miss cookie

Certainly. I'm in Miami, we don't use p brakes here its all flat. But my Formula came from up north and the parking cable is stretched out and although works, not enough to support the weight of the boat on the ramp which is a steep incline. I haven't done it yet because its a pain in ***. The rear has to be put up on jack stands, then the shifter has to come off and the console will have to come out. Disconnet it from the lever and from the rear wheels. Theres an inter set of pads just for the parking brake. That's how it is for mine but shes a 95. It should be pretty much the same even in 01. Either way, its going to be a job and a lift sure would be nice. You can always Google it to be sure but my guess is that's the way to do it. So I just chalk her wheels while in the ramp.

beyonddisturbed

iTrader: (5)

I've had plenty of dealings with the ps system. The high pressure hose could leak at either the fitting on pump or on the rack. It seems like ps hoses get pinhole leaks after a while. I would also check o rings on both the low and high pressure hoses. Hope this helps.

Mr Phil

Any links or pics of fixes? I'm unfamiliar with ls ps system

Andy McBaller

i've been reading all related issues and everything i can find, i've been reading and abosrbing knowledge since this happened lets say 7 hours ago. give or take an hour. so please if you have any input it would really help me figure out if my car is dead and dying or not. it's my daily driver so im prayin it's something fixable for under 500. This is my first post, but i've been reading posts and using the info for about 6 months now since I got my 2001 Firebird V6. It's got 230,000 miles on it, engine and transmission were both rebuilt by mechanic at shop about 35-50k miles ago. i've had it for about 3-4 months now and it's NEVER had any sort of cooling issues. or smoking/burning oil issues, it didn't burn oil at all. ran really strong. so, please help me tackle this so i can keep on driving her.

I need helpl with some diagnostic work, i'm HOPING PRAYING IT'S something fixable, i've got enough stuff going on for this to happen.

any ideas on what it could be? car originally started over heating while my brother is driving, he calls me tells me its getting hot. he only drove like half a mile to a mile. so it didnt get too hot, then when i get it it's had plenty of time to cool. i put a few bottles of water in with the cooalnt (green not dex cool) and headed to oreillys i was going to get a bottle of coolant and s ome purple ice (coolant additive by royal purple) it didn't really over heat from mellow mushroom to oreillys and i hit the light red. so i fill her up with just green coolantand it takes so much to fill her up, i was kind of shocked. then after i poor it in at oreillys i see some start leaking out the bottom of the car, i drive it home wanting to get there before it leaks out, and i had to stop at gas station, by the time i got to station it was like 10-15 degrees over normal temps (210F which is dead center on the gauge) and i sat in the car i had the heat on but it wasnt blowing out hot air it was blowing out like room temp air, and if i gave it about 2100 rpm it would drop like 1/8th of an inch on the gauge until it got to normal 210F. that part really puzzled me never had a car do that.fast forward, today drove to work got about 20 degrees over just for maybe 30 seconds before i got to work and cooled off the same way by giving it gas watching the temp drop 1/8" and then rinse and repeat.on the way home, the temp stayed normal till i got to the neighborhood then it went probably 5-10 degrees over and stayed there. so i went to look under hood, i can see radiator look shooting steam and water our, then engine makes a strange metal i go in to look at the gauges, it does it again and then i turn it off. i go back to hood and it's smoking on engine, not thick cloud, but definitely enough it was a see through cloud of smoke. i pull dipstick to make sure it didnt loose oil or something, and smoke was even coming out of there!

[ive attached a generic photo of engine to show you roughly where the smoke was coming from which is highlighed area and then i circled everywhere smoke was kind of rising from not really new smoke but just where it was hanging out i guess you could say]

so i let it cool went n checked oil, and levels looked good. i'm going to change the oil because i'm right around 3300 miles since my last, and i'm going to use some of the lucas miracle oil additive. and also what's in the oil will really help point me in the right direction as diagnosis and what could be the issue if any, i guess it's possible it could of been oil burning ontop of the block, because there was coolant sprayed everywhere from the leak and maybe ill get lucky. man i need it. ill comment later with any news from the oil change. please guys, i got alot of heavy **** on my plate and the easier i can diagnose the faster i can research whether or not i can do this. If anyone is interested in helping me figure this out you are awesome.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

Mr Phil

Must be the reason why. Well he's a lucky turd

dsvtr

iTrader: (2)

I've researched this online, but have not found any specific inquiries via a Trans Am. I have a 2001 Trans AM WS6 , and everytime I'm stopped and the car is in drive and just idling and I turn on the air conditioner, the whole car starts to shake. But, if I put it in neutral or in park, and turn on the air conditioner, the shaking/rattling of the car stops. I have read that it could be a host of things, from ( Spark plug(s) being loose, the Spark plug cables, to the Tranny or motor mounts or even the IACV or it could be a leak in the Vaccum ). If any of you can narrow it down or help me pin point whats going on, I really appreciate it. Thanks alot - Mike

Skraight

iTrader: (3)

I just went through something similar to this in my car, I ended up replacing the whole ignition system and it was my coil packs. But it could also be your motor mounts, driveshaft related, etc.

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

Update - Turn signals are fixed as well as the DRLs.

Got this part http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...entifier=18625 ( its under tail light socket for a 1998 Monte Carlo 3.8 )with some turn signal bulbs for my 99. Spliced em up and everything is gold.

