New, kinda old, Car!

Hey all, I got my car today, it’s a 1990 3.1 Corsica, automatic with red interior, white paint. It feels like its got ABS, but I doubt it, I think the brake rotors are just warped. It was my dads, and now its mine. Oh yeah and it’s got like 125XXX miles on it. Ever since my dad had the car he has been running 89 octane, so I'm going to keep running the same. Any suggestions on what to look for or replace?

Hey there. Your problem most likely is your rotors. Chang them before anything. Fuel octane wont have anyaffect on what your car is doing.

Ok to run 87 Octane on your 3.1. Corsica and Beretta brakes are disk on front and pad brakes on rear, not ABS either. The front brakes do most of the work and wear out much faster than rear ones. Good thing is that most Corsica parts are pretty cheap so best to just replace them along with pads, be sure to clean and use caliper grease on the calipers. Might pick up a Haynes manual if you do not have a GM service manual, as it can help you on a lot of things. Be sure to change fuel filter yearly, watch and check your fluids often. Corsicas can sprout leaks from time to time, but all older cars should be checked weekly for oil level, coolant levels etc. These cars are failry easy to diagnose and for the most part work on and again, parts are fairly cheap. Keep your transmission fluids clean, be sure it is bright red. Assuming the maintanace has been kept up you should have little trouble out of it. They are kinda rough on alternators, our 91 is on it's 4th or 5th one since we bought it new. It has 185K on it, runs very well still.

congrats on the car, and good luck w/ all the repairs.

My mother had one of these cars and it really wasn't maintained very well. The rotors aren't always warped... The first thing i'd do is pull the calipers off, yank the guide pins and grease them up. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the caliper doesn't slide back and forth. make sure you can move the caliper itself in and out freely, it takes some pressure to do so. I've done too many brake jobs on these corsicas and it's always the same old thing. Reinstall the brakes and see if it fixes the issue.

If you still feel the pulsations, then change the brakes and rotors.

I did the head gasket on the 90 corsica 2.0L once, never again will I touch one...

How can I increase fuel economy for this car? It seems like it sucks gas really fast, and I have only had it for about 3 days. Also, I really don’t know what model this is, inside the car, the door panels say LT.

I thought the LT were straight fours, but when I looked under the hood, it was clearly a V6, not to mention on the side it says 3.1, and I have never seen a 3.1 four cylinder before.

Anyhow, the car seems congested, it feels like its got power to go (in normal ever day driving, no speeding of sort, or hard acceleration), but some thing is holding it back, any ideas?

When was the last time the fuel filter was changed?

I have no clue, I don’t even know were its located, but if I can find it, along with the fuel pressure regulator, ill check them out, and replace them if I have too, any one know were they are? Good thinking dewaynep, thanks.

A couple of things on your car, your fuel filter should be on rear axle, near gas tank. Need to be sure the engine is tuned, plugs, wires, air filter, clean the intake assy., clean the idle air control, and get that fuel filter replaced. Filter will cause gas pump to fail if it clogs. Might want to remove your air filter box (one bolt) and look underneath to see if your dad (or someone else) has unhooked your TCC (torque converter solenoid). Very common for these to go out and most people unhook 'em rather than pay 150-250 bucks to fix. Works OK but you lose a little fuel economy. There is a 4-prong plug connecting to the transaxle that you can only see after removing the filter box assy. If it unplugged then your decision whether to fix ot not. Be sure to check air pressure in tires, and lastly if you are unsure of age you might want to replace thermostat, especially if car seems to run cool. A colder running engine will suck gas, and an engine with a stuck opem thermostat will do this. As a precaution, check and replace the serpentine belt if you see cracks, even a good one runs only about twenty bucks and is cheap insurance. Oh, get a can of injector cleaner for gas tank, and spray out the throttle body while you are at it. They tend to get dirty.

