Was Fine before I fixed it.

[Wolfeyes88]

The vic was in the driveway all week, I was patching up all the coolant leaks(which I managed to get done.)

I had to pull the intake plenum to get to a few spots, NBD I did it before when I replaced the valvecover gaskets. While it was off I replaced the PCV and grommet. I put everything back together, fired her up, and now she sounds like utter crap, and she's burning oil.

The idle is real rough( I can hear each cylinder firing) and she shakes quite a bit, there's a crapload of light blue-grey smoke comming out the tail. When I give it gas the shake stops, but she still sounds bad and smokes like tommy chong.

My theory is that while the plenum was off something got into the intake made it's way into the chamber and when I fired it up whatever it was scratched the cylinder wall. Due to this I'm losing compression in that cylinder and it's just screwing everything up.

Any thoughts?

[SLIM]

quit fixing your shit..... ur better off that way!

[1987cp]

Well, that's probably not that unreasonable a hypothesis. Have you done a compression check? If there's one cylinder that's way low, that would seem to point to some sort of isolated damage like that.

[Wolfeyes88]

Hey, it beats paying $75 an hour to get it fixed. Thats the cheapest place within about 40 miles. That and a couple places wont touch the cooling system no matter how many times I tell them I only run water. "There could still be antifreeze in the system!"

There are no old fashion grease monkies around here any more. It's all over trained and over certified yuppie pricks, who shudder at the thought of actually having to get DIRTY, and wont do anything unless the computer says so.

True story. An older woman was driving her husbands stock restored 69 camaro and it blew a radiator hose, nothing else. She took it to the shop next door to where I was working at the time and asked them if they could put a new hose on. I was there BSing with the ONLY person there who knew anything about older cars. He gave the job to some young, snobby little just-graduated trouser stain. This "Technician" actually spent TWO HOURS looking for the OBD port! And all this time the woman was telling him it just needed a radiator hose! The punk kept insitsting that he's a "Highly trained automotive technician" and that if the hose broke it's and indication of a larger problem that could demanded a complete diagnostic. While this is true(why is it running hot enough to blow the hose?), all she wanted to do was get a new hose put on so she could get home so her husband could take a look at it. The older guy finally steped in took care of her problem and as an apology, didn't charge her. Sadly that guy died about three months ago.

/rant

Anywho. I've gotten some advice that it might be a combination of several vaccum leaks causing this, and that one way to check is to get a can of starter fluid and spray the engine bay, if the idle goes up, it's a leak. Good idea, or horribly bad idea?

EDIT: I would do a compression test if we had our tester. It's on loan to my brother-in-law. He's good about returning stuff, just not returning it quickly.

[Archangel]

yep, carb cleaner spray is a good way of checking for vacuum leaks, that's how I found the leaky lower intake gaskets in my friend's 95 GTP - normally you can't even see where they go, but air always finds its way in and so will carb cleaner.

[1987cp]

Can't you also use a spray bottle of water? Pretty sure the idle'll go down if you find a leak that way, and you don't have to put a solvent all over everything.

[gabegt90]

yeah I was gonna say some vaccum lines

[gadget73]

oh god, water only? no no no, need antifreeze even if you live where it don't freeze. its a rust inhibitor and water pump lubricant. It also has boil over protection. Flush the cooling system, put at least a gallon of coolant in there, and the rest water if you want, but never run pure water.


make sure you didn't break any vacuum lines while you had the upper manifold off. major vacuum leak will make it run like ass, especially if its the MAP line that came undone.

[Wolfeyes88]

Now that I have all the leaks fixed, I will be flushing the system and adding antifreeze. I just didn't like the idea of dripping that stuff every where I go. Plus, before this past week I would have to replace something on the coolant system at least once a week, so it didn't make sense to keep dumping in something that's gonna leak out in less than a day, and probably end up killing somones dog, or worse.

This car is a trip. This morning I started her up to move it back to where I usually park and the smoke is gone, the idle is even and it dosn't sound like it's gonna stall any minute. It still shakes a bit though, but not all that bad.

[1987cp]

Seems like Prestone actually makes a cooling system conditioner that's not antifreeze, but provides lubrication and anti-corrosion properties. Can't remember for the life of me what the stuff's called, though.

[00600]

Seems like Prestone actually makes a cooling system conditioner that's not antifreeze, but provides lubrication and anti-corrosion properties. Can't remember for the life of me what the stuff's called, though.

Water Wetter works wonderfully.

Hey Wolf, where in FL are you?

[Wolfeyes88]

I'm in Weeki Wachee.

I'll look into the Winter Wetter(sounds like somone with a seasoanl bed wetting problem to me, but WTH)

Now I've got new problems. Idle is smooth, no more smoke, but from time to time she shudders real bad under throttle. Almost like the rear breaks are locking and unlocking really quickly. That and I have almost no low end, but that could be due to the fact that the bolts fell out of the flange on the drivers side exhaust, where the cat connects to the rest of the system.

I'm thinking of saving up to get a Ural, then just turning the box into a project car.

[1987cp]

Ural, as in the Russian motorcycle manufacturer?

[Wolfeyes88]

Aye, thats the one. Met a guy in NY what had one. Tough little red bastards they are. Easy to work on, cheap(compared to a harley), and lets face it, the Gear-Up model comes with a frikken machine gun mount! Who could pass that up?

[00600]

I'm in Weeki Wachee.

I'll look into the Winter Wetter(sounds like somone with a seasoanl bed wetting problem to me, but WTH)

Now I've got new problems. Idle is smooth, no more smoke, but from time to time she shudders real bad under throttle. Almost like the rear breaks are locking and unlocking really quickly. That and I have almost no low end, but that could be due to the fact that the bolts fell out of the flange on the drivers side exhaust, where the cat connects to the rest of the system.

I'm thinking of saving up to get a Ural, then just turning the box into a project car.

Ft Lauderdale here. Though I make it up to Brooksville twice a year for the Hernando Sportsman's club Class 3 shoots.

I was considering moving up to Gainesville this winter, but I just received a job offer last week that I can't turn down.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_84682_-1

Just add 1 botle for every 2-3 gallons of water, and it will keep down the galvanic corrosion and keep your waterpump seals soft.