home from Tennessee like that and it was smooth as butter. I also replaced the pcv valve trying to chase this issue, but no improvement. It's always had a little miss at idle, but everything I've done to tune it up and clean up the oil leaks made it worse.

correlation is not causation. but im glad to hear they are ngk wires. what plug part number did you use? are they at .060 gap? only copper or or iridium (no platinum!) plugs should be used

copper, however, will wear out almost twice as fast as an older vehicle with a distributor so its not the best but it is ok to use.


Have you checked for codes by grounding A and B on the ALDL connector under the dash?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Do you own a propane torch?

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

correlation is not causation. but im glad to hear they are ngk wires. what plug part number did you use? are they at .060 gap? only copper or or iridium (no platinum!) plugs should be used

copper, however, will wear out almost twice as fast as an older vehicle with a distributor so its not the best but it is ok to use.


Have you checked for codes by grounding A and B on the ALDL connector under the dash?

Plug wire part #51217
Spark plug part #41902 AC DELCO gap is .060
I don't know what an ALDL connector is but I'm assuming you mean the OBD1 port. I jumped it with a paperclip and no codes, also had a friend let me borrow his OBD1 scanner with no codes. ABS light came on after we hooked up the scanner. No codes for that either. I do own a propane torch.

 

[Ziggy]

copper, however, will wear out almost twice as fast as an older vehicle with a distributor so its not the best but it is ok to use.

I beg to differ. This PA doesn't have a distributor, and copper plugs are not just ok but perfectly fine to use, in fact we recommend it. Iridium plugs last longer but foul easily and not recommended on older cars.
A good quality copper plug like NGK beats the fancy ones at least for older vehicles, I verified it myself.

 

[ulycyc]

The AC Delco 41-902 Platinum was original equipment on my 93 PAU. Never had issues and gone over 325K miles without fouling or early life. Boosted engines turbo or supercharged are very hard on plugs. Copper will work on tighter gaps but will blow out at 0.60 gap under heavy load (wot). All the designer plugs with double triple iridium or quadruple krypton wont work any better then what GM put in the car when it left the factory.

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

I beg to differ. This PA doesn't have a distributor, and copper plugs are not just ok but perfectly fine to use, in fact we recommend it. Iridium plugs last longer but foul easily and not recommended on older cars.
A good quality copper plug like NGK beats the fancy ones at least for older vehicles, I verified it myself
0

Ziggy, what exactly are you disagreeing with?
I said the copper plugs will wear out twice as fast on the 3800 because waste spark fires the plugs on both the intake compression and exhaust stroke. Albeit the power on the exhaust stroke is much less, it still wears the plugs faster.

Copper work great, they just have a shorter life. What are you disagreeing with? I was comparing the 3800 to cars with distributors in that distributor vehicles wont wear out the copper plugs faster

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

The AC Delco 41-902 Platinum was original equipment on my 93 PAU. Never had issues and gone over 325K miles without fouling or early life. Boosted engines turbo or supercharged are very hard on plugs. Copper will work on tighter gaps but will blow out at 0.60 gap under heavy load (wot). All the designer plugs with double triple iridium or quadruple krypton wont work any better then what GM put in the car when it left the factory.

the cars now are best to use iridium, the platinums were swapped out because they require more energy to fire and they also hold heat in the combustion chamber more than iridium, but yes they can be used.

Plug wire part #51217
Spark plug part #41902 AC DELCO gap is .060
I don't know what an ALDL connector is but I'm assuming you mean the OBD1 port. I jumped it with a paperclip and no codes, also had a friend let me borrow his OBD1 scanner with no codes. ABS light came on after we hooked up the scanner. No codes for that either. I do own a propane torch.

Id like you to use your unlit torch but open the valve and wave it around the supercharger base as well as your vacuum lines(dont go near the intake for the air filter since that will skew your results)

If your idle starts increasing we are dealing with a vacuum leak.

On your ALDL, while the engine is warmed up and running, short the same pins you would normally for checking codes. (ALDL means the DLC which means the OBD1 port)

The service engine soon light should flash , take a video if you can or at least describe what you see(you wont be counting flashes)

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

the cars now are best to use iridium, the platinums were swapped out because they require more energy to fire and they also hold heat in the combustion chamber more than iridium, but yes they can be used.

Id like you to use your unlit torch but open the valve and wave it around the supercharger base as well as your vacuum lines(dont go near the intake for the air filter since that will skew your results)

If your idle starts increasing we are dealing with a vacuum leak.

On your ALDL, while the engine is warmed up and running, short the same pins you would normally for checking codes. (ALDL means the DLC which means the OBD1 port)

The service engine soon light should flash , take a video if you can or at least describe what you see(you wont be counting flashes)

Anything I should be looking out for when the cel flashes? I'll try it once I do the propane trick mines empty.

 

[Ziggy]

Ziggy, what exactly are you disagreeing with?

Sorry Buick girl, I misread your post 😔

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

the cars now are best to use iridium, the platinums were swapped out because they require more energy to fire and they also hold heat in the combustion chamber more than iridium, but yes they can be used.

Id like you to use your unlit torch but open the valve and wave it around the supercharger base as well as your vacuum lines(dont go near the intake for the air filter since that will skew your results)

If your idle starts increasing we are dealing with a vacuum leak.

