My 1991 olds cutlass calais 2.3 wont start - 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais

It would be helpful if I had the following information: 2 or 4 door, power or manual windows.

Car no start problem is sometimes very difficult to confirm. You try all the possible things, but still you get no fault and problem is still the same.--------
In that case, you need to check few things individually.
Check the spark,the battery,the crank, the fuel and other most possible parts. Click this link below for more details:-- http://howtobyme.blogspot.com/2011/10/car-troubleshooting-tips.html

When you chaged the air filter & sprayed Gumout carb cleaner, you got rid of a little gunk in the
air intake, but when you added the fuel injector cleaner (its the same stuff as carburator cleaner) to the fuel tank, you "cleaned out" ALL the ****/gunk/buildup/dirt in the fuel system which has built up since 1991 and sent it straight to the fuel filter, which is now clogged. The reason that the car tries to start, but fails, is that it'll successfully burn up any fuel that gets past the clogged fuel filter, but the engine consumes that small amount of gasoline quickly, then dies.
Your solution: change the fuel filter.
The fuel filter is located:
Under vehicle, driver side, below seating area, near fuel tank, mounted on frame rail in fuel line

idle control sensor bad

It's the maf/map sensor circuit.
maf--- mass air flow sensor
map--- manifold absolute pressure.--- check the small vaccum hose from the map sensor to the source, could be brittle and leaking air.
Have both the map and maf sensor checked for proper voltage, one or both could be bad. A repair shop shouldn't charge much to do that.

the lever has to be ovver far enough to engage & make the circuit compete!
its a matter of adjustment or replacement!

i dont know i am having a similar problem with my 91 olds cutlass calais its a 2.5 l 4 cyl and i can drive it and it only happens a couple times a week but the RPM gauge goes crazy and the car stalls out it starts right back up but when i put it back into either reverse or drive the rpm does same thing and car stalls ive had it to 5 mechanics they cant figure it out...im hoping to get help on here

it's inside the transmisson you have to remove the oil pan on the transmisson to get to it.

Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais were made from1978-1991, and yes there were manual trans as well as automatic trans.

Here's some History on the Cutlass Calais.


March 1982 to replace Starfire, Lansing's version of the front-drive 101.2-inch-wheelbase corporate J-body subcompact failed to attract more than about 45,000 customers in most years -- except for 1984, when it garnered a credit­able 82,500 -- even though Olds tried most everything it could think of to sell it.

1988 the Firenza had offered all the J body styles, sporty GT and SX variants, overhead-valve and overhead-cam fours, optional V-6, and a confusing procession of price-leader and luxury models. But nothing seemed to work, and Olds gave up after '88. Firenza was no great loss, though, because 1985 brought a more-sale-able small Olds in the N-body Calais, called Cutlass Calais after 1988. Sized between Firenza and Omega on a 103.4-inch wheelbase, it bowed as a rounded, short-deck coupe in two versions: base and -- just to confuse things -- Supreme. Four-door sedans were added for 1986.
There was a lot of J-car engineering under the "modern formal" styling, and initial engine choices were the Ciera's familiar Pontiac-built four and 3.0-liter Buick V-6. Even so, customers generally liked this new bottle of old wine, snapping up 100,000-plus in the first year and better than 150,000 of the '86s -- about midway between the similar Pontiac Grand Am and Buick Skylark/Somerset.
For 1988, Calais coupes and sedans grouped into base, luxury SL, and sporty International Series (the last replacing a GT package option), but the big news was the first twin cam, 16-valve four-cylinder engine in American production, the Quad-4. Designed and built by Olds and offered as an across-the-board Calais option, it delivered 150 rather rough and noisy horses, but was claimed capable of much more.
Olds proved it by adding a tuned 180-bhp version for 1989. A more-useful option that year was a new 3.3-liter derivative of the 173-cid Chevrolet-sourced V-6. Replacing the Buick-built 3.0, it also produced 160 bhp -- and more torque than even the "High Output" Quad-4. To fill in for the departed Firenza, prosaically named Value Leader Calais models appeared for '89 with less standard equipment and restricted options but lower prices.
Enthusiasts surely shuddered when the 442 returned (sans hyphens) as a performance option for the base 1990 Calais coupe. Olds said the name now designated "Quad-4, 4 valves per cylinder and 2 camshafts."
Included in the $1667 package were the 180-horse Quad-4, five-speed manual transaxle, a specific version of Oldsmobile's FE3 sport suspension, meaty 215/60R14 performance tires on alloy wheels, full instrumentation, a cute rear-deck spoiler, and bold "442" exterior I.D. "Buff books" gave this latest 442 a lot of ink, but customers mostly gave it the cold shoulder.
Even a hallowed name on an honestly speedy little car couldn't convince many that Olds still specialized in high performance the way it had in the '50s and '60s.

olds mobile club of america should have your answer.