91 Camaro: Update

[camarobuyer86]

Ive had the car a week.  Friday: I had new hood shocks put on.  The guy who did the hood shocks told me I needed a new muffler and tailpipe (I was saying theres an exhaust leak.)
I went to my regular mechanic on Saturday:  He said its not ready yet for a new muffler and tailpipe.  My mechanic said give it another ten months. that I dont need one yet.  Im still not sure if I have exhaust leak or not.  I might need my air intake looked at.  If Im an idiot, tell me, but I havent been running the air conditioning, because Ive been afraid the AC draws exhaust into the passenger compartment.    ANYWAYS: I was detecting a dirty-oil smell. Which someone said might be a little oil leakage out of the valves, I think?  BOTTOMLINE on that:  The car had filthy oil.  If it smells like dirty oil, you probably have dirty oil.  My mechanic did an oil change and put a new serpentine belt in it. You would think these used car dealers could spend a few bucks on some new oil.  But thats asking for too much.   He also put some more coolant in my car. I should be running fine.  Till I get a tuneup job later this year.  It idles a little rough at times.  The oil pressure was up for a few days.  Today the oil pressure was back down to where it should be at idle.   ....My mechanic put heavy grade oil in the car.  A friend of mine says I dont want heavy oil.  He says heavy oil wont get up into the small crevices of the valves and so forth. what do you guys think?

[ericthejet]

Check your owner's manual for oil specs.  If you have a lot of milage on the car some oils are designed for higher milage engines.  I think your Camaro runs 10w30 or 40.  You may find a sticker on the inside of the hood with oil specs. on it as well.  You can also consult your local GM dealership or a Camaro club.

[Sterling]

Exhaust leaks are nothing to screw around with. I'm amused that your mechanic can determine down to the month when you'll need a new muffler. Either it has a hole in it or it doesn't. If you believe that this guy can tell that it will have a hole in it in 10 months I would just get it fixed now and be done with it. After all what if he is wrong and it needs it in 2 months? Or 2 days?

[barrie1]

I get the feeling you are loosing oil at the passenger side rear of the Valve covers. Thats why you smell it in the airconditioning side of the car. Its burning off on the exhaust manifold at the rear,common area. A $20. to $30. set of gaskets will solve this problem if installed correctly. I am supecting the oil Grade to be in the 5w30 or 10w30 range on this engine. If you are smelling exhaust fumes then you do have a leak starting. Save some extra money and do the exhaust over in stainless when you do the work. Its not as expensive as you think and will permantly fix this forever.  Dual exhaust gives you more power if you already don't have it.  

[camarobuyer86]

The things Im learning are: exhaust leak is a possible exhaust manifold gasket that is bad.   My mechanic says a cracked exhaust manifold would have given off a cracking sound.  And of course the donut ring where the exhaust ring connects to the engine was mentioned.  What kind of money does a shop charge if it changes out an exhaust manifold? (I think the exhaust manifold is around $80 for the part.)  How much usually to change just the gasket??

[barrie1]

The gasket itself is around $1.00 but the labour depends on how bad it is to get the studs out of the manifold to undue the cross-over pipe Sometimes the studs break and become a bugbear. If they come out all right then the bill should be around $50. to $60. for this repair. If they change out the exhaust manifold then they may have to undue the motormount to roll the engine over slightly to undue the bolts. That will take around 2-3 hours shop time.  

[camarobuyer86]

If they have to change the exhaust manifold, then sounds like around $250.  it is what it is.  Tonight I deposited a christmas gift at the BAnk ATM, and dropped off my car in front of the mechanics shop.  He looked at the muffler when I said I thought I needed a muffler, but he really didnt look for the exhaust leak.  He'll see my car parked there when he opens, and he'll see my note I put in the mail slot.  STRANGE THING:  I said it idles a little rough; The car stalled when I was backing up to park it close to the curb at the mechanic.

[barrie1]

They will check the plugs and wires for milage 1st and look from there. All chevy V8's have a lump to them at idol and do run a little rough at times as well. It should not be stalling on you tho.

[camarobuyer86]

stalling doesnt concern me too much though.  My mother bought a Plymouth Duster new in the early 70s, and it had a tendency to stall.  But she drove it all the way thru to 1979 or 1980.   In the later years she owned it, she was doing long highway trips with it.  She sold it to my uncle, who bought it for my cousin.  My cousin didnt keep it long.  They thought it was funny that the car died, but the car had some life left, if it had gotten some work at a garage.  In 79 or 80 my mother bought a LeBAron.  The 79 Lebaron was a nice car.  It was a nice fuul-sized car like the 70s T0-Bird.  In mint green she bought it.  Nice car.  year or two later she traded it in for one of those Airies K-cars.  85 or 86 she bought the Camaro.  The camaro acually has similar styling to the Duster.  Then in 95, she got the Lincoln Mark VIII.  The Mark VIII must be ten years old now or close to it, and it has hardly any miles on it.

[Brigitte]

Camaro - You must be Barrie's new best friend!  

Brigitte

[camarobuyer86]

My Mechanic did the exhaust today.  New Muffler, new piping, and new tail-pipes.  $210 american dollars.  Total costs thus far: $2400 american dollars purchase price.  PLUS $120 tax. PLUS $75 tag transfer fee.  PLUS $200 dealer fee.  PLUS $90 oil, coolant and belt.  PLUS $120 hood shocks.  PLUS $210 exhaust.  Total: $3,200.00!  Im not complaining. runs good.  nice looking car.

[barrie1]

Which engine does it have and is it an automatic or standard. We don't see too many of them up here at the moment so tell of more on it please.

[camarobuyer86]

3.1 V6 automatic.   I like the power of the V6.  its enough for me.   I like the manual windows.  Im tired of power windows breaking down.

[barrie1]

I have one of those engines in the family. Very good little motor that will serve you very well. Lots of power for the weight of the car. I am sure you will enjoy this for many years.

[Sterling]

$3200US = $4000CAN

You must really like Camaros.

[camarobuyer86]

I like Camaros, but its not about being a crazy nut for Camaros.  I needed a decent car.  $2400 American is going to buy a much better car than a roadside jalopy for $900.   Keep in mind, if I bought a piece of crap for $1000, it might need some serious work.  My camaro runs pretty decent.  $2400 is not a lot.  $400 on top of that was tax tag and fees. The other $400, that brings it to $3200, keep in mind, is maintenance I just did.   oil, coolant, belt, replace rusting muffler:  these are normal expenses on any car.   $119 for hood shocks?  hood shocks go bad.   Chevy could have gone with a simple support rod in the hole design, but oh well.   Do I understand correctly, you're saying you dont like camaros???  Im not saying a got a cheap deal.  Im not saying I overpaid.  what im saying is I got a good decent used Camaro, and with extra work I had done on it, Im still within $400 of the NADA book price for a 91 Camaro.  I havent had the brakes looked at yet, so thats the next step.  There is a slight squeak developing, but to have the brakes bled and refilled, and have new shoes put on, thats a normal job that will cost me about $70 for two wheels, and then I'll bring it back for the other two wheels.

[barrie1]

Most of us like the older Camaro's but we don't see too many around here anymore. Right now with our current winter they are not the best in the Snow. We had over a foot in 6 hours 2 days ago  so they are more of a Summer Car here then in your area.  I like them with Monster V8's in them quite a bit.

[camarobuyer86]

I cant imagine having the extra expenses in winter.  I swear Im glad im in the south.  Im in florida, where lot of new yorkers settle.  the joke down here is that to get to the deep south you have to go north.