2001 Buick Century 3.1 66k miles, Very sluggish

[bigboi407]

Buy car ramps. They cost about 30-50 bucks and rent a pipe cutter at AZ if you don't have a saw saw.

HUHH??? its direct fit no cutting required, who need ramp i got about 3 sets of stands... still doesnt change the fact i need to get under the car stands or ramps.......

[88GTRacer]

Buy car ramps. They cost about 30-50 bucks and rent a pipe cutter at AZ if you don't have a saw saw.

[bigboi407]

return the fuel pump, replace the CAT, its what i heard, its what your hearing, its the cat. if the EGR were to be plugged it would be from over fueling no? or old plugs, or and a plugged cat?

well the new fuel pump was purchased on ebay for $50 shipped, considering what ive been told about changing a clogged fuel filter, id rather keep the new pump in there, the new pump plus a Magnaflow CAT is $225 if the Cat is $175, AZ wanted $260 for a pump and $242 for a Cat.. seems like a hella cheap deal to me.. pump comes with a warranty per his ebay ad (99% feedback) and i had to cut the old plug anyways

as for removing the cat whats the best way to do so? pull the motor forward or can i get to it from underneath? i dont like crawling under cars unless i HAVE TO

[bob442]

return the fuel pump, replace the CAT, its what i heard, its what your hearing, its the cat. if the EGR were to be plugged it would be from over fueling no? or old plugs, or and a plugged cat?

[bigboi407]

Don't know about buicks but it may be something where you remove the butt part of the seat, then get access to the rest. If you can pull the pump out from the top, that is nice. Won't have to mess with tank straps and disconnecting the fuel filler lines, feed/return lines, evap lines, etc.

ALLDATA is a good resource for vital info on your car. I've used it countless times for diagrams, pics, bolt locations.....cost is the same as a Haynes Manual but far superior.

I put the New Fuel pump in, there is infact an access panel to get to the pump, the old pumps screen was BLACK and pretty gross, tank was clean, i had some trouble with the gas guage so i had to take it Back out and bend the new sensor so it would read correctly, But it STILL Drives like crap, SOOOO she will be ordering a new Catalytic Converter and ill put it in when it gets here, How do i disconnect the end closest to the engine? by pulling the motor forward like i did to change the plugs or can i do it from underneath?

yeah i know the hanes manuals suck... im not soo indepth with the GM cars cause i havent owned one in years and didnt do much to it, i know with Hondas you can go to a dealers parts page and get blown up parts and pretty much buy any little peice that is available, i tried to do the same with the GM dealers all the ones i pulled up didnt have em, but the parts department did...

not bashing this site when i say this, the 1st gen crx/3rd gen civic website i am a member of, they have ALL Factory Service Manuals which if any dummy followed them correctly they could EASILY rebuild the whole car, i learned how to take apart my 5 speed trans from those pages until i fully understood how everything works and goes together, now i dont need the FSM, and its actually easier for me to jumble the tranny internals into a pile and pick everything out from largest to smallest until the countershaft is assembled.. believe me when i tell you guys i miss the comfort ride from time to time, id consider getting an impala with a blown motor or bad transmission and build it like new myself.... i missed out on a 2002 impala Ls blown HG for $900 some time ago, if i seen a 1991 Lesabre Custom in Perfect shape as far as the body goes, id deffinately get it, i miss the backwards hood and all the room that car had.. imho it had more room than the impala and her century

[TGP37]

Don't know about buicks but it may be something where you remove the butt part of the seat, then get access to the rest. If you can pull the pump out from the top, that is nice. Won't have to mess with tank straps and disconnecting the fuel filler lines, feed/return lines, evap lines, etc.

ALLDATA is a good resource for vital info on your car. I've used it countless times for diagrams, pics, bolt locations.....cost is the same as a Haynes Manual but far superior.

[bigboi407]

so i got the new fuel pump in the mail today

ive found the access panel and need the back of the backseat out, how do i remove it? i see two nuts and 2 clips, i need the back out of the way so i can get to the access panel from the inside cause i cant ball up in the trunk and replace the pump... wont happen, im a big dude hence my username


it is driving worse and worse as in Slower and Slower, so shes gonna buy the cat after i put the pump in tomorrow,

[bigboi407]

Not sure about access panel. My 96 GP needs the tank dropped.

