Hi, New to this forum, I am looking at a pretty nice 91 t/a with the l98? it is a 350, it is missing really bad, the guy thinks it is a stuck valve, Not sure it definately runs rough, it has a BBK throttle body, It doesnt sound like it is a spark plug or wire, I guess I am just wondering what possibilities there is as to why it's missing, I want to buy this car but not sure if its worth it. It definately makes some noise like the valve is stuck and it's kinda backfiring through the intake I think. If this makes sense to anyone let me know if you have any suggestions and if it would be worth it to buy it, it has nice wheels and the body is in pretty good shape, it's missing the wing and has a new trans. Thanks

 

Valves don't "stick". No such thing. There's springs on them that put several hundred pounds of force on them, trying to close them.

If it's not the ignition system or a fuel injector, it's a valve train failure of some sort (broken push rod, wasted rocker, pulled out pull-out stud, broken valve spring, burned valve, rolled cam lobe, etc.); or a blown head gasket.

Sounds like typical used-car-seller monkey spank.

Rule #1 of buying a used car: NEVER believe a SINGLE WORD out of the mouth of a used car salesman, if you can't VERIFY it by some other means.

Don't fall for the lie. The seller hopes that you'll think that you can just pour some magical compound in th eoil and un"stick" the valve, and that you'll think it's not a serious hit to the value of the car, and that you'll pay full value for the car (which it isn't worth in its current state). Bull droppings.

You can expose the lie easily enough: just tell him you'll pay his asking price IF AND ONLY IF he fixes the miss. He'll come across with "it'll only cost $50" or whatever. You just tell him OK, put your money where your mouth is, and fix it, and I'll believe it. That's the last you'll hear of that BS.

The repair is the same, regardless of the cause: remove heads, replace broken parts, re-install heads. If you buy the car, then WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT turn your old heads in as cores, and accept what the parts store has in stock, unless THE CASTING NUMBERS MATCH!!!! You will be getting boned, by trading your good 083 casting heads in for 70s smoggers or TBI swirlies or something.

 

^^^^^^^^ well I can get the car pretty cheap 1500 think it is worth it? Other than the engine it is pretty nice, exterior almost perfect, interior needs some work. Nice wheels and tires. I want the car, but not sure how much work it will be to fix. Or how much it will cost.

 

Another question, I checked the vin decoder and figured out which digit should be the l98 350, But is there any way you can tell by looking at the engine to make sure it is a 350?

 

There are some casting numbers in the very back of the engine on the drivers side. Pretty much between the wiper deal and the distributor. 5.7L or 5.0L should be stamped there. Difficult to see though with the engine installed.

 

Well, I bought the car, it idles but really rough, and can tell it's missing on atleast 2 cylinders, and smells of bad gas, and is pinging really bad. I think they might have trashed the injectors 'cause there were 3 bottles of octane boost in the back seat and like I said the gas stinks BAD. Is there a good upgrade for Fuel Injectors? I think I am just going to start with a good tune up and go from there.

I cant wait til she runs good enuff to do this >>>>>

 

Well, it is freaking cold here, so I only got to play with the car for like 5 mins, it starts easily, and idles, it sounds like its only missing on one cylinder I guess, (I said maybe 2 wires mixed in other post) but ya just one cylinder completely mysfiring and when you stab the gas (in neutral) it makes like a slight knocking sound, but if you rev it slowly it doesnt do it, Could the valves be to tight? bad piston? or maybe just a bad injector, I need to get it in my garage and tear it down, but just havnt had time to clean out the garage, I am trying to tinker with it after work, but it is 20 degrees out right now. And the check engine light comes on when you turn the key on, but it goes out after a couple seconds. it's a 91 T/A with the L98, it's got a BBK throttle body, and a K&N intake not sure if that makes a difference.

 

Well, I tried checking for codes last night, and nothing it just does the code 12 and nothing else, if it was a fuel injector wouldnt it set off a trouble code? even if it was a spark plug it should set off a code wouldnt it? My truck set off a code when it had a bad spark plug. Plus like I said i only have a couple minutes to play with it when I get off work, until I clean my garage out this weekend