Recently my car, a 1999 Pontiac Bonneville, had to undergo a $1200 repair that involved replacing the head gasket, four of the spark plugs, a brake light, the oil, and the serpentine belt. Now, I'd think that the car would work perfectly after so much maintenance, but soon afterward, on comes the check-engine light AND the brake-light light, and the car more and more starts making a sound it would make when low on coolant or oil, a sound like a go-kart, puttering until it got over it, like a blockage or something, occasionally needing more and more gas to run at normal speeds.
Then yesterday on the way back from a car wash, all Hell broke loose. Just as I was pulling onto my street, the oil-pressure dropped to nothing, and the car chugged it's way to my driveway. My Old Man and I checked the car over. The oil level was fine, plenty of coolant, belt in place, lots of gas. Can't understand what the problem is. Tried to take it to pick up lunch today, and it was worse. The car went from its puttering to sounding like someone was hitting the engine block with a hammer every cycle, and now and then there was a horrible squealing noise. The car barely seemed to want to move at all after this. Oil pressure would only go up when I put on the gas, and only temporarily.
At this point the thing has terrified me. If I get it repaired, I'm getting it towed to the shop, because it probably won't make it there as it is. But till then, I honestly have no idea what in the living Hell has just become of my vehicle. Does this sound familiar to anyone, or else, does this sound like it pertains to anything specific in the car? Big problem? Easy fix? Completely boned? Please, someone let me know.
Seems like the hydrocoolantdofylix is broken :clint:
Did you put in the right type of gas?
I remember when I walked down the street where the gas station mixed up the gas and put diesel in the gasoline storage and vice versa. Someone with the same problem came driving by.
"The car went from its puttering to sounding like someone was hitting the engine block with a hammer every cycle"
Sounds like engine knocking to me.
[quote]Seems like the hydrocoolantdofylix is broken :clint:[/quote]
Is that a real thing, or are you joking?
[quote]Did you put in the right type of gas?
I remember when I walked down the street where the gas station mixed up the gas and put diesel in the gasoline storage and vice versa. Someone with the same problem came driving by. [/quote]
Not impossible I suppose, I did only get gas a couple days ago. Don't see why that would make my oil pressure sink into Hell though.
[quote]Sounds like engine knocking to me.[/quote]
Not the biggest car-guy...what I read says it's something about external combustion, but could you elaborate on what that entails?
I'm joking, of course.
I think it's the Gangle Pin
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvmfdtLnn10&annotation_id=annotation_432833&feature=iv[/media]
Whats the mileage like on it.
It's possible that the mechanic over tightened the valves constricting their movement until it bent a pushrod. But there should be no way in hell that any mechanic would fuck up something that simple and I'm only thinking that because of the knocking you mentioned.
The other thing I would check is your air intake which could be related to having to give the car more gas when it feels like it's choking.
In the worst situation your engine is hydro-locking from a poor head gasket installation or deterioration of the gasket from the coolant. My advice is just get it back to the mechanic and hopefully they won't try to bs you into paying for what they most likely broke or didn't entirely fix in the first place.
[QUOTE=J-Dude;23600962]
Not the biggest car-guy...what I read says it's something about external combustion, but could you elaborate on what that entails?[/QUOTE]
Unless it's a steam engine, chances are it's not external combustion.
It's when the fuel detonates instead of burning.
Hopefully more people from the car thread will come in here and share their opinions because I don't know as much about newer cars.
Car expert needed in here.
Ok sounds to me like a few things. Firstly is the knock a hard knock, or is it like a taping noise. I can't tell much without being there but there are 2 things that could cause a knock like you said.
Firstly, it sounds to me like a misadjustment of the valve train. This can cause the valves to stay open to long making the car run poorly. It can also cause the engine to bend the valve or the pushrods. The knocking you would likely hear in this case is the sound of a lifter knocking. But this also depends on the motor. I believe your engine has over head cams. Which means it would be a bent valve. Worst case scenario you have to replace the heads all together. Which is normally the cheapest because if the valve is it is likely the rockers are as well and the cam may have been damaged at the same time. It will be costly.
If it is a harder knock. Then it likely has to do with the crankshaft. Either the rod bearings or the crank bearings may have slipped. That would cause the squealing noise and a drop in oil pressure. This is the most expensive fix possible. The entire motor will need to be removed. Likely the crank will need replaced as well as any rods that may have been damaged in the process. All new bearings will need to be replaced. It might require a new shortblock. But they will likely put in an entire crate engine.
Let me just explain to you guys a bit about pontiacs based on my experience. Their engines are junk, there is no way around it. I have worked on them, I have had a few friends own them. One in particular is my uncle who has replaced the engine in his grand pre 3 times. They are not good cars, especially if you are someone who likes to hot rod around town.
