Post by gm4ever on Apr 21, 2011 16:42:27 GMT -5
So today I got in the Cutlass and nearly had a wreck. I dropped Eddie off at school, and then went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee. I had my 2yr old, Tucker, in the back seat, and went to pull out onto the main road. The pushed the gas, the car rolled out into the road, and stalled. I was half in and half out of the lane, and a big F-150 had to jam on it's brakes and nearly creamed me. I'm still shaken up about it.
Enough!!
My buddy Troung has rebuilt the carb twice, and done the intake gaskets, but he's a young guy and tuning a carb is kind of a lost art. He's a wiz at a/c work and parts replacement, but I think this was over his head...
SO I called my ex-boss Rob from my service-writing days in the 90's. Rob in a G-body El Camino nut, he has three of them, and a 78 Turbo Regal Sport Coupe...he know G-bodies, but does not work for cheeseburgers and beer like Troung does. I can accept that.
He asked what it was doing. I told him it's hard to start in the morning. You have to pump the gas and it smokes and you have to keep your foot on it until it smooths out when it's cold. Once it warms up, it has a rough idle, and will stall sitting at lights, especially if the a/c is on. I've been driving it with a foot on both the brake and gas lately to keep the idle up at lights...bad, I know. Plus it's gutless, it always has been since I bought it, but it's really slow, my 89 Custom Cruiser with the 307, that weighed a lot more, was faster.
I dropped the car off, and just got off a call with him. What a call it was too. Here we go!
- The check engine lamp and holder were missing, totally gone...he put one in from his parts Camino, and the light is of course on. It pulled a code 21 (TPS) and a code 44 (Exhaust lean).
- It's missing the VDV (Vacuum Delay Valve) it's a big hunker one, that is creating a vacuum leak. The part is not stocked at the chain stores, and of course the dealer does not have them. He's bypassing it now to stop the leak, and I'll look for one at the salvage yard this weekend.
- The right side idle mixture screw was almost backed out all the way, anymore and it would have been missing.
- I also need a pressure differential (VAC) sensor and he wants me to grab a TPS too.
He does think he can turn it back from a Gutlass to a Cutlass, and he told me not to let people that don't know what they are doing touch my cars anymore.
-Mike
Enough!!
My buddy Troung has rebuilt the carb twice, and done the intake gaskets, but he's a young guy and tuning a carb is kind of a lost art. He's a wiz at a/c work and parts replacement, but I think this was over his head...
SO I called my ex-boss Rob from my service-writing days in the 90's. Rob in a G-body El Camino nut, he has three of them, and a 78 Turbo Regal Sport Coupe...he know G-bodies, but does not work for cheeseburgers and beer like Troung does. I can accept that.
He asked what it was doing. I told him it's hard to start in the morning. You have to pump the gas and it smokes and you have to keep your foot on it until it smooths out when it's cold. Once it warms up, it has a rough idle, and will stall sitting at lights, especially if the a/c is on. I've been driving it with a foot on both the brake and gas lately to keep the idle up at lights...bad, I know. Plus it's gutless, it always has been since I bought it, but it's really slow, my 89 Custom Cruiser with the 307, that weighed a lot more, was faster.
I dropped the car off, and just got off a call with him. What a call it was too. Here we go!
- The check engine lamp and holder were missing, totally gone...he put one in from his parts Camino, and the light is of course on. It pulled a code 21 (TPS) and a code 44 (Exhaust lean).
- It's missing the VDV (Vacuum Delay Valve) it's a big hunker one, that is creating a vacuum leak. The part is not stocked at the chain stores, and of course the dealer does not have them. He's bypassing it now to stop the leak, and I'll look for one at the salvage yard this weekend.
- The right side idle mixture screw was almost backed out all the way, anymore and it would have been missing.
- I also need a pressure differential (VAC) sensor and he wants me to grab a TPS too.
He does think he can turn it back from a Gutlass to a Cutlass, and he told me not to let people that don't know what they are doing touch my cars anymore.
-Mike
