Ryan, my point is that you bought a Grand Prix, some people will try to tell you that it is a 4-door Firebird with a V-6(I myself disagree with that, but I know a few people who insist it).

I find it quite pointless that you would complain at first about how GM used their Metric bolts on thier altrenator.... Last time I was under the hood of my '94 F-350 the altrenator was held on by 17mm metrics, 3-4 of them. A few of those bolts were wedged in pretty tight, all though no as bad as what you have experienced. So you had one bad bolt, things could be a lot worse. There is currently one bolt holding my secondary battery in place. I think there should be another 2, but that isn't imporntant. About all I have to do is undo 3 bolts, and then I can get to my secondary battery. I imagine your air intake is pretty colse to the same setup.

I would say you bought a decently sporty car. You found a few of those bolts wedged in tight places, but your F-250 is twice as roomy. You could far worse off. You could have to pull off your body to change the oil. I wouldn't come in here and start bashing GM about 1 bolt.

By the way, on my '95 Firebird, I can easily jump the battery with fullsize cables.

Logan

 

Ryan, in my opinion you are not thinking clearly here. Why are you worried about bolts and tools. If you have a woman friend who is willing to come out with cables to help you at 2 AM, you should be thinking how to ask her to marry you. DF

 

i don't think you should be so upset at your GM car. pal, you bought a car for 1200 or so bucks. what where you expecting? to have space under the hood like your truck? i have a 78 ford 300 6 tons of under the hood space, heck even my dad's 79 dodge 360 motorhome has engine space, but his 95 grand am has none. we have to jack the car up even to do an oil change. i don't think you should be so upset. you did buy a car, not a truck. newer cars are getting smaller and harder to work on yes. i agree 100% but i don't think you should be so upset. it's just a bolt. big deal! for 1200 bucks what where you expceting. the entire car to be fool proof? stuff happens pal. i know where your coming from. but i thin k you should just take it in good faith. if you don't like the car so much sell it.
that's just my opinion.

Joseph
1978 ford f100
300 6
carter yf1 barrel
all stock including the am only deck

 

Take Logans advice with a grain of salt, he has GM on the brain.


1978 F250 4x4 - 351M
Don't crush them, restore them!

 

This has more to do with NAFTA than GM or Ford.

I bought the Metwrinch set that is sold on TV and don't have anymore problems with Metric or Standard. It WORKS. No more headaches.

 

My wife has a 94 lumina and you want to talk about being a pain to work on! Just the other day I had to repalce the battery. In order to get to said battery I had to remove the strut tower brace, pull out the windshield washer resiviour, take apart the entire air filter assembly, remove the hose connecting it to the throttle body and pull off a funky bracket thingy. Meanwhile I'm looking over at the passenger side where the computer is sitting in a nice large open area that would be ideal for a battery to sit in. God I hate GM! Also, you better hope and pray that you never have to change the spark plugs on that thing. The back three have to be done completely blindly and through a hole just big enough for your average 5 yr olds arm to fit through. I had some DEEP gouges in my arm after doing that. The only other way is to remove both upper motor mounts and rotate the engine towards the front. ERRR!!! The SAE/Metric thing doesn't bother me too much as I've pretty much come to expect it on anything built in the last 10 yrs or so. I hate GM, I really do. Crap like this really gets me fired up!

"like a rock" on the sides of roads everywhere.

72 F-100 4x4. fresh 390 4bbl, NP435 tranny, spooled rear, 2"skyjacker springs front, 2" custom shackle flip rear, "mild" fender trim, 35x15.50 TSL/SX tires.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 18-Oct-01 AT 08:46 AM (EST)[/font][p]Hehe, you are absolutely right, dinosaurfan. She is amazing. Not many people I know would have done that for me, let alone this beautiful woman I know!

Alright guys, I am sorry. I know I'm being thick headed, I'll be the first to admit it. I really shouldn't have expected too much. I just needed a daily driver that was good on gas, unlike the 9-11mpg I get with the F-250! I was just reaalllllly frusterated when I first wrote the thread, and I know it's not just a GM thing, but if you asked me a few weeks ago if I'd ever drive a car, let alone a non-Ford car, I'd probably laugh in your face! Ever since my first truck, I've been hooked on the feeling of being up higher than most other people, knowing that I have a machine that can tow down the small garage that they're parking that car in! It was just really getting on my nerves how I needed a prybar to get to my battery terminals, and then how I was now dealing with the metric bolts which I didn't have sockets for (I have since gone out and bought a 100pc Great Neck metric set), and then the fact that there was only one way to reach that last bolt, and it was next to impossible to remove, and add to that it was dark out and I had to use a flashlight (my own fault for waiting) and it just felt like everything was adding up. So seriously guys, I do appoligize for this, and now that I'm level headed again, maybe I can get out there and get that bottom bolt to the alternator in. Have a good one, everyone.

