I'm a college student and I have a 1986 IROC-Z

The car is great. I love it to no end, but being that is coming up to it's 18th birthday and all, and like all cars, it's not performing like it did when it rolled off the factory floor.

In a nutshell, it's great for 30 mile radius from where I live, but I just don't know if I can trust it, say if I go on a road trip. I'm not willing to take the chance.

Anyway, my car's main problem is that it eats Alternators. I've replaced about 8 of them in the past 2 years. 6 of them are from NAPA and 2 are from O'Reilly. They ARE reconditioned... but I'm a college student Is there anything I can do?

As for other problems: My car is power everything, but seats and side mirrors. I put down both windows... one stops; easy fix - DO ONE AT A TIME! But They both are *really* slow going down. I can't emphasize their snail speed with comparances to my girlfriend's 626 window motors. Then my hatch motor is crap... I've tried to rebuild one with my dad out of 3 of them and they're just worthless. My gauge lights aren't the brightest... and do those eBay neon/new gauge kits work? How do I get more electrical power to everything? Mechanically, it's sound, but my dad says it couldn't hurt to get new wiring done. My A/C is very **** with the power of air that shoots out... MAX A/c for my car would be medium regular A/C level for another car... and it fluctuates the temperature of the A/C when I drive... which sucks when I'm driving in the HOT summers of Houston, Texas. Then my Tach reads that it idles at 1500 rpm... (the previous owner took out the original rear end and replaced it with a lower rear end from a 1988 IROC-Z... mine had a 3:23... I don't know what I got... ... The brakes make this loud crunching sound when I stop from coasting 10-20 mph.... and how do you fix the cruise control?

If it were your car and 18 years old, what would you check to make sure it's reliable... like a certain checklist of items to make sure that it could go for a 500 mile round trip and not just... die?

I can definetly see a bunch of replies for "Buy a new car!" -- but my only options for the same car would be a Moostang or something import-ish that are in my price range. So if anyone can help me, i'd really appreciate it!

 

i dont think posting this in every damn section will help any!

 

only two sections that have to do with my problems, but whatever


:yourock:

 

as for reliability, knowing your car in and out, owning a few tools and a digital multimeter can go a long way!

You should check your battery, it may be putting too much load on your alternator. you should invest in a can of 'de-oxit' or electrician's contact cleaner from home depot or someplace.

it sounds to me like your car has lot's of bad connections or maybee just one at a main distribution point. bad grounding of anything is most often overlooked by novice people. both sides of the circuit must be present, ground is actually where the current comes from. you may not need to replace every wire in your car, maybee just check some connections, clean with a small nail file or emery cloth and use some of that contact cleaner. I use some stuff called 'de-oxit', it's a $12 can that works wonders on corroded and dirty contacts. Use non-corrosive connector grease to seal out air and moisture.

You can replace every light bulb in your dash with brighter bulbs, dont touch them with your hands, use a clean cooton rag or gloves to handle them (extens life). the halogen headlamps are great too.

mechanically, you want to start with the big rocks and move on to the little rocks. Is your engine in decent shape? good compression,oil pressure, timing chain, valve lash adjusted? Coolant system good? your coolant should be fresh and clean 50/50 mixed. anything that can leave you broken down like the belts, fuel pump, ignition system...


you haven't mentioned the transmission, whether you have a stick or an auto. you should see to it that every cable, linkage etc. is adjusted properly and the fluids are changed.

If you have an auto, you should definitly get a trans cooler if it's not too much trouble. Even if you don't tow or drag race frequently, it will still lessent the chance of failure due to excess heat.

don't drive without an alignment, you miss out on maximum handling and you wear through tires quicker. don't overlook struts and springs or any other suspension part, these cars don't come with great struts or springs sometimes. if you don't need them, don't worry, if your car turns into a woble box and can't manuver,stop or even accelerate properly....then it's time to consider some suspension updates before you invest in other things.


check the oil all of the time, keep track of how much you are using. you may notice you use more on long trips going 80+ and racing other Z's.... taking care of the car and driving like a grandpa can go a long way, the savings in tickets can pay for the maintenance costs.

you can count the teeth in the rear end gears by removing the cover, you should change the heavywieght oil and use the correct GM additive anyways. counting the teeth on each gerar will give you your gear ratio.

these cars just don't have great AC, get your windows tinted maximum TX legal, I had a 5% tint on my rear hatch and 35% on th sides, it was nice. the HVAC controls are probably stuck or loose, these are vaccume controled and I don't know much about the system, it is a nightmare to get under the dash, but if you have 9/32" hex bit, some extensions and a cordless drill, it's not so bad. there may be a loose vaccum hose or a vent door which isn't closing all the way. The R-12 may be low, you should have it recovered (most palces do this for free, don't pay, don't pollute) you can use 134-a if your system is still working, it's better to flush the sytem to get all of the old oil out first if you can.

there is a haynes manual available for auto HVAC systems, you should most definitly invest in that or at least find one at the local library. The haynes manual for the car doesn't get into that stuff much.

the power window tracks can be re-greased and the connections re-checked....think of all of the connections in the circuit....this includes the swithes contacts. be sure the windows are adjusted too.

 

number one should be those brakes, if they are grinding you probably looking at getting new rotors as well as pads now, dont let this go on for ONE MORE DAY! fix it now. once the brakes are grinding like you say there is a lot of damage done there.

 

Thanks junkyard and 2.73

I have an Auto and I think my suspension is pretty decent and when I got new tires (Dunlop Sport A-2s)... that changed the entire drive perfectly... i hug the ground.

I have changed my A/C to 134a and my tint isn't exactly the darkest , but in another forum the guy said something about the foam foam at the duct joints being gone and I recall the A/C (after changing over to 134a) shooting out foam stuff

I do drive Gramps style around usually now because cops are EVERYWHERE where I live, so I'm not really driving too hard.

I read up on a LED gauge conversion and I'm thinking about that, but then again, it could be just a huge hassel to deal with... and as from what I've read so far... I have a lot of work

I'll post more if I can remember any more problems... :lala:

 

Let me say that Im no mechanic myself, however I do try to work on my own car to save money.

The thing that stands out to me is the brakes.

I always say, if i fix something wrong in the engine, i can coast to a stop or even worse have to push the car to the side of the road, however the brakes only fail when you absolutely need them.

If they are crunching that bad, sounds like you may need new rotors (or atleast need them turned) and pads.

 

brakes should definitly come first! use the carbon pads too..and new rotors.

 

what's the deal with the lala's? I can't even post a lala? I guess that's cool, since too many members abuse these boards with outrageous signatures and graphics...in every post....but i just wanted to add 1 lala to my post......oh well.

 

Simply put this ain't the car for you. TG's were never the best of cars from a reliability point of view. Thats why my daughter at school has my 99 Z24 cavalier, which at one point was my daily commute. Daughter 2 just picked up a 91 Lumina Z34, body is showroom but everything else was in need of work. You need to make a punchlist of everything that needs attention and go from there. If it runs moderately well then start with cooling system service. Reverse flush or chemically flush it, use a new sealing tablet or Bars leak and install new antifreeze. Fluids are the first thing to get changed. A lot of the things you complain about are simply a factor of age. Power window tracks are dry, relube them and the lock arms. The alt issue is crazy. The charging system needs to be checked. A lousy battery can fry alt after alt until it is replaced, or get an ACDelco reman alt. Chain store parts are terrible anymore. In my case we replaced the rad, water pump, brakes, serpentine belt, battery, rad cap, all coolant hoses, serviced the trans, new oil and filter and performed a general tune up. About a thousand bucks went in to the car(expected) with all OE parts. Then the small things such as pulling the door panels and lubricating everything. Thats pretty much what you need to do when dealing with an old car. How much work you can do yourself also makes a difference as to whether a different car is the way to go. Fluid changing can be messy, sometimes the proper tools cost money. A car gets to a certain point, then you need to invest money-sometimes a lot to get it back into shape. Over 75k miles or time which is also a major factor you get to a point where it's boneyard time or you fix it. I would have no problem driving my 89 IROC to California, but everything has been replaced. The decision really is yours, maybe just mothball it till you get out of school and get a cheap **** burner to get around. Economics 101, cost vs. benefit. LOL