My first post and it's a doozy

[Aspen500]

If you buy from a new or used car dealer, the dealer does the paperwork, title transfer, etc., and also gives you your new plates and month/year stickers. No trip to the dreaded DMV needed. Private sale, you go to the DMV (sigh), give them the signed off title, you pay license and registration fee (sales tax also of course). They give you the new title in your name, plates, stickers and,,,,,,,,,,,,that's pretty much it. If it's a bill of sale with no title, about the only added step is to have the police run the VIN to verify the car hasn't been reported stolen before going to the DMV to get it registered and titled.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

NY is odometer exempt after 10 years. Vermont used to let non residents register a car with no title and just a bill of sale if it was 15 years old or older, but people got stupid and ruined it for everyone else. You could get a title for a car that way. You could register it with no title, then apply for a Vermont title for a small fee later. Then take that title back to your own state and get a clean title in that state.

Buying a used car at a private sale is 100% buyer beware. But people usually don't screw people over in private sales because the whole knowing where the guy lives who sold you the car thing...

'Murica. Nobody wants a brick through their window

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Oh ok then no we are pretty similar, I don't see much difference except for being forced to purchase the Used vehicle package here and we are required to register it with a safety check.
You can register it without a safety check (I did with this car) just to have it registered and it gets tagged as "unfit/unplated for road. But in order to get plates it needs that safety check. As long as you bring that safety and proof of insurance it can be switched to plated and on the road.
Also where I am is right next to the Quebec border, kind of sucks because Quebec also needs a safety to plate their vehicles BUT its 1/3 as strict as Ontario. Issue being that if you buy a car in Quebec and try to register it in Ontario they are super strict and make you jump through more hoops.
Basically if you buy in Ontario you should be fine to at bare minimum register it. If you buy in Quebec you better have all your i dotted and T crossed because they get picky and will make it difficult. Plus that car better be in Ontario shape lol

I hear some provinces aren't as bad as Ontario though, my brother lives in BC and told me it was a simple ownership swap for any vehicle he has had there, even complained about Ontario process

 

[AMC Diplomat]

We get a 10 day temporary inspection sticker with our plates. A registration is a registration. There's no "unfit" version here. If you don't get it done in 10 days, you can keep driving it and get a ticket for an expired inspection. Inspections are $21

 

[Aspen500]

No inspections here, ever. Exception is commercial trucks over 10,000 GVRW (or is it 8,500 lbs?) which require an annual DOT inspection.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

The sellers package is nice to be able to see the history of the vehicle but you can't fully rely on the odometer reading because it's not always required and not tracked and people used to throw guesses at it when they were stuck having to report it and didn't have it ready. So sometimes you can see it jump all over the place. It's worse if it started as a US vehicle because sometimes it's reported in the miles it shows other times someone might have bothered to convert it to KM.

I don't mind the safety at least it forces you to make sure the car is safe. So many people would drive it as bought or their own half ass repairs and call it done.

We're near the Quebec border too. The cars from there aren't as bad as they used to be.

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

The UVP is a nice package, but being mandatory is silly. Or at least don't make us pay for it if it's going to be forced on us, my 2©.
Though I agree that safety's are, while still a pain in the ass, much needed. I too would rather know that my vehicle is safe. That said a lot of places still sell jimmy rigged vehicles and poor mans fixes are common.
Also "bum" safety's are still fairly common around here. Basically means that the person passes the vehicle safety inspection no matter what, sometimes not even seeing said vehicle. They just ask questions for whatever is needed for the paperwork and then sign off. Usually charge double or more for it 300-400$ vs typical 150$ for a legit safety

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Small update-
Still waiting on the choke thermostat to show up, so I can't comment on if that helps my morning starts or not yet.

Had to fix my driver window motor, the little plastic shims in the motor were almost disintegrated. Turns out you can get a kit that comes with the gear, shims and a few other odds and ends to fix them, about 20$. Much cheaper than a whole new motor or even a wrecker unit. Mind you I understand most people just throw ball bearings in to replace the shims.

The other picture is the amount of dirt/salt/rust and scaling that came out of the rear bumper. Spent an hour cleaning that out then rust treating the rear end.

