91 Olds Calais - coming back from the dead?

Update your progress on your various car projects.

Moderators: MostMint, wxo, Fred32v, Basement Paul, ttamrettus

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ttamrettus
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Post by ttamrettus »

Andy,

In another post you asked what the attraction was to the Trailblazer SS. Ask Matt to let you drive it and then let me know what you think. 1 parking space, 1 insurance payment, utility plus HP, and it can be driven daily. COOL.
Matt Sutter
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

TheRookie wrote:Eh, I was just having a little fun.
Me too. You know that if it has an accelerator pedal, I'll try to race it - runs in the family. :wink:
TheRookie wrote:P.S. I think your headlights are misaligned. The drivers side seemed high and the other low.
Thanks for the heads up - The right side has a crack in it so not much light makes it past the dirt on the inside of the lens. I'll check the align but not sure it'll help. As long as it is not rusted in its current place I can probably lower the left a little.

I haven't had a car that was this "used" in quite a while. lol
There is a lot more adventure with a car like this.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

I put the car out by the street last Sat - the neighbor saw it and called. I told them $850, but apparently that is too much money for them. I presume they want a running car.

Looked at the right front headlight. all the silver stuff is gone on the inside back of the lens so not much hope there.

Tried the dry gas and echeck failed again. A little better but still way high. All the readings, HC, CO and NOx are high, and have been since the first test was so close. My guess is the O2 sensor is bad (or some other sensor)

I have learned a lot about O2 sensors, and so I am going to test mine, and I got a replacement sensor for comparison.

On the way to echeck the oil light came on again at idle after the car warmed up. Since I had not checked all the mains, I had lingering doubts. So I decided to go at it again. I dropped the pan and looked at all the bearings. There was some wear on the mains but not bad and they were all good. I checked the rods for good measure. Again found some wear, but what do you expect I am sure the bearing surfaces were not perfectly smooth.

while checking rear main I had to drop the oil pump. Shaking the pump I could hear little pieces of something inside. Further inspection revealed a lot of form-a-gasket, paint chips, metal chips, timing chain parts all in the screen. The L shape of the pickup made it very difficult to clean out. so I got out my spare pump/pickup i had acquired years before. the screen on that one was clean.

Comparing the pumps I found the spare had a little more resistance to it, so I took them both apart. The one off the car was all scored up on the gears. So it has been replaced. And you do have to prime the pump or it won't pump.

Tonight I plan to finish bolting up and doing my O2 sensor experiments. Tomorrow it will probably be off to echeck again.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

The replacement oil pump did not fix the oil light coming on at idle when engine is warmed up. At least I know it is not because the bearings are spun. It is going to get some STP or 20W50.

I learned a ton about O2 sensors and the computer system. I tested the O2 sensor out of the car - just hook up a volt meter and put heat on it. I generates .9 volts. Take the heat off and it drops to zero very quickly. This is a good O2 sensor. I tried the one in the car, the GM sensor I had from somewhere, and of cours the replacement I bought.

Putting the sensor in the car, it will run .9 (rich) if the O2 sensor is not hooked up to the computer. Hooking it to the computer, the Bosch sensor would make readings about 4-5 times a second, and it would go high and low. The GM sensor stayed much more steady around .55

This made me think maybe I was rich and lean at the same time. I put in the GM O2 sensor and took it again. No change.

After talking with another person who said it was probably the catalytic, it dawned on me what had happened.

The catalytic converter had some of its insides left when I bought the car. After the rebuild I took it directly to echeck and it almost passed. Between the first and second test I blew out the remains of that old converter (apparently my driving habits were different than prior owners, and I want to go on record to say that the second echeck test was before the run in with the SS Trailblazer).

So with this new diagnosis I changed the catalytic converter (took about 3 hours). The old catalytic was in fact completely empty on the inside. This time it passed. NOx was at 957 ppm and the limit was 984. The CO and HC were miniscule.

The replacement cat reduced NOx emissions by over 50% (2243 ppm down to 957 ppm), CO emissions dropped from .75% to .01% and HC dropped from 143 to 15 ppm.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
markss327
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Location: Twinsburg, Ohio

Post by markss327 »

WOW, what a dramatic difference a fresh cat can make on emissions, well, except on the NOx!!!! Any performance loss (read restriction), with the new cat?