Ok, I don’t know if anything really needs replacing, the wires are dirty, I don’t know how to test them. I can remove the plugs, but I don’t know how to check if they are bad or not. My air filter, I know that needs replaced, just because its torn from the one side, I previously cleaned the intake box, and all its components, I don’t know were or what the idle air control is, and I'm not too sure how to test the fuel filter. I’m one tight budget, so I’m trying to conserve anything I can. I don’t want to replace something that in good condition. As for the TCC, I shall check that out around noon, since its 2 am here. Same thing goes for the thermostat. I don’t even know were it’s at, and how to test if it’s bad or not. I used injector cleaner in the car already, didn’t seem to help much. I’m trying to do everything on my own to this car, so I won’t be taking it to a mechanic of any sort; on top of that, I don’t have much money to do so. Ill also check my tiers tomorrow. Thanks JSGold. I would appreciate it if you can explain to me how to tell if those things are bad or not. If worse comes to worse, I cant post pictures of what the things look like, maybe that will give a better visual.

Not so much a matter of testing. Most of these things have a life span and need to be replaced at certain intervals. The fuel filter should be replaced once a year. Air filter should be replaced every 3-4 oil changes or so (every 10K is good). Look at your belt, if you see a lot of cracks it is time to go. The idle air control won't help out as far as mileage goes, it gets dirty and should be cleaned every couple of years or so it idles smooth. Itt is a small round like control that sits on your throttle body. Has a plug on it, take it off and remove two screws and it pulls out. Be sure to unhook battery first though... Spray some carb cleaner on it and do NOT compress the spring. CLean the area around where it sits and then assembe. Start the motor and let the computer reset the idle on it. No mad rush to do this, it is just a thing you should do sometime down the road. The thermostat should be replaced every 2-3 years. If no one has any idea how old it is, replace it. Your temp guage should read 1/4-1/3 when warmed up. If it seems to be lower or your heater seems warm instead of hot, that could be a way to check other than just removing it. If it puts out good hot heat and it has been repalced in the last 1-2 years maybe you won't need to deal with it. The thermostat sits under the spout on your engine that has the (top ) radiator hose on it. Most of the time it is easy to replace as on our 91 it is right there easy to get to. On my son's 94 Beretta(same car for the most part) his engine was slightly different and was pain to deal with as it had a different spout and was hard to reach. As for the plugs, how many miles are on them? Same for wires. Regular plugs should go 20,000 miles or so, platinums can go a lot further. Wires should be replaced every 3-4 years. See what was done to the car before you got it, maybe you won't need to do anything at all for now other than the aor filter. My main point is, if you have no idea how old this stuff is, replace it as you can. The fuel filter is critical though, and cheap. Spend a few bucks and get a Haynes service manaul at Advance, it will help you a lot on these things.

Okay so I want to take this little by little, starting with what I think should be the easiest thing to do, wires and plugs. I have a basic idea of what a bad plug looks like thanks to this site http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs/faq/faqread2.asp?nav=31200&country=US (http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs/faq/faqread2.asp?nav=31200&country=US) But before I even started I ran into a stupid problem, I cant get a good grip on the wires boots, and when I do, they just don’t seem like they want to come out. Also, I know that the wires have there own clamps that the snap into. It appears that some one has removed these clamps, and now there are 2 sets of wires, and each of them holds 3 wires with a plastic zip tie... I'm not too worried about that, but I don’t know why I can’t get the wires out. I don’t think they are bad, checked them for cracks, and the writing on them is still present. It’s really cold here, so I only work when the weather conditions are about 30 F. today it was 27 F. As for the fuel filter, can I install it my self, with out a jack? I have jack stands, but no floor jack, and I don’t know if I can use the emergency one. Right now, I’m going to go check out the TCC if it’s plugged or unplugged. Would the car run if the TCC is bad, and plugged in?

Yeah it’s unplugged alright....
So I tried to remove the wires again, this time the car was in the sun, so it didn’t matter how cold it was, I know to pull only on the boot, which I was doing, and it worked fine, the wire came off. But when I looked at the sparkplug...hehe, there was a piece of metal, one that came from inside the boot, still attached onto the plug. Yeah, now I'm happy, but also pissed. So I tried to unplug the second one, it came out fine, and the third one, did the same thing as the first one. I can’t manage to fine my tools, so I can’t get the plugs out yet. But I was wondering, what size socket do I need to use?

