Here''s a nasty, almost impossible one to figure out for most novices, and for a few backyard experts, who fix things by replacing the whole electrical system from top to bottom, one piece at a time, till they happen to fix the problem... The first thing they do is change the plugs and air filter.. then the plug wires.. then the ignition module from a wrecker car.. then the O2 sensor if they can find it... Then they add expensive gas additives... Then they gets the engine scoped... By now it has cost them 30-hours, and 400 bucks.. and maybe the skin off a knuckle...

90''s''ish
GM 6 cyl 3.8 liter cars, like Buick, Olds, Chev.. runs horrid rough
like it''s missing on a cylinder.. and sometimes like it''s missing on
two cylinders is when stalls, and there''s the occasional soft clunk
sound just before it stalls... And sometimes it runs OK, but stalls at
stop lights...

One would think it''s the electronic ignition gone-bad.. or the modular ignition-coil has an intermittent, or it''s bad
spark plugs, or bad plug wires, or the MAP sensor is bad... Most
mechanics will tell you, "it''s the oxygen sensor needs replacing", and
that they need to scope your engine, for a cool 80-bucks, to track down the
problem...

You could scope it, and even change all those $800 in
parts, and still it''s doing it... You return it, and he takes a couple
minutes to tweak something near the flywheel, and everything is OK
now... He tells you a wire slipped-off during the repairs, but he has
fixed it so it can''t happen again, but if it does, bring it back, and he''ll fix it for free...

It''s the blades of the crank-sensor bumping against each other, forcing the sensor to continuously reset...

Look
down on the passenger side of the engine, at the front... There''s a
large pulley with aluminum teeth that spin over another set of aluminum
teeth... If a tooth got bent, and is touching the other teeth, it will
perpetually send the sensor''s settings back to zero, or max, causing
this horrid rough running glitch...

Start the car, and look underneath behind the headlight, at that pulley, to see if those blades are hitting...
Don''t
do what I saw last year... I was driving on main street, passing a side
street, when I sees a large driverless-car back out of a driveway,
pulling a guy caught partly under it all the way across the road.. till it went up over
the curb and stopped when it bumped into a tree... I bet he got one
nasty bit of road-rash... He probably had it running when he moved the
shift linkage from underneath the car... What a twit!..

Don''t be
a twit.. make it a Rule to NEVER ever let your hands get any closer
than a foot from any belt or pulley when it''s in motion... NEVER!

One stupid little mistake, and a belt and pulley can rip a finger clean Off in less than a second... I saw a guy''s hand that happened to... It removed all that finger''s knuckles... He''s still a twit...

For
this problem, hold the pully bolt with a visegrip, and use a small long wrench to tighten the sensor blades to
the pulley.. or bend the bad-ones so they don''t bump.. and suddenly the
engine is running smooth again...

What causes this it?
It might
be pressure washing that bends those thin aluminum blades... It could
happen from bumping the pulley with the tip of the pressure washer
wand.. or unwittingly, or wittingly, done by a sloppy or criminal
mechanic in the process of replacing a worn pulley belt...

Those
blades are made of too thin a metal.. and weak aluminum yet... When
they were made of steel this problem was very rare, but now it''s a
common complaint, and the aluminum makes it easy for a crooked mechanic
to cause just by loosening a couple tiny bolts on the pulley... And
when you brings the car back to him, in a few months, with that
problem, he tells you it needs new spark plugs, an oxygen sensor, and
the timing reset.. and he jimmy''s something else while he''s cleaning
dirty parts to make them look like they were changed... You pay the
$387.37 bill, and you got big time ripped-off yet again by that shady
mechanic.. till the new-thing he damaged shows in a few months, and you
are having your car towed to your favorite mechanic yet again... Once
he''s got you, he owns you... GET A SECOND OPINION, even if it costs a
few bucks.. especially if you are a babe...

If you use Canadian
Tire, be careful... I went into a Canadian Tire auto shop, and asked
"how much to have the front brakes done on my spitfire"... The chief
mechanic says, "UHhh-thirty seven dollars"... I gets the bill, and it''s
one hundred and thirty-seven dollars... I know what I heard him say..
and I watched his mouth as he said it... The Canadian Tire brake-job
lasted only 10-months... Canadian Tire is thht...

______________________________


Little
late model ford four cyl. cars have the almost same symptom, but it''s
the M.A.P. sensor plugged up.. and they aren''t serviceable like GM''s
m.a.p.''s are... Ford wants $1400 for one map-sensor, and it''s a special
order item, for what should be about 30 bucks... Those cars are
considered to be disposable-cars when that sensor goes... The junkyards
are full of them... No rust, no damage, just a bad 30 dollar sensor
that you can''t get for less than a grand... Ford deserves to go
bankrupt for bullying humanity so mean... A person buys one of those
little cars because it''s all they can afford... Ford is an....... um, "not nice"...
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