So I've reached a decision on what to do!

[Monkton]

So I've decided what I'm going to do with the Cutlass. As some of you might remember the entire reason it really hasn't been driven since July/August of last year was because their is something wrong with the engine. It's a Quad4, that's it's main problem. But I don't know what it is. The car still drives, but it gets "stuttery" and the engine seems to "skip" once in a while and it tends to get worse as I continue to drive. When we had it hooked up to a diagnostic tool it would do the strangest things, like show Coil Pack A and B (or 1 and 2 whatever) would randomly shut off in an alternating problem. So we figured it's the ECM! Nope... Coil Packs! Nope... The white tower that holds the coil packs! Nope... well we could have gotten a bad part somewhere in their but it's not to likely... Spark plugs! Nope... So that's basically where I'm at.

 

The other day I saw a Lumina 3.4 Euro sedan and I wanted to get it so bad, not a bad price either at only $1200. I have that much and more but do I really want to spend that and have to get rid of the Cutlass, my first car? Not really...

 

Then today I was ready to buy an 86 Monte SS for $800, no major problems. It drove to the car show! Such a nice car, but something stopped me. It was the Cutlass.

 

I have such an attachment to that car and it is literally a legend amongst my friends for the stuff that has happened while driving around in it... some good, some bad

 

So I charged up the battery today, it was fairly dead from sitting for so long, and put it in the car. The car seemed like it wasn't going to start, it was definitely struggling to start. But hey, I'd struggle to wake up after sleeping since November, the last time it saw the road. After about five seconds of cranking it came to life! It was amazing to me! I got out and looked at the engine chugging away, it wasn't doing anything weird... well that's relative since it sat so long, but nothing bad. It was idling their nicely, barely making much noise. I went inside and got my Dad and he was amazed it was actually running. We went outside and looked it over, everything appeared to be okay. White smoke was billowing out of the back, but I think that's because of how long it sat and it was kind of chilly out. After ten or fifteen minutes of letting it sit there the smoke was gone and the old grumble of the half assed exhaust system (previous owner's doing) was back. I gave it a little gas in neutral and it sounded so disgusting, but exactly like I remember it. FWIW, I can't decide if I like how the exhaust sounds on the car or not... it definitely sounds ricier than the Mirage though I drove it around the driveway for a bit and it didn't stutter or stall. I was impressed. I think later this week I'll bring it to my local shop and have them see if it'll pass inspection. If it will I will register and inspect in two weeks.

 

So basically I've decided to fix my Cutlass, simply because I miss that car so much and I put so much work into it to just let it die now. Thanks for reading and expect to hear more about it from me. I'm also open to suggestions on what to do once I have the kink in the engine fixed. The first thing I want to do is make it floor shift, granny shifter FTMFL!

[digitaloutsider]

Console shift conversion was by far the best thing I ever did for my old GP. If you need any help or advice with that, shoot me a PM. If you don't already have a sport pod, put one of those in, definitely. Maybe a DIS and HUD. FTW!

[ZoomZoomFan]

Sounds good. Maybe it fixed itself. My Beretta did that a lot. Act up one day, drive fine the next.

[kuwaitliberation]

It's a Quad4, that's it's main problem.

Now, I do know about the quad4, however I had no idea that they would actually put that in a cutlass supreme. I thought they were reserved for the junk cars.

 

Well, the problem with the engine could very well be the exhaust. It could be choking the engine off. When you first start it, the egr is inop until it gets warmed up. Could be as simple as the entire exhaust out. Or even changing the egr. Wouldn't know unless I actually looked at it.

 

Has someone pointed to the exhaust yet?

[Monkton]

Yeah we thought the cat was clogged for a while but we took it off and we could see right through it. None of the exhaust is red after driving for a good distance either. I'm thinking I'm going to buy a crank sensor and throw that in and see if it does anything different. The odd thing is that this thing has never thrown a SES light...

 

And as for the Quad4... it's really a love hate relationship... On a Quad4's good day I much rather have one over a 3.1. When it runs good it's awesome, when it messes up I'm ready to ditch it in a pond haha

[rockfangd]

trust me i know how you feel as i had to park my cutty for about 6 months due to a broken hub assembly. And the car i drove was definately not satisfying

[White93z34]

i'm not familiar with the Q4, but does it have a IAC like the GmV6s do? think that could be dirty/bad?

[Monkton]

I think it does, not 100%, but then I would imagine my problem would be consistent. This problem seems to rear its ugly head at the worst times, go away for a while, and then come back. It's really the weirdest thing. My Dad said that he's never been stumped this much by a car and he was a mechanic all his life up until a year or two ago.