GaryDoug

Good to see you used the info I gave from the other web site. Notice my post above about the leaking lenses also. Mine have been good for over a year now. They used to burn out every few months before. They also used to have a lot of water inside all the time. I just checked them today, not a drop. And it wasn't because of the new sockets, because I reused the old original rubber gaskets because they looked more durable.
Also, while splicing them, I left the wires long enough to allow me to remove the socket out the front through the T/A bumper's open slot. No more going underneath to reach them.

NC01TA

Too long of a post but I have to say it is time to move on. A car with well over 200,000 miles is going to keep needing things. There is just no way of getting around it. Maybe you can fix it for 'cheap' now ( I can't help you there) but something is going to break again within a few months and you'll be looking for answers again. An endless vicious cycle. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it is time for a new ride. Don't keep sinking your hard earned $$ into this car at 'hundreds of dollars' a pop. It hurts just to read your aggravation. This car has reached the end of the line.

SS69LS1

iTrader: (108)

If you poured the coolant in & it immediately leaked out, you should start there. Obviously pretty serious leak if it came out that fast. And I wouldnt keep driving it or throwing miracle additives to try to fix it. Find the leak, spend your money there.
Scott

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

Next up is the fog light Assembly. The back of the light is melted so I can't even put a bulb in

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

IIRC, a lower intake manifold gasket failure might cause a coolant leak.

I'm just not entirely sure so don't jump at that before doing your research.

'99REDTA

iTrader: (1)

you could start with cheap or free things, like cleaning your IAC, checking plug wires, pulling plugs to see if any are cracked. Those would be my first moves

mr. ws6

iTrader: (1)

can be a miss fire or you might need new motor mounts

cwalker2006

iTrader: (11)

2000 trans am. Started it uo and it made some nasty clunking noises. Has anyone ever had a failed lifter that sounded like a handful of bolts were jist tossed in the motor?

Andy McBaller

Ok so lets start with the details, i read post after post of people saying "we need more detail to help you" so on my very first post i made it thorough. and people said it was way too detailed =/ haha. i was just trying to make forum members happy!

So i'm driving a 2001 3800 series 2 v6 firebird. it's got a little over 200k. started overheating, discovered it was a whole in the radiator. well, now it's not overheating (it will bounce maybe 10 degrees over 210 for a few minutes every once in a while)

When it's cold, the engine is right at or a hair above the 60 mark on the oil gauge. after it's at 210 for maybe like 15-20 minutes give or take..the oil pressure slowly drops from being in the 45-60 range, until it starts making a little bit of noise and gets closer to the left notch (not zero but the first notch from it) i just changed the oil, and i'm using 10w-30 high mileage w/ lucas heavy oil stabilizer. and i dont let it get this bad, but the very firstime it overheated pressure got really low (right on the first notch) and it got a little noisy and i could feel my engine sort of struggling. again that happened when it was almost 245 degrees. now that its not overheating, it's still loosing oil pressure.

Any ideas? i read some forums with similar issues saying it's the cam bearings or some other sort of bearing that may have failed, giving it more clearance aka harder to maintain pressure..but im seeing other people say it's down to 0 oil pressure. i dont think mine would make it that low running. by the time its at the first notch or even close to it. it starts struggling intermittently. I may be rambling, i'm nervous, because this is my daily driver right now, my dad just passed away, and a few other things are going on right now that are just whoopin my ***. last thing i need is the only daily driver i got, that gets my little brother and I to work and back to need a damn engine rebuild because of a failed bearing.

i feel like since the issues change with oil temp, i ruled out sending unit, and gauge. (although i've heard of our gauges doing wacky things) but i dont think it's the gauge because it acts the sameway at identical intervals on the gauge. so if it was just reading wrong, i wouldn't "feel it" in the engine. anyways sorry if this was too long, if you need any info let me know. i'll be checking back every like 10 minutes. mannnn im prayin to the car gods!

GaryDoug

First, the gauge should never get into the red area. If it does, the engine needs servicing, probably major. Second, the oil pressure will always drop as the engine temperature goes up.
You can do a simple test to see if there is major bearing wear. Drive normally, but just as you sharply accelerate, glance at the oil pressure gauge, If it momentarily drops more than a few pounds, it indicates bearing wear. Ideally it should stay about the same or rise. If the oil pressure rises significantly as you let up on the accelerator, that is another indication of serious wear. It would be normal to see significant bearing wear after 200k miles.
If you want to make this engine last as long as possible, I would do everything I could to reduce the engine temperature.

Andy McBaller

ya, that's what i was afraid of. let me ask you this tho, the simple test you were referring too. mine does it backwards of how you say. like when normal, it'll be usually right about 45 and then as soon as i accelerate it goes up to 60. anytime i give it gas it goes up to 60. but as soon as i let off it drops to 45 (or if it's hot it drops to where the "resting" point is at the particular moment)

or did i just misunderstand you and thats exactly the symptom of bearing wear.

could i possibly go with something a little thicker than 10w-30? Along with keeping my engine as cool as possible. maybe a 160 degree thermostat?

GaryDoug

You have the opposite of what I was typing about. I did forget to mention that you should avoid having the transmission kick down to a lower gear. In other words, push down on the accelerator, but not so far as to cause a downshift. Look immediately at the pressure gauge for any dip. My 98 T/A LS1 drops about 1-2 psi with that kind of test, probably typical for 100k miles. This test is only for the crank bearings. It does not test for anything else that may be worn.