Thread: Mechanically inclined noob

Hello, my name is Keon. I've joined this forum in hopes of gaining knowledge about the car I just bought! I know for a fact I will. I am really a noob when it comes to cars but I'm a quick learner. My first job was to upgrade my friends coolant elbows because the plastic elbowes cracked and sprayed coolant all over his engine. I was pretty proud of myself that night.


Recently I bought my first car, a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT with approx. 132,000 miles on it from a friend who didn't want to deal with the car anymore. The fuel pump went out. Won't put out enough pressure to start the car. Here's some pics.









Car is in pretty good condition according to the guys at Mr. Tire. It was a great deal!


I hope to use this car as a first project though I am on an extremely tight budget.

Here's a pic of the dirty a$$ fuel pump



I need some advice on how to maintain my car. I want to keep this car forever.

I look forward to having conversations with the members of this forum!


Thanks!

if that car is in "great condition"

mine must be f*cking mint!!!

anyways, welcome to the page

Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of knowledge to be found on here. Like any car you want to last have to keep up with maintenance for it to last. What's your plans for the car?

Well for starters, I want to paint it. Maybe like a candy burgundy with black rims. These are just dreams for now lol.

I kinda want it to look like this (I want this exact hood and rims)



The Daytona spoiler is another thing on my list

The engine has a pretty large amount of sludge on it. What does that mean?


Once again, I am a noob.

It has not had regular oil changes. Must of been cheap oil when it was changed. Good oil has detergents in it that prevents that from happening. Never used sea foam but ask around not sure. I haven't had an engine with sludge in it since the 80's. Good luck the 3800 is a good engine I have had several.

DO NOT use sea foam in the crankcase unless you want to get another motor

Originally Posted by highoctaneracing

DO NOT use sea foam in the crankcase unless you want to get another motor

Thanks for the tip! I cannot wait to start doing work on this car. I love the 3800

Keon, welcome. Here is what I would recommend if you were my friend.

First, I'd say the car is in ok shape but not much better than just ok. Nothing personal, but it doesn’t look like the previous owner put any time in to caring for the vehicle. It is showing some rust which means more is on the way and, depending where you live, more rust could show up quickly. What state do you live in? Look under the car for more rust and see how bad it looks. One key place to look - crawl in the truck and look where the struts mount, see if any major rust is in there. Hopefully it doesn't look anything like this:

http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...trut-tower-fix

Based on the condition of the car, having the car painted would be the last thing on my lengthy list of things to do. Here’s where I’d start:

• As others have said, start by thoroughly cleaning the engine. This will help you identify if all that sludge is from the previous owner (PO) never cleaning it or if something is leaking. I’ve used GUNK engine degreaser and it has worked well. The other types people have used may work just as well.
• Next I’d spend some time with a fairly harsh soap (dishsoap) washing everything you can get to. Not just the outside but door jams and any space that needs it.
• Wax the thing, it looks like it has never been waxed. Aside from the damaged or rusty areas, this will really help it look better. (It will also bring out lots of dings and scratches you may not have seen before)
• Detail the interior. White vinegar/water mix is my go to for general cleaning on everything inside the car.

After you do all this and have killed most of your day off work. You’ll have seen some things you didn’t know about and your to-do list may have changed. If you are concerned about cosmetics up front – you can take it from here but I’ll leave that up to you. The most I would do are touch ups – don’t paint the damn thing!

Instead of dropping money on cosmetics, I’d jump right into maintenance items. There are tons of threads on here about preventative maintenance you can build a list from but here’s what I would start with (unless you know they’ve been done):

• Fuel pump (I've never done this and don't know the difficulty)
• Oil and filter change

• Spark plugs and wires
• New engine air filter and cabin air filter
• New coolant (look for brown sludge)
• Thermostat
• Drop the transmission pan and change the filter – refill with fluid. DON’T HAVE THE SYSTEM FLUSHED! DON’T TAKE IT SOMEWHERE OR THEY MAY FLUSH IT!
• Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) likely needs to be changed and could be contributing to your sludge problem.
• Serpentine Belt – spin all the pulley when it is off to check for worn bearings.
• Clean throttle body.
• Inspect all chassis items for play, wear or damage. (inner and out tie rods, wheel bearings, ball joints, shocks, sway bars, trailing arms, etc.)

If you still have some money to spend after that, there are plenty of other things you can start replacing/checking on. If you’ve replaced the coolant elbows you can handle all this stuff except the LIM replacement. That is a bigger job, and will require some more research and prep but it is still very doable based on what I’ve read on this forum.
I think this car will clean up really nicely. Best of luck to you and post up with your progress!

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

From what I see.. it looks like a decent budget car.

Hold off on the ideas of painting etc that are big money.

What about plastidip?

Originally Posted by stocker

Keon, welcome.

I live in Columbus, Ohio.

My friend actually got the transmission flushed recently. The car seemed like it was struggling to move. It usually jerked really bad when he stepped on the gas. The fuel gauge didn't work. And there were a couple codes that the guy at O'Reillys found with the scan tool. I can't remember all of them but iirc one was p0300. He didn't really take care of the car. He was pushing the car with a leaking transmission. This car's engine and transmission may be in really bad shape

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

That's just my funny, sarcastic way of saying..

Why bother.. it's a GP man

Haha gotcha! I know that it needs a couple bearings, an inner tie tod (iirc), fuel pump and catalytic converter according to the guy at Mr Tire.
There are many other parts I want to upgrade starting with the coolant elbows.

Would it be a good idea to get an aluminum upper intake manifold?

If the transmission and engine are in bad shape I'd question how much you bought it for and then if it is a good investment for you.

Originally Posted by stocker

If the transmission and engine are in bad shape I'd question how much you bought it for and then if it is a good investment for you.

I got it for $450 lol

What is "your budget"? Is this your only vehicle?