[editline]11:44PM[/editline]
But as I said, I need to be there to listen to the noises and hear the car run to properly diagnose the problem. It could be a far less serious issue or it could be exactly as I said. It is very difficult to give mechanical advice over the internet/phone. Most diagnostic work needs to be done in person.
[editline]11:50PM[/editline]
I checked the blue book on your vehicle. A 1999 Pontiac Bonneville with 100,000 miles (average) is worth $3300 at best. If you have already sank $1200 into the car it is not worth another major repair. These cars are not worth much. Any repair over $500 at this point would no longer be beneficial. Currently you have already put more money into the car than it is worth. It is time to look for another vehicle. You are not going to get the money you have put into the car back out of it. Putting in more money is only going to hurt you.
My advice is to see what is wrong with the car. If it is another costly repair it is time to either try to sell it as it is, or send it to a salvage yard. You will only bury yourself further and it is not worth it.
You should walk outside with a camera, set the camera up on video, and start the car for ~10 seconds so we can hear what it sounds like. It's sounding like the mechanic fucked up.
its the flux capacitor
From what I can determine based on your description over the Internet, it sounds like perhaps your mechanic improperly installed your head gasket. This causes the pistons to slam into the cylinder head. That would be the hammer you are hearing. It is really easy to forget to throw the head gasket in (I did it myself).
I know jack shit about cars, but the first post, I agree with.
i think you might be out of headlight fluid
why would you spend $1,200 on repairs for a car like that
I'd go back to the place you got the repairs done on and ask them what the fuck they messed up. No way you should pay $1200 and deal with a problem like that, they likely broke something while fixing the car.
I agree with the above poster, if you're going to drop that much on a car over 10 years old you better make sure you get what you paid for.
Man I think your oil pump just stopped working, and maybe that is causing your problems maybe. Or you could have your header gasket missing.
Post it in the Cars thread next time
[QUOTE=rsa1988;23607443]Man I think your oil pump just stopped working, and maybe that is causing your problems maybe. Or you could have your header gasket missing.[/QUOTE]
Most likely the pump. He said that it didn't look like he lost any oil so the head gasket is likely fine.
Thanks for all the replies folks. Unfortunately, will721, to ME it sounds more like the hard knocking, like something heavy was going down under the hood. When I get the chance, I'll record the car with my HG20 though.
Damn shame to hear ol' Bonny isn't worth very much in her old age, but if I can get a bit more out of her, I will, within reason. It's the car I learned to drive on, and it still looks good after a nice car wash. Spacious and built like a small tank. I just hope I can prolong needing to search for a new car just a while longer.
[QUOTE=J-Dude;23609921]Thanks for all the replies folks. Unfortunately, will721, to ME it sounds more like the hard knocking, like something heavy was going down under the hood. When I get the chance, I'll record the car with my HG20 though.
Damn shame to hear ol' Bonny isn't worth very much in her old age, but if I can get a bit more out of her, I will, within reason. It's the car I learned to drive on, and it still looks good after a nice car wash. Spacious and built like a small tank. I just hope I can prolong needing to search for a new car just a while longer.[/QUOTE]
I know how you feel with it being your first car. I was the same way with mine. I poured money into it and just tried to keep it going. But trust me no matter how good it looks after a car wash, that doesn't mean its worth putting any large sum of money into. IF its a hard knock, I am sorry to say that it is likely a serious problem. I suggest you have it checked out and hope for the best.
To those of you who have said that it was the mechanics doing. I would like to assure you all that it is quite unlikely. Mechanics these days are not people working out of their home garages anymore. Proper certification is required just to get hired into most garages these days.
And for those of you who said anything about it being a head gasket. Most gaskets are idiot proof. Many only go on one way, or are clearly marked. A head gasket would not cause a hard knock. If it was put on wrong the worse case scenario is it does damage to the head by blocking oil passages. A piston WILL NOT hit the head, unless a rod broke and the motor was completely destroyed. The only way this problem could be caused by a head gasket is if you blocked nearly all oil passage to the heads starving them out. Which COULD cause the valve train to go dry. But if that were the case, the mechanics and the OP would have noticed that quite quickly from the terrible noises it would have made either in the garage or on the initial drive home.
Tow it to a mechanic and be ready to fork out cash.
Your engine is fucked. The oil pump probably went bang, you now have a knocking rod or a broken shell etc. You need a new engine. Sound like this? [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urcN6jbEnTI[/url]
Also what the hell is a serpentine belt? Do you mean timing belt?
oil pump wemt, you kept driving it starved of oil until you spun a bearing
good job brosef
[editline]09:21AM[/editline]
also take that 1200$ and buy yourself something nice, import 4bangers are bulletproof
Have you checked your headlight fluid?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.