Cross your fingers for me, please

Well, went out this morning and my car won't run. It's not getting any fuel. So I just went and bought a fuel filter for it and will change it. And yes, have to do this myself as I'm the only one that's mechanically inclined around here........LOL
So keep your fingers crossed that this will do it as if it's the fuel pump, then I have to tow it someplace to get it fixed. I can't do that one myself........lol

here I go.........

Oh, drat, I hate to have to work on my car. But I have total confidence in your ability, because you do so many things without thinking it's a man thing. I hope you took Jim along and let him watch so he can learn a bit about what's under the hood.

One of my cars has two filters, and one is in such a tight place, it requires a contortionist to remove it. I pray, yes, pray, that yours is easier. Will be watching to see if you were successful, but I just know you will be.

Good grief, you German lasses know some stuff.

Yet another reason you need to move to GA! So you can help me work on my car!
Mine is on the blink now too, and I hate being stranded at home all the time. Always have to wait until dh comes home in the evening if I need to make a quick trip to the store.
Sure do wish I could fix mine!

When it gets hot, you can crank it, but it once you put it in Drive or Reverse it goes dead! :(
If I could just get it running good enough, I would take it and swap it in for something else! Wouldn't look too good if I had to have a tow truck to pull it out of the dealerships parking lot! LOL

Wishing you ALL the luck you need to get it up and running again.

Molly, have you looked at the fuel pump? It might not be moving the fuel well enough to power the car into motion.

Flow...if it has an electric fuel pump, be sure to check the fuse. Hopefully you can get out of it for the price of a fuse, and not a pump.

Actually dh replaced the fuel filter not too long ago, but I am thinking it might have 2 filters instead of one.
But if it does have 2 the other one will probably be inside the gas tank. Meaning that would be more hard to deal with!
I guess that's what I get for having a 95 Grand Am!

Well, aren't you the sporty one!

Susan, how did it go? Are you test driving it? I need to know before I shut down here.

Yep its been about 1 hour, she should be test driving it right about now.
Looking to hear the update.

I've got a major headache as my eyes have been crossed for some time now Susan. Fuse, Fuel Filter or Fuel Pump? Is it now a hummer? DH is an auto engine wiz, so let us know what problems there still may be and I'll do my best to get you an answer.

O but Dea, I have major problems with my car!!
Wish your dh could help me fix mine!
Being carless is awful!!!

Susan, my fingers are crossed.

Susan can't get the banjo bolt loose, so she can't get to the filter. Some friend came by and took the vacuum box apart, put it together and didn't do something right, so then she had no power. Then the radio came on, but the windows didn't work. She has tried to start it so many times, there's no gas left in the lines. But if she can survive till Tuesday, she can take it to a shop where she has done some computer work for them and they will help her.

Sorry Dear Molly - DH says if your 95 Trans Am is automatic, definately sounds like a bad compressor, unless of course it's just a loose connection of some kind.

Dea, its a Grand Am, not a Trans Am...still would be the same thing??

It actually works and I can drive it, until the motor gets hot....then it starts acting up.
Does that still sound like the same problem??

mollybee, you need to check your thermostat first
take it off and put it in some boiling water, if it pops then it's good, if it doesn't pop then you need a new one. They are really cheap and easy to put on yourself. That's the first thing I would check. That would cause the car to overheat and shut off.

I on the other hand have a major problem here now and will have to wait until tuesday :(

Yes, I told him Grand Am - just had racier thoughts about you - LOL. Susan is correct about checking the therm first, but DH still insists sounds like a compression problem.

Susan - wish we lived closer and we'd come fix it up!

Thanks you two!
Now to find the thermostat! Isn't it like inside the radiator?

whoops...can't be the thermostat...that only governs it overheating. Mollybee, you said earlier you can get it started but when you put it in gear it won't go. Thermostat won't have anything to do with going.

If you have a carb on that motor that could be the problem. However, if you have fuel injectors, the heat could be affecting the injector unit (not really a pump, but similar).

Might want to look at it from that angle.

