THREAD UPDATED WITH NEW QUESTIONS - PLEASE READ BELOW
So I bought a 98 grand prix gt two weeks ago. The car had a rod knock when I bought it, so I purchased a junkyard engine with a 6 month warranty with 150k miles. Supposedly the engine was a "#1 Runner". Well, I finished up the engine swap last night, added fluids, and let it idle in the garage. There was some lifter noise, which I suspect is from sitting for however long it was at the junkyard.
The initial issue is fixed (HUD speedo problems, oil pressure light), but I don't feel that making a new thread is necessary, so I'm going to edit this thread instead. The oil pressure light and HUD issues turned out to be two ground wires which weren't connected, I hooked them up and that problem is solved. Funny how a bad (or missing) ground can wreak all sorts of havoc on an electrical system, isn't it? Lol.
After driving the car today, I came across a few other issues which I feel need to be addressed -
First and most important, the car smokes. At idle, it puts a bit of smoke out the tailpipe - unsure if it's coolant or oil, but I'm leaning towards oil by the smell (although these engines are notorious for leaking coolant via the LIM, and the gasket may be the original one - I will be replacing that in a few weeks, but that may be a cause for smoke)
Secondly, the lights flicker a bit when idling - FIXED - poor ground connection between alternator and engine block. Cleaned the housing and the mounting bolt, cleaned ground strap to engine/bellhousing, problem solved. .
Thirdly, the oil pressure light goes on at idle when warm, but disappears under any sort of throttle, even going from 700rpm to 1000 rpm. I'm not too concerned about this, but I may address it down the road. Will be replacing the sensor later this week.
Fourth, the low oil level light comes on pretty much every other ignition cycle. I believe it's a faulty sensor, since there is definitely oil in the pan.
And fifth, my headlights are MESSED UP. - FIXED, turned out to be corroded connectors for the HID high beams, and incorrect bulbs (h7 halogens instead of h3 halogens, didn't fit the socket properly so the projector lens would not focus the light on the road.
UPDATE 4/1/2014 11:18PM CDT
Two of the five issues are now fixed, the most important one to me which still needs an answer is that the car smokes at idle. I now have 30 miles on the engine, about 20 city driving and 10 on the highway, plus about 45 minutes of idling. I would think any residual oil in the intake should have burned off by now, so I'm not sure what would cause the smoking - valve seals perhaps? The engine has a 6 month warranty on it, and I purchased it a week ago, so I think I'll just check the oil on occasion and maybe switch to a heavier (10-40?) grade oil - anyone have opinions on Lucas Oil Stabilizer? I may use that with my oil changes.
As far as the oil pressure light coming on at idle, is this something I should be concerned with? In reality, the light does more flickering than staying on solid, so I think it may just be a faulty switch. Perhaps I'll replace that when I do the oil level sensor, but I'm on an extremely tight budget for a few weeks so it'll probably have to wait.
