Addicted To Boost Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I may be picking up a new car soon, but it has a cracked/warped rear cylinder head, giving cylinder #1 80 PSI compression and burning a little bit of coolant. All of the other 5 cylinders have perfect 180 PSI compression. What would be the best way to limp it home? It needs to be able to make a 15 mile highway drive at 55 MPH. I was thinking of just unplugging the spark plug wire from the #1 cylinder and unplugging the electrical pigtail from the #1 injector... would this help anything? Thanks in advance, Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Drive it as it is. The damage has already been done. Unplugging the injector and spark plug won't help. If the cylinder fires a little bit, its better than not at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 exactly there is nothing you can do to help it other than keep an eye on the oil and coolant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Ok, cool. Do you guys think it will make it home? I really hope so, because I don't have a trailer to tow it with. The coolant has been drained out of it, and the P.O. kept it, it is as clean as new coolant. There is no residue on the oil fill cap, and the oil on the dipstick is fairly clean. To get it home, I have to install the fuel injectors, fuel rail, UIM, TB, and other misc parts. The guy only wants $200 for it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3pt1lumina Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 It should be fine. But if it needs all the rest of that stuff installed, do you have a way to get it home without driving it? You probably don't since you are wanting to drive it; and I'd be in the same boat with no way to get it home but driving it. It just seems a shame to put all of that on, then have to take it back off to do motor work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 It ran fine before they took off the UIM and fuel rail, it would smoke at startup and the first 1/4 mile you drive it, then it would quit smoking after that. I know it cranks over right now; the last time I was over there, I did some work on it and did a compression test on all cylinders. I'm thinkin the motor has been rebuilt at one time, because all but cylinder #1 has 180 PSI compression... the car has 217k on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 maybe or maybe not. iirc 3 of the cylinders on the 92 lumina with 222,000 miles still were at 180, one was at 150 and the other two had problems, due to weak valvesprings or carbon jamb on cylinder 4, and a spark plug disintegration in cyclinder 1. do you have triple A? you might call for quotes from local tow places, or if your truck can tow... find a rental dolly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManicMechanic Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Throw it back together and drive it...You can't kill a 3.1...It will run poorly forever and a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 No, I don't have AAA. I'm sure the truck could probably pull it, but the manual says you should only tow up to 1,600 lbs with it.. I don't want to work the little 4-banger too hard or smoke the clutch Throw it back together and drive it...You can't kill a 3.1...It will run poorly forever and a day. True that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Pfft just tow it with the truck! It won't hurt it doing it just this once. I'm sure you have a warranty if you do burn out the clutch though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Pfft just tow it with the truck! It won't hurt it doing it just this once. I'm sure you have a warranty if you do burn out the clutch though My w-body towed my fiance's mom's 97 windstar minivan for about a mile and a half...at 15 mph, lol. You can just put the hazards on and drive it at 30 mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Well, Are you fixing the engine in it or replacing the engine in it? If you are fixing it, I would tow it with the truck so the damage doesnt get worse... 15 miles wont hurt it. If you are replacing the motor then just drive it because the one in it doesnt matter if it gets any worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns87 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Throw it back together and drive it...You can't kill a 3.1...It will run poorly forever and a day. I agree. Just put it together and drive it. Every time I have a problem, I can still drive the car. Except for the other day, when it got me stuck .But not on the highway or anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake91 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Pfft just tow it with the truck! It won't hurt it doing it just this once. I'm sure you have a warranty if you do burn out the clutch though My w-body towed my fiance's mom's 97 windstar minivan for about a mile and a half...at 15 mph, lol. You can just put the hazards on and drive it at 30 mph. he would cause a 20 car pile up due to the fact people in az cant drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Drive it. should make it a-ok. I've drove far worse, far further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Pfft just tow it with the truck! It won't hurt it doing it just this once. I'm sure you have a warranty if you do burn out the clutch though My w-body towed my fiance's mom's 97 windstar minivan for about a mile and a half...at 15 mph, lol. You can just put the hazards on and drive it at 30 mph. he would cause a 20 car pile up due to the fact people in az cant drive Word. AZ drivers are terrible! And by the way, most manufacturers do NOT cover clutches on manual transmissions under warranty. I went over there tonight and re-assembled the GP, installed the injectors, fuel rail, plenum, alternator, PS, and intake. We had to jump it, but it fired up and stayed running by itself, the exhaust smelled horrible, the gas in that car has to be a couple years old It was dark out, so it was hard to tell if it was just burning off condensation, or if it was actually burning coolant.. I smelled the exhaust and didn't smell coolant, and it was barely smoking at all, like I said, it could just be condensation. Motor seems to run strong, with good oil pressure and it sounds strong, no CEL and all gauges looked good. It had a somewhat rough idle, but it has Bosch plugs in it right now.. I will be going back later in the week to pick it up, I'm not exactly sure when.. But the 3.1 runs once again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 I know of a 3.1 right now with no compression at all on cyls 2 and 6 that, with the plugs removed will run surprisingly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Pfft just tow it with the truck! It won't hurt it doing it just this once. I'm sure you have a warranty if you do burn out the clutch though My w-body towed my fiance's mom's 97 windstar minivan for about a mile and a half...at 15 mph, lol. You can just put the hazards on and drive it at 30 mph. he would cause a 20 car pile up due to the fact people in az cant drive Word. AZ drivers are terrible! And by the way, most manufacturers do NOT cover clutches on manual transmissions under warranty. hmm...did not know that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Too many people that don't know how to drive mtx or abuse them I guess.. I can see why they don't cover them. But yeah, once it fired up, I'm surprised how strong it ran. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 I think we cover clutches for one year or 20k - anything after that is covered by the owertrain warranty with expection of the friction disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.