Thread: Need help! Think i broke the warden's car

Okay, sorry if it seem a bit drawn out in my explaining but here goes: Its a "99" grand prix se,automatic,3.1 lite, has slight problem with running hot. Just have to keep heater on all the time & try not to let car idle in 1 spot for to long. Stop & go sometimes cause a issue with the temp. BUT Im sure that is not is whats wrong with issue at hand. I have had to use the warden's car these past few weeks. Now I drive like a raped ape everywhere I can. Warden drives, well I call him driving "Miss Lazy". Lead foot I am! Warden said it looks bad when a cop pulls over another cop. So while waiting for the fuel pump to arrive for the sunfire, been driven his car. Now Ive been easy with putting the miles on this car, I drive bout 300 miles a day. Bout 4 days ago was being rushed, so put my foot in to the petal a few times. when I got to final stop, I had to leave again. It took me over 5-6 times to try an start the car. Finally as motor was turning over I gave it gas. Like you would start an old chev muslce car. As the days followed it would seem like unless you put your foot into the petal the car wouldnt get up an go. So today of all days there is snow fall with ice mixed in. After 3 inches of sold ice on road way & tempeture dropping to bout 18-24 degrees. the car started to have an issue bout 25mph up to 35mph. Now I just thought this was from the bumps & rivits in the ice. Now the car had only been running bout 45 mins, sat for 30 mins, then drove 30 more mins. Then finally it sat for 45-60 mins. As I tried to make the trip home, the car SEVERLLY started to throw a tantrum coughing & choking when you would hold at the 25-35mph. Now u could exccelerate an the tantrum would stop. An it will site at an idle just fine. Swear the car was being possessied by "CARRIE"! lol The lights would flicker & car buck. Now here is the issue, in our house. If the car breaks when your driven it, is all your FAULT no MATTER WHAT. I already broke my sunfire & the warden is freaking VILID BOUT the CAR. I HAVE BEEN GROUNDED FROM THE CAR FOR GO, UNLESS I GET THIS ISSUE RESOLVED. AN I CAN ALREADY FEEL MY SELF HAVING WITH DRAWNS FRM NOT BEING ABLE TO GO AN DRIVE WHERE I WANT ALL DAY. HELP ME ANYONE, HELP ME PLEASE, HELP ME IM BEGGING YOU, PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP THIS POOR UNDRIVING GIRL OUT???

Your heat problem I would have frist checked out changing the Thermastat (I'm betting it has not been changed in a LONG time and is hanging closed). At this point of running it for long amounts of time and miles where the car attempts to run hotter then it should, may have caused additional damage.
Unfortunately, I am not able to draw my own conclusions on your description. But I have some ideas (and if anything, they are just good maintanance).
- Change the plugs and wires. Those are cheap and can be a common cause of problems with rough idle or lack of power at higher RPMS. When doing so, keep track of the plugs and which cylinder they came out of. If you have some that look really bad, it can be a tell-tale sign of other symptoms.
- Start inspecting the coil packs if the plug/wire change does not resolve the issue (condition of the plugs might help determine a faulty pack since each pack is responsible for two cylinders, if two plugs running off the same pack look messed up, I think you found your culprit). My '94 Grand Am had an intermitant coil pack that randomly caused the car to run like crap (and originally it was while on the freeway). I went through about a month of insanity to find it was a coil (on accident). Using an OTC scanner I found when it ran crappy, the Injector Pulse Width was REALLY high (car was running more fuel to compensate for a misfire). I found the coil on accident when I was wiggling wiring harnesses (if I put my hand on the coil a certian way, I found I could make the symptoms appear/disappear at will). I knew the coils were all tight, I had a spare swapped it and has ran fine for over a year. I since found this write up about the coils:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com...hp?f=48&t=1683
- An item I think least likely, but takes little time and a free check is the iginition module. It sits under the 3 coil packs. Just remove the coils (two bolts each, remember there order, leave the plug wires attached), remove the 2-3 wiring harnesses on the module. AutoZone (at least my local one) can test these. It's FREE. A friend of mine had some nasty performance problems and turned out, his iginition module was bad.

I hope some of this is of help for your situation.

BTW - I have a spare ingition module from a '94 Grand Am with a 3100 (I believe is the same as the one in yours). I pulled it from a former car in our fleet before the car was junked. I've had AutoZone test it and it tests perfect. If that's the issue, I can cut a deal on it if you are interested (I think new it's like $90). PM me if you find that to be the case and are interested in my used module. I would be surprised if that's the problem, but stranger things have been known to happen.

Are you sure the electric cooling fan is turning on? When byour driving air is going through the radiator cooling it but if your sitting at idle and it starts to over heat is when the fan wouls kick on force air through while its sitting there not moving.

Just want to Thank all of you guys that tried to help me solve the problem to the warden's baby. I solved it, an dont think anyone thought to mention/think of the smallest & quickest solution. Check the gas cap to make sure that kit is on correctly to create pressure check the damn oil! The PIRANAH was 2 quarts low. Problem has been solved, Thanks Everyone.

Originally Posted by Glider Girl

Just want to Thank all of you guys that tried to help me solve the problem to the warden's baby. I solved it, an dont think anyone thought to mention/think of the smallest & quickest solution. Check the gas cap to make sure that kit is on correctly to create pressure check the damn oil! The PIRANAH was 2 quarts low. Problem has been solved, Thanks Everyone.

Glad it was simple... Usually the gas cap throws a check engine light and 2 quarts low on oil throws Check Oil light.

If you are 2 quarts low between oil changes (assuming oil changes are 3-5K miles), I think you have additional problems. That's a LOT of oil loss/consumption. May be a sign of failing lower intake gaskets.

And I recall you mentioning the car runs "hot", especially if you're stopped for two long. I really suggest you get that fixed (again, that could just be a failing thermostat, cheap, fast and easy to change).

Now this last post really makes me feel bad, stupid,( yes I was born blond, definetly a state of mind for me!) But I always check my car once a week & so does the warden. But since Ive been using his car, waiting to get mine fixed. Guess the warden never thought that I wasnt going to check the fulids. But when I mentioned that the car was taken to long to shift & shifting at a high RPM. So I asked if the fulid levels were good. An he in return said, that would not be the cause of the problem!WELL, guess who was putting in 2 quarts of oil?