86 buick century starting failure

Hello, just joined from Penticton, B.C. Wife`s car is sitting in Burger King parking lot unable to start. Drove in fine, parked, half hour later unable to start. Turns over good. Checked plugs 1 and 2, both have spark.
Pulled three plugs all wet from turning over and odour of fuel (flooded?) when turned over. I am not a mechanic, particluarly when it comes to fuel injection and computer controls, but sine I have (assuming) fuel and spark what is left ,air?
I get no firing, coughing etc.. Baffled!
Is there a sensor that would prevent ignition of fuel yet allow spark and fuel? Extremly limited funds for the next few days and would at the very least like to get it running to bring it home (about a mile). Would then purchase part from wreckers.
Can anyone please provide me with a remedy, or a course of action?
It would be greatly appreciated. Mike
buick century wagon 3.8

Hello, I did a trouble code identification and got a one flash pause three flash.
My book says" oxygen sensor curcuit.
Check for a sticking or misadjusted throttle positon sensor. check the wiring and connectors from the oxygen sensor. Replace oxygen sensor."

I am hoping someone may choose to comment on which may be the most likely problem. If the oxygen sensor is hooped would the engine attempt to start?
Any comments would be appreciated.

Hello, I did a trouble code identification and got a one flash pause three flash.
My book says" oxygen sensor curcuit.
Check for a sticking or misadjusted throttle positon sensor. check the wiring and connectors from the oxygen sensor. Replace oxygen sensor."

I am hoping someone may choose to comment on which may be the most likely problem. If the oxygen sensor is hooped would the engine attempt to start?
Any comments would be appreciated.

Hello, did I do something to offend board members causing them not to reply (new and first posting), or is everybody as baffled with my problem as I?
...Continuing with my trouble shooting, a mechanic did a compression test and says I have no compression. His comment was probably broken rings in a couple of cylinders.
I cannot see it as I was running good previous to parking. No smoke, no miss, started perfect cold, ran it a mile, shut off, half hour later, no start.
I did a comprssion test and as he said, 4 cylinders were 90, one 60 and the next on 30. However it had sat for two days and with continued effort to start it, flooding cylinders, I thought it may have washed the walls clean making the cylinder reading worse than normal.
I did a wet test, with oil squirted in the cylinders. All MADE IT TO THE 100 RANGE!
My next step was to start self-education on the sensors. Air system seems okay. When I located and removed timing sensors "crankshaft" and "camshaft", they were soaked in oil and sludge.
THE CAMSHAFT SENSOR SEEMS TO HAVE THE "BAKELITE?" BROKEN OF THE EXTERNAL AREA, EXPOSING THE 3 CONDUCTORS COMING FROM THE INTERNAL AREA TO THE SOCKET? COULD OIL SLUDGE ETC. LACK OF INDIVIDUAL INSULATION CAUSE THIS SENSOR TO MALFUNCTION AND PREVENT STARTING???????
Can I test this sensor to see if it is good? I read in the book there is a way to bypass this sensor for startup but I couldn`t grasp the how.
I put a ohm meter on the thing. I get resistance reading when I conect one outside conductor to the center conductor and nothing from and other sequence.
COULD THIS SENSOR CAUSE MY BUICK NOT TO START IF IT IS BROKE?
Can I bypass this one so I can eliminate it as my problem, before purchasing another.? :banghead:

Hello, did I do something to offend board members causing them not to reply (new and first posting), or is everybody as baffled with my problem as I?
...Continuing with my trouble shooting, a mechanic did a compression test and says I have no compression. His comment was probably broken rings in a couple of cylinders.
I cannot see it as I was running good previous to parking. No smoke, no miss, started perfect cold, ran it a mile, shut off, half hour later, no start.
I did a comprssion test and as he said, 4 cylinders were 90, one 60 and the next on 30. However it had sat for two days and with continued effort to start it, flooding cylinders, I thought it may have washed the walls clean making the cylinder reading worse than normal.
I did a wet test, with oil squirted in the cylinders. All MADE IT TO THE 100 RANGE!
My next step was to start self-education on the sensors. Air system seems okay. When I located and removed timing sensors "crankshaft" and "camshaft", they were soaked in oil and sludge.
THE CAMSHAFT SENSOR SEEMS TO HAVE THE "BAKELITE?" BROKEN OF THE EXTERNAL AREA, EXPOSING THE 3 CONDUCTORS COMING FROM THE INTERNAL AREA TO THE SOCKET? COULD OIL SLUDGE ETC. LACK OF INDIVIDUAL INSULATION CAUSE THIS SENSOR TO MALFUNCTION AND PREVENT STARTING???????
Can I test this sensor to see if it is good? I read in the book there is a way to bypass this sensor for startup but I couldn`t grasp the how.
I put a ohm meter on the thing. I get resistance reading when I conect one outside conductor to the center conductor and nothing from and other sequence.
COULD THIS SENSOR CAUSE MY BUICK NOT TO START IF IT IS BROKE?
Can I bypass this one so I can eliminate it as my problem, before purchasing another.? :banghead:


Think I may be getting close. Found this....
"When a crankshaft sensor failure occurs, the engine does not start. If the camshaft sensor signal becomes defective with the engine running, the engine continues to run, but the PCM reverts to multiport fuel injection without the camshaft signal information. Under this condition, engine performance and economy decrease and emission levels may increase. When the engine is shut off with a defective cam sensor, it will not restart. On the 3.8 L SFI engines, the crankshaft might have to rotate for two revolutions during initial starting before a cam sensor signal is provided. "

Carefully check the timing chain. If the chain is broken, you will get both a trouble code for the cam sensor and no compression. These engines are known for these problems. Try to consider the problem from the big picture. Two problems, one, no compression and two, a cam sensor code... one solution. The timing chain ties the two together. One thing to remember; the chain's demise may have bent one or more valves. Some of these engines were interference designs. Ray