Can't catch a break with her (rant on my cutlass)
August 7th, 2016, 12:54 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Idaho
Posts: 59
Can't catch a break with her (rant on my cutlass)
Ever since I have had her, I have had one problem after an other. every time that I replace something that needs to be done, something else goes wrong. Have had to replace several parts a few times because of screw ups (mainly from others). Have had to replace basic to even new expensive pieces. Recently had to have a shop take a look because I could not figure out what was going on. starting with $650 to rebuild the heads with new valves, that turned into a new intake manifold (which I already replaced last year), to a new distributor, to this and that. Now she is having a hard time running at idle, which the shop that had her knew about, but they don't know exactly what is going on. Only thing they could really recommend to me is to rebuild the top portion of my carb. Now I also have some kind of electrical problem, the lowbeams all went out for some reason, but all four lights come on with the high beams, and the back light for the speedometer went out today as well. In the past 1.5years, I have not gotten to drive her for more than 3 days without something going wrong that keeps me from being on the road with her. and with everything I have done, I have put close to $10k into her, and that doesn't even start with any cosmetics, and by the time I realized what I had to do to her, I was so far in debt with this car that there is no way that I could ever get anything close to what I need out of her if I sold her. I am stuck with her and yet I cant really drive her.
Sorry, just needed somewhere to get this out
Sorry, just needed somewhere to get this out
August 7th, 2016, 01:40 AM
#3
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 13,730
Sounds like you really need to learn how to work on the car yourself.
Needed a new intake manifold? Why? I take manifolds rarely ever "go bad" and need to be replaced.
From your other thread, the shop said the distributor was the wrong type? WHat does that even mean?
Sounds to me like you are being taken for a ride.
Needed a new intake manifold? Why? I take manifolds rarely ever "go bad" and need to be replaced.
From your other thread, the shop said the distributor was the wrong type? WHat does that even mean?
Sounds to me like you are being taken for a ride.
August 7th, 2016, 05:25 AM
#4
Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Poteau, Ok
Posts: 40,519
We've all walked in your shoes. Owning an old car is sometimes daunting and they are attention ****** when it comes to catching up on maintenance that had been neglected over the years. However once you provide the love needed to get them in shape, they usually will reward you with years of enjoyment. It can be a love hate relationship in the beginning.
You need to see if you have power to the low beam terminals at your head lights. Chances are the issue is either bad lamps (low beam filament burned out) or your hi/lo beam switch on the floor is bad. The light behind your speedo is probably burned out of a bad connection.
You need to learn how to do some of the work yourself. There are a lot of folks on here that can walk you through most projects. You need a new mechanic because the ones your using seem like a team of monkeys trying to f%#k a football.
You need to see if you have power to the low beam terminals at your head lights. Chances are the issue is either bad lamps (low beam filament burned out) or your hi/lo beam switch on the floor is bad. The light behind your speedo is probably burned out of a bad connection.
You need to learn how to do some of the work yourself. There are a lot of folks on here that can walk you through most projects. You need a new mechanic because the ones your using seem like a team of monkeys trying to f%#k a football.
August 7th, 2016, 07:26 AM
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 234
As I read the original post I kept waiting for the, "But I lover her anyways." Never came. In my opinion its time for your to get a new friend. 2017 Camaro SS--convertible maybe. If its not fun and more of a pain, its time. Sell her to someone on this board who has the mechanical skills, time and desire to keep the old girl going. No harm or foul in this. On the other hand you can pay for a lot of "mechanicing" for the price of a new Convertible SS Camaro. Good luck.
August 7th, 2016, 08:05 AM
#6
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Sorry, Eric, but no we haven't.
All things mechanical have problems sometimes.
Sometimes it seems like they're all ganging up on us, and other times not, but when things go wrong, we say a bad word, get out the tools, troubleshoot the problem, and fix it.
We try to repair and maintain our cars in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of something going wrong, but we accept that parts wear out, and that previous owners have left us little "time bombs" that will wake us up when we least expect it.
