The trip started good...
Bus left Harrisburg, PA at 6am on Thursday morning. There was a 2.5 hour layover in New York City, which was cool, because i had never been there before.. Got a chance to check out the town. Next to a couple more places i cant remember at this time, never more then a 5 minute layover anyway. When we arrived in White River Juntion, it was cold. Cold Sucks. Anyway, next morning, Steve and his son came over, and we went to get the temp plates for the 86GT. All was good for the first 200 some miles.. then i stopped at a mobile gas station off exit 15, on 84West. In a town called East Fishkill, apparently near poughkeepsie, ny. After i