Help! Regal won't start!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

My bet is on the starter motor being bad. If the timing chain was the problem, there would likely be interference that keeps the engine from turning from a valve hitting a piston. If that was the case, it would click the solenoid but the starter would not spin. As for the fuel issue, look first at the rubber lines feeding the pump then at the fuel pump then the hard lines. The hard lines are not normally too much of a problem unless you live in the rust belt. However, anything is possible on a car that has been around for almost a quarter century.

 

[GP403]

heh. speaking from experience, with a broken timing timing chain the 3.8 *will* still turn over 😳 without any problems. If you suspect its the timing chain, just pop the distributor cap off and see if the rotor spins when you turn it over. If not, problem solved. Well, discovered anyway.

 

[Silent viewer]

The ditributer will still spin, the thing that fails is the cam gear on the timing chain

 

[GP403]

3.8 distributor drive gear is on the camshaft. no chain, no spin.

 

[Silent viewer]

the cam gear that is part of the timing chain is what goes bad though, the teeth get all messed up and the chain skips a few teeth casusing everything to be out of whack. i have never actually seen a timing chain break, its always been a bad gear in my experiances.

 

[GP403]

the cam gear that is part of the timing chain is what goes bad though..

Oh well, yeah 😀 That. 😀 same difference though. 😀

Isn't it made out of plastic or some silly thing that they never should have done in the first place?

 

[Silent viewer]

The stock one had like a nylon coating over the teeth and it just falls apart. i was told it was suppose to be quiter then a all metal gear, whatever it was it was a terrible idea and most aftermarket gears are solid metal.

 

[pontiacgp]

I've heard though that on a GN 3.8 if you use a metal gear the anti knock sensor will pick up the noise and screw up the timing

 

[Silent viewer]

that is true!

 

[Regalnomics]