In the past few weeks, I've had a back-and-forth with my kid's tire with a slow leak, ultimately ending in the discovery of a rim seam leak due to rust, fixed by a trip to the junkyard ($40 for a brand-new wheel) and then back to the tire place ($15 -- unlike Joe, I do not have a tire machine), finding a screw in the sidewall of one of the 40-series tires on the back of a BMW, requiring replacement of the tire at over $200, re-emergence of a sunroof leak that I'd thought I'd killed on a Dodge pickup (need to remove headliner, and therefore, half of interior...), an A/C leak in the kid's car, followed by discovery of a nicked sealing surface on the accumulator, leading to replacement of the accumulator ($22), and also of the compressor seal ($15), as it was probably the cause of the initial leak, another BMW has decided to start throwing up a warning light for an emissions component that I have a replacement for on a parts car that's far away, and finally, a couple of days ago, complete failure of the Dodge truck's battery at only 11 years of age, with the new one costing over a hundred bucks.
My Olds has been fine (knock wood), because it is a simple car, and I've been through it from one end to the other.
Am I annoyed? Sure.
Would I be happier if I'd been able to hang onto that money? Hell yeah.
But, all in all, I'm damned glad none of this happened in the winter when it was ten below zero outside.
So, no, I have never had a car that only runs for a few days at a time, or that I have spent $10,000 on in any sense of the word, either in initial cost, or in repairs.
If something goes wrong, I fix it.
If something catastrophic goes wrong, I make a decision whether to replace something major or junk it (or leave it out on the "north forty"...).
When I was a kid, and I bought a Porsche 911 that ran badly, and that I thought I could tune up, and I discovered that it needed a complete engine rebuild, I got out the books, did my homework, ordered some parts and special tools, set up a place in my father's garden shed, and rebuilt the engine, then re-installed it and drove the car straight to Florida to shake it down.
I do not keep hitting myself in the head with a stick, wondering whether this time it will hurt less, and I do NOT pay other people, whom I cannot trust in any meaningful way, to work on, and potentially damage, my cars.
- Eric
All things mechanical have problems sometimes.
Sometimes it seems like they're all ganging up on us, and other times not, but when things go wrong, we say a bad word, get out the tools, troubleshoot the problem, and fix it.
We try to repair and maintain our cars in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of something going wrong, but we accept that parts wear out, and that previous owners have left us little "time bombs" that will wake us up when we least expect it.
In the past few weeks, I've had a back-and-forth with my kid's tire with a slow leak, ultimately ending in the discovery of a rim seam leak due to rust, fixed by a trip to the junkyard ($40 for a brand-new wheel) and then back to the tire place ($15 -- unlike Joe, I do not have a tire machine), finding a screw in the sidewall of one of the 40-series tires on the back of a BMW, requiring replacement of the tire at over $200, re-emergence of a sunroof leak that I'd thought I'd killed on a Dodge pickup (need to remove headliner, and therefore, half of interior...), an A/C leak in the kid's car, followed by discovery of a nicked sealing surface on the accumulator, leading to replacement of the accumulator ($22), and also of the compressor seal ($15), as it was probably the cause of the initial leak, another BMW has decided to start throwing up a warning light for an emissions component that I have a replacement for on a parts car that's far away, and finally, a couple of days ago, complete failure of the Dodge truck's battery at only 11 years of age, with the new one costing over a hundred bucks.
My Olds has been fine (knock wood), because it is a simple car, and I've been through it from one end to the other.
Am I annoyed? Sure.
Would I be happier if I'd been able to hang onto that money? Hell yeah.
But, all in all, I'm damned glad none of this happened in the winter when it was ten below zero outside.
So, no, I have never had a car that only runs for a few days at a time, or that I have spent $10,000 on in any sense of the word, either in initial cost, or in repairs.
If something goes wrong, I fix it.
If something catastrophic goes wrong, I make a decision whether to replace something major or junk it (or leave it out on the "north forty"...).
When I was a kid, and I bought a Porsche 911 that ran badly, and that I thought I could tune up, and I discovered that it needed a complete engine rebuild, I got out the books, did my homework, ordered some parts and special tools, set up a place in my father's garden shed, and rebuilt the engine, then re-installed it and drove the car straight to Florida to shake it down.