<And no, I definately don't consider this family sedan a 4 door Firebird! Maybe if it had the 3.1 Turbo, rather than the standard 3.1 MFI. Now that's something to ponder...if the engine is so stuffed in there as it is now, with virtually no free space, how do they go about fitting in a turbo system?! Hehe, take it easy all>

Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift

 

All of the American Mfgr. design both SAE and Metric fasteners into their vehicles. I'm not exactly sure why this is, maybe it's because of international sub-contracting. All I know is that it a pain in the butt!

 

72f100, your Lumina really supirses me. My car being a year newer and sportier, it seems it is more user freindly. However, Hanes service manual recomends changing the back spark plugs from behind. That battery really suprises me. I don't think that is a good example of GM, I have never seen a GM that bad. I might have mentioned already, but I don't think you can even see the batter/posts on PT cruisers. Instead there are two little"posts" somewhere on the frame.

Ryan, I will believe you that you were just mad.

I don't necessarliy "have GM on the brain", I just simply see no point to someone bashing this and that company. I personally believe GM, Ford and Chrysler are about equal(if anything, I hate Chrysler and their Cummins most). I do however dislike import cars .

Logan

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 18-Oct-01 AT 11:14&nbsp;PM (EST)[/font][p]The Gm products that I've had would make anyone bash them!
Plus the biggest jackass I know drives one, so that helps!
Matt

edit- see the picture post thread to see what the same jackass did to my truck!

1978 F250 4x4 - 351M
Don't crush them, restore them!

 

Ok, I know this isn't fix it central for any make of car, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas what's wrong with it now, or if anyone knew of any other forums for GM cars where I can find out how to fix the bag of crap. Basically it has been running fine, other than the alternator problem, which wasn't so bad in perspective considering the alternator was original, probably 12 or so years old. The other day I start it up in the parking lot at work...fine, no problems. Got a block from home, and noticed that when accelerating from a stop, it would almost die out, but not quite. More like seem to sputter. I get it home thinking it's nothing, hopefully it'll go away. Well, several hours later I'm getting ready to go out, and I turn the key. The engine is cranking away but not starting up at all. I repeatedly try the key and nothing. My gas gauge is just above the empty warning level, keep in mind. Is it possible it just ran out of gas, hence the sort of sputtering, or is it also possible my fuel pump is faulty, not supplying fuel to the engine. Or is it also possible I'm looking at a more serious problem, the fuel injectors. What a lemon I got! I should probably ask the guy for my money back, but it has been a little over a week and a half since I purchased it, which I think is beyond the return date (3 or 7 days in MA?) Thanks for any help or links where I can find this out guys...I shoulda picked up that 93 Mustang I was looking at!

Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift

 

before you start ripping your GM car apart, try putting fuel in it. just a suggestion

 

I do agree, try fueling it up. But for $1200, what could you expect?

Of course there are some "El Motocrafte" and "Senor Goodwrench" brands out there which you might be carefull about.

Acutally, I think Mexico has some prety good service, the only place where they offered to re-wind the ignition coils and others details like that while most other shops would say "replace!".

Logan

 

Guys, don't make me look too stupid, huh??!! I was just saying perhaps my fuel gauge is off, but it's not. I sifoned a bit out and put it back in...close to two gallons, more than enough to at least start a car. I'm leaning towards the possibility of either a faulty fuel pump or a clogged fuel filter. My mechanic has told me it's very rare for the injectors to just go like that without warning. And you are absolutely right, for $1200 I shouldn't expect much at all, but I must admit, for a 1990 GM car, it has a very modern interior and more like a mid-late 90's style exterior. Not a bad vehicle at all, just has some quirks that I will get over. But there is NO WAY in all heck that this little rinky dink toy will amount to either of my Ford trucks. I am still Ford for life, just needed a cheap beater I can run into the ground to get me around for the winter, maybe into the spring.

Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift

 

This has devolved into brand-bashing.
I'm a mechanic, I can work with almost anything.

If I was not the mech I am, I might side one way or the other.

But I have known most of the makes one way or the other.

THEY ALL SUCK, but they are ALL GREAT.

You can dial in on any shortcoming of them each that you want to.

I just make the damn things run, and try to be aware of their peculiar shortcomings.

Horsepower is horsepower...