Earl Cameron

Last Autumn I bought a 1989 Chevy celebrity that ran great but had a shot transmission. Because for the most part the car was in great shape I decided to go ahead and pay a mechanic to get it done. I also had a new exhaust installed at the same time because of some hard starting that winter that caused the exhaust to backfire and bust the old muffler. The hard starting seemed to be related to the Ignition Control Module. I had a new one put in while the tranny was being replaced and it fixed the problem. A car that didn't start in the cold now started every time in the cold so problem solved.

Well not so fast. One day in traffic it stalled out and everytime I started it, it would run for a second and then sputter when put in gear. A good semaritan pulled me to a decent parking spot with a tow chain and I went back 3 or 4 hours later and the car ran fine. I had the same mechanic who did the tranny look at it under warranty labor time and he determined the computer was "going south" I actually reinstalled a new computer myself, because I'm training as a computer technician and felt up to it. The car then didn't have problems for months (after having the same problem twice without the new computer).

but eventually there began to be this high pitched wirring sound upon eccelerating and some rattling as well under the same conditions. that I couldn't identify, I had been meaning to drive around a mechanically minded friend to have him listen to it when one day while coming home from a short drive to the grocery store it stalled upon reaching the summit of the hill that I live on (so I might have been full throttle).

I looked underneath and smelled a sulfer or perhaps a methane smell (It's hard to remember the smell exactly) and sure enough there was a crack in the exhaust manifold, right next to where somebody had welded it previously (had I known about this potential problem and all the inconvenience it entails I might never have gambled on fixing the car in the first place).

It did the same thing that it was doing before I installed the new computer. Starting but sputtering out, especially if I tried to put it in gear. Applying gas would kind of keep it running but it sounds bad and can;t be safe or good for the car. I thought a good rest might benefit it like the last time.

the next day there was no starting, there was either no spark or no fuel. At that time my hopelessness induced me to have it towed to a mechanic. I just went with anybody as I had a very busy weekend and literally did not have the time so I went with a AAA recomedation.They tested some sensors and said they got no trouble codes so they tried to start the car and it started and ran no problem.

I left it in the shop for a week in the hope that they might discover the problem so I would at least have some information to go on for when it would happen again (cause nothing was really fixed it just miraculously started running again. )

I patched the exhaust manifold with a sort of ceramic cement that strenghtens in heat. But while I was doing that, I noticed the valve cover gasket was leaking. So I changed it, and it seemed to really help the car drive smoother. But there was oil puddled in the spark plug wells which I tried my best to sop out with q tips, and planning to get to an air compressor and blow them out and swap out any bad plugs ( I just put new ones in a few months ago, when the valve cover was not leaking).

The ceramic cement keeps re cracking so i keep redoing because I don't have the tools to drill a hole at each end of the crack (which I don't even think is possible without possibly upsetting the structure of the old weld from who knows when) But the car stalled again before I got around to changing the spark plugs and finding a new manifold (?) or getting the old one proper welded.

It stalled after my delivery driver shift when starting to leave the parking lot. It made it about 2 feet and stalled after idling inconsistently for 30 seconds or so. That day it had been seeming to kind of surge. I'm not exactly sure what it is but the idle would kind of speed up spontaneously.

I went out there and installed a new EGR valve because the old one looked awful when I removed it to replace the valve cover gasket. I also swapped out the old spark plugs which were indeed oil fouled. The car still starts up the same. Sputtering inconsistent idle and then a stall, especially if you change the gear.

Anybody have any clues?

Thanks,
Earl

Earl Cameron

So it's basically stalling after starting, and it's an itermittent problem. Could it be likely that I have to replace the computer, along with the manifold and hope for the best? I just put a new computer in but could it be corrupted from getting bad readings from the oxygen sensor (mounted on the manifold)? Should I just replace those and also the spark plug wires? The wires probably need to be replaced, but If I invest in a tool to check them I might as well just get them cause I know they're old, I have limited funds to get this car moving and any advice would be appreciated.

Again, I think maybe another computer would get it running to my house as long as the Exhaust manifold was sealed with a fresh coat of ceramic cement? Could I have ruined my brand new computer so quickly? Maybe it's really the prom chip that needs to be replaced?