I do not keep hitting myself in the head with a stick, wondering whether this time it will hurt less, and I do NOT pay other people, whom I cannot trust in any meaningful way, to work on, and potentially damage, my cars.
- Eric
August 7th, 2016, 08:53 AM
#7
Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Poteau, Ok
Posts: 40,519
Sometimes we must agree to disagree. We as youngsters grew up with these cars and out of necessity lived in junkyards for parts and Sears for tools. We worked out of Motors, Chiltons manuals, or just plain rolled our sleeves up and jumped in there head first to tackle any project with/ without the aide of our brain trust of friends for moral support. We played with them in our back yards laying in the dirt and using stumps as jack stands. The internet has proven a most invaluable source of information for younger people that we did not have back in the day.
I for one since acquiring it in 2009, have at least $10k in my car with all the mechanical parts I installed, plus the paint, interior, and wheels/tires. I farmed the paint and interior out and got that done for less than it would have cost me in parts and material. I can't imagine how much more I would have in this car if I farmed out the mechanical repairs/upgrades in labor.
People buy old cars now a days for a multitude of reasons. The OP seems much younger than us and is learning. He was very excited when he first got it like any relationship. He has done a lot of work on it looking through his posts and the walking in his shoes part is that at times we all get frustrated when the love is not returned. Sometimes as we go 1 step forward that lead to 2 steps back we get the feelings of doubt and out of pure tenacity we push forward because we pride ourselves on not losing. For some reason we as a group enjoy pain and continue with our passion in the love hate relationship involved in the old car hobby ultimately resulting in that great feeling when it all finally comes together. Then we start all over again.
Yes, we all beat ourselves with that stick one way or another.
I for one since acquiring it in 2009, have at least $10k in my car with all the mechanical parts I installed, plus the paint, interior, and wheels/tires. I farmed the paint and interior out and got that done for less than it would have cost me in parts and material. I can't imagine how much more I would have in this car if I farmed out the mechanical repairs/upgrades in labor.
People buy old cars now a days for a multitude of reasons. The OP seems much younger than us and is learning. He was very excited when he first got it like any relationship. He has done a lot of work on it looking through his posts and the walking in his shoes part is that at times we all get frustrated when the love is not returned. Sometimes as we go 1 step forward that lead to 2 steps back we get the feelings of doubt and out of pure tenacity we push forward because we pride ourselves on not losing. For some reason we as a group enjoy pain and continue with our passion in the love hate relationship involved in the old car hobby ultimately resulting in that great feeling when it all finally comes together. Then we start all over again.
Yes, we all beat ourselves with that stick one way or another.
August 7th, 2016, 09:13 AM
#8
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
I think we agree.
We grew up doing what had to be done, partly for fun, but partly because if we didn't have that car working by Monday, we wouldn't be able to get to work / see our girlfriend / take the guys out / whatever. And we got PO'd, cursed, threw wrenches, broke things because we were in a hurry, and had Dad come out and say, "Maybe you should take a break and come back to it later."
BUT, we kept going back at it until it was fixed, and, while we hit up Dad, Dad's friends, our friends, our girlfriends, and occasionally passers-by on the street ("Can you hold this a minute?"), we took care of it with our toolboxes and not our checkbooks.
I have no problem with someone wanting to have an older car for fun, but not knowing much about fixing it, if that person understands that he will spend more on the car than it is worth and that he will have unpredictable problems, if he feels that the fun he has with it is worth the money he will spend. However, I would strongly discourage anyone who is not very wealthy, who is not mechanically experienced, and who is not at the very least willing to buy tools and to learn "on the job" from others, from buying an older car, as it is a recipe for heartbreak and financial disaster.
1969Cutlasss4D, if you have the interest and the drive to fix this car yourself, then prepare to spend a few hundred dollars on tools, get your camera (not your phone, please) ready, block out some time on your calendar, and we will help you to get this car running right.
