Luminator9c3 Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Yep, that's right. My first w-body was purchased in late July and this past friday night it ended up going into a ditch and hitting a tree. Guys, I've driven a lot of really fast cars before. This is the first car I've ever owned that wasn't RWD and V8, and this is the first car I've ever crashed. I guess I just can't handle the brute power of a stock L36. I was driving on a country road which was a detour, since my regular route was closed for construction. This was one of the problems, since I was not familiar with the road. The road went straight for miles with nothing but cornfields around. I was going between 75-80 mph on this road, which wouldn't seem extremely fast except it was raining. Suddenly, I just saw trees in front of me and I freaked out and hit the brakes, thinking the road was dead ending. Turns out, the road hooks to the left and drops down a fairly steep decline. It was a totally blind turn from the straightaway, though. Basically, I tried to take this extremely dangerous turn at 80mph. In the rain. I managed to drift down the entire incline fishtailing back and fourth until I eventually lost control, spun the car around, and went off the road. Since I managed to spin the car sideways, I hit the tree with the side of the car and not the front. It was also a tree that was already fallen over, so it wasn't as destructive as it could have been. Initially, I was extremely pissed off at myself for being so stupid and driving too fast in the rain. The car is low-mileage and the underside is SO CLEAN. However, all things considered, I guess I'm really lucky. I honestly thought I was going to die once I lost control. I was going so fast and all I saw around me was a telephone pole, a concrete slab, a giant cliff, and large trees. I drifted past the cliff and missed it by several feet. Seriously, there was only ONE non-lethal crash spot for like a mile stretch, and I managed to slide right into it perfectly, hitting the weakest tree in the entire forest. This incident has made be do a TON of thinking. It's made me realized how easy it really is to die in a car accident. The car still runs and drives 100% perfect and doesn't seem to have any damage to the frame or core support or anything (another thing to be thankful for). It still drives totally straight when I take my hands off the wheel. I did manage to damage almost every body panel, but it's all replaceable stuff. I need both fenders, both side mirrors, a hood, a bumper, 4 doors, a windshield, and a passenger side rear window. This may seem like a lot, but I think I can do it for free. I wanna buy a Lumina shell/roller type thing for cheap, swap all the body pieces over, and then part out what's left of the donor car to make (hopefully) my money back. As I said, I'm frustrated that my lack of judgement busted up such a nice car, but it could have been much worse, both for the car and myself. I was wearing my seatbelt and I was not injured. There is ONE troublesome issue that I'm dealing with after the accident, though. My brake lights are stuck on! I'm wondering if maybe a sensor is stuck since I obviously put some serious force into the brake pedal when this happened. I looked around the brake pedal briefly and didn't notice any sensor. Can someone lend me some advice here? Right now I have to pull the fuse when I park the car so it doesn't drain the battery. With all that said... now it's time to look forward to fixing the body, painting it, and top-swapping it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 OUCH! the brake pedal sensor is directly above the pedal. push it forward so the plunger touches the pedal and is pressed in... it should just snap and move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 And here is a crappy pic of the concrete slab and deep ravine that I narrowly missed: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Damn man, glad to see you're ok. I've had instances like that where corners are blind, but the road really looks like it comes to an end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Damn man, glad to see you're ok. I've had instances like that where corners are blind, but the road really looks like it comes to an end. Hey I see you're local... I live in Naperville. Be sure to let me know if you see any cheap Lumina shells in the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Oh wow I totally thought this was another member, he was in Florida if I remember right. Haha, I'll be on the look out. Where was the road? Check the events section for a meet that's coming up in Wheaton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Oh wow I totally thought this was another member, he was in Florida if I remember right. Haha, I'll be on the look out. Where was the road? Check the events section for a meet that's coming up in Wheaton This actually occurred while I was visiting my family in the Peoria area. Thanks for the heads up on the meet, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Gotcha. Look forward to meeting another member if you're free! There'll be another 9C3 there as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareGMFan Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Hey I see you're local... I live in Naperville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully77 Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 yikes, glad to hear you're ok. Come on up to the meet for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted September 15, 2010 Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 you should play the lottery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 OUCH! the