debfahey

Hi. I posted in the Newbie forum earlier, explaining that I am trying to help an older friend (a woman in her late 80's, a quilting friend of mine). Several members here warmly greeted me and gave some initial help. I think further communications are supposed to be in a proper forum, so here I am. :-)

The situation so far is that my friend has been having trouble with her 1973 Oldsmobile Omega (350cid V8, rochester 2bbl carburetor) for at least a few months now. It started with her car stalling out and/or starting poorly. Now she has new spark plug wires, fuel pump, gasket and filter, new oil and filter; new (in Feb) ignition point set and coil; new 65-month battery in Dec 2013; the carburetor (#7043158) was "overhauled" in late July with a NAPA carb kit (25439A). The mechanic said it needed a choke pull off, but that he could not locate one. I found several brands on eBay that claim to be for a 73 Olds Omega, but will they only work on the original carburetor, before being "overhauled"? Does she need a choke pull off that is specific to the carb kit used?

Currently she has garaged her car and will not drive it because the engine revs too high (pardon my ignorance and terminology) and she said she and her husband fear they will not be able to control it (goes too fast, abruptly.) As far as I can tell after reading about the choke pull off, that would not cause the problem she currently has.

The mechanic called her and said he could come to her house and fix something so that it would not rev up (maybe the throttle is sticking?) and then she could drive it safely. I don't know the exact language he used, this is all third hand. She is 50-50 on whether she will even keep the car now as she has lost confidence with it. The car looks pretty good, has been well maintained, and has about 153,000 miles on it. If she decides to sell it, do you think $2,000 is about right, too low? She has put about $1,000 into repairs and parts just in the last 10 months, so ideally she would want to recover those costs, but if the car has a higher intrinsic value than that, I would like to advise her accordingly.

So, sorry for the very long post, but I am hoping someone can comment and help.

thank you all,
Deb

oldcutlass

Sounds like the choke is sticking. If this is a car that is seldom driven in extreme cold then you can temporarily set the choke to stay open and not go into high idle. Any carburetor shop should be able to set the carb up correctly.

debfahey

Thank you, Eric (oldcutlass). We have a fairly temperate climate here in Half Moon Bay, CA. I would like it to be warmer (60's is too cold for me in summer!); year-round it probably does not get colder than 40 or 50. I'll follow up with my friend to see what the mechanic did and if she is happy with that. The car is definitely not driven much; from what I gather, generally puttering around town a couple of times a week, maybe longer drives a few times a month.

jaunty75

A couple of questions here:

1. How long has she owned the car? A lady in her late '80s might very well have owned this car since new. It would be interesting to know if she's the original owner. If she's owned this car for any length of time, or even if she only bought it last week, the fact that she put a grand into it means nothing. We all spend money fixing up and maintaining all our cars, collector cars and daily drivers. When it's time to sell, it's the market that determines value, not what you've spent on the car.

2. What's the body style? Two-door cars generally have higher value than four-doors.

Without some photos, it's hard to do more than just hazard guesses as to a value. Keep in mind that the Omega has a limited following, and values are correspondingly not very high. Having a mileage on the high side of the 100,000 to 200,000 range won't help.


All of this being said, for whatever it's worth, the Old Cars Price Guide lists the value of a ''73 Omega 4-door sedan in "car show" condition (one step below showroom condition) at about $2,800. The next level down, "runs and drives but needs complete restoration," the value is about $1,300. If the car is a 2-door, coupe or hatchback, add about $100 to $200 to these values. Your estimate of the car's value at around $2,000 is probably reasonable.

jaunty75

This is interesting. I checked a couple of websites just now (Autozone, Rockauto), and you can get choke pull-offs all day long for Omegas with 4-barrel carbs, but no one has anything for 2-barrels. The choke pull-off does not depend on the carb kit. My guess is those ebay pull-offs are for the 4-bbl carbs.

Here's the Autozone page showing choke pull-offs for your car. The one you need is the third one down. Your carb number is amongst those shown, but the pull-off is shown as "not available." The one above it IS available, and I'll bet that's for the 4-barrel. You can see that they're different and apparently not interchangeable.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-ipdfqZ8vd2p

Your mechanic may have to try getting a used one from a junkyard car.

debfahey

Thank you jaunty75, and I'm sorry I didn't give appropriate detail in my original post. (I should know better) Your guesses and estimates are helpful. It is a 4-door, 350 V8 2bbl, interior looks pretty good (maybe great), but the lighting was poor when I looked at it. I do understand your comments about her spending for maintenance is just part of being a responsible car owner; I was just thinking some of those maint items are new and are costs a prospective buyer would not incur.

I'm not that experienced at evaluating used cars, but I didn't see any rust, only one or two very minor dings, good interior, and the only thing that caught my eye is that the hood line on the right is not flush (sticks up a bit.) I also didn't look under the hood, mostly because that would just be posturing as I wouldn't know what I was looking at. :-)

Your comments and estimates give me needed perspective that I can share with my friend.

thanks again,
Deb

jaunty75

No apology necessary. You're doing much better than most!