And spent some time equalizing my rear brakes, used my digital caliper to make sure they were set even.

Just some busy work while I wait for parts to show up.

Steering question, I noticed my steering wheel seems to "bind up" it seems to be almost intermittent but mostly happens at slower speeds or when decelerating into a turn.
I noticed my P/S belt was a little loose, so I tightened that up, havnt driven it since because of work.
So in case that doesn't fix it, what else could it be and should I be worried?

When I say bind up, I mean that as I'm turning the wheel it will feel like it goes over a hump and gets slightly harder to turn, then "releases" and act normal again.

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Update-
I think the steering issue has something to do with the clock spring. I can hear a strange sound coming from the wheel when it happens and it quite literally just sounds like a wire grinding on itself for a moment or so and then it "snaps" off and steering is normal again. I know the clock spring is working, horn works. Wondering if it has to be adjusted somehow
...

Anyways I got the brand new choke thermostat, installed, adjusted and cold starts are a little better than before, quicker/smoother.
Readjusted the carb all around to make sure everything was where it should be and adjusted for the new thermostat.

Something is still off,
Fast idle on highest cam step set to 1600, no problem with that.

During warm up, if I step on the gas once rpm will drop to 1100-1200, second highest cam step no problem.

Step on it again a few moments later and I can watch the rpm gauge slide down to zero at a constant rate and the car sputters to a stall.
It's like it's skipping the other steps of the idle cam entirely.
Starts back up no problem and will idle fine till warm, and it does seem to be ready to drive off sooner than it used to.

NOW I sprayed carb clean in the mixture holes and the curb idle is sitting at 600-660rpm, when sitting at a stoplight. I like that, I don't feel the light stumble anymore when sitting.

I know all these adjustments are connected but geeze.

I sprayed around the carb with carb clean, and no rpm difference, sprayed around the intake, nothing, heads nothing.

When checking vacuum it was interesting, I connected to the vacuum tree behind the carb.

Adjusting my mixture screws I could see the difference happening on the gauge, I could see the needle moving up and down slightly. But the exact same behavior happened regardless of how high or low the vac was. It flutters.
At one point I had it at about 19vac but it would flutter from 17-19. Adjusting up or down mixture screws or idle screw would of course change the vac and how much it fluttered between (13-19 and anywhere from 2-5 flutter) but same behavior, no steady needle. So I disconnected the brake booster for fun and capped it, no difference, same behavior.
And sprayed around my vac lines no difference.

I did notice a sound, not a ping, but a light tick tick tick. It kind of comes and goes(or gets masked) with engine speed if I adjust idle or mixture.
I hate to say it, but I sounds like the timing chain is slapping around ever so lightly.
The sound doesn't seem to be coming from the top end, and the closer I get to the front of the motor the louder it gets. This sound just started recently, a few days ago at best

I think I'm stuck until i get time to change that chain. I'm wondering if the chain having slack is causing a lot of this. Slight lag on everything making all my adjustments be out of wack.

I have both timing chain/sprockets and water pump ready to go. It'll be my first time doing this so wish me luck lol

 

[Aspen500]

A loose chain won't help matters any. Usually a fluttering vacuum gauge is caused by leaking valves, but 17-19 isn't that bad. Of course a loose chain would cause a couple inches of flutter at idle. At idle the chain can make the cam "jump" when the valves open and close. Think if you turn a cam by gand, it'll turn hard when a valve is opening, and the snap ahead when it closes. That's why chain rattle is heard at idle speed. At higher rpm, the chain doesn't have time to get slack.

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

A loose chain won't help matters any. Usually a fluttering vacuum gauge is caused by leaking valves, but 17-19 isn't that bad. Of course a loose chain would cause a couple inches of flutter at idle. At idle the chain can make the cam "jump" when the valves open and close. Think if you turn a cam by gand, it'll turn hard when a valve is opening, and the snap ahead when it closes. That's why chain rattle is heard at idle speed. At higher rpm, the chain doesn't have time to get slack.