So here is a little update, I checked the plugs, and they were fine, a little worn, maybe I’ll replace them after 5000 miles. As for the wires, well, since I'm very poor, I had to work with what I got, so I did. I ran the wire through the boot and out the other side of it, reattached the piece of metal (I did this for both the wires that came undone) pulled the wire back through the boot about half an inch deep, and reconnected them back. The wires and plugs are B- okay. As for my belt, yeah it’s got some cracks in it, so ima do that maybe tomorrow, but as for now, I’m going to buy an air filter.

Problem is the boots get stuck on the plugs and it is best to use a special boot gripper tool to remove them. Otherwise you will pull the wire apart. The filter requires a tool to release one side of it, other side uses a simple wrench. Unless you are getting really bad mileage, say, less 20 mpg., might be better off waiting for better conditions. The fuel filter can be dangerous, as you will have pressure built up. The car can sit for a while and the pressure will drop on it's own, or, you can put a rag around it and put a pan under it for the gas that will leak out. Again, the filter is not going to help out on gas mileage. It will keep your pump from failing due to blockage. You can have a shop do this for usually around 20 bucks (including filter) if you want. You can get to the filter but best to have the rear jacked up if you attempt to do it yourself. The tool can be bought at Advance or Autozone, or, they might loan you one. Again, I highly suggest a Haynes manual to guide you. Pictures help a lot on a lit of these things. If you are getting 20mpg or better, you should be able to hold off on the other stuff for a while. Any idea how old (or how many miles) are on the plugs, wires, belts???
And lastly, if you find the TCC plug undone, do NOT hook it back up! When the TCC fails it causes the car to stall when warm and it does this at any stop sign etc. and will be a pain to get going again. The car will basically stall as soon as it is put into gear once this happens so you are stuck until it cools down for a while. If it is unplugged, leave it alone or take it to a garage to fix it. Leaving it unplugged will only cost you a little fuel economy, maybe 1-3 mpg or so. I was just suggesting that as one of a number of possible reasons for lower economy. USUALLY, plugs, wires, air filter are the primary culprits, a stuck open stat, while not common can cause this by not letting your computer lean your fuel input, but the guage / heat should give you clues on this. One thing, say your TCC is still plugged up, great. Down the road, if you ever start feeling your car shake and shudder when slowing down, and it stalls out when stopping, starts up again, but stalls as SOON as it is put into any gear, you will know the TCC is the culprit and how to get it going again. Just curious, what IS the mpg you are getting?

I hate things under pressure, I checked my tiers today, and two of them were as low as 20 psi, so now they are all at 35. Why wouldn’t the filter help on gas mileage? If really its only 20$ including the filter, then ill get it done at shop, but I do things by myself just to save money, and get some hands on experience, but for 20$ ill have them do it and insist on watching. Again, I really don’t know how old anything is on the car. The plugs for sure are good. The wires don’t have any cracks in them, but you can read 4 out of the 5 words written on them, I'm assuming they are okay. The belt is bad, I know that because I noticed cracks on the inside of it. That is the only belt that I know of. As for the TCC I haven’t messed with it. If I don’t know what it does, or how it works, I stay away from it. I think that’s what was going wrong on my brother old 240sx, it was auto, and it had the same symptoms that you explained about the TCC failing. Can I fix that my self? I’m not really too sure about my mpg, but I do know that my gauges are messed up, (I only have 2 by the way, speedometer, and fuel-o-meter). I know that’s its normal that when I take a turn the fuel gauge will go up and down. But the speedometer keeps going up even after I accelerate, so I really don’t know if I’m speeding some times, like sometimes when I’m getting on the high way, I find my self going 60ish on the on ramp, and when I ease of the accelerator, the needle keeps going up(or down really). Maybe it’s just because it’s an old car. None of the other cars that I drove ever did that. But, when I do accelerate hard, (not WOT) I can see my fuel going down....Which is very aggravating.