You can certainly try, but the old car world generally works this way: This car appears to be worth roughly $2,000. Your friend just spent $1,000 on it. That does not make it a $3,000 car. It's still a $2,000 car. It just runs better!

This would make you no different than about 95% of the people who frequent this site!

Seriously, whenever you do take photos of the car, lift the hood and take photos of the engine compartment, too, from several angles. Ditto for the trunk. No one was ever accused of having too many photos, and many sellers don't have enough.

debfahey

Thanks, jaunty75. I appreciate your curiosity and research! I found some that I thought were for 2-barrel, but clearly I must have just *assumed* it. (I see now the eBay pages I found are non-specific as to 2-barrel vs 4-barrel and they do not tell which they are for) Thank you for that link so I know which choke pull off to look for. I wish all the ones for sale referenced an original Olds part# to make it easier.

I wonder why there are lots of choke pull-offs for 4bbl but not 2bbl. Perhaps more of a market for 4bbl because they would be more popular?

I've never been to a junkyard, could be fun (but time consuming!) I may leave that to a more eager mechanic or car fan, though. :-)

debfahey

jaunty75: thanks again, for your help, and encouragement.

BTW, I just noticed you are in southern New Mexico. I was born at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. 62 years ago tomorrow! :-)

jaunty75

Cool. We're about an hour west in Las Cruces.

RROLDSX

I'm sorry but I'm not a fan of a mechanic that would leave an elderly person high and dry, having said that this guy seems to want to correct his mistakes and come and fix it. If she has confidence in him and he seems like a good guy, I would get him back and give him a second chance to repair it. Failing that there are many mechanics around that know what they're doing. She is used to driving the car and would like not do well in another. JMO.

Octania

Well, happy birthday then!
Here it is tomorrow already.

"Originally Posted by debfahey
I also didn't look under the hood, mostly because that would just be posturing as I wouldn't know what I was looking at."
=-==========================
Ok, so, go ahead and practice that. Open the hood. Look from different angles. Grunt. "Oh, uh. Yeah. Uh huh. Hmmmm.... Ah, there!" Pretty much what doctors do. End up with something that sounds good, like, "Oh yeah, yer Frammis valve is sticking, and the battery gaskets are frayed. Might need new muffler bearings or a spurving vane."

:-)

But, more seriously, if you can get the air cleaner off and get a pic of the RH side [shoot, get all sides] of the carb... I might have a good used choke pulloff. Assuming that this is actually the car's issue. It sounds like you just need an oldschool carb guy near you to work his magic. Carbs are not all that complex once you understand the basic systems. Typically people remove links or modify parts w/o understanding the function of the parts, which leads to woes.

70cutty

I am in Daly City CA, let me know if I could help. I could stop by over the weekend and maybe help with fixing it.


Edin

debfahey

RROLDSX: I agree with you. He is planning to come to her house today. Hopefully today this issue will finally be resolved, and the guy has a decent reputation around here, but my concern is that it has taken so many trips to the mechanic this year, with pretty much the same root problem after replacing a number of parts. I've also got a potential buyer (2nd yr automotive student in 4-yr program, president of local auto tech club) who wants a classic muscle car to fix up. He has only seen pics and description so far, but seems very interested.

Octania: Thank you very much. I will keep your generous offer in mind. My friend leaves for a 5-day quilting retreat tomorrow, so it may be after that before I can follow up with her.

70cutty, Edin: That is awesome that you are so nearby, Daly City. Thank you so much for the offer. I think we are on hold for the moment since she will be away this weekend. However, if there is still a driveability problem after this last attempt to fix, I would really appreciate your help. She would be so grateful, and likely to bake you something sweet. :-)

EVERYBODY WHO HAS COMMENTED SO FAR: You are an awesome group! Thank you for sharing your time and experience. I am impressed and thankful for your support for my friend.

70cutty

No problem, I cruise down Highway 1 with my kids almost every weekend.

debfahey

Cool, thanks!

debfahey

Hi all. I didn't want to leave you in suspense. My friend has not driven her car since the mechanic made a house call to do one more fix to her car. The mechanic took it for test drive and declared it running fine. She has been away at a quilting retreat, but told me she no longer has confidence in her car and is ready to sell it. The one possible buyer I found has changed his mind, so I am now on the hunt. :-)

Hopefully I can help her put this behind her in the next week or two. She says they are going to downsize from 2 cars to 1, so she is going to get practice driving her husband's car, which is practically new (only 7 years old!)

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all again for you support and ideas. When my friend gets back from her retreat, I'll get a copy of her latest maintenance receipt so I can find out just what the mechanic did!

-Deb

oldcutlass

Deb, sorry your friend does not want to drive her car any more, although I would as her friend coax her to. If she is hell bent on selling it then post a classified ad on here with a good description, pictures, and an asking price. Someone here may be interested.

debfahey

Thank you, Eric (oldcutlass). I'll need to get her husband to back the car out of their garage before I can get decent photos. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to post a few photos I have now and what I know about the car (the photos will at least give a sense of condition, for example, it's not a rust bucket.) If there is any interest at all, then I can get more info/photos as needed.

-Deb