84 TR questions

[Goodyboy777]

First off I would like to say hello, I'm new to the boards and TR's all together. I have always had a love of the GN's since I was about 8 or so(now i'm 24). I recently have had the chance to buy an 84 T-Type. The guy is wanting 3800 for the car, body is in real good condition. Then only mechanical problem I have figured out is the Exhaust leak(not exactly sure which manifold it is coming from). He recently had to put on a new Electronic Ignition(ESB is on the top of the box I think). I started it up and it idles around 600 rpm and doesn't smoke during acceleration. THe only other problem I have see is it has a digital dash and it cycles from Standard to Metric measurements contstantly, almsot like a shuffleing. Does this sound like a problem? Could it just be the digital dash going out?

Also, It has a timing advance mounted in the center console. He told me it went like this

0- Won't Start
1- Valet Mode
2- Stock
3- mild upgrade
4-moderate upgrade
5-6 High

Please any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Goodyboy777]

Any thoughts? Or am I just rambling in incoherent babble...

 

[buickpower]

Welcome to the board,

The digital dashes have been known to have those types of problems, you can pay to have it sent in to someone (caspers electronics i think..) and modified to work better.

As far as exhaust leaks go, the headers have been known to crack with age. You can have them welded up with a gusset (triangular piece of metal) and that seems to work pretty well. Could also be from one of the crossover to header connections or the up pipe. Sealing the exhaust leaks is critical to getting a good tune on these cars.

How many miles does the car have, and does it have any other modifications? If you intend to buy the car, it is always recommended that you get a fuel pump and hotwire upgrade, because the stock one sucks. It is barely adequate and in it's old age may allow the car to lean out and pop a head gasket or worse. Also get a scan tool like a scanmaster so that you can read trouble codes and keep the engine in good tune.

Also it sounds like it has one of those thumbwheel chips. If you plan to drive the car before you get the fuel pump and scan tool, I would just keep it at a modest setting to be safe, maybe 3, and run good gas in it, until you can tell what state of tune the car is in and monitor knock. If you have too much timing and boost and not enough octane it is easy to knock under boost and do damage to the engine, so just be prudent and careful.

An excellent site about these turbo buicks is gnttype.org it tells all about these cars, the differences between the years of cars, history, and a TON of valuble tech info. Read all that you can on that site.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[Goodyboy777]

Thank you for the welcome on the board, sorry it has taken me so long to get back. I work out of town for 3-6 week periods sometimes. I pay the guy for the 84 Saturday. I'm really happy about getting the car. I do have a concern of a sticky/bent valve though. The car is loading up with fuel and idling pretty rough. I don't know if the "thumbwheel" chip is the problem. It really acts like timing though because when you get into boost the hesitation leaves. I have to go out of town Saturday afternoon from Arkansas to Vermont...I'll be back in about a month, I'll appreciate any replys while I am gone.

 

[buickpower]

sounds like a long haul. anyhow when you get the car do the spring cleaning on gnttype.org, you will have to adjust things like the throttle position sensor and reset the idle air control motor. having those misadjusted can cause driveability and rough running problems like you mentioned. also replace all of the vacuum lines and check for vacuum leaks by spraying carb cleaner all around the top of the motor and listen for it to rev up.

 

[Goodyboy777]

Ok, so I checked the compression it's good. So I got to looking into the spark plugs, the front cylinder plugs were caked on black carbon. I would say much more than normal. The other 4 looked to be in really good shape. I also unplugged the "Thumbwheel chip" and restored back to stock. That took a lot of the hesitation out if it, but the front two cylinders are really loading up with fuel still. I was going to run some injector cleaner or b-12 through the gas and see if it clears up anymore. I don't really understand the thumbwheel thing anyway. I'm going to talk to the guy today and see if he can give me some more information on it. I play on doing the spring cleaning as soon as I get back from VT. Anywho, keep the posts coming guys.

 

[buickpower]

it's possible that your front cylinders are stuck open or leaking badly, causing the fouling.