Paid $575 for it. 3.1 liter, 60,000 clicks. Some rust. Front power windows won't work, rear do. Car misfires and surges when you floor it. any thoughts?

 

I have similar problems ongoing with my '94 with a 3.1.
To date I have..,
1. Chnaged spark plugs - some improvement but not permanent
2. Change the transmission filter and fluid. It has about 89K miles and the surging and stuttering felt like it migh be in the drivetrain. It seemed to be more prevailent in overdrive. I found a 3" sliver of what appears to be a clutch friction plate but I just said a prayer and put the pan back on.
3. New plug wires - no help
4. Hunted down everything (topside) that might be a vacume leak and replaced or sealed. No help.

Today I will run a vacume check to try & determine if the catalytic converter is plugged up. That is my best next theory. After that I will be looking at clogged injector (is this thing multi-port?) and possibly coil pack. If I don't stumble across a solution shortly I will either throw in the towel and take it to a buick dealer of try to take my shadetree ablilities to the next plateau with electronic diagnosis.

This seems to be a fairly common malady. I will post my solution when I arrive at it.

I find the "take your car to a good mechanic" response a bit strange. Do you know one? Recall, it is a $575 car.

 

$28. Coil Pack.
The problem deteriorated to the point that I could hear an intermittant miss while it idled when warmed up. I bought a coil pack and changed out each one with the new one until I got to the one where the idle smoothed out. As luck would have it, it was the last (3rd) coil I tried.

This car has a history of behaving itself for a little while after I've shown it some attention and then returning too it's bad habits so I am not quite ready to accept the Nobel ShadeTree just yet, but things look promising.

 

The fuelpump fixed the surge, only 18psi. now the only issue is a high idle.

 

i cleaned the tb out w/ some carb cleaner. slight improvement in performance, added a 1/2 qt of trans fluid to the gastank and engine, to help clean things up.