brake pedal sensor is directly above the pedal. push it forward so the plunger touches the pedal and is pressed in... it should just snap and move. Thank you, sir. I found the sensor and it seems to move fine on it's own. It makes contact with the brake pedal "lever" when the pedal is not being pressed. However... I think I may have found a clue as to what my problem is. With the car off, I was digging around near the sensor and noticed that the larger red and black wires in the harness for the sensor are hot to the touch. I'm assuming this is not a good thing. What does it mean? What do I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted2bass Posted September 16, 2010 Report Share Posted September 16, 2010 I would just replace the brake switch (im assuming this is the sensor you're talking about). They are pretty cheap. Ive had to replace mine twice. And damn that car looks like a field car we beat on in the woods! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2010 I would just replace the brake switch (im assuming this is the sensor you're talking about). They are pretty cheap. Ive had to replace mine twice. And damn that car looks like a field car we beat on in the woods! But if the switch isn't at fault, aren't I gonna be left with the same problem? Shouldn't the fact that the wires are hot narrow the problem down quite a bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2010 I fixed it! Woohoo! I kept playing with the pedal and the sensor and found that if I pulled the pedal just a HAIR towards me, the lights went off. So, I moved the sensor a notch or two closer to the pedal and BAM, good to go! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, folks. One other thing I forgot about, though. On the driver's side behind the bumper/fender at the front of the car there is now a small rubber tube with an "L" attachment on the end that is hanging loose. It is some kind of vacuum hose that sucks air in but I'm not sure where it needs to be reconnected to. If nobody knows what I'm talking about then I can take a pic. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted September 17, 2010 Report Share Posted September 17, 2010 There should be a vacuum ball there but I am guessing you lost that in the wreck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2010 There should be a vacuum ball there but I am guessing you lost that in the wreck Is that some sort of unneeded intake crap that I can just delete? Or should I actually go get one of these balls and replace it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted September 17, 2010 Report Share Posted September 17, 2010 Well its a vacuum reservoir so when your heavy on the throttle, your vents dont switch to defrost and it helps with a few other things as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Alright, so I have a problem. At a w-body meet on Sunday, it was brought to my attention that that my motor, tranny, and potentially some other stuff was not "square". My front wheels did not line up totally perfect with each other, etc. The car had had no driveability issues at all since the accident, though, aside from my tail lights draining my battery. I put a new battery in yesterday and went to take it for a spin. I backed out of my driveway and put the tranny in OD like usual, and when I hit the gas it wouldn't go anywhere, it just revved. I tried D and it did the same thing. When I put it into D1 or D2, the car will drive but there is some kind of intermittent grinding/shuttering in the axle or somewhere, it is most noticeable while turning. I just parked it and havent driven it since. I feel like it's impossible that this is a transmission issue, but it seems weird to me that I have D1 and D2 but not D or OD. The trans never slipped, shuttered, or anything else before. It was nothing but strong and smooth. It also seems weird that this happened while the car was parked and not while driving. This is the first FWD car I've ever owned and I know very little about how FWD drivetrains even work. I'm guessing something is slightly disconnected or bent somewhere between the trans and the wheels. Not sure how to proceed at this point. I now have 3 non-driveable cars and 0 driveable cars. I'm considering parting out all 3 of them and buying one nice car. Gotta figure out what's wrong with the Lumina before I make that call, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mra32 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Did you check the transmission fluid level? That would be the first step. Maybe a hose got knicked and was losing some transmission fluid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Start the car and check the fluid level first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 I checked the fluid level and it was low. I added a quart but the problem persists. I've found that once I get out of first gear, I can use D or OD. I just need to use D1 to start off the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 80+ mph on a country road?? You're very lucky you walked away from it. Most country road accidents around here are caused by the same thing, and 95% of them are fatal accidents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminator9c3 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 I forgot to mention that I noticed a connector that was unplugged and I couldn't find where it was supposed to plug into. It was a pretty good sized connector coming off the main harness located between the air intake and the trans. Could this be a trans sensor? It didn't seem to reach all the way to the trans, but I dunno. I can take a pic. 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.