Kick down and rev over?

You could be facing more then 1 problem. That can easily compound the situation making it hard to diagnos effectivelly. I do know running lean can change the vacuum, and in some instances I had backfire into the intake manifold.

We have a waste spark system, which means the spark plug fires in the power stroke AND the exhaust stroke. If you are running lean enough, having misfires, sometimes the fuel will ignite in the exhaust stroke. I have seen fire shooting out of a vacuum line once with a friends car.

If the engine runs properly, hardly ever does the fuel ignite in the waste spark period...it is already combusted. But an engine running badly, often the wastespark can ignite the fuel.


It is really hard to say what is happening w/o being there myself. I think you are close to fixing it, the cat and pump are both good places to check/replace....considering the symptoms and history.

Never assume anything.....in example, one bad part can mimic another issue.

say your in 2nd gear and you hit the gas, the transmission shifts/kicks down and the car is supposed to Launch off, these cars dont have an RPM guage so it hits its rev limit then it does this noise

[TGP37]

Not sure about access panel. My 96 GP needs the tank dropped.

Kick down and rev over?

You could be facing more then 1 problem. That can easily compound the situation making it hard to diagnos effectivelly. I do know running lean can change the vacuum, and in some instances I had backfire into the intake manifold.

We have a waste spark system, which means the spark plug fires in the power stroke AND the exhaust stroke. If you are running lean enough, having misfires, sometimes the fuel will ignite in the exhaust stroke. I have seen fire shooting out of a vacuum line once with a friends car.

If the engine runs properly, hardly ever does the fuel ignite in the waste spark period...it is already combusted. But an engine running badly, often the wastespark can ignite the fuel.


It is really hard to say what is happening w/o being there myself. I think you are close to fixing it, the cat and pump are both good places to check/replace....considering the symptoms and history.

Never assume anything.....in example, one bad part can mimic another issue.

[bigboi407]

I'll tell you something........it could be the fuel pump. I had a pump go bad once, it didn't express symptoms until there was load on the engine. Because the pump was capable of providing fuel at idle and mild cruise. It only acted up when more load was applied. And it had a terrible exhaust odor.

In park, I could floor it, let it hit the RPM limiter a few times and THEN after a few seconds the fuel pressure got too low and it bogged down.

Some codes will cause a "Limp Home" mode. Some codes will tell the PCM to use a default table instead of the sensor. Either will cause a richer fueling condition, for engine safety reasons. Especially if the check engine light is blinking. A blinking code means STOP operating immediately.

Before you buy a cat, test your fuel pressure under load. Seriously, bad pumps can act normal until you really step on the throttle. Most cases the car will run lean which could be the cause of your cyl1 misfire.


If you are up for it, unplug the fuel filter and guide the line from the pump into a clean container. Have a friend insert a jumper wire across the fuel pump relay (keeps the pump on) and measure how much fuel is pumped.

With a BSFC of 0.5 (rough average for NA), your car needs 90 lbs of fuel to make 180 HP for 1 hour. A gallon is approx 6.34 lbs so your pump should not fall below 14.2 gal/hr

So, your pump should push 1 gallon in 4.2 minutes, no less. Or, 1 cup of fuel in 15 seconds.

If you don't get 1 cup in 15 seconds time, chances are the pump is on its way out. A proper operating pump will easily exceed those measurements.

She already bought a fuel pump so ill put it in before ordering the cat if the pump doesnt fix the issue,

i dont think the fuel pump would cause egr code and all the air i hear in the intake, and if you let the engine kick down and rev over it makes some knock noises, which dont sound too good AT ALL, i dont know what that is


is there an access panel under the backseat or do i need to drop the tank like i did in my 91 buick?

[TGP37]

I'll tell you something........it could be the fuel pump. I had a pump go bad once, it didn't express symptoms until there was load on the engine. Because the pump was capable of providing fuel at idle and mild cruise. It only acted up when more load was applied. And it had a terrible exhaust odor.

