I put a new temp sensor in it and I couldn't get it to replicate the symptoms. But I'm not convinced the weather doesn't have more to do with it than the sensor. The fans did kick on briefly without the AC on which is something I haven't seen it do until this point.
Seems like the temp sensor fixed it. Fans work like I think they should. I've been the situation that made it stall/not restart multiple times now and it's been fine.
Temp sensor didn't fix it. I drove it to Bowling Green on a not very warm day. It left my stranded, got a ride home on a trailer, and made me an hour late to work. I got angry at it and didn't look at it until today. Took the ignition control module off since that was the best guess anyone had. Turns out there's a crack in the housing around the connector that I believe is the one that gives it power. I have a new one ready to go on as soon as I can figure out where I lost that thermal paste I bought.
I found a random piece of wood to use as a hood prop, pulled the upper intake off, found out you still can't get to the cam position sensor that way. So I put it all back together with new gaskets, fixed a couple new vacuum leaks I made. Now it hunts idle with cold but idles at 800rpm when it's warmed up. It's also way down on power and the transmission doesn't seem to want to kick down. Next attack is to come up with a serpentine belt tool then pull the power steering pump off to try getting at the sensor that way.
But the AC still works, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
I got the cam position sensor changed. It required a lot of cussing, removing basically everything from the front of the engine. I even had to put a jack under the engine and take the motor mount off. Put it all back together and....nothing changed. So I let it sit since the last time I posted.
Finally ran out of excuses to not do the plugs and wires. I found very nasty looking Autolites. I pulled them out and put NGK Iridiums in because they were cheaper than AC Delco double platinum. After fixing a vacuum leak I caused while berking around behind the engine. It's back to acting like a car. Now I just need to re-fix the exhaust and it goes back on full time beater duty. I might even get fancy and hose off the mud that's collected all over since it's been sitting in the dirt.
The 400tw tire class thread brought King of The Heap to my attention. Looking at the rules, this thing almost passes. All it needs is the right tire. I'm going to need a helmet, and then to come up with a team, and then figure out how racing works.
And here I thought my Mercury Milan DD would be too boring for its own thread. lol. Had a '96 Cutlass with the 3.1L in it. Transmission died at 154k miles. Only engine issue I had was the MAF died on me and I had to unplug and limp it to the NAPA.
In reply to t25torx :
So far mine's been a pain because I'm a genius that didn't expect a $600 car to have problems (really I did but I was choosing to the ignore them). I also find myself really not caring about this car at all, which makes it a bit difficult to find motivation to put work into it.
So continuing the thoughts of racing this pile. I took it on a short drive. I remembered the brakes are a joke and the plumbing is really sketchy and needs to be redone. It has no power so I thought It might be worth trying to see if the trans will behave normal in 3rd rather than drive, keeping it out of overdrive. The exact moment I try that and cruise at 65mph at like 1/4 throttle the temps start climbing. Pretty sure that means it'd be fully cooked after not very long if we drove it hard. I also found that one of the lower control arms in the rear is bent, and all of them are very rusty. So in short, as cool as this would be, I think getting this thing prepped before December 2nd might be a bit ambitious for me. Haven't fully talked myself out of trying though.
2 month later edit: I couldn't believe I typed park instead of drive there, so I fix. I'm sorry.
Sounds like it's time to throw it up on CL as a $1000 beater and see if anyone bites. If your interest in working on it is as low as it seems then I imagine your interest in spending any more money on it is probably even lower. On another note if you did want to find another beater for the NCM race I'd be happy to join on your team. I'm in the Nashville area so NCM is an hour away. I'll need to get an SA helmet though.
In reply to Agent98 :
That turd shined up pretty good though, of course that turd also killed several people.
In reply to t25torx:
Still weighing my options, Need to work out what items are needs rather than wants. Unfortunately it looks like the problems I'm seeing are mostly safety items.
It's a cool project, just how much time do you want to devote to that vs something else.
Haven't heard anyone suggest a Malibucart, where you hack off everything then add a cage....
Other important point is in Christine: the turd polished itself....
thanks for the updates, always wondered what might have happened had I kept my 99 Lumina 3.1V6
The project bit on this is pretty tame. I just want to do the bare minimum to keep it safe-ish and somewhat reliable. The part that has me into this is that I've been talking about doing something like this for years and haven't done it yet. So i'm ready to just go do it and see what happens.
Welp race car prep begins.
Step 1, clean out the beater.
Oops.
And now this tame project is getting silly. I've decided to gut the interior because the rules allow it, ounces make pounds, and frankly the only way I'm going to keep working on this car is if it becomes a joke. Also because it seems GM didn't actually bother to put any sound deadening in here other than carpet, it's 99% reversible.
Also I got a new phone so we're back to putting pictures in this dumb thread.
I elected to leave door panels and a/b pillar trim in place because since I'm not adding any extra safety to this car, exposing sharp edges to the driver seemed dumb. Last bit of insulation mat, center and console and maybe the headliner are to come out later. Now I'm going to warm up and eat something.
Rear seat belts will come out tomorrow probably because I broke a torx bit trying to take the bottom bolts out.
Also, HVAC and stereo are staying in place because lets not be unreasonable here.
And to further force my own hand. I just registered for the event.
Plan didn't work. Missed the race. Things happened. Now that the semester is over I now have an even better shot of making the 2nd race.I ordered my helmet and some brake bits the other night. Planning on getting the race tires dealt with next week. Center console and all of the carpet is out of the car now.
So the complete to do list is:
- tires
- brake pads and shoes
- change oil and filters.
-figure out how to make sure the transmission with no dip stick actually has fluid in it.
- check the car over for any loose bolts of leaks I don't know about
- take my Pioneer head unit out right before race day so I can still put it in my daily if somebody claims this turd.
Or I don't touch it for 2 months then trade it for a truck.
In reply to AClockworkGarage:
I'll keep that in mind for the next set of economy car steel wheels I own. This one is somebody else's problem now.
I read the first page, responded to a post, then realized there were two more pages and you'd already sold the car. So I just deleted my post and walked away whistling...
but you saw it so I'll put it back...
My favorite treatment for steel wheels is to clean them up and paint the centres black, then paint the "rim" a metallic colour.
In reply to AClockworkGarage :
It is a good look. I considered it but never got around to actually doing it.
Hmmm, I may need to do that to my 14" Sentra steelies. That looks sweet!
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