2.8L exhaust leak, causing sluggish accleration?

[pocket-rocket]

A spark.

Pull each plug wire (one by one so you don't mix them up) and put a spark plug in it and stick it on something metal on the engine and have someone crank the engine. Watch for a spark to jump the gap on the spark plug. If you see one, unplug the plug, put the wire back on it's spark plug, unplug the next one, plug the spare plug in it and repeat. Also look to see if your spark plug wires are crossfiring/leaking. Pop the hood when it is dark outside (the darker the better) and run the engine and look for sparks jumping out of the wires. If you see any, that wire is bad and needs to be replaced.

[2.8 Grand Prix]

What do I need to look for when checking for spark?

[robertisaar]

depends on what is making it miss: in the end it all somes down to three things:

Air/Fuel
Spark
Compression

lack one of those three things is causing a miss.

compression and spark are VERY easy to test for. if you can't find a low cylinder using a compression guage, thats probably not your problem. then move to spark, see if there is a cylinder not firing due to various reasons. if you can't find that, then its time to ohm the injectors and see if they're out of spec.

if those steps can't find a dead cylinder, nothing short of tearing it apart will.

[2.8 Grand Prix]

Actually, the previous owner told me where the leaks are. Someone attempted to cover up the holes with putty. I just need to cut out the bad part and put in a new pipe. The check engine light is already on, so I might as well cut out the cat too.

As for the "missing" cylinder, does anyone have any ideas on how to repair it with only a little money? I only had $150 to spend on a new engine, so if this repair could be done for $150 or less that would be great! Thanks in advance.

[robertisaar]

from the way it sounds, your exhaust "leak" may be exhaust attempting to bypass a clogged cat.

i know about the hood release issue... grab a good set of needlenose pliers, wedge yourself under the front bumper, look for the cable that releases the latch and be prepared to pull yourself off of the ground attempting to put enough weight on it to get it to pop...

after going through that, i made a "loop" out of about a foot and a half of solid core 10 guage wire and a wiring connector that you twist on both ends of the wire. held up for over a year and probably a good 200 hood pops since then.

[2.8 Grand Prix]

I will if I can get it started again!

First I need to get the hood open (hood release cable broke).
Next, I will probably need to spray starter fluid into the intake.
Then, I will need to repair the exhaust leak, because it has the acceleration of an 80 year old lady with a walker. LOL.

That would be cool to have an original engine that lasted 250k.

[pocket-rocket]

I say drive it for 908 more miles so you have bragging rights that the original engine lasted 250k miles

[robertisaar]

Yah, I just hope I can get a new engine soon!

BTW: I did that paintjob myself.

DAMN: 908 miles short of 250K...

[2.8 Grand Prix]

Yah, I just hope I can get a new engine soon!

BTW: I did that paintjob myself.

[robertisaar]

how convenient...

BTW: my wife's GP has the same color combo.

[2.8 Grand Prix]

Well, it does idle around that. The previous owner told me that was because it was running on 5 cylinders. Maybe it is because the IAC is bad. I don't know. It doesn't die when I put it in gear, but then again it didn't start at all yesterday.

I think this engine has just given all it can give. It can't give any more, so it died.

[pocket-rocket]

If it can maintain an idle without (almost) dying when you put it in gear, yet not idle at 2k rpms out of gear, then your IAC is good.

[2.8 Grand Prix]

Ok, thanks! I hope the IAC on the current (almost junk) motor is good.

[robertisaar]

if you only want to swap to a LH0 (for whatever reason), you could just pull the IAC valve off of your current motor. they should be the same.

[pocket-rocket]

Do the 3100. 3x00 > 3.1 Besides, face reality, the 3x00 has half the miles of the 3.1.