Going to the shop

[jlprigmore]

Finally home! Took her out all day yesterday to test drive all the new parts. Seems to be doing very well ,idle's just a tad rough and the new brakes shimmy just a little bit getting off of the interstate but new air struts made a huge difference and got quite a bit of get up and go again and it looks like my mileage did improve looks like I'll be pushin the 24mpg I was hoping for.

[Morella]

Beware that a large transmission cooler in front of your condensor cuts down on your air conditioner's ability to cool. Definitely use dual full-coverage slim fans.

-denise

[jlprigmore]

Well I'm in new jersey now with the hearse. This maiden voyage did really well until I lost some stupid little valve that runs between the motor and the catalytic converter. Due to the fact that I was on a very very tight schedule to try and get here I made the very very stupid mistake to leave it and try and get to jersey with intentions of fixing it once i got here. BAD IDEA!!! After another 200 miles or so the car started running really bad. Had to end up stopping at a podunk town auto parts store and fixing it anyways. End result is it still runs bad but other than that it did pretty good on this maiden voyage after all the repairs. I'm thinking (hoping) that I just fouled out the plugs due to the way it was running without the valve thingymajig. I will know for sure the extent of my stupidity here in another week when I can get it into a shop and get it looked at.

[Morella]

Is this valve on the transmission? If it's leaking vacuum, your car will run crappier as it slows down. It may be leaking xmsn fluid fluid too, which is really bad news,

[jlprigmore]

no its some type of pressure valve that hooks from the catalytic converter to the smog pump it looks like anyways, it did cause a vacuum leak which is why I'm thinkin I fowled a plug out, I'm thinkin before i send it to the shop I might just also replace the o2 sensor just to see if that just might be whats fowled out instead, and if its not no big loss I'm sure its time to be replaced anyways.

[BIGEVIL]

I think you are describing a 1-way valve that allows air to go in to the cat to help burn any unburned fuel. If that valve fails hot exhaust will be forced back in to the engine. O2 should be fine. Check plugs.

[jlprigmore]

Thanks, you reaffirmed what i was thinking was wrong. I may try again to get to the plugs myself. Its hard to get myself to dish out 100 bucks just to have someone change out my plugs.

[BIGEVIL]

Its hard to get myself to dish out 100 bucks just to have someone change out my plugs.

If you do, I will punch a hole in your MAN-CARD!

[jlprigmore]

Well its front wheel drive and I'm in a hotel so its kinda hard to have the patience to dig through all that crap to get to them but just for you big evil I'll try this weekend to change them out myself.

[jlprigmore]

Ok just finished taking the plugs out and cleaning them. Found one that was really bad. Cleaned them all up put them back in ran absolutely perfect for a whole whopping 5 minutes and went right back to the way it was. So needless to say after the 3 hours it took to get the plugs in and out I'm tired and pissed and its still going to the shop to figure out whats wrong with it

[BIGEVIL]

Damn bro sorry to hear.
Did you replace the that check valve 1st before doing the plugs?
It is possible sometimes to clamp or plug the line from the smog pump to the converter. You could then take off the smog pump belt. That would get you by for a while.
Let me know if I can help.

[jlprigmore]

Yeah I replaced that valve thingy shortly after hitting indianapolis, drove it jersey for the week i worked there and than to here in malvern,pa. Called a caddy dealership down the road and gonna try and take it up there tuesday. Said it was gonna run 100 bucks just to take a look at it, oh well I've got to get this thing running right before my trip home. Especially since I have to run premium and up here its 4.12 a gallon and I've dropped 4 miles per gallon since all this started.

[jlprigmore]

Well she's back in the shop. Once again a bunch of strangers are fondling her. Quite frustrating but hopefully they'll have some good news for me in a couple of hours.

[jlprigmore]

Got an update on the car a few minutes ago and not only is it not fixed yet, but the dealership was so nice to inform me that my car is also headed to their body shop after a customer backed into it and took out the exact same taillight that the old man did last fall in his fifth wheel. Kind of wondering if this isn't an omen.

[BIGEVIL]

What ended up being wrong/broken?