Newbie needs help !

[Dank1]

Hi guys, I just bought my first Sable, an "87" GS 3.0 4 dr.. This car is beautiful, inside and out ( black ) and only has 70k on it, but on it's maiden voyage today ( bout 100 miles ) it ran like crap ! stalled at every light and when I finally made it onto the highway, it was like ridin a buckin bronc ! It coughed and sputtered and lurched, and bogged down bad on the slightest grade, I really wondered if I would make it back home !
This car has been sitting for about 5 weeks before I bought it and had been driven by an honest to goodness " little ole lady ", she passed away and I bought it from her daughter, who knew nothing about the car. I got it for a song and I'm prepared to put some $ and labor into it, i could just use some advice on where to start....I.E.... common issues w/ this model.
I put some injector cleaner in it today w/ a full tank of 93 octane, in the morn I'll spray the throttle body and change the plugs and wires along w/ a fuel filter ( big things ain't they ). Any other suggestions would be very welcome !
I understand from reading some posts here, that a tranny filter change would be in order also, as i have never flushed one, some direction as to how, would be great too. PM's are welcome ! Thanks, Dank.

[drdisque]

I wouldn't touch the tranny, they have a thing about barfing shortly after you service them. I'm guessing the main culprit of your problems is a vacuum leak

[Dank1]

Hi Doc, thanks for the tip on the tranny ! The problem has been resolved, here's the skinny:
I was changin the plugs and wires one at a time and the plugs showed alot of fouling ( hard to say when the last tune-up was ! ) as I got to the last plug wire, I pulled it off and the whole top half of the plug electrode came w/ it !! It had plainly been broken for some time as there was alot of crud between the halves. I finished the tune-up and changed the fuel filter ( had the factory one on it ) and I'm happy to say she's purring like a kitten !
I'm gonna do the struts next. This is the problem w/ these low miles "little old lady" cars, sometimes they have a complete lack of maintenance !

[Froze_Tread]

Little old granny cars are great cuz of their looks but they are not that great to buy unless u know how to bring them back up to snuff. These cars sit for extended periods of time and the gas tanks dont ever get emptied frequantly enough and still have the winter gas in the summer and vise versa so water, rust, and alchy build up in their. You can test the specific weight of the gas but easier since you dont have the equipment would be to just take a sample of the gas and let it sit for awhile in a clear jug and watch it seperate. We usuallly end up swapping gas tanks or at least flusshing them out and cleaning up the intake carb and flushing the fuel lines and replacing the fuel filter and usually end up replacing the fuel pump a little ways down the road. But glad to hear a simple tuneup fixed it but remember that crap is still in the tank id drain it. I do have a question though. How much did this thing cost you if you dont mind me asking. Oh yeah and carbon buildup yuk lol.