Thread: another new guy....

hey guys, im new here. just bought a 92' Grand Prix. with the 3.1L. bought it for $200 it has been owned by a grandma or someone that took care of it. (has records of maintenance on manual) only problem is a bad coil. made me chase around the engine bay diagnosing plenty of things to keep me busy. i have no idea on past history of this car. i bought it at an action. im guessing it got there because they chased around the engine bay trying to find the problem and gave up and threw it away but money well spent if i dont say so myself.

what is with having to pull the engine forwards just to change the spark plugs. my god! ive never really done much with FWD as all my other cars are RWD. its a fun project car for now. learning curve forsure.

anyway, i know mechanics. love to work on cars but im kinda confused on this one, the coil pack is bad forsure, so 2 cylinders are a no go. i'd obviously be running on 4 cylinders but would the loss of 2 cylinders make me only able to go about 25 up a hill on the highway!?!? i reached max speed which took about 5 or so MINUTES! and that was 55 MPH and the first second i hit the hill the rpms went up and the speed dropped likea B*** she was trying. im just thinking maybe a fuel injector too? i only ask to see if this has been seen before. before i have to take off everything on top to see an injector.

thanks for the help in advanced!

The 3.1s were not bad to work on. Believe me there are worse. hopefully you have access to a scan tool to help with diagnosis. I would check fuel pressure as well, not sure on the spec right off hand, but probable around 45psi. Also I would check the exhaust backpressure for a clogged cat. I have a homemade tool for backpressure, it's a old 02 sensor I beat out just for the threaded part and brazed an brake line to it so I could connect a vacuum hose to my vacuum\pressure gauge. With the gauge connected open the throttle anything over 1psi, there's a restriction. The no tools method is to just take the exhaust loose in front of the convertor and drive it to see if it runs better, or just remove the 02 sensor and drive it. Good luck.