Cracked Head?

[red93gagt]

My sister called me in a panic the other day because her car broke down and she thought "Something Major" broke on it. She has a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with a 3300 V6. I know this is a GA forum, but I figured, hey, it has the same engine as a 92-93 GA, so what the hell? Anyways, she said that she was driving down the freeway and all of the sudden it felt like she hit something or drove over some rough road, except that she didn't. Then she said that all of the sudden, right after that happened, her temperature guage went all the way to the right, so she turned the heater on (we had to do this a couple of years ago when it was mysteriously overheating.) and she called her boyfriend and then she drove until she met up with him. She then shut her car off and now it wouldn't start anymore. She tells me all of this in about 5 seconds. (She talks really fast when she's upset about something.) So she thought that maybe it was low on coolant, so her and her boyfriend went to get coolant, without checking the coolant level in the first place. When they got back to the car, the coolant resevior was, as she said, "less than half full, but it wasn't empty or anything." Well I didn't know what to tell her other than she better start looking for a new car. That didn't help make her feel better. I told her she could try and start it with the gas pedal down, just for the hell of it. When she tried that, her car started, but she let off the gas pedal because it was redlining the rpms. when she let off the gas it died and wouldn't start again. So she ended up having it towed to her apartment building and that's where it's sitting right now. I'm just wondering what y'all think happened. This car has about 210,000 miles on it. But it came up from florida, so there isn't a spot of rust anywhere on it. Amazing. If anyone could help me out on this, I'd really appreciate it. She told me that her serpentine belt was still where it should be and intact.

Thank you so much
Kurtis
red93gagt

[graden]

could be something as minor as bad gas or water in the tank and one of the sensors not liking it very much. mabey the knock sensor. how long does the car sit between driving. mabey the gas has gone stale. I remeber when i left my car sitting for about 2 weeks and then fired it up it ran realy roughf until I put new gas in the car. Mabey some thing to start looking for. Expect the worst , hope for the best

[red93gagt]

She drove the car every day up until it overheated. After she shut it off, it wouldn't start again, except when she put the gas pedal to the floor. Then it started, but she let off the gas and it died again. I don't think it's fuel related though because she said that it was running fine up until it made the really loud noise and overheated. Also, she told me that she put gas in her car a couple of days before this all happened and she didn't have any problems with her car not running right. I don't know what to tell her. We're going to go and pick up her car this weekend and bring it to our house (to get the cd player out) and then it's going to the junk yard I think. Unless there is something that can be easily/cheaply repaired.

Thanks
Kurtis
red93gagt

[graden]

sounds like you and ruff might have the same problems. I think you 2 need to coverse. We can get to the bottom of this

[red93gagt]

Who do I need to talk to? Is there another post with a similar problem listed in it? I'll try searching.

Kurtis
red93gagt

[graden]

yah man ruff. in the thread need help in this section