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88 Bonnie 3800 - No Start, No Fuel, No Spark, no CEL

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Old 01-15-2008, 09:12 PM
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Default 88 Bonnie 3800 - No Start, No Fuel, No Spark, no CEL

My friend has an 88 Bonnie that died the other day. He said he was driving and it started running really rough and the CEL came on. He shut the car off and it wouldn't start again. He had it towed to his house. He then (unfortunately) left the battery disconnected several times while he worked on it for a couple of days.

He replaced the crank position sensor, coil packs, and had the ICM checked and AutoZone said it was fine. There is no fuel (fuel pump never comes on, no pressure in the fuel rail, no fuel smell on the plugs) and no spark for any of the plugs.

Fast forward to today. I jumpered the diagnostic connector below the steering wheel with a paper clip (A & B are the only two adjacent terminals with wires in them, so I couldn't screw THAT up), and the CEL doesn't come on at all.

With it jumpered and the key on, I see the oil pressure light, the "brights" indicator, and both blinker lights come on solid. After a few seconds, only the oil pressure light remains lit. The fans do not come on at all, either. If I crank it, the lights then repeat the same cycle.

What do you think, bad PCM?? Anyone else seen similar behavior? :?:
Old 01-15-2008, 10:20 PM
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Have you checked all the fuses?
Look very carefully at #17 on the driver'* side & #6 on the passenger side.
Old 01-15-2008, 11:20 PM
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First of all, thanks for the advice!!

Swapped 17 out with a fresh 10-amp. I'll swap out 6 on the passenger side just for grins, but it certainly looked fine. My bud went over the fuses twice and I went through 'em all once.

Please keep the ideas coming. I think he'* gonna run to Pull 'N Save to try & find a PCM. I posted in the "Wanted" thread, too. Thanks again.
Old 01-17-2008, 03:47 PM
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i had the same problem on my 88 sse and it was the icm. i replaced the icm about a week after some head aches and then a week after i replaced the icm i had the same exact problem agin.. turned out that the wire harness going to the icm was bad.. it was chaffed under the outside coating and grounding out or something.. so i went to the junk yard and replaced the icm harness and it never gave me a problem again..

also your fuelk pump could be frozen...
Old 01-17-2008, 03:48 PM
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oh and also the cel light wont come on if your wire harness to the icm is bad and not the actuall icm itself
Old 01-17-2008, 04:19 PM
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Default start

First clean all the batter cables and grounds, next remove the ICM connector and tighten up on the sockets and then the ECU. Put the connectors on and off a couple times to establish continuity.
Let us know how it goes.
If you still can't read the ECU it may be bad.
Old 01-17-2008, 05:53 PM
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Originally Posted by 88bonnsse
i had the same problem on my 88 sse and it was the icm. i replaced the icm about a week after some head aches and then a week after i replaced the icm i had the same exact problem agin.. turned out that the wire harness going to the icm was bad.. it was chaffed under the outside coating and grounding out or something.. so i went to the junk yard and replaced the icm harness and it never gave me a problem again..

also your fuelk pump could be frozen...
You had no fuel AND no spark with the bad ICM harness? Replaced the ECU/PCM and it wasn't that...
Old 01-17-2008, 06:10 PM
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Also, I noticed the battery volt gauge doesn't move when I turn the key on. Gonna check the ground bus connectors tonight.
Old 01-18-2008, 12:22 PM
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Well, all of the connectors on both the driver'* side and the passenger'* side under the carpet along the doors are clean and dry, so I don't think they could be the problem.

I notice the Haynes manual wiring diagrams reference a "Right-Hand Underhood Fuse Block" and a "Left-Hand Underhood Fuse Block". I don't see a single fuse block under the hood at all!! Are they referring to the ones under the dash?
Old 01-18-2008, 05:30 PM
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Yes the under dash fuse blocks are left of the steering column, and behind the lower right kick panel.


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