On your ALDL, while the engine is warmed up and running, short the same pins you would normally for checking codes. (ALDL means the DLC which means the OBD1 port)

The service engine soon light should flash , take a video if you can or at least describe what you see(you wont be counting flashes)

No vaccum leaks it seems. I'm thinking the ICM or a coil pack died from what I've read. I found this kit on Amazon and it's a great price. Thoughts?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

No vaccum leaks it seems. I'm thinking the ICM or a coil pack died from what I've read. I found this kit on Amazon and it's a great price. Thoughts?

not sure about the brand but i wouldnt just replace them without knowing they are bad. If you can, take primary and secondary resistances on the coils. The ICM is a crapshoot, if you want to throw a cheap aftermarket at it, you can, but id highly recommend a more expensive ac delco after determining if that was it or not.


Also did you do the ALDL thing? im looking to see if it flashes fast and if so how fast or if its slow or if it changes a lot

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

not sure about the brand but i wouldnt just replace them without knowing they are bad. If you can, take primary and secondary resistances on the coils. The ICM is a crapshoot, if you want to throw a cheap aftermarket at it, you can, but id highly recommend a more expensive ac delco after determining if that was it or not.


Also did you do the ALDL thing? im looking to see if it flashes fast and if so how fast or if its slow or if it changes a lot

Any help would be awesome. Changing the coil packs and the tiny bolts that hold them in are all rounding off. Are you aware of a good replacement? These will be fubar when they come off.

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Any help would be awesome. Changing the coil packs and the tiny bolts that hold them in are all rounding off. Are you aware of a good replacement? These will be fubar when they come off.

https://www.amazon.com/Coil-Stainless-Screws-Bolts-engines/dp/B07Q97Y6RW

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

https://www.amazon.com/Coil-Stainless-Screws-Bolts-engines/dp/B07Q97Y6RW

Got those ordered. In the meantime can I cut the coils off? This one bolt is rounded off and I tried notching it to make it a Phillips but it's toast. I was thinking of cutting the old coil pack itself around the bolt with an oscillating tool. Thoughts?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Got those ordered. In the meantime can I cut the coils off? This one bolt is rounded off and I tried notching it to make it a Phillips but it's toast. I was thinking of cutting the old coil pack itself around the bolt with an oscillating tool. Thoughts?View attachment 45969

DO NOT cut a coil , esp with a power tool. Because even if its not powered what if it had juice? by bye tool lol. Anyway, the ICM is whaht the bolts thread into. The original coils are MUCH more valuable than aftermarket as loing as they are still good
Drill the bolt head down without dagaging the coil and then remove the coil from the icm, then use a vice grips if any is left to remove from icm OR if you have to do damage to the ICM, replace the ICM

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

DO NOT cut a coil , esp with a power tool. Because even if its not powered what if it had juice? by bye tool lol. Anyway, the ICM is whaht the bolts thread into. The original coils are MUCH more valuable than aftermarket as loing as they are still good
Drill the bolt head down without dagaging the coil and then remove the coil from the icm, then use a vice grips if any is left to remove from icm OR if you have to do damage to the ICM, replace the ICM

Power has been disconnected for a few days. Can I take the whole icm and coils off as a unit? I have both ready to replace it

 

[Ziggy]

Yes there are three nuts under the ICM.

 

[93ParkAveUltra]

DO NOT cut a coil , esp with a power tool. Because even if its not powered what if it had juice? by bye tool lol. Anyway, the ICM is whaht the bolts thread into. The original coils are MUCH more valuable than aftermarket as loing as they are still good
Drill the bolt head down without dagaging the coil and then remove the coil from the icm, then use a vice grips if any is left to remove from icm OR if you have to do damage to the ICM, replace the ICM

Alight happy update! Coils and ICM did the trick! I still have the extremely slight miss at idle which it has had since I've bought it. I'm thinking idle air control valve? Also looking at replacing all the engine and trans mounts.

 

[90sbuickrescue]

BGFM, don't get mad at me, but I've used a few bolt and nut connections on side terminal connectors myself. Using a terminal adapter replaces one connection with 3. That's 3 chances of failure. The terminal could unscrew out of the battery, the connector that goes onto that terminal could come loose, and the wire connection to that connector could come loose. The idea with the bolt is you thread it in like a stud until it bottoms out, but you don't apply any torque to it. You then tighten the nut down. This will never strip the battery out, and replaces the 8mm or whatever stupidly small oem bolt head with something you can actually get a wrench on and apply a little torque to. I use the same bolt/nut setup on my old 5.9 cummins swapped silverado, and that motor requires a lot of power to crank, but starts with just a bump of the key, under 1 cranking revolution.

 

[90sbuickrescue]

Glad you fix it. Its been a common problem on GM cars for many years that why I suggested it a month ago. You figure after a few brake pad replacements and the mechanic/you/me manhandles the caliper dangling from the brakes hoses.

As I was reading this I figured it would end up being the hoses too, happened to me before. I think they fail like this even if no one ever hangs the calipers from them or abuses them in any way though, the inside just starts falling apart. Crud from the hoses deteriorating can get into the abs pump or other parts of the system too, causing more annoying problems.