20 Most Recent 1994 Oldsmobile 88 - Page 8 Questions & Answers

First thing to check is your ujoins you might have a bad ujoint your drive shaft. Next thing to check is make sure your wheels are tight on the car. Also possible wheel bearing problem. Good luck.

look under the carpet on drivers and passenger sides for the ground blocks.
turn edge of carpet next to door over close to front and there is a metal plate with a bunch og ground wires that need to be cleaned for a good connection.

Your vacuum booster may be leaking. The doors for the heater/ac/defrost are actuated by vacuum, and if there is a leak, they will not work correctly. You may consider pulling the vacuum line from the brake booster, plugging it again temporarily to see if this corrects the problem. Another way to test, is to run the car as is, shut it off, and pull the vacuum line and check valve out of the booster after about 10 minutes. there should still be a substantial amount of vacuum. If not, it's leaking.

Start with the simple and replace your fuel filter. A dirty fuel filter will restrict your fuel flow and will give you what you have described.
Here is a link for you to retrieve any DTC codes that may causing your engine's issues, but a dirty fuel filter will not show up as any codes.
http://www.troublecodes.net/GM/
Thank you for using fixya and keep me posted.

If it is a combination switch for both of them,then the switch is bad

It should be under the driver side of the dashboard, it's about 2 inches wide, by 3/4 inches high. Surrounded by the under dash plastic cover.

It is time for struts (Shock absorbers) or more, have it checked by a suspension specialist, cars get dangerous when they have worn front end parts, not something to mess around with, and your car it at an age,,, Hope this helps, stay safe!

try the iac (idle air control) sensor

Trans shifts into gear harshly, car feels sluggish off the line, No 1st, 4th or TCC lockup available, Manual 2nd, 3rd and Reverse are only available gears, CEL is on: Transmision is either in limp-home mode or has lost electrical power. If there are lots of error codes in the PCM, check the underhood fuse that powers the transmission, and if it pops again, look for a short in that circuit like an O2 sensor harness touching exhaust. Otherwise, check PCM codes for a particular fault in the transmission causing the PCM to put it in limp-home mode.
What is "limp-home mode" ? This is a fault mode in which the transmission either loses electrical power or the PCM deactivates all of the electronics. The transmission will default to max line pressure. The driver will have Reverse and 3rd, with manual 2nd available by putting the gearshift in 2 or 1 (doesn't matter). 1st, 4th, and TCC lockup will not be available. It will not hurt the car to drive it like this for short periods, but use manual 2nd to get the car moving, and be aware that the trans will generate more heat than normal while operating in limp-home mode due to increased torque converter slippage during 2nd gear starts and no lockup in 3rd gear.
Before guessing at transmission problems, check the fluid level (car warmed up, engine running in Park on level ground) and have the PCM scanned for trouble codes FIRST. This guide is meant for problems that do not show up as PCM codes (like shift A&B solenoid failures, for example).
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Usually mounted near the under dash fuse box or directly below the steering column on the dash carrier.

CLICK on the following LINK.
It has the Belt Diagrams you will need.
If you would: Before Clicking: Let me know if this helped you, or if you have any additional information or questions. Feel Free to contact me at FixYa.com!

http://www.2carpros.com/car_repair_information/year/1994/make/oldsmobile/model/eighty-eight/1994_oldsmobile_eighty-eight_drive_belt_routing_diagram.htm

Replace the spark plugs and wires along with a distributor cap and rotor. Be careful to leave the old wires and plug wires connected to dist.cap, just remove dist. cap from the distributor and lay aside with plug wires on it then install rotor then new cap and proceed to replace each wire for cap and spark plug one at a time so you don't mix up the spark plug wire firing order. Cap laying to the side is used for reference purpose.

make sure you have taken out ALL the bolts,especially the ones in the front that go to the timing case cover and the 2 bolts all the way in the back, then give the oil pan a few GOOD raps with a rubber mallet. they get stuck on pretty tight. you can also use a very stiff scraper and get in between the oil pan and the engine,make sure you don't bend the pan but a few good raps on the scraper should break the gasket seal. Hope this helps Thanks Ray

If your starter is not turning over, check the neutral/park switch.

Check belts, make sure they are tight, have charging system load tested.

start with flushing your heater hoses and heater core to make sure that there is not blocks

The 3800 engine firing order is:
1-6-5-4-3-2

Numbering layout:

Back:
2 4 6

1 3 5
Front

Coil Sequence:
Top
6
3
2
5
4
1
Bottom

It should be on the fuse box cover.