Doom Sayer

I already know the motor is bad, but I feel that the problem I'm having has nothing to do with it running on 5 cylinders and having burnt valves and rings, at least I don't think it does.

Whenever I try to accelerate fast but not having it floored some times the car wants to bog down, and by that I mean it doesn't want to go but at the same time it acts like it does, so it ends up being kinda jumpy and during all of this I hear this popping/clunking noise that I believe is coming from the exhaust, but it's not loud like a back fire would sound. I hear it coming from the rear of the car so I'm thinking whatever the sound is coming from is traveling through the exhaust and when it comes out the rear it makes it sound like the problem is from the rear...... Yesterday I took someone with me to see if they would have an idea of what it was. They told me that they could feel something hitting the passenger floor board during the bogging down and popping noise I hear, so that made me think it was the catalytic converter or the exhaust being loose, but I went and shook it and nothing moved or felt loose. I shook the whole exhaust from front to back and nothing felt loose either. But I did notice on the back where the muffler is. You know if you stick your finger inside your exhaust you get that black crap on your finger? Well right where the muffler goes into the pipe that leads to the rear bumper there was that same black crap outside of the muffler on the pipe... Wouldn't that mean there would be a hole in the muffler causing it to come out? If you can't picutre what I'm talking about I will try to get a picture tomorrow..... And like I said, this only happens some times. Other times I can floor it from a stop or floor it while crusing and it doesn't do anything... Well besides smoke but that is from the burnt valves and rings... when I took someone with me I made the car bog down a few times but not once did it smoke. And there's the smell of gas, so is this a fuel problem? Running too rich or what?

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

i havent been on too much lately since i started a second job, but are you sure its burnt valves and rings and all that? have you done a compression test to be sure the engine is bad? as far as bogging, id say its worn out components; ignition components, exhaust components, severe carbon build up in the intake system, it could be a lot. are there any codes or MIL?

Doom Sayer

I do know that the catback exhaust is less than a year old. Far as the ignition goes I have no idea, I don't even know how to check. Thing is I don't have the knowledge to just tear apart my motor and even if I did manage to do it I still wouldn't know what to look for, so I get a mechanic to look at my car and that cost money, money I really don't have. This isn't some local shop down the street. This guy knows his stuff. We've known him for years. If he was good enough to work on Jeff Burton's race car then he's good enough to work on my POS lol, so when he looked at my car and told me that there was a problem with my number 3 cylinder head(or whatever it was I can't remember) and that the valves and rings were burnt I believed him... But I do want to get a second opinion from someone else... Basically I don't want to spend a lot of money to fix it. I already have some money saved up for a swap, but if I could get it running better until then and not spend a lot of money I'd do it. It might be something cheap like a gas filter or something.

If it's severe carbon build up in the intake system, how do I get rid of it?

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

get a fuel induction system cleaner. some places charge close to $130, but even at that its worth it. ive seen sticky throttles come loose, misfires go away, mileage climb, etc. its a great thing if the right products are used. BG or Valvoline are the ones i know and trust.

Doom Sayer

I was searching on here about carbon build on and someone said they're gas pedal gets stuck sometimes, and then you just said something about it too. My gas pedal does get stuck after I come to a complete stop so I have to push on it hard to get it to move. It's weird though if I'm driving and just let off completely and put my foot back on it it's fine, but when I have to come to a stop that's when it gets stuck.

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

i put money on it that if you pull off the intake to see in the throttle body and open up the throttle plate, youll see a lot of black nasty build up. first off, get a throttle body gasket and take off the IAC. get some throttle body or brake cleaner and clean it all out of there w/ a hard bristle brush. the put it back on w/ a new gasket. then try a fuel induction cleaner.

Doom Sayer

I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Earlier you mentioned if there were any codes, how exactly would they show up, wouldn't the SES light have to be on? And where the hell is the 12 pin DLC connector located? Until a couple of days ago I've never heard of such a thing.

Would the carbon build up also be the reason my car idles so rough? Putting it in park or neutral does quiets it down a little. Could carbon be in my IAC?

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

if the check engine light was on at any time, there will be a code stored in the computer. the connector is under the steering column on the drivers side, on the right side of the column next to the center console.

yes carbon build up will cause rough idle and all that.

TurboGM1

Doom Sayer, I know you don't want to deal with all the little stuff from what I told you before but your problems sound a lot like the ones I had with my 89 2.8 Camaro RS, other than that mine only smokes now for a second or two after starting. (Mine never smoked that much, but had a bad catalytic convertor as well). Mines all done other than still needing a MAF and a radiator now as it's clogged with crap that's now baked in from it getting hot and from running so badly for a while. If you got your computer hook up use it. Mine dosen't work (that's another story just like the radiator) so I went through one by one using what I know about cars and working on them and from the advice here. Once my new MAF is on, I'm just checking the timing and maintaining it. As it went from bogging down and dieseling and getting hot, and an irratic idle to light the tires, runs smoother and harder, goes faster, chirps into 2nd, no smoke other than from the tires, better gas mileage, and a much better idle that still jumps a little (probably because of the bad MAF) For what I did, check your earlier threads about the problems you faced on this car or my thread 2.8 Driving me nuts!

Doom Sayer

The light has never came on. I the light works because it comes on when I start the car up.

Toehead

The intake manifold is very easy to get off. I had never taken one of theses engines apart, so I had no idea what to expect, and I got mine off and cleaned withing the hour. Don't be afraid to tackle the problem.... Also, i'd find a friend with a compression gauge and steal it for a bit. The proper way to check the compression is with the engine warm, at WOT. I would imagine you'd want to disconnect the coil so you wouldnt have a screaming, half running engine on your hands