If you do not, then this may not be the car for you, and it may be time to consider passing it on to someone who will be able to deal with it.
Either way, paying people who are incapable of properly fixing it to work on it is a bad idea, and you need to stop doing that, as you are only digging a hole deeper and deeper.
- Eric
We grew up doing what had to be done, partly for fun, but partly because if we didn't have that car working by Monday, we wouldn't be able to get to work / see our girlfriend / take the guys out / whatever. And we got PO'd, cursed, threw wrenches, broke things because we were in a hurry, and had Dad come out and say, "Maybe you should take a break and come back to it later."
BUT, we kept going back at it until it was fixed, and, while we hit up Dad, Dad's friends, our friends, our girlfriends, and occasionally passers-by on the street ("Can you hold this a minute?"), we took care of it with our toolboxes and not our checkbooks.
I have no problem with someone wanting to have an older car for fun, but not knowing much about fixing it, if that person understands that he will spend more on the car than it is worth and that he will have unpredictable problems, if he feels that the fun he has with it is worth the money he will spend. However, I would strongly discourage anyone who is not very wealthy, who is not mechanically experienced, and who is not at the very least willing to buy tools and to learn "on the job" from others, from buying an older car, as it is a recipe for heartbreak and financial disaster.
1969Cutlasss4D, if you have the interest and the drive to fix this car yourself, then prepare to spend a few hundred dollars on tools, get your camera (not your phone, please) ready, block out some time on your calendar, and we will help you to get this car running right.
If you do not, then this may not be the car for you, and it may be time to consider passing it on to someone who will be able to deal with it.
Either way, paying people who are incapable of properly fixing it to work on it is a bad idea, and you need to stop doing that, as you are only digging a hole deeper and deeper.
- Eric
August 7th, 2016, 09:23 AM
#9
Proud Viet Nam Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Rowlett, TX
Posts: 9,931
Old cars only require three things. Time, patience and money. The third one is the biggest variable and depends on how much you can do yourself. The more you do yourself the more patience it will require. At $10,000, the OP is under water for sure. I think he needs to fund another mechanic because the only ride he is getting is to the cleaners.
August 7th, 2016, 10:19 AM
#10
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Ranch Ca.
Posts: 7,714
His car reminds me of one of my X wife's, kept me broke, was in the shop all the time, couldn't be trusted out of the sight of the house and was a bad ride from the start.... Not sure why that came to mind... But it did... Tedd
... Not sure why that came to mind... But it did... Tedd
August 7th, 2016, 11:51 AM
#11
Senior Moment Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,859
I had a 2003 Cobra. Sold it because it was boring. All you could do was wax it. My Cutlass however needs to be kept up. Just yesterday I went over the header bolts and the collectors. Thought I heard an exhaust leak. I feel bad for the OP. My youth was spent with a Chevelle that I really liked. Worked on it all the time. Had a ball with it. Hopefully things turn around for him. The thing about old cars is you really have to be mechanically inclined. They're not for everybody.
August 7th, 2016, 02:16 PM
#12
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Idaho
Posts: 59
Thanks for all your responses, was not really meaning for this to be a response thread. But I do want to clarify a couple of things since so many of you have responded to my rant.
1. I am still learning, and the one person that I rely on, a gear head from hell...he is in prison, and I am a see/touch and learn. I only have one other person who has helped me so I can figure this out, and he has not been reliable, yet alone has screwed up a few things and cost me money.
2. besides for the alignment, this is the first time I have EVER taken her to a shop, and it was because I was out of ideas on why she was running rough.
3. This car had more problems when I bought her then I realized. When I got her, it was winter, we put gas down the carb, all the fluids and started her up, she ran a little rough but she went around a few blocks pretty damn good considering that we thought she just needed a good tune up. I had no idea that a head was bad, or what ever else has gone wrong.
4. my part about the low beams and the back light for my gauges going out just annoyed me because they we out at the same time. Yes, I will be doing those myself, and most everything else, it was more of just adding more fuel to my fire is all.
