If I can find an entire rail for a price like that, I'll probably go ahead and do it. But I realized my first step should be to confirm injector failure. I've decided to pick up one injector from the yard and swap it in so I can rule out an injector driver problem in the PCM. After I have the source problem isolated I'll act from there.

When I'm at the yard what do I need to look for exactly? An injector from a 3800 specifically? A certain year range of 3800s? Will any similar GM car work (i.e. Buick, Olds), or are there differences from brand to brand? I looked in Techinfo, didn't see any injector information. Thanks for all the help!

Yes, that does help, thanks Don. I called around to a few places and there might be a yard that has a '95 Series II. I'll see what I can dig up.

Something else occurred to me that is probably unrelated, but I'll mention it anyway. In this thread where DAVID94SSEI found he had a bad PCM injector driver, he said he got a traction control light that coincided with his misfire. My ABS light came on intermittently this week before the misfire started really bad. Now the ABS light is off, but the injector (or the PCM) seems to be dead. Is there any kind of correlation here??

Hi Ben it sounds like you need a NOID light to see if there is power reaching the injector. I think the Kent Moore NOID light # is J34730-2C for your car.
Google search Noid light to see what a Noid test light looks like, lots of listings.
This link shows several Noid light kits.
http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/TTW305.html#3559

Thanks for the tip about picking up a noid light... the mechanic that scanned the car in Ames said there was power to the injector, which pointed toward the injector being bad. However it is my understanding that a bad injector driver will show power from the PCM even though it is not grounding properly; i.e. a noid light test will show a false positive for a bad injector. I think the only way to find out is through a process of elimination, trying the injector first and then moving on from there if the problem is not solved.

The main reason I asked about all this is because my fiancee'* '98 Buick Skylark was diagnosed as having a bad injector on the SAME DAY as the mechanic tested mine and told me it was bad. We have yet to replace mine, but we had the mechanic go ahead and swap hers out. $275 later, she has a brand new #2 injector and her car just started misfiring again. I'm going to scan it today in hopes that maybe she has a PCM problem, because the injector obviously didn't solve anything. It makes me a little leary of his diagnosis of my car, and I want to know what steps to take if a different injector doesn't alleviate the misfiring. Thanks for all the input, I'll update this thread with results after we dig into it today.

By the way, any ideas about the relationship of my ABS warning light and the misfiring? Could they be connected in any way, or just coincidence? Almost makes me suspect the PCM, but of course I'll still go through the process of elimination.

Replace all 6 with new, you'll replace the one and then the others will go out sooner than later......my 2 cents

Well guys, it looks like the injector driver in the PCM is shot. Tell me what you think.

We pulled the fuel rail and swapped the #3 injector with the supposed bad one in #1. Then we paused to take a #2 (hehehe). Just kidding. But seriously, after switching the injectors we fired it up and scanned it. Lo and behold, we got a misfire in cylinder 1! At this point the only conclusion I can draw is a bad injector driver. Is there any other way we could interpret these results?

I'm planning to order an INTENSE Standard PCM tomorrow unless I'm convinced otherwise. Let me know some opinions. Thanks.

None taken. From what you said in your last post it is obviously not the injector. Aren't you glad you did not buy 6 new ones? Are you sure the misfire is fuel related and not ignition? Have you ruled out the obvious? (plugs and wires)

I'm 99.9% sure it'* the injector driver. I'm assuming the mechanic who diagnosed the car in Ames had the stethoscope on it, and the injector would have sounded dead to him. I know the coil is still good because when I pulled the plug wire and started the car there was spark from the coil arcing to the valve cover. I'll test the wire and look at the plug tomorrow, but it'* looking like a PCM malfunction so far.

I'm going to investigate some area junkyards for a replacement PCM tomorrow. Do I need a unit from the same motor AND year as my car, or just the same motor (L36)? I want to make sure I get the right thing. I've turned up some online search results for PCMs costing $39, but I'd rather get a local one if I can find it. What do I need to look for? Thanks.

You will need one from YOUR year, YOUR engine, and YOUR trim level. Well.. since you have an SE, you could probably get one from an SLE or SSE, but I think the PCM controls more things in the SLE/SSE. And of course an SSEi wouldn't work for the obvious reasons.


-justin