The fuel filter would possibly slow your car down a bit, as it would starve it for fuel, but it really would not help mpg unless someone can offer additional information to the contrary. A 3.1 SHOULD get 20+ mpg, but if your speedometer is fouled up, then I do not know what else to add other than what I said before. GM guages are notorious for being off or having alot of movement when low of gas. What you are probably seeing is the guage dropping a lot when it is say, around 1/2, 1/3 or a tank or so, than it drops a lot when you really punch it. I have found that on most GM tanks when the guage shows 1/2 a tank, you really have 1/4 or so, and the guages bounce around a lot. On my Blazer I get 325 miles to a tank, over 1/2 on the first 1/4-1/3, then the guage drops quickly. Ditto on our Corsica. On the TCC you would be hard pressed to replace it on Corsicas. Ours is out and I have chosen to leave it that way for now. The part is cheap but difficult to replace where GM put it. Most transmission shops are less than thrilled to change one. Anyway, yours is probaly OK. Might want to pull the filter box anyway sometime down the road just to see if the plug is in or out. No big deal. Since you cannot tell what your gas milage is now, I can't advise doing a whole lot of anything. You do not have a temp guage, so if your heater puts out good heat the thermostat is most likely OK. Belts will get a small amount of cracking with normal use, but I always change them when I can see cracks of any type as a precaution. Might want to investigate that speedo guage, though, as you can get a ticket if you are not careful.

The fuel filter would possibly slow your car down a bit, as it would starve it for fuel, but it really would not help mpg unless someone can offer additional information to the contrary. A 3.1 SHOULD get 20+ mpg, but if your speedometer is fouled up, then I do not know what else to add other than what I said before. GM guages are notorious for being off or having alot of movement when low of gas. What you are probably seeing is the guage dropping a lot when it is say, around 1/2, 1/3 or a tank or so, than it drops a lot when you really punch it. I have found that on most GM tanks when the guage shows 1/2 a tank, you really have 1/4 or so, and the guages bounce around a lot. On my Blazer I get 325 miles to a tank, over 1/2 on the first 1/4-1/3, then the guage drops quickly. Ditto on our Corsica. On the TCC you would be hard pressed to replace it on Corsicas. Ours is out and I have chosen to leave it that way for now. The part is cheap but difficult to replace where GM put it. Most transmission shops are less than thrilled to change one. Anyway, yours is probaly OK. Might want to pull the filter box anyway sometime down the road just to see if the plug is in or out. No big deal. Since you cannot tell what your gas milage is now, I can't advise doing a whole lot of anything. You do not have a temp guage, so if your heater puts out good heat the thermostat is most likely OK. Belts will get a small amount of cracking with normal use, but I always change them when I can see cracks of any type as a precaution. Might want to investigate that speedo guage, though, as you can get a ticket if you are not careful. Anyway, keep your car tuned, clean filters, change the oil every 3K and they are wonderful cars. They do break, but are fairly easy to fix.

I have something against the little hole that the air intake box breath's from. I was thinking of coming up with a custom box fitting, which will redirect the mouth of the box, to the front grill, instead behind the left headlight to maybe get a "ram air" feel. But that will be done in the summer. Any who, maybe when I have some money, ill fill up my tank, and drive around till its empty, and the find the difference in the mileage, since I don’t have a trip miles thingy. Something is wrong though, suddenly after I filed up the tiers, and put fuel in, I started the car fine, but it feels so heavy, and my steering wheel seems heavy too, I'm thinking it’s the power steering, but I don’t know how to check that. Or maybe it’s the power steering pump that bad, or something I’m not too sure. Do you think the fuel injectors have anything to do with the poor mileage? I think the next time i have less than a 1/4 tank left, ima buy like 2 injector cleaner stuff, and dump them in with the little fuel i have. Then drive it hard on the high way. I'll have some fuel in the trunk incase I run out.