So I can probably assume that chain is at fault then. To be fair I was warned about it a lot so it's my own fault for not doing it sooner. Learning as I go, right. That will either be this week or next weekend.
Also I will have to do it in the car, I have an engine stand that was gifted. But I have no crane.
Just trying to wrap my head around this, so assuming my carb is fully working and properly adjusted.
Could one not hook up both vac gauge and timing light at the same time. Then time the motor to the highest vac while adjusting idle, rather than doing it all separately?

Let's say I'm 8°btdc, 750rpm idle, 13vac

Turn dizzy to 12btdc, cranks idle up to 1250rpm and 19vac
Adjust idle via screw back down to 750rpm and vac drops to 18
And keep going till you have the highest timing and vac while keeping idle where you want it

Make believe numbers of course but just wanna make sure I'm understanding how this works.

 

[69-]

Slowly, friend.

Tackle one by one, avoid intermixing problems.

Hard ticking sound at idle can also be exhaust manifold leak. To find out, take a 3ft (or so) garden hose, one side to your ear, the other end poking around in the engine compartment, including around exhaust manifold. You'll easily find the source.

If not, take a looong screwdriver (or alike, e.g. a hard stick), touch the grip end to your ear and touch metal inside the engine compartment. You'll hear the spinning bearings and such.

If all is running fine and quiet you can even hear the sparks.
At least at idle, it's only like 2 per second.

Vacuum - like Aspen500 said. 17-19 is pretty strong. Search.for VAC reading diagnose, helps a lot.

And don't tear things apart, before proper diagnosis has substantiated failing parts.

m

 

[Aspen500]

Like 69- said. I mentioned timing chain only as a possible cause. I don't remember if you mentioned how many miles, or KM in your case, were on the car. If the odo has rolled over, it's a good idea to replace the timing set anyways if it has a nylon toothed cam sprocket. Don't ask how I know this (twice), it can leave you walking at any time, usually when it's -20° or pouring rain. Nowdays of course, you call someone on a cell phone. When it happened to me, cell phones weren't even an idea in someone's head yet, he says showing his age, LOL

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

63,000 or 163,000 kilometers, impossible to know which unfortunately so probably best to change it either way, especially without any real known history on the car.

I have taken a long I believe it is steel pole that we have, and used that to listen, the sound is most pronounced on and around the timing cover/water pump area. Goes away when you give her throttle, and when driving I don't really hear it. Only when coming up to a stop or idling.
I don't hear anything out of place coming from elsewhere, although I don't hear any spark sound. Could be what I'm using to listen though. Sounds like rocker tick.

I've never heard of using a garden hose, that's an interesting one. I'll give it a shot but I don't think I have one that short around the house. I'm sure it doesn't just have to be garden hose, would a short small (roughly 2.5" across) PVC pipe work as well? May have some plumbing hose I could use too.

As for the vacuum, I get that 17-19 is good, it's the fact of its constant fluttering regardless of adjustment that concerns me. I've looked up multiple vac reading charts but none have this listed where it's only a 2-3" drop.
I can adjust it all I want with mixture and idle screws, I can widen the gap to 5-7" instead of the 2-3. But I can't eliminate that flutter, I tried for over an hour, idled away 1/4 tank of gas lol

At the same time I've tried googling this exact issue, scoured around here, spent quite some time (12 hour quiet work shifts) and only thing that comes up even close is late timing, but the numbers and fluctuation don't match(14-17 if I remember right). Some people in some other forums and whatnot also say that Mopar engines just flutter a little bit, and some say they don't at all and the needle shouldn't move. My vac gauge is new so I'm hoping it's not the gauge itself but I'll have to try another one I guess just to be sure. Mostly just confused, too much conflicting info, frustrating , y'all know how it is.

