Stupid Piece of Crap

[rjtiminskygtp]

God I can't wait to sell my car. I just got dropped off by the tow-truck driver. I was driving and the car made an erratic thrust and a whining noise so I turned off the highway into a guy's lot and turned around when it died. I tried to restart it and on the left hand side by all the belts (The passenger side) smoke was streaming as I tried to start it so I gave up and phoned the Tow Truck. 3.4 DOHC Piece of shit. While I was waiting I looked underneath, no puddles, but the bottom of my motor is covered in a fluid, I couldn't tell what it was. I would have to guess oil. On the plus side I saw how flexible the valence is when he was loading my car onto the truck, it got pushed pretty hard and didn't snap. I haven't paid off my last garage bill and here goes another. Once it comes out of the hospital it is getting sold. Does anybody have some insight as to what the problem may be?

[slick]

You shoulda smelled the fluid. Was the thrust more of a buck? What type of whirring noise, just like something was spinning? What were your guages like before this happened?

[GP1138]

It wouldn't explain why your car thrusted, but perhaps your Power Steering Pump shit itself and pissed fluid?

[Psych0matt]

It wouldn't explain why your car thrusted, but perhaps your Power Steering Pump shit itself and pissed fluid?

 

I've done that before

 

 

 

sounds like it could possibly a PS pump, or maybe a coolant line?

[19Cutlass94]

But if it was the PS pump, why wouldnt his car start again? It could be the alt locked up and killed the battery...

[Psych0matt]

But if it was the PS pump, why wouldnt his car start again? It could be the alt locked up and killed the battery...

 

good point. what would the alt leak, though? im interested to what happened...

[19Cutlass94]

The belt could have hit something if it broke..... I suppose.

 

 

Ive never heard of altenators leaking before.

[GP1138]

I didn't read well enough, I guess. I assumed he didn't want to drive it anymore because it was smoking and spewing fluid.

[rjtiminskygtp]

It was a buck yeah, the whirring was like when your going too fast for a gear and you downshift, the whirring it makes as the rpm comes down. All the gauges were perfectly fine, Yeah the car would crank crank crank then it start but quickly die. Tomorrow i am going to the garage it got towed to and going to tell them what happened and let them get to the botoom of it, then fix it, then good bye Grand Prix and Pontiac, Hello Monte Carlo!

[GnatGoSplat]

If you were going to diagnose it yourself, I would pull the belt and spin each of the accessories to see if any are dragging.

 

This sounds exactly like when the AC compressor shaft bearing went bad on my 3.4 DOHC. Then the compressor got so hot that it cooked the shaft seal and burned the oil/freon coming out of it causing the smoke. That was a good argument not to use a flammable refrigerant (some R-12 replacements are flammable).

 

[Crazy K]

GnatGoSplat is on the money. I would have removed the belt and spun all accesories.

 

the 'surge' is the engine being ground to a halt by the failing accesory...

 

good luck, but I wouldn't sell it!

[rjtiminskygtp]

I was planning on selling it anyways, but this just quickens the process. I was thinking, and this just seems ominous. My GTP, I can't get one bill paid off before another is started, and I haven't driven it for more than a month because it's always getting fixed, went to test drive a 2000 GTP, it wouldn't start, just completely dead, went to test a 2002 GT and it started but then died so I couldn't take it for a test drive. It seems to me as if Grand Prixs just aren't meant for me. That's why I'm jumping to a Monte SS hopefully.

[GnatGoSplat]

It doesn't really sound like a serious problem to me. It just sounds like you don't work on them yourself and you don't have patience with the little things that may happen with a used car. If you don't like working on them yourself, then:

 

1. You need a car with a warranty. Consider buying a newer one, new enough to get a warranty.

2. If you cannot get a car new enough to have a warranty, then buy Japanese.

 

A Monte SS isn't going to be any different than a Grand Prix.

 

[rjtiminskygtp]

Well I have no place to work on my car, and it's not just little things, it's one thing after another after another. If I get a 2000 SS from a GM Dealer, it will be an Optimum car so It'll be uber covered

[Crazy K]

Well I have no place to work on my car, and it's not just little things, it's one thing after another after another. If I get a 2000 SS from a GM Dealer, it will be an Optimum car so It'll be uber covered

You could buy my 92 lumina, 222k and nothing wrong. I'd nail you for just over the cost of a typical car payment, and if it runs two months for you you would be ahead of the game!

[rjtiminskygtp]

eee I'll pass haha

[rjtiminskygtp]

Moment of Truth!

I phoned the garage and here is the time-line of events:

Alternator seizes and thusly fucks my belt, my belt then takesit upon itself to fuck my idle control, and somehow in the mix of all of that, 1 bracket is missing a bolt and the other is broken. So gonna pay me a good $1000.00 for the repair, and I am gonna let it sit by the house so nothing else fucks up while I go put for sale flyers around the town and then pray for a phone-call!

[slick]

Even if you don't have much in repair knowledge, you can do the alternator yourself in probably 2 hours. Replacing a belt is like 5 minutes. Idle control is on the other side of the engine, I think the shop is trying to get money from ya. Which bracket is missing a bolt, the alternator bracket? Whoever replaced the alternator before left it out on purpose. Leave it out. Which bracket is broken?

[rjtiminskygtp]

Maybe he meant throttle...meh whatever...this'll eb the end of my chapter of Grand Prix ownership...I really don't care on payment...I have my ways of paying...then on to the MC. I'm not gonna question them because they have been our family's mechanics since the 70's...that spans 3 generations, so whatevs. I trust them. Say what you want

[GnatGoSplat]

Uh, Chris is right. There is no throttle or idle control anything on that side of the engine.

$1000 is pretty high for that job. I'd be giving them this look:

[19Cutlass94]

For $1,000.00 you better be getting your car fixed better than new and a hot blonde in the passengers seat when you pick it up.

 

An alternator is about $150 ( depending on quality and where you get it from ) plus the core, which is no big deal. The belt should only run you, lets say $50. Thats $200.00. Those brackets/bolts for the alt are left like that for a reason, but I mean for only a couple hours of your time your gonna waste $800.00?!?!

 

Maybe its just me but if you say this shop is good then.......

[rjtiminskygtp]

Labor is gonna run me $500 alone...but I do trust them, they're a good garage. I don't mind it, I'm just going to unload the car

[rjtiminskygtp]

And I just printed off my For Sale signs

[GP1138]

How much are you selling it for?

 

[rjtiminskygtp]

$5500.00 obo. It comes with the aftermarket speakers and deck, all the work done, 2 sets of tires, new mufflers, the stock deck and speakers, and It's in near mint condition. I am keeping my amp and subs though. I am not sure if I am going to buy another car or I might go for an S10 or a Blazer...like a 99 or 00. And the idle, that was an old problem. Before my car broke down it was idling high.