Might want to get a cold air intake kit, plenty on Ebay. I have one on my 93 Blazer, looks good and better than my old setup. Would get that later though. Check your fluid level in your power steering pump and d/c belt. The steering(rack and pinion assy) may be leaking a bit. Can add some stop leak if that is the case until you can get it fixed.

I looked, I don’t think they make them for Corsica’s, and I don't know what is good and what is bad when it comes to fluid levels. I know that the car needs an alignment, because when the wheel is straight, the car turns to the left, and were is this D\C belt located?

No, I meant to double check the belt. If the steering is hard is usually means low on fluid, bad pump, or belt is broken. Of course, if that happened car would overheat and a lot more. You can get cold air intakes cheap, but would not advise that until car is totally brought up to date on maintenance and money situation improves. I see them on Ebay quite often. There is a mark on your power steering unit on the cap that shows where fluid level should be. If it is low it usually make a loud racket as well. Probably the first thing you should do is invest 12-15 bucks in a Haynes manual. Shows you most all of this, quite handy if you plan to work on car yourself. Can also pick a GM service manaul on Ebay for your car fairly cheap as well.

Haynes Manual, got it

I got the car on a lift today, and wow, it is rusty. I saw my fuel filter; I think I could reach it with out a jack. I also changed my oil. I cleaned my engine bay w/ some degreaser and rinsed it out. And when I went to check my power steering, I noticed the cap was busted. Yeah there’s a little metal part under the cap that fell into the fluid. I fixed that temporarily. Car needs lotsa things, serpentine belt, front tiers, injectors, front brakes (pads rotors calipers), rear brakes + new E-brake line, gaskets, transmission flush I think, new TCC, power steering cap, and plug wires. That’s all that I know of that needs to be replaced. For now, I'm going to buy a serpentine belt, and see what’s needed to put it on. Other than that, I don’t know what else to do this thing until I get a job.

Sounds like the TCC must have been unhooked. If so, no mad rush, but the garage that does this SHOULD flush the transaxle. In fact, most will insist on it since crap in the fluid will cause the new TCC to fail too. Brakes are not a lot of money, another good thing about Corsicas. They tend to go thru front pads fairly quick, but rear ones rarely. Since the front ones do most of the work, be sure to get them fixed first.

Update!!!

My coolant is freaking me out. The other day it was really cold out, and when I started the car up, the coolant light came on, that night I checked the coolant, and it was brownish. Next morning when I was all ready to flush the radiator n stuff, I noticed the coolant was a healthy green. I though nothing of it, I though maybe cause I checked it at night, it looked that way. But tonight, I went to check my condenser, and Walla! There it was the brown coolant again! So I feel a flush coming on pretty soon. My question is, is coolant supposed to get brown? That was after like only 2 - 3 miles of city driving. Out side was about 48F. Also, what do I with coolant after I'm done flushing it?

Coolant should never be brown. Two possibilties, the first is some "stop leak" has been added, some will pool up in the coolant box after a while and will be brown in color. Bars Leaks does this every time. Best to flush it. Second is oil in coolant which is major problem. Check your oil to see if there is any odd color to it, like a milkish type. The coolant light comes on when the level in the radiator itself is low, not the coolant box. Be sure to check the radiator itself, and monitor your fluid level for a while. Could be you have a leak, and perhaps some stop leak was added some time back before you got the car. Common problem with leaks. In our state we cannot dispose of used coolant, no one will take it except for hazardous waste companies. Best to pay fifty bucks or so and have this done elsewhere for a number of reasons, disposal being the main one.

brown coolant is an indication of a blown headgasket.

