OMG, I made it

purplepickup · March 07, 2008, 09:10:35 PM

If the subject sounds a little dramatic I guess it's cuz I'm still amazed that I'm home.

I drove to Detroit today (135 miles) with hopes of going to the GM Heritage Center tour and Autorama. I made the GM tour but not Cobo.

On the drive over this morning the Buick was skipping a heart beat every once in a while. It was getting worse the more I drove but I was almost there so I kept going. When I left the Heritage Center I was headed to Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit during the beginning of rush hour and the car was just plain cutting out for a couple of seconds every 5 or 6 miles....like it was losing spark. I decided to head for home and it kept getting worse. The more I drove, the more often it burped until it just plain puked on the busy interstate about 85 miles from home. I popped the hood and poked around pulling wires and stuff but nothing looked bad...as if I could tell.

I tried to restart it.....nothing. Got back out, poked some more, tried it again and it started. It was still missing, and every few miles it would kill completely, but after a 10-20 minute wait I could start it again. The minutes it was running kept getting shorter until the time by the side of the road was longer than the time running. It was cold and windy and getting dark. I probably should have pulled off the highway but I had the dream I'd somehow make it home. Like the title of this post implies, I did make it home but the last 20 miles on the highway were tuff. It would start and run for about 15 seconds. I'd floor it then when it died I'd put it in neutral and coast til I stopped. Ya know, you can get up to almost 80 mph in 15 seconds. I'm sure I * off a lot of other drivers but at least I didn't get shot by a road rager. When I got off the highway I was down to about 2 seconds of run time. I coasted into my driveway with a dead car without power steering or brakes but I made it. WHEW!!!! I guess I was just too stubborn to give up :(D)

I just finished digging my other car out of storage and put the ice scrapers, gloves, and tools in it. I think I'm gonna have a beer...or two. In fact I already am. :b-d:

Tomorrow I'll do the trip again.....in a fresh car. Supposed to get about 5" of drifting snow tomorrow. Hope there aren't any surprises lurking.

enjenjo · March 07, 2008, 09:39:44 PM

Glad you made it home. I have been wondering about that.

Jbird · March 07, 2008, 10:03:46 PM

Makes ya feel young again don't it. Jbird

Fuzzy · March 07, 2008, 10:37:59 PM

Glad you made it,George.When you find out what was wrong,be sure to let us know.

Fuzzy

Deuce · March 07, 2008, 11:06:20 PM

Quote from: "purplepickup"The minutes it was running kept getting shorter until the time by the side of the road was longer than the time running.

First thing I would look at is the fuel filter ... if it has one. Somewhere around 2003 or so GM discontinued the external filter and so if yours does not have one, the "SOCK" on the fuel pickup may be restricted ...

Just a guess

purplepickup · March 07, 2008, 11:11:31 PM

Quote from: "Jbird"Makes ya feel young again don't it. Jbird

Ya, except back then cars had a carb and distributor. I could pretty much figger them out. These sideways engined, no driveshaft cars nowadays are still a mystery to me.

purplepickup · March 07, 2008, 11:21:45 PM

Quote from: "Deuce"
Quote from: "purplepickup"The minutes it was running kept getting shorter until the time by the side of the road was longer than the time running.
First thing I would look at is the fuel filter ... if it has one. Somewhere around 2003 or so GM discontinued the external filter and so if yours does not have one, the "SOCK" on the fuel pickup may be restricted ...

Just a guess

I thought that too Randy. It's got an inline tin can filter that I rapped a few times with a wrench but it didn't seem to make any difference. I'll change it and see what happens.

It's close to spring. I think I'll let it set until warm weather. I've got another backup car

1FATGMC · March 07, 2008, 11:22:00 PM

Quote from: "purplepickup"
Quote from: "Jbird"Makes ya feel young again don't it. Jbird
Ya, except back then cars had a carb and distributor. I could pretty much figger them out. These sideways engined, no driveshaft cars nowadays are still a mystery to me.

Glad you made it home. About 4-5 years ago going to Missouri my truck started acting like that in New Mexico. It finally quit in the middle of no-where west of Amarillo on the interstate. It seemed to have spark and I thought it was the fuel also as it was going lean on the air/fuel meter. I pulled the q-jet all apart and it seemed fine and I was getting gas. Finally it wasn't getting spark. I went into my spares box and got a HEI coil and put it on and then everything was fine. Bad coil in the HEI. I later figured the air/fuel was showing lean as it measures the O2 and if the O2 doesn't burn then there is a lot of it which shows lean.

When you work on that motor just turn yourself sideways and you will figure it all out

,

Sum

Deuce · March 08, 2008, 01:34:36 AM

Quote from: "purplepickup"
I thought that too Randy. It's got an inline tin can filter that I rapped a few times with a wrench but it didn't seem to make any difference. I'll change it and see what happens.

Weigh them if you can ... you might be surprised at the difference in weight between the old one ( filled with particles filtered out ) and the new one.

kb426 · March 08, 2008, 08:11:21 PM

Plug a scanner into it. Those $40 units from H.F. will make you alot smarter in short order.

Harry · March 08, 2008, 09:01:10 PM

It's close to spring. I think I'll let it set until warm weather. I've got another backup car

[/quote]

Are they difficult to drive?
Do you have large mirrors?

Land Yacht · March 08, 2008, 10:22:31 PM

If not filter then fuel pump going out maybe...

Leon · March 09, 2008, 12:56:41 AM

Sharon's 91 Buick started doing that and we determined it was the ignition control module. They wanted more for the module than I thought the car was worth so we sold it a month ago for $300 and bought her an HHR.

Dave · March 09, 2008, 08:58:48 AM

Quote from: "Harry"It's close to spring. I think I'll let it set until warm weather. I've got another backup car

Are they difficult to drive?
Do you have large mirrors?[/quote]

Dave

bucketmouth · March 09, 2008, 09:10:26 AM

Had a similar experience last weekend myself while on a run down to a country town for a long weekend rod run. The motor would miss and then cut out. After 20 mins on the side of the road it would fire up and be okay for awhile. I manged to get there and diagnosied a faulty dissi module. Luckily I kept the old points and condensor,I fitted them and was fine for the rest of the weekend.
As the module got hot it would play up and when I would stop for 20 mins or so it would cool down and be alright.
Short drives around town were ok, it wasn't until I did a long one that I found out.
I didn't have snow drifts to contend with but it was around a 100 deg out there.