I love Alice, I do. yes, it is a love hate relationship, and I do find it fun. But I also was really hoping that after spending that much on a shop to fix her and get her to run right that I would have at least a month before even something basic needed to be replaced minus what I already knew.
thanks for your responses, but this really was just a place for me to get some of it out.
1. I am still learning, and the one person that I rely on, a gear head from hell...he is in prison, and I am a see/touch and learn. I only have one other person who has helped me so I can figure this out, and he has not been reliable, yet alone has screwed up a few things and cost me money.
2. besides for the alignment, this is the first time I have EVER taken her to a shop, and it was because I was out of ideas on why she was running rough.
3. This car had more problems when I bought her then I realized. When I got her, it was winter, we put gas down the carb, all the fluids and started her up, she ran a little rough but she went around a few blocks pretty damn good considering that we thought she just needed a good tune up. I had no idea that a head was bad, or what ever else has gone wrong.
4. my part about the low beams and the back light for my gauges going out just annoyed me because they we out at the same time. Yes, I will be doing those myself, and most everything else, it was more of just adding more fuel to my fire is all.
I love Alice, I do. yes, it is a love hate relationship, and I do find it fun. But I also was really hoping that after spending that much on a shop to fix her and get her to run right that I would have at least a month before even something basic needed to be replaced minus what I already knew.
thanks for your responses, but this really was just a place for me to get some of it out.
August 7th, 2016, 02:39 PM
#13
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Did they tell you why the heads needed to be rebuilt? And what, exactly, did they do to them?
And I may have missed it, but with the intake manifold replaced last year, why did it have to be replaced again?
In the future, since your good advisor is "away" for a while, and your not-so-good advisor is actually no good at all, I would advise you to just pop up and bounce a question off of the folks here any time you're not sure of something - we can at least help you troubleshoot and point you in the right direction, and are likely to save you money, compared to entering the dragon's lair of the mechanic.
Also, note that for $650, you could have bought a lot of tools, that you can always keep, and that you could have used to do most of the work on your heads. Most of the guys here would rather give you advice about exactly what to buy and how to do the job, rather than see you go to a mechanic and possibly have your car screwed up even more.
- Eric
And I may have missed it, but with the intake manifold replaced last year, why did it have to be replaced again?
In the future, since your good advisor is "away" for a while, and your not-so-good advisor is actually no good at all, I would advise you to just pop up and bounce a question off of the folks here any time you're not sure of something - we can at least help you troubleshoot and point you in the right direction, and are likely to save you money, compared to entering the dragon's lair of the mechanic.
Also, note that for $650, you could have bought a lot of tools, that you can always keep, and that you could have used to do most of the work on your heads. Most of the guys here would rather give you advice about exactly what to buy and how to do the job, rather than see you go to a mechanic and possibly have your car screwed up even more.
- Eric
August 7th, 2016, 03:17 PM
#14
Old(s) Fart
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 47,259
I was going to say "fuel, spark, and compression (all at about the same time), but yours work too...
I'm personally frustrated right now because everything I have seems to be breaking, and I'm in the middle of a major project at work that doesn't leave me much free time right now. While driving back from Home Depot today to fetch parts for a farm equipment repair, my truck died on a major highway. I even had my Genisys scan tool AND the multi-volume CSM in the truck (they were still there from the trip to Kingsport). As usual, stored codes were worthless. Seems like whenever one of my OBD vehicles has a failure, it doesn't set a code.
I broke down and paid for a tow to get the truck home (not easy to tow a crewcab dually). A cursory look showed nothing simple (lots o' fuel pressure, for example, and the Passlock system is working properly). Now I need to find time to troubleshoot this. Of course, I killed a majority of the afternoon waiting for the tow, then had to finish fixing the farm equipment.
It never ends... especially since this is the same truck that I had to replace the U-joints on in the Holiday Inn parking lot in Kingsport, as well as have a valve stem replaced on one of the tires, and only a month ago I rebuilt the rear axle. Of course, it DOES have over a quarter million miles on it.
I do understand the frustration, but prior experience with "mechanics" who are clueless have taught me to buy my own tools and learn how to use them.
I'm personally frustrated right now because everything I have seems to be breaking, and I'm in the middle of a major project at work that doesn't leave me much free time right now. While driving back from Home Depot today to fetch parts for a farm equipment repair, my truck died on a major highway. I even had my Genisys scan tool AND the multi-volume CSM in the truck (they were still there from the trip to Kingsport). As usual, stored codes were worthless. Seems like whenever one of my OBD vehicles has a failure, it doesn't set a code.
I broke down and paid for a tow to get the truck home (not easy to tow a crewcab dually). A cursory look showed nothing simple (lots o' fuel pressure, for example, and the Passlock system is working properly). Now I need to find time to troubleshoot this. Of course, I killed a majority of the afternoon waiting for the tow, then had to finish fixing the farm equipment.
It never ends... especially since this is the same truck that I had to replace the U-joints on in the Holiday Inn parking lot in Kingsport, as well as have a valve stem replaced on one of the tires, and only a month ago I rebuilt the rear axle. Of course, it DOES have over a quarter million miles on it.
I do understand the frustration, but prior experience with "mechanics" who are clueless have taught me to buy my own tools and learn how to use them.
August 7th, 2016, 03:43 PM
#15
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Idaho
Posts: 59
Did they tell you why the heads needed to be rebuilt? And what, exactly, did they do to them?
And I may have missed it, but with the intake manifold replaced last year, why did it have to be replaced again?
In the future, since your good advisor is "away" for a while, and your not-so-good advisor is actually no good at all, I would advise you to just pop up and bounce a question off of the folks here any time you're not sure of something - we can at least help you troubleshoot and point you in the right direction, and are likely to save you money, compared to entering the dragon's lair of the mechanic.
Also, note that for $650, you could have bought a lot of tools, that you can always keep, and that you could have used to do most of the work on your heads. Most of the guys here would rather give you advice about exactly what to buy and how to do the job, rather than see you go to a mechanic and possibly have your car screwed up even more.
- Eric
And I may have missed it, but with the intake manifold replaced last year, why did it have to be replaced again?
In the future, since your good advisor is "away" for a while, and your not-so-good advisor is actually no good at all, I would advise you to just pop up and bounce a question off of the folks here any time you're not sure of something - we can at least help you troubleshoot and point you in the right direction, and are likely to save you money, compared to entering the dragon's lair of the mechanic.
Also, note that for $650, you could have bought a lot of tools, that you can always keep, and that you could have used to do most of the work on your heads. Most of the guys here would rather give you advice about exactly what to buy and how to do the job, rather than see you go to a mechanic and possibly have your car screwed up even more.
- Eric
When they did the leak compression test, #2 tested at 135, #4 50, #1 and #7 at 150 and the rest were all at 140. Needed to do a valve job.
I took the heads to a head shop that has been ran by 3 generations, he resurfaced them, new valves and all that fun stuff, that is where the first $650 went. And when I read off that the car cost me almost $10k, that was also including the price of buying her, so probably just under $8 for parts, and $2500 of it was for everything the shop (head shop, mechanics and parts) just had done.
As to your question on why the intake needed to be replaced, the guy I had helping me gave me some really bad advice, even with me asking twice if he was sure. but when we first got her on the road after replacing the oil pan gasket, trans pan gasket, new control arms and all the fun stuff, he hooked my negative cable from the battery onto the inner fender. I asked him TWICE if that was enough, and both times he replied "yeah, I see guys do it all the time." well, with that a few weeks afterwords I had a bad ground that caused a fire on the plastic clip for the throttle cable, that only ruined the throttle cable portion, nothing else was damaged by the fire. BUT...no ground, electricity, water and aluminum mixed together caused my new aluminum intake to have electrolysis, and it ate away a good portion of the underside of the intake.
August 7th, 2016, 03:43 PM
#16
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Sistersville, WV
Posts: 2,163
Life for all of us at times is 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Sh#$ happens. Had medical bills, dash cover falling apart on my diesel Dodge, went to move my seldom used 84 Ranger beater, ignition switch fails, mower throwing belts. Can't order parts for the 98 until I take care of those troubles first.
August 7th, 2016, 04:42 PM
#17
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Wow. Never heard of an aluminum intake being destroyed by electrolysis due to an improperly connected ground, but I guess I've never heard of anyone doing anything so stupid as to connect the ground to the fender, and not to the block. I'm actually amazed that the car started and ran at all like that. At least you had the good sense to think that was a bad idea.
I'm sure your "friend" paid for the repairs and the new intake... Right?
Didn't think so.
As far as the valve, I suspect you could have gotten away with just replacing that one and grinding one seat, since this is just a regular daily driver, but I would imagine that the shop wouldn't want to do it that way.
Asking a quick question on this forum would have prevented at least one of these problems, and probably a number of others.
Just stick around, and we will help you as much as we can.
- Eric
I'm sure your "friend" paid for the repairs and the new intake... Right?
Didn't think so.
As far as the valve, I suspect you could have gotten away with just replacing that one and grinding one seat, since this is just a regular daily driver, but I would imagine that the shop wouldn't want to do it that way.
Asking a quick question on this forum would have prevented at least one of these problems, and probably a number of others.
Just stick around, and we will help you as much as we can.
- Eric
August 7th, 2016, 05:03 PM
#18
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Idaho
Posts: 59
Wow. Never heard of an aluminum intake being destroyed by electrolysis due to an improperly connected ground, but I guess I've never heard of anyone doing anything so stupid as to connect the ground to the fender, and not to the block. I'm actually amazed that the car started and ran at all like that. At least you had the good sense to think that was a bad idea.
I'm sure your "friend" paid for the repairs and the new intake... Right?
Didn't think so.
As far as the valve, I suspect you could have gotten away with just replacing that one and grinding one seat, since this is just a regular daily driver, but I would imagine that the shop wouldn't want to do it that way.
Asking a quick question on this forum would have prevented at least one of these problems, and probably a number of others.
Just stick around, and we will help you as much as we can.
- Eric
I'm sure your "friend" paid for the repairs and the new intake... Right?
Didn't think so.
As far as the valve, I suspect you could have gotten away with just replacing that one and grinding one seat, since this is just a regular daily driver, but I would imagine that the shop wouldn't want to do it that way.
Asking a quick question on this forum would have prevented at least one of these problems, and probably a number of others.
Just stick around, and we will help you as much as we can.
- Eric
well, I know with some cars like MG's you can hook it up to the fender and that will work. but I really didn't think that just the fender would be ok, yet I listened to him because he was the one teaching me a bit of this, so I figured what ever.
and no, everything that he has cost me money on....he never admits is his fault and has never paid me for it.
August 7th, 2016, 06:54 PM
#20
Proud Viet Nam Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Rowlett, TX
Posts: 9,931
If you stick around here, you will get some really good advice. There are lots of guys here who have decades of experience and are glad to help. We all have war stories about cars we have owned or still own. There are no dumb questions. None of us know it all but the guys on posts #13 and #14 above come pretty close. If you own an Oldsmobile, this is the place to be.
August 7th, 2016, 07:05 PM
#21
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 2,357
If you don't have one get an assembly manual
Follow it. Only take advise from members on this site. If someone is mistaken someone will correct them. Not a luxury you have with lone wolf know it all's.
August 10th, 2016, 05:28 AM
#22
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Washington
Posts: 226
I think its safe say there isn't a member of this community that hasn't been frustrated with our beloved cars. We have all spent more time and money than we thought we would need to at times. I have gotten help from this group every time I have had a problem and with that help have fixed the problem and I have asked for a lot of help! But if you don't have the skills and or tools... you need to buy the tools ask questions and keep trying that's how you will learn. This is not a cheap hobby and when things are not going the way we would like them to go its a very frustrating hobby. But when we finally get the problem fixed and take that drive....well that's awesome. Keep asking questions here you will get the RIGHT answers and get your problems fixed so you can enjoy your Olds.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
snookys71olds
Small Blocks
7
April 15th, 2012 06:52 AM
