The Bird Is Dead! :(

ROCSC

Registered User
I was drivin on the highway today doing about 110-120KM/H, RPM was about 2700.Everything was runnin smooth until the RPM gauge dropped to 1000. Im still coastin at 110 but when I press the gas, the car will shake violently and the RPM aint movin from 1000.

It went away for a bit and then it came back and it didnt leave...

The top speed the bird gave was 40KM/H, if I pressed the gas pedal any further the car would start shakin like a bitch

I pulled over I saw a little steam coming from the rad, but no leaks. Temp gauge was perfectly fine but the tach meter is jumpin rapidly at one place.I reved it some more,and the I noticed the exhaust sound is louder than before.

Please dont tell me its the head gaskets...... :(
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me while driving at 80kms, was told to take the top part of my cam sensor off and clean the metalic pick-up, did so and it ran fine after that
 
I checked the oil and it looks fine
Im gonna try the cam sensor tomoorow hopefully thats the problem

thanks for yor quick reply Ill keep you posted
 
The cam sensor is only used by the EEC when the car is starting.

That sensor failing WOULD NOT cause the problem you are having.

What did the boost gauge read when you tried to give it gas?
 
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Bill:

It was in vacuum as I recall say at about 10 to 0 area

and the exhaust sound was getting louder as I pressed the gas.

Th car starts fine but it sounds like crap and when I rev it shakes like crazy.check engine light is not on
This thing has really got me scratchin my head!

Please help guys :(
 
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plugs

no engine light ....sorta has a fried plug ..sound to it ..wonder ...if it's fuel or spark ... first ..look for a loose wire ...pull one at a time ..the wires off the coil first ...listen for change in rpm ...to tell if there is spark.. to each one... while Idling... could be loose on spark plug ..[had a couple fall off before while driving ...when my motor mounts were shot] pain sometimes to get on and snapped ..
..as for fuel.. if it leaned out ..may of melted a plug ...and it's sort of firing ..but not across the gap you think ...last thing mechanical ..would be a broken rocker or valve spring ....seen this a lot on chevy small blocks....and Bill taught me this one ...in St Thomas .....a bent valve..... :eek: ..dave
 
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Thnaks for the info guys

I jus changed these plugs and wires abut 8-9 months ago!! can this really be the problem?

Im gonna check all this out regrdless on Sunday becaus ethats the only day I have free time on my hands. I just hope its something minor

Ill keep you posted

If anyone has anymore recommendations please reply

thnaks guys
 
I was asking about the boost gauge to see if you simply have clogged catalytic converters. This happened to me once, but the boost gauge pegs because of the massive backpressure. My exhaust did get louder in the days leading up to them clogging completely, and the drive symptoms are similar. I wouldn't assume it is a catastrophic problem until you rule out some simpler possibilities.

It is possible you are not firing in one or more cylinders, which could be plugs and wires, or a loss of compression in one cylinder. Head gaskets are possible, but the symptoms don't line up exactly. Check your overflow tank for bubbles while the car is running, just in case. Gaskets don't always leak both ways.

Let us know.
 
Just a thought....

I had a similar issue except if I remember correctly my check engine light did come on, but didn't stay on. The only code that came up was for an o2 sensor,so of course i gave it new ones. This didn't solve the problem. To make a long story short it ended up being a crank sensor issue. Not a bad sensor but a bent pully causing the sensor to read incorecly. Like i said, just a thought. Pretty easy to check. Just drop the plastic cover off your balancer. My sensor was almost cut in half by the time it gave me problems, and a drive out to the east coast. Good luck Dude.
 
UPDATE!!!!!

I drove it yesterday after it was sitting in my garage for a week

So Istarted it up and checked the coil pack to see if any cyclinders were not firing. All were firing when I was removing the wire from the coil pack.
It was driving okay as I drove it around the block. So idecided to drive it home in Brampton. It was going good until the problem started again.

I was restricted to doing 40km/h and the car started shaking. After driving for 5 minutes with my hazards on, the car was okay again and I was able to do 80km/h with no problems

WHAT THE HELL IS WRoNg with this thing??
Please can soemone provide some more suggestions.

Thnaks in advance

Roc
 
Check your battery terminals......seriously. I had a HUGE problem with the Capri years ago. It turned out to be nothing more than corroded battery terminals. I cleaned both of the posts on the battery and both of the cable clamps. After a while the problem came back, so I cleaned all the other connections coming from the battery and all has been well. Having a bad ground can cause more problems than you think, and with worse conditions than you could imagine. The car would "idle" sporadically between 700-1500 rpm (sounded like hitting a rev limiter), car would drive the same way. Couldn't drive faster than about 50 kph........hey, sounds like your problem.

I'm not saying this IS your cars' problem, but, at the very least, it sounds like an electrical problem more than that which concerns air or fuel. Take some time to check every sensor you can. UNPLUG it, look inside BOTH of the connectors (male and female sides) and plug them back together - sometimes the pins get corrosion on them that you can't see unless you look for it - and sometimes that's all it takes to find/fix the problem. This is why some people use grease on the connectors (most commonly used on spark plug wires).

Try those and see what you get. Don't forget the infamous "wiggle test".
 
Rocky,

I saw your message under the other thread. I wish I had the perfect solution for you, but to be honest I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said here.

Have you checked/tried all this stuff?

Regards,

Sean
 
Check your DIS. My car did the same thing when it went out. It worked sometimes and ran like crap others. Check connectors and re-do the heat sink compound. If that still doesn't fix it, try swapping with a known good one. Either way that was the exact problem I was having when mine went bad.

Best of luck to you.
 
I have tried all of teh above recomendations the battery terminals are fine

Guess i gotta go through all of those sensors and see if I can find it

Thanks for your help guys
Ill keep you posted
 
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