And ha, yea don't have to tell me twice. Stuck at a gas station pouring rain headed to work. Starter failed in my civic.
My old Dodge avenger, left me stranded over 10 times in 5 years. Always in rain, -20 or blazing heat. One time we had a blizzard while I was at work, came out and cellphones weren't working something wrong with the towers from the storm. Plus snow halfway up my bumper, had to throw salt that I luckily had in the trunk, dig myself out with my hands, and still had to gun it off and on for half an hour before I finally had enough traction. I backed it up and stomped on it because they paved the roads, but not the parking lots lol I believe that was a -18 day but the wind was killer. Next day alternator left me stranded there for the 3rd time. Hated that car with a passion. Good when it worked but it was down for a year out of the 5 I'd owned it.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

It might have been mentioned already but you can check how worn the timing chain is by turning the crank by hand one way with someone watching the distributor rotor til it starts moving then turn the other way till it starts moving again and see how many degrees it's moved on the damper. Of course the nylon teeth covers could be disintegrating too.

With vacuum disconnected to the distributor it should hold pretty consistent vacuum if it's held at a higher then idle rpm range.

 

[69-]

How To Diagnose Common Engine Problems with a Vacuum Gauge

One of the easiest, cheapest, and fastest ways to check an engine for serious issues is to perform a vacuum gauge test...

m.roadkillcustoms.com

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Three things to mention.

I retimed the car, using vacuum and my light. Got it to sit pretty between 19-21 I stopped when it settled as much as possible. It still flutters, however it has noticably more get up n go. The needle gets steady if I give it a little throttle.

Nothing to brag about but raced my buddys 6.5 diesel 1/8 mile on his practically deserted road, we do this often with various vehicles for testing purposes and yes we are always safe when we do this. It any vehicle comes from either side of the road it is over, it is very easy to see both ahead and behind for any hazards.
I bring this up because during said race, I could clearly hear a whistling sound on accel and decell. Seemed to only happen when letting on and off throttle. Sounds like the carb sucking and whistling. Got on the highway when I left to listen and it for sure my car making the sound.
Should I hear a whistling on/off throttle? I don't hear it while cruising. I thought I wouldn't hear that with the breather on.
If I shouldn't hear anything, then there is still a vac leak somewhere and I'm gonna have to go over things again.

My belts were out of alignment. I had tried to go back to the old mounting with the triangle bracket and slide arm just to remove clutter and make accessing front end easier. But my alternator rubbed the heads and melted a bit of the plastic rear cover when ran like that. So I returned it to factory with the non-ac pulley. I noticed yesterday however that somewhere during the return swap I had forgotten the short spacer (tried this swap weeks ago)

Fixed that, and the ticking noise seems to be gone....I don't think my belts being out would cause that, and nothing else was loose near that area. But I did not hear the ticking starting and letting it warm up at all this morning.It was light ticking last night when I parked it before aligning the belts this morning. I will try it the next few days and report if the tic Is still present.

Timing chain is still to be done, unfortunately work is getting hectic and I'm not sure what kind of time I will have. Hopefully in the next 3 weeks I can have it done and that will eliminate a lot of possible cause and give myself some assurance.
Any tips?

We checked the slack while I had it at buddys, based on the rotor it doesn't seem like it's slacked too badly. But that's coming from the Pontiac mechanic. Time between my turn and rotor move was minimal but there is definitely a little slack.

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Oh, almost forgot.

Ever since taking the EGR off and putting on the block off plate, I have been periodically removing it and checking roughly every week.
Every time I check there is a new buildup of carbon, so I poke at it and suck it all out with my shop vac until no more comes out.
I have done this 5-6 times now and every time it's roughly the same amount. This is why I havnt put the EGR back, don't want to ruin it.

Also on cold start, I noticed a small bit of moisture seeping out from under the block off plate. Stops after a minute or so.

Just some small things I thought I would mention.
But it also made me wonder, if I'm getting this much carbon at the plate it's clearly coming off the inside semi easily.
Would it not be possible to spray intake clean or maybe intake seafoam. Something formulated to remove carbon deposits inside that channel with the vehicle warmed up, and have it saturate the channel. Softening hardened deposits?
I know it wouldn't clean it entirely of course, just a thought.

 

[5thtimesthecharm]

Imagine my surprise. All that work and it already had a double roller on it

 

[Aspen500]

Well son of a..... Look at it this way, probably needed new cover and wp gaskets, along with a new crank seal anyways.
Just finished doing exactly that on my '96 Dakota 3.9 Magnum.
No hijack intended.