piece of *$%@, today I try to jack the car up, to rotate my tiers right, CRUNCH CRUNCH said my frame, yeah that’s right, it was breaking and bending, because this car is all rusted period So I figured screw the wheels, and I start on my belt. I get to the tensioner and walla, it comes right off, but the bitch part was putting it back on... I don’t know what I did wrong, but when I took it off, the only thing that moved on it was the pulley. But it had a springing noise in it. So there I was all like wtf is going on here, why cant I put this thing back on, until it decides to hatch open...and everything falls out, the blue spring that in there, and all this gunk. I tried putting it back together, but no cigar. To make my day better, it was raining after the tensioner broke, and autozone people gave me the wrong belt, so I didn’t know what to do, since I couldn’t drive there and return it. Luckily for me, I discovered an auto parts store right in front of my house, like no joke a 1 min walk away. And I bought a belt there for some 16bucks. The reseat said that it retail value for it was 34, but I got for 15, so I was wondering if I got a good deal or not. Then I went back there for a GM tensinoer, but they were closed. As for the coolant, screw it, the car runs, with no problem. I think I'm going to trade it in the summer time. This car makes me thing twice before wanting to buy a 1991 MR2 just because all the rust that it has, and I don’t want my MR2 to be rusty...
Thanks for all the help

lol your frame broke?.. thats what happen to my cavalier after I sold it

Hold up first. Take some time and read the manual first. two things, one you do NOT take off the tensioner to replace the belt. All you do it put a tool ie. a large
wrench or belt tool and take the tension off the belt, just enough to slide it off. Let the tensioner go back into position until you have the new belt routed. Take care to be sure it is on ALL pullies but the alternator. It goes on there last. Then pull up ( with a lot of force) on the tensioner and slide the belt on the alternator pulley. Unless the tensioner is totally broken you should be able to put it back together. If not, well, maybe it was poohing out anyway. Won't have to replace it again. A good belt for this car runs a flat twenty bucks at NAPA, an OK one runs 15-17. A cheapo runs 10-12 and won't last squat. As for the frame, there is only a very small area you can put a jack under the car, right along the front under the front fender area(actually the rear of the front fender). if you put it anywhere else you will bend metal. This is outlined in book. I would be more conerned on the brown fluid in your cooling system. If you have a blown head gasket or cracked head you won't be driving very long. Ask about whether the cooling system has any stop leak put in it, (especially Bars Stop Leak) and check your oil for milky color. Where was the brown fluid anyway, the radiator or the overflow tank? have you checked the fluid in the radiator? Let us know.

i think i got this, i just need that damn tool...

Most of the tensioners have a "squared off" area at the tip of them. I find it is easier to use a large pair of vise grips or a large wrench to hold the tensioner. Just be carefule when putting the belt on the alternator. Do not get your fingers under the belt just in case the tool slips off. Does that sometimes regardless of what you use.

It is on, and I am cold. The car runs, I used a 19 mm wrench instead of the tool, and it worked nice. Dumb me, I didn’t know how tensioner worked, other wise it woulda been a one day thing. But I'm happy and disappointed. happy cause I did my first belt replacement (tensoner replacement too) at the age of 17 =) disappointed because after I let the car run for about 10 min, the alternator starts to make a clunk clunk noise...so I don’t know what that is. About the coolant, as soon as I can get a picture of what it looks like, ill post it up, but for now, here’s a pic of two tnesioners
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5421/imgp00043dk.jpg

You don't even want to here this... The weakest point on a Corsica is the alternator. I just replaced the entire cooling system (radiator, water pump, ALL hoses, belt, thermostat, sensor) and the blasted alternator went out a month later. Replaced that, then the heater fan died. So for the third time I had to remove the belt and remove the alternator for the second time in a very short time period. Really a pisser. Watch the alternator. A new tensioner can add some strain and your alternator might just be ready to fail due to bearrings. A lot of heat in the area of the alternator. I get no more than 3 years on rebuilt ones. We have had this car (91, V6) since new.

okay, so far I put about 180$ in this car, Belt 17 , tensioner 50, power steering cap was 22 dollars, what a rip, air filter 11, oil change 53, front speakers were 30, there are so many other things on there that are ready to go. I tested my alternator, the screw driver magnet test, it seems fine, but I don’t know what could be causing the noise. Maybe it’s the new belt, or pulley being rough on it . I will not put more than 400$ into this car. Next is the E-brake line, and after that its brakes n tiers, then I'm done, until I get a job.

