I have a 1985 Buick Regal Limited with the 3.8 V6. It has 256,000 miles on the original motor and has never been rebuilt. I was driving the other day and it seemed to be running a little rough. Its been sputtering around 45 mph and i have to give it gas to make it run right. Also, when it idles, it runs rough and stalled on me at the light the other day. Ive adjusted the idle and it runs a little better, but not much. Any ideas on how to make it run better?
Running Issues!!
- Thread starter 85' 3.8 Limited
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check/set your timing and then if you still are having idle issues i would check/replace vacumn lines to make sure of no vacumn leaks. i would probably check out the vacumn lins first because that is really common on 30 year old cars. obviously check out spark plugs and replace them if you want as well as wires. if neither of them does the trick top engine cleaner can work some miracles on how your car is running
I do not have a Vaccuum Gauge and i do not know how to check the catalytic converter.
Could you help?
Could you help?
It quite simple actually,
Hook the vac gauge up to a MANIFOLD vacuum source, start the car and run the RPM's up to about 3500, Hold it there for a few seconds and drop the throttle. The gauge should snap "up" to a higher reading and then drop back to normal pretty near instantly. It might hang for a second or so before dropping. If it stays high more than 2 seconds or so, the exhaust is restricted.If you see the gauge reading start to drop as you hold the RPM up, (it will go down upon opening the throttle & should rise slightly and then hold as you hold the throttle) if it starts to drop as you hold the throttle open, you got a real plug in there someplace.
Its harder to explain that it is to do, try it on a good running rig to see how it acts and then compare yours. You are looking for how quickly the gauge reacts, not the amount the gauge reads.
Hook the vac gauge up to a MANIFOLD vacuum source, start the car and run the RPM's up to about 3500, Hold it there for a few seconds and drop the throttle. The gauge should snap "up" to a higher reading and then drop back to normal pretty near instantly. It might hang for a second or so before dropping. If it stays high more than 2 seconds or so, the exhaust is restricted.If you see the gauge reading start to drop as you hold the RPM up, (it will go down upon opening the throttle & should rise slightly and then hold as you hold the throttle) if it starts to drop as you hold the throttle open, you got a real plug in there someplace.
Its harder to explain that it is to do, try it on a good running rig to see how it acts and then compare yours. You are looking for how quickly the gauge reacts, not the amount the gauge reads.
It might actually be the carb now that I think about it. The car wasnt run for roughly a year and i just recently started using it as a daily driver. Ill try a carb rebuild kit, I think that should do the trick.
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