Wouldn't it be great to have a DG party at your house!? All of us DGer's swarming over that car...we'd getcha up and running in no time! And if Flow didn't have her's running by then, we'd drive to her place next!

not sure where yours is located but I guarantee you it's not in the radiator ;)

I got the snacks and the grease rags handy! Come on over! I'll be waiting! No need to bring any tools, just bring yourselves. Everything will be supplied, just need the elbow grease to get it running.

Thanks for the help, really. I sooooo want this car fixed and in a hurry!

Sounds like if I saved my money and just bought a few air line tickets, I'd be much better off getting it fixed. LOL

Dh is a dunce when it comes to cars..at least my car that is! Claims he is a "plumber" and knows nothing about cars!
Being carless in NO fun at all!

molly, go to a auto store like AutoZone or something, grab the repair manual, look up thermostat and look at the pictures of where it is. Don't buy the manual, just look at it right there, they shouldn't say much of anything. Then go home and do the test ;)

I had a 95 gran am and the thermostat is right on top of the motor. You don't have to go into anything. There is a cap, sort of like a radiator cap, and all you have to do is unscrew it and the thermostat is right there. The easiest car I ever owned to get to the thermostat. Hey send your husband to do some plumbing for me and I'll come and check the thermostat for you. I wouldn't be driving it with it overheating. You could ruin the motor.

Edited to add if you look at the water hose the cap should be easy to locate. It is right on top of the water hose. If I remember it is slightly to the right if you are standing in front of the car looking toward the back. I did have a lot of problems with the thermostat in that car for some reason.

This message was edited Saturday, Aug 30th 10:50 PM

see Molly, it's not hard to find :)

Cool Beans!!! I bet I can find it now!!

Thank you sooooo much!! Now I can't wait for daylight so I can go check it out!

you let me know how it went :)

O I will trust me!!
So if it pops its good and if it don't pop I'll need a new one?

yup, that means it's stuck if it doesn't pop open

Another way is to just remove the thermostat and see if it runs with out the trermostat with out getting hot. The theremostat doesn't cost that much and needs to be replaced ever so often anyway so I would just get a new one and replace it. Probable less than $10.

I can't thank you enough Jim!
If Dh wasn't so busy plumbing, I would send him on over :)

I really need ya'll to cross your fingers for me now LOL

Sorry to highjack your thread Susan 0:)

Got my fingers and toes and knees and eyes firmly crossed.

hee hee Thanks Aimee will need all the luck possible!

Don't ya just hate car trouble? I have such old vehicles that it is getting harder to find parts for them without special ordering those parts. sigh At least with the older ones you can find mechanics who know how to fix them and also don't need the specialized tools to deal with computers and such in them.

Molly and Susan, good luck with your vehicles. I have to take my own Datsun pickup to the muffler shop on Tuesday for a checkup on the loud noises that are eminating from that truck before a cop catches me.

Hey, Lani, did they ever find your truck and trailer that were MIA?

not yet. Thank you for asking though. In fact it is two trailers that are MIA. Plus my truck and two cars that belong to my friends who recommended this guy because he was living with them. Hope we find them soon as I need my truck and trailer to move stuff from my MIL's house to mine. This worry about where they are is not fun either!!!!

Doggone it, I was hoping you might have heard something since Tuesday when we chatted. That's got to be a yucky feeling, having something stolen like that. Hope you can recover them!

Molly, did you get it out yet?

If you guys are intent on fixing your cars and knowing where parts are, go to the library and check out the Chilton Auto Manuals. If it can be fixed by you, those books will sure show you how.

Chele, I have a repair manual for mine and I know exactly how to do it but the darn thing won't come off!!!!
It seems that that bolt has been there since the car's been made so after 11 years that sucker is just glued on.......lol
just keep your fingers crossed that this isn't going to cost a fortune to fix as we really can't afford too many extra bills right now ;)

WD 40 and a whack with a wrench?? LOL

LOL........believe me, I've tried about everything and it is stuck so before I break the darn thing off with brute strength, I'll have someone do it at a shop, that way if they break it, they have to fix it......lol