Educate me, please!

[PrixT]

Ok, so it seems that I am pretty uneducated as far as my car goes. I can do simple maintenance on it, tune ups, belt replacements, oil changes and brakes.


Yet, there is so much I do not know.


My car is bone stock. What type of gas should I be running in it? Or, is this one of the questions that has 100 people answering them and 100 different replies? I have always ran 89.

How often does the O2 sensor need to be replaced?

What about the supercharger maintenance? Its having issues right now. For example, when I accelerate in D, it will not engage. It will just clunk quickly. I have to actually down shift, and even then, when I get it on it will do that in 3rd.

I never got an owners manual with this car, so I rely on asking questions. I wish I would have found this forum years ago...

Sorry in advance for my ignorant questions.

[dmoney01]

welcome to the forums, and all of your questions will soon be answered as well as any other question you might have. but i know that you are suppoused to run premium gas only i run speedway (92) or BP (93)

[PrixT]

Holy sheet, I have been running the low one for about 4 years now. My ex husband ran the premium.

No one told me otherwise...

[dmoney01]

ya lol if you open up the gas door it should have a little sticker on it that says premium unleaded only lol i did the same thing when i frist got mine so dont think your the only one that has done it lol

[PrixT]

Er, no, I never had that sticker on it.


I bought the car used.

[blowfishRus6]

my car runs alot better with premium. the supercharger does have oil that should get changed every 25k miles or so. your surging problem sounds like a trannie issuie. idk.

[Quicklynx]

Does it sound like there are rocks in your SC? If so your SC coupler could be worn. ZZP makes a green one that won't wear down, so they claim.

Odds are that the coupler needs to be changed anyways.

[Quicklynx]

YouTube - Replacing a worn out supercharger coupler on 3.8 GM engines

This could help, I reccomend using a syringe over the spray pump, but both work fine.

[PrixT]

I do know that my supercharger coupler is worn. It does sound like there are rocks. Also, when I stand on it and really try and get it to scoot, the boost will hardly engage anymore. I am trying not to sound like a dumb woman here, but, no matter how I look at it, I am right now. The supercharger makes thumping sounds, and I can feel the sounds as well. It wont hardly get out of it's own way.



Boy, do I feel dumb about changing the supercharger oil.



I am feeling REALLY dumb right now.

[DWosik13]

Boy, do I feel dumb about changing the supercharger oil.



I am feeling REALLY dumb right now.

why your doing the right thing by asking your not supposed to know everything right away if it makes you feel any better im having a shop work on my car replacing the whole engine and a mechanic called me and was like what kind of s/c oil do u want in it 5w-30? than i asked him if he had ever worked on a s/c and he said yea and im like well that is not something you should do go to the dealer and get the real stuff

[cojo]

if it makes you feel anybetter, I pretty sure you know more about cars than me

[PrixT]

YouTube - Replacing a worn out supercharger coupler on 3.8 GM engines

This could help, I reccomend using a syringe over the spray pump, but both work fine.

That was a great vid, thank you for posting that~

[98GTPCALGARY]

I do know that my supercharger coupler is worn. It does sound like there are rocks. Also, when I stand on it and really try and get it to scoot, the boost will hardly engage anymore. I am trying not to sound like a dumb woman here, but, no matter how I look at it, I am right now. The supercharger makes thumping sounds, and I can feel the sounds as well. It wont hardly get out of it's own way.



Boy, do I feel dumb about changing the supercharger oil.



I am feeling REALLY dumb right now.

Try Changing plugs and wires befor doing anything major... my car went great when I got it, if I had about 2 bars of boost... after that it was crap.... all it needed was plug wires and new plugs!

[PrixT]

I just did the plugs and wires. I know thats not the issue. The car runs smooth, and the gas mileage is right on target. It's just when I stand on the throttle to blow someone's doors away, my boost is practically non-existent. It will go up one bar, and then disengage quickly, thus making the rapid clunking/thumping surging feeling.


Edited to also add the fact that 6 months ago, I had full boost.

[98GTPCALGARY]

Oh, well that sux... Good luck!

[blowfishRus6]

i dont know if a coupler would pull boost. it might, im not sure. you might wanna check vacume lines around the supercharger tho. could be a reason for low boost.

[PrixT]

i dont know if a coupler would pull boost. it might, im not sure. you might wanna check vacume lines around the supercharger tho. could be a reason for low boost.

Vacuum lines! I will look into that, thank you!

[blowfishRus6]

one of mine was dryroted and not on very tight. it was slow to build boost and would barly touch full boost at redline. now that i fixed that it builds boost much better.

[Quicklynx]

can you run a scan? i havent had a problem with the coupler preventing boost, however I did have surging problems. when i unhooked the mass air flow sensor the problems went away, so as of now im troubleshooting that situation. car drives great on the MAP though. I was never having a problem with getting boost, just having problems with surges, acceleration, etc..

[DWosik13]

Vacuum lines! I will look into that, thank you!

yes this is true i had a vacuum line break and my s/c and car ran like ****