NEW TO THIS FORUM I've just acquired a 1976 Buick Electra 2dr Limited from my late grandpa about a week ago. It has 100,000 miles on it and garaged since 1981. Put in 1qt of oil with some marvel mystery, coolant, and fresh gas/marvel mystery. Took a while to start it up, but she came on strong after about 4 tries. HERES THE PROBLEM. The idle is kind of rough and shaky but the car manages to stay on. When I put it in drive and accelerate, it doesnt go above 30mph. I was thinking a bad accelerator pump. The car was missong a pcv valve on the valve cover. I replaced that and the grommet but still no acceleration. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!
Just a though, maybe the spring for the secondary air valves (the butterfly's) is broken letting to much air in and bogs down the engine. Even if your flooring it, it wont go over 30? Is it reving normaly, or staying constant?. Tell us more about the symptom.
I can floor it all I want to but no acclearation. It just stays at 30 and keeps a constant rev. Sometimes it will rev higher but doest not acclerarate. I dont even feel the gears changing.
Hmmmmmm, that is strange. Has the transmission ever been rebuilt at some point in it's life or no? o No: If not, the bands could be slipping really badly on 'ya, not allowing the car to accelerate like it should, but even with a slipping transmission I would think you might be able to go over 30 mph!!! If all else fails, I would check the accelerator cable up by the carbuerator, make sure it's functioning properly, by pulling back as much as it should. Sounds like a problem though, maybe someone else w/ a little more knowledge than I can help you out more.
Yep, it should have a major tune up done, that could make the difference it needs, just like night and day! :bglasses:
Cat con I'll bet you have a badly plugged catylic converter. Try removing, or draining the pellets first.
If it's been sitting for 25 years without even the most basic maintenance it's time for a massive tune up. At the very least drain all the fluids, new filters, plugs and wires, new gas and start replacing hoses. I'm surprised the car even started.
If it has been sitting that long, you might as well change all the "easy" stuff just to be safe. Belts, hoses, stuff already mentioned, plus fuel pump & water pump. You should probably rebuild the carb, and when you change filters/fluid, be sure to do the tranny too.
If you are planning on keeping the car then do the above mentioned changes, otherwise save your $ and figure out what is wrong before everything is changed and then the actual problem is too expensive to fix, and the car is off to the yard.
When the sun comes back out Im going to drain all of the fluids. I will also change the spark plugs and wires. I believe one valve is tring to stick on the left side b/c of a faint knocking sound that goes away after about a minute. Ive already purchased a new oil filter, oil, trans fluid, spark plugs/wires, cans of carb fluid,air filter, breather, and engine flush. I was think the oil screen may be too clogged in the oil pan. Hopefully the enginge flush will fix that.
Engine flush NOOOOOOOOO! Take that stuff back and get your money back. With an engine that is as old as this one it is likely to cause more trouble than you will possibly justify. I'd say take it to a garage and get an estimate on repairs. You can always do the work yourself, but you need some experienced eyes on this thing. It is worth the cost to have somebody diagnose it before you shotgun all of the belts, hoses, fluids, etc. and then find out it needs something major.