What weight oil are you running that gets the oil light to flicker? I know my Avalanche will show fluctuating oil psi when using 5w30. It'll drop a bit, at hot idle. If I run 10w30 (both with the 'star-burst' symbol), my fluctuation goes away. 20w50 sounds a bit drastic, unless you're currently running 10w40.
-Mark
2012 Impala LT 3.6 VVTDI
300hp - a bit much for FWD!
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

Based on the high mileage I went with 10W30. I am not sure that 10W40 will help that much. I also thought about adding a quart of straight 30 weight to the 10W30 - making 10W30+

I thought it worth posting the numbers, as they will be handy to anyone failing a test with an empty cat - presuming cats are all fairly similar.

Due to the oil pressure situation, I hesitate to try it wide open to see if there is any loss of performance. The part throttle response does not seem to be affected.

It almost feels like it runs better. I wonder if the additional backpressure changed the O2 readings.

Last night I put hubcaps on it and put some spray can touch up on some of the rust. It looks better - hopefully it looks like $850.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

Heres info from Ohio BMV regarding this car. As you can see someone probably made a mistake recording the mileage and therefore the odometer discrepancy:

Type: Vehicle VIN#: 1G3NL14D4MM055985 Year: 1991 Make: OLDSMOBILE Model: CCA Body Type: Two Door

Current Title Information
Title number: 5201347171 Title status: Active Owner name: PRIVATE OWNER Number of owners: 1
Issue date: 09/22/2006 Title type: Original Liens 1: Lien 1 cancel date:
Control Number: 081754096 Liens 2: Lien 2 cancel date:
Mileage: 132468 Mileage brand: Non-Actual Brands 1: Brands 2: Brands 3:
Total Purchase Price: 0 Resides in County: 52


History
Title Number Issue Date Title Type Title Status Inactive Reason Type Mileage Mileage brand Mileage justify Owner Name
7702899645 12/15/2003 Original Inactive Transferred Out of County 111693 Non-Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7702469264 07/24/2002 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 93143 Non-Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7702424765 06/05/2002 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 94000 Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7702338752 02/27/2002 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 91500 Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7701720379 11/22/1999 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 85957 Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7701701628 10/25/1999 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 85668 Actual KEENAN AUTO SALES
7701697069 10/19/1999 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 85631 Actual STAR CHEVROLET INC
7600585235 05/31/1996 Original Inactive Surrender Out of State 50319 Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7700808803 04/16/1996 Original Inactive Transferred Out of County 50301 Actual DOUG CHEVROLET
7700806884 04/12/1996 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 49850 Actual CAROLINA AUTO SALES INC
7600403942 05/31/1995 Original Inactive Transferred Out of County 49401 Actual WAIKEM MOTORS INC
7600322325 12/15/1994 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 40498 Actual PRIVATE OWNER
7600319773 12/09/1994 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 40490 Actual WAIKEM MOTORS INC
764939724 12/17/1991 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 119 Actual N/A (Converted)
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
markss327
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Location: Twinsburg, Ohio

Post by markss327 »

Man, she's had a lot of owners....
My Nova had three previous owners in Lake County, 1977 to 1988. I bought her in Feb 1988. Prior to 1977, she was in California!
-Mark
2012 Impala LT 3.6 VVTDI
300hp - a bit much for FWD!
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

Changed the neutral safety switch - took about half an hour. The car has been hit or miss on starting and I had been able to fix it with the shifter, until one day I had to go move the wires. Someone had cracked the old one and zip tied it together a long time ago.

Going to put an ad in the paper this weekend.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

Touched it up last night - just a spray can job on the big spots. Scrape off the heavy rust, quick shot of primer and some color. Results are acceptable.

Also put a hanger on the exhaust over the axle. Found there had been one there in the past but the L at the bottom of the hanger rusted out. Exhaust was sagging down and looked bad.

Developed a crack at the lower pass side of the windshield. I was scraping rust off the A pillar on that side - not sure the two are related but the crack grew overnight so I know it is new. So far it looks like it will stay there.

It will be in the paper on Sunday at $850, so the saga is about to come to a close.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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