In park, I could floor it, let it hit the RPM limiter a few times and THEN after a few seconds the fuel pressure got too low and it bogged down.

Some codes will cause a "Limp Home" mode. Some codes will tell the PCM to use a default table instead of the sensor. Either will cause a richer fueling condition, for engine safety reasons. Especially if the check engine light is blinking. A blinking code means STOP operating immediately.

Before you buy a cat, test your fuel pressure under load. Seriously, bad pumps can act normal until you really step on the throttle. Most cases the car will run lean which could be the cause of your cyl1 misfire.


If you are up for it, unplug the fuel filter and guide the line from the pump into a clean container. Have a friend insert a jumper wire across the fuel pump relay (keeps the pump on) and measure how much fuel is pumped.

With a BSFC of 0.5 (rough average for NA), your car needs 90 lbs of fuel to make 180 HP for 1 hour. A gallon is approx 6.34 lbs so your pump should not fall below 14.2 gal/hr

So, your pump should push 1 gallon in 4.2 minutes, no less. Or, 1 cup of fuel in 15 seconds.

If you don't get 1 cup in 15 seconds time, chances are the pump is on its way out. A proper operating pump will easily exceed those measurements.

[bigboi407]

well for 10$ you could buy a infrared temp reader....

when my CAT went at 80km on my car, it sounded like it was sucking air in somewhere on the intake, the intake side was very loud, and the exhaust note was really really quiet.

This is an expensive model:
http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html

i know they have them for 10-15$ and if you ask around, someone always has one.

Well guys, it is DEFF the cat..... today i figured id hit the gas in Park.... and it FINALLY started to bog down, id attempted this before and it would max out, but now the engine bogs down and i got a good whif of some Rotten stench from the exhaust

it keeps throwing codes for EGR and Cyl 1 misfire, the guy @ AZ said hes betting the map sensor being bad for so long killed the cat, he recommended getting a cat then clear the codes if they come back and if the engine isnt running as it should, then something is Really wrong, but hes thinking the same thing like i am, the cat is causing all the pressure to go backwards @ times which is why the car is doing everything its doing...... In Theory that is ^....

When the CEL/Service light comes on does the Car get worse gas milage than when no code is present? someone one time was tellin me that the Computer runs in a different mode when a code is present causing it to run rich, was this guy full of it? or is that what happens?

[bob442]

well for 10$ you could buy a infrared temp reader....

when my CAT went at 80km on my car, it sounded like it was sucking air in somewhere on the intake, the intake side was very loud, and the exhaust note was really really quiet.

This is an expensive model:
http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html

i know they have them for 10-15$ and if you ask around, someone always has one.

[bigboi407]

If you get a magnaflow cat that have one with an o2 bung in it for the sensor. Also, before you waste time and money get a info red sensor and read how hot that cat is getting after a drive, that will tell you if it's clogged. Other wise you could have slipping bands or and clutches


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do

no couldnt be the tranny causing this, you gotta drive the car to see what i mean, if its the transmission.......... id be suprised, seems to be a pressure problem in the engine as for the temp of the cat, i dont have a thing to take the temp, so thats out the pic....

IT WILL NOT ACT UP while in park.... only when in drive and about 30 seconds after taking off, the magnaflow cat does have an 02 bung after the cat very close to the connection

Where do i get a Throttle body gasket? AZ doesnt have one and id like to take the TB out to check the EGR return

like you were saying TGP, maybe the noises im hearing is pressure built up, i showed pics of the connections, dont know of any other connections that could cause a random leak only in Drive..... So what we got left is exhaust problem or Gas pressure problem.

i dont have a gas pressure guage, or a temp tester....... (My dad is the Riggus Master and doesnt believe in feeler guages, compression testers, or doing anything right...)which makes this more difficult for me... as for sockets wrenches and such, when you need a 14mm you will find nothint but 5/8" sockets, but when you need a 5/8" you find 14mm sockets

[bob442]

If you get a magnaflow cat that have one with an o2 bung in it for the sensor. Also, before you waste time and money get a info red sensor and read how hot that cat is getting after a drive, that will tell you if it's clogged. Other wise you could have slipping bands or and clutches


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do