New, kinda old, Car!

[Fierc3 Kid]

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?

[timmytoolman]

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

[jsgold]

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.

[G-man422]

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

[rhynes]

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...

[Fierc3 Kid]

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?

[dewaynep]

When was the last time the fuel filter was changed?

[Fierc3 Kid]

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.

[jsgold]

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.

[Fierc3 Kid]

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.

[jsgold]

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.

[Fierc3 Kid]

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 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?

[Fierc3 Kid]

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?

[Fierc3 Kid]

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.

[jsgold]

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?