Did you say 53 dollars for an oil change??? Unless you used synthetic oil that is HIGH. yes, 22 bucks for a cap stinks, but some parts are high. Be watchful on that alternator. What happens on these cars is that due to a design issue the alternator gets a LOT of heat. The 91 my son now drives had the bearrings fail, badly and it shorted out. Made a hellava racket. He was able to drive it home and while it stopped working it would turn. I had an old 89 Oldsmobile that actually LOCKED UP while I was sitting in traffic. Would not break loose, stalled car. Had to push the POS off the road, walk to parts place (lucky was only a few blocks) and then install it right there with minimal tools. A real pain in the rear! On my 91 it too locked up, but broke loose when he restarted it. A new tensioner has stronger tension and an old alternator or water pump may show it's hind end after putting one in. On an older car you are best to plan to spend (or save) fifty bucks a month to maintain it. Never know what will go, or when you will need new tires etc. They are still good cars, but a 15 year old car will require regular maintenance and money. Still beats the heck out of a car payment. I hope your alternator does not go out, but they should never make loud noises. If it stalls and you smell rubber or smoke after restarting it shut if off and check it out. Good luck. I know I have hit you with a lot of crap here.

Good news alternator bearings are fine. It seems to be something else that making that noise. I found out a new trick that’s kind of old. Using a flat head screwdriver, I put the flat end on the alternator, and I put my ear to the butt of the screwdriver. Its sounds dumb, but I could hear just about everything that’s going on in there. I tried it on my intake manifold, and I could hear the air coming in, it’s pretty neat. Bad news, I can’t get my front wheels off.

Well pretty much the only things that will make a noise are usually the alternator, tensioner, power steering pump, or water pump. Kind of watch it for leaks, power steering pump can make a lot of noise as will water pump. Ours pump was not leaking but make a racket. As for the tires, most of the time they are put on by an air ratchet and over tightened sometimes. I find that on occasion I have to use a "cheater", which is usually a 2-3ft pc of 3/4" pipe to add power to break the lugs loose. Spray some WD40 on them too and let em sit for a while first. If all else fails, take it to a garage and have them do it. If you are just rotating them they should only charge you 10-15 bucks. If you have the re balanced it is more.

Update. Good news, I got my speakers, yeah they’re nothing special, just some 4 inch pioneers, they sound really nice though, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t figure out which wire is negative and which wire is positive coming from the car. One side had gray and orange, and the other bright green and dark green. I just ended up testing if they work both ways, which they did, so I just hooked them w/e style. I left the covers off of them, since they look kind of cooler. Bad news, last night, and this morning, my front left brakes locked up, causing the car to go side ways... when I was only traveling like 15 mph, and I was slowing down for a lousy speed bump. I'm not sure what is going on, but I think it’s going to do it again tomorrow. I checked out the rotor, and it had rust marks on it, but they wiped right off. I also had a question. Is it bad to have my splash guard off? Because I took it off to get to my tensioner, and I haven’t had the time to put it back on, but it rained like hell today (oxymoron?) and I think water went all up in there. How do I get pics on here?

Brakes locking up like that are usually a result of a sticky or damaged caliper. A bad brake hose will cause them brakes to lock up but usually will stay locked up. You might get by by cleaning and lubing the calipers, and your hoses can be tested by removing and seeing if air can be blown thru them. If they are cracked (hoses) replace them. You might want to refer to your manual on this stuff, or take it somewhere to be checked. Rusty rotors will cause them to grab and I have seen our 91 lock up the rear drum brakes on wet mornings but a caliper sticking could be dangerous. I do not want you to waste money but you might be best to replace the calipers, rotors, hoses, and pads to get a good brake setup. How long has it done this and did it keep doing it? Are thr rotors smooth or gouged?

Yes, it was a wet morning, and um, no, the rotors are smooth, they don’t seem to have any dents or anything on them. It only does it like when I brake for the first 3 times, and then it stops. It started about 4 days ago, that was the first time. I can’t really do much, because I still have to get my wheels taken off at a shop or something.

Finally I got new front tiers. Next up, is an alignment so the tiers don’t go bad...