1994 Buick Century-strange problem

I have recently had problems with a 1994 Buick Century, 6 cyl, with approx
100K miles. It seems like these problems could be symptoms created by
another problem, but I'm just guessing. Any advice would be greatly
apprecaited.

Slight loss of coolant with driving, does not overheat, does not loose
enough to run low. I just keep topping it up. It might loose between a
pint and a quart after several hundred miles. I can't find any signs of
external leakage. I have a professional quality cooling system pressure
tester; using it I have not been able to detect any signs of leakage.
System holds pressure cold and hot. Running the car with the pressure
tester the guage holds steady, does not fluctuate. The radiator cap tests
out ok. This problem is still occurring.

About 3000-5000 miles after the above started the porcelain on the #6 spark
plug cracked and was causing shorting to engine head and misfiring.
Replaced all plugs and car ran fine.

5000 miles after the cracked plug the car started missing. It was #6
cylinder again. The plug wire had developed a problem. The plug wires have
only been on the car for about 15K miles. After removing from the plug wire
the metal end that attaches to the spark plug, none of the carbon strand was
visible. I had to chop off about an inch of the wire to find the strand.
There was a lot of black dust on the metal end off of the plug wire. It
looked like the carbon filament had been destroyed and turned into powder as
far as an inch back up the length of the plug wire. After chopping off an
inch of the wire, stripping a small length of the insulation, reattaching
the metal end, and reinstalling the boot, the car ran fine.

The only idea that I have as to a possible common cause would be the cooling
system. Could it be that there is a blockage in the water passages in the
head and that the spark plug for #6 is not able to dissipate its heat
effectively?

Any other ideas, good guesses...anything? I have never encountered anything
like this before.

Thanks,

CW
Montgomery, AL

GM made more than one v6. Which one is in your car?

Craig W wrote:
>
> Engine is 3.1 with sequential fuel injection.
>
> "« Paul »" <"=?x-user-defined?Q?=AB?= Paul
> > wrote in message
> ...
> > GM made more than one v6. Which one is in your car?

Sure sounds like the typical intake problem with the 3.1.
If you don't know about it you should read up on it.
There are tens of thousands of hits on Google about it.

Thanks. I'll check it out.

CW