I finnaly got my cutlass back from the interior shop on Saturday. A three week job that took 3 months. I will give the low down on that once I take some pics. Hopefully tomorrow. They did a great job!

That was the last time I am going to let any Italian native touch my car for any reason. I was going to get it painted before I came back to the states, but every time I get it back there is a new problem.

The new problem: When I went to pick up the car I popped the hood (because it needed a jump) it had antafrease all over the engine and little Italian finger prints all over my chrome air cleaner. I cleaned it off the best I could at the time and then started to drive home. It kept stalling for the first few blocks. When I stopped at a stop sign the intial take off was like someone was behind the car trying to push me down the road. the lack power is from 0-30 mph. I thought it was because it was sitting for a while. Once I got on the autostrata, I opened it up to try to get the fluids pumping. She took that well.

I got her home and gave her soome TLC. Now she looks as good as when I dropped her off. I check the plugs and wires for any loose connections, cleaned the ari filter, and rechanged the battery. I can't figure out what would be causing the power problems. What dose the Olds family think?

 

I think there were lots of Italians taking joy-rides in an American muscle car and one of them overheated your engine. Do a thorough inspection of the cooling system, levels, hoses, etc. Also, check your points, rotor and distributor cap. If the engine overheated ans sprayed coolant all over the top of the engine you could have some corrosion there.

 

I think you are right! I forgot to say the gasket from the neck that sends the fluids from the radiator to the engine was in pieces on the mani. I looked closely and the gasket was replaced. I checked the radiator and it was full of water. Not antifreeze. That is what was in it before I dropped it off. I tried to prevent one of them driving it around by just dropping in unannounced. Operation drop in was a flop. I did a spot check on the plugs to see if they took my plugs and swapped then out for some old ones. Where would I look for corrosion? Thanks Oldsguy

 

Well I hope they put the thermostat in the right way with the pointy side up!
I am sure they have not worked on old American iron too often...

You should also check the vacuum hoses to make sure none were removed, broke, or reinstalled incorrectly. Any unused vacuum port on the intake manifold should be capped. A vacuum leak would cause a low-end lack of power and stalling. If run long enough in warm weather with a big enough leak could cause overheating as well...

 

Oh, and speaking of corrosion, if the radiator is full of water, it should be drained completely and refilled with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water. If regualr tap water is left in there, your radiator will corrode quickly and the block will rust inside.

 

Thank you for the help. I took the car to the hobby shop on base to do an oil change and check the points and timing. The distributor had some corrosion so I replaced the cap and rotor. We used a timing light to check the timing and it was way off. The timing is at 0. The mechanic was telling me that I need some other tool shaped like a fork to hold the shaft so we can rotate the distributor to correct the timing issue. So I started on my way home, right before I was about to leave the base the car started to putt putt and then stalled. I tried to start it a few time and finally got it to start for about 3.5 seconds. I got enough speed to coast into the parking lot, but not before I made it into a parking spot. So I had to push it the rest of the way. Yes and a few Navy guys drove by and looked but didn't stop to help. Go Navy! So now she is parked on base and not starting. I am at a loss because the power is back, timing is off, my wife is all up in my a$$ (she told me not to drive it anymore) and now this. Any clue to what this might be?

 

That tool is a distributor wrench and actually you don't HAVE to have it. A nice open end or closed end socket would work. It just loosens the hold-down clamp on the distributor so you can set your timing. You really need to get that set, zero is too retarded. Set your point gap first, then adjust the timing with the vacuum advance plugged with idle speed at about 750 rpm in park, then check your dwell (dynamic measurement of the point gap) and reset it if needed. Finally double check your timing and idle speed. Also, you might double check your plug wire placement to make sure you don't have two swapped by mistake. Those Italians may have just tried to "fine tune" your car the only way they know how which may have been the "Italian way" whatever that would be. Besides, they were upholsterers right?
Sorry the squids didn't help you out. I would have chewed them out if I was with you, I retired as a Chief in 1995.

 

Like Oldsguy said, set your point gap, timing, dwell, and idle speed. Then hook up a vacuum gauge to manifold vacuum and set your idle mixture screws for maximum vacuum. After you do this set your idle speed again and you should be good to go.

 

Yikes!! I think someone would have to restrain me from killing them if they did that to my car. That's a great way to crack your block!

 

Thanks again, I will make the changes this weekend with an AAR on completion (after action report) for the non military folks. Yeah chief, I was a little upset that my "shipmates" left me hanging like that. Congrats on making it to retirement. I am an OS2 (Operations Specialist) again for then non military folks and plan to retire after my next tour with no pay and Tricare. It's time for me to tap out. My wife (she is a LT) can hold the free medical while I get a DoD job.

 

9/16" 12 point box, or open end.


Dwell before timing. No exceptions.

Norm

 

She is back up and running. Changed the distributor cap and rotor but to corrosion. Checked the points and adjusted the timing. The timing is now set at 8, it wouldn't turn anymore .So that concludes the AAR for loss of power. That was for you Oldsguy (Chief)

 

Glad to hear the good news, sometimes it doesn't take much to get a problem solved.