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Well, didn't do any introductions at all, just started off with a question regarding engine swaps, so now that i have the ball rolling I thought I'd go out and just let on what I'm doing.
So here's how it started, I bought a 95 Grand Prix back in '06. It had 150k on it and ran awesome. Now, I know when something says "as is", you should expect something wrong... if I knew then what I know now, I would have skipped the car. Not that it's a bad car, mind you, but the previous owners had about as much mechanical sense as a sack of potatoes.
The first problem I had was my engine light would come on from time to time. I found it to be the EGR and shopped around, finding it would cost me $400 to replace it. This is one of those things that not everyone knows about, but I decided to take it apart and see if I could do anything with it. I knew nothing of EGR's until I researched it after getting this car. I spent a half an hour cleaning it with my Dremel and saved myself $400.
Then, I decided to work on the "tune-up" portion of it. Yeah... it still had the original factory plugs in it. Some people might say it's hard to tell, but Delco plugs don't have the standard (AC) icon, they're all AC-Delco or just Delco now. One plug was gapped so wide that it slipped past .100 on my gapper.
The fuel filter? Took me two hours to remove because it was so rusted on... thank God for PB Blaster!
Later I replaced the water pump after it started to leak. So naturally I had to put new fluid in it. After refilling the system, the car ran 20 degrees cooler.
So, here comes the summer of last year. I took my girlfreind to Six Flags. About a half hour away from where we had to be, I heard a ticking, thinking I was low on oil (I did have a leak, but checked it before I left), I stopped and got oil, but it was deeper than a lifter tick and the oil was topped off.
After stressing all day in the park, it was time to limp home and hopefully get close enough without any problems. I live (literally) in the middle of Michigan, btw. We made it exactly 117 miles (never reset the odom) before the knock got so bad that I didn't want to drive it anymore. We ended up at a huge 24hour truck stop. The name of the small town escapes me, but it was at the bottom of Lake Michigan and they had three car dealerships and a semi repair... that was it.
The engine itself, even now when started, sounds fine... besides the erratic knocking. I say that because when you give it gas, it knocks louder, but when you let off the gas, it goes away.
I wouldn't really call it a lemon, since most of what was wrong was routine maintenance anyway... just never been done... and I would have spent the same time and money had the parts been replaced before.
So now is the time for my engine swap. I'm narrowing down my choices and will have a final purchase by tomorrow (monday) and should have a running car within a few days.
It isn't a total loss either, the amount of parts I can strip off the old engine will be very handy, pretty much anything besides the block since I don't really know what's wrong with it.
So, that's what I'm doing here... and I'm Joe, btw
So here's how it started, I bought a 95 Grand Prix back in '06. It had 150k on it and ran awesome. Now, I know when something says "as is", you should expect something wrong... if I knew then what I know now, I would have skipped the car. Not that it's a bad car, mind you, but the previous owners had about as much mechanical sense as a sack of potatoes.
The first problem I had was my engine light would come on from time to time. I found it to be the EGR and shopped around, finding it would cost me $400 to replace it. This is one of those things that not everyone knows about, but I decided to take it apart and see if I could do anything with it. I knew nothing of EGR's until I researched it after getting this car. I spent a half an hour cleaning it with my Dremel and saved myself $400.
Then, I decided to work on the "tune-up" portion of it. Yeah... it still had the original factory plugs in it. Some people might say it's hard to tell, but Delco plugs don't have the standard (AC) icon, they're all AC-Delco or just Delco now. One plug was gapped so wide that it slipped past .100 on my gapper.
The fuel filter? Took me two hours to remove because it was so rusted on... thank God for PB Blaster!
Later I replaced the water pump after it started to leak. So naturally I had to put new fluid in it. After refilling the system, the car ran 20 degrees cooler.
So, here comes the summer of last year. I took my girlfreind to Six Flags. About a half hour away from where we had to be, I heard a ticking, thinking I was low on oil (I did have a leak, but checked it before I left), I stopped and got oil, but it was deeper than a lifter tick and the oil was topped off.
After stressing all day in the park, it was time to limp home and hopefully get close enough without any problems. I live (literally) in the middle of Michigan, btw. We made it exactly 117 miles (never reset the odom) before the knock got so bad that I didn't want to drive it anymore. We ended up at a huge 24hour truck stop. The name of the small town escapes me, but it was at the bottom of Lake Michigan and they had three car dealerships and a semi repair... that was it.
The engine itself, even now when started, sounds fine... besides the erratic knocking. I say that because when you give it gas, it knocks louder, but when you let off the gas, it goes away.
I wouldn't really call it a lemon, since most of what was wrong was routine maintenance anyway... just never been done... and I would have spent the same time and money had the parts been replaced before.
So now is the time for my engine swap. I'm narrowing down my choices and will have a final purchase by tomorrow (monday) and should have a running car within a few days.
It isn't a total loss either, the amount of parts I can strip off the old engine will be very handy, pretty much anything besides the block since I don't really know what's wrong with it.
So, that's what I'm doing here... and I'm Joe, btw
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