Cranks but no start

[3800SERIESII]

This happened about a month ago now. Long story short, somewhere along the line my antifreeze slowly leaked out or a line burst and on my way to school it overheated (This is my 1996 Bonne SE BTW).Got to school, but throughout half of the drive, it was sputterring at about 3k rpms. Low and high range seemed fine. The commute is 15 minutes total. Would start up great when it was still warm and I waited 3 hours for it to cool down, topped the fluid off and then it would crank but not start. NO coolant in oil. Had it hauled to my dads garage by AAA. Either the engine is toast (which I really hope it is not), the upper plenum has a slight crack (in which I have had a replacement for a while and was planning to replace in the spring), or the MAF sensor is malfunctioning. Is there any other scenarios to be brought fourth?

[impala67]

check out my topic... there is always 100 possibilities, but did you get any trouble codes ("service engine"-light on)?

[3800SERIESII]

No service engine as I recall but it was starting hard and a vacuum line would pop off sometimes, but that was linked to bad vacuum lines in which I am also planning to replace before it is back on the road (if it is repairable).

[Bugsi]

Unplug the harness from the MAF. If the car starts, it's the MAF.
I just had that problem on my 97SE, the engine just died while driving one day. After that, crank but no start. It was the MAF.

[MattStrike]

If the MAS doesn't pan out, remember to check for spark and fuel injector pulse. If you have both, check for compression. It's possible a head gasket failed or something like that when it overheated. If there isn't any metal flakes or sparkle suspended in the oil, the engine itself is fine.

[3800SERIESII]

This may be a newbie-ish question, but where is the MAF sensor located? I remember identifying it before but I am spacing out right now.

I will check the fuel if the MAF doesn't show fault.

by the way, I appreciate everyone's help.

[impala67]

MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor) is located between throttle body and intake manifold;
here is picture and good how-to-measure it:
http://easyautodiagnostics.com/gm_maf_t ... f_gm_1.php

[Bob Dillon]

You might want to unplug the crankshaft position sensor at the bottom right (from passenger side) and fill it up with dielectric grease and plug it in again.

I had a no-start after a leak and after checking everything and no codes, that fixed it. Must have been some water in there preventing the sensor from working.

[nos4blood70]

You can also check the condition of your PCV valve. When mine was all plugged up the car had trouble starting and staying running.

[3800SERIESII]

Unplugged the MAF sensor. No change. Crank but no start. ALSO, I forgot to mention, it backfires every 3 seconds or so when cranking.

Where is the CPS located?

[Bob Dillon]

Unplugged the MAF sensor. No change. Crank but no start. ALSO, I forgot to mention, it backfires every 3 seconds or so when cranking.

Where is the CPS located?

From the passenger side, at the bottom of the engine on the right, behind the balancer.

[impala67]

if it backfires, that hints it gets spark atleast a bit, so it might be with fuel or with ignition control module at "distribrutor"

[MattStrike]

Only way to isolate if it's a CPS is with a oscilloscope. You can use a timing light and mark piston #1 TDC on the balancer and engine to see if it's getting the proper timing, but that won't tell you if it's a sensor or ICM problem.

[3800SERIESII]

pretty sure it is the CPS. I have/had a few of the symptoms explained here:

Check engine light, Acceleration Hesitation, Intermittent Starting, Backfiring and stalling and funky idling. Also, bad fuel mileage.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/7-cran ... symptoms#b

[3800SERIESII]

Would this be a trusted replacement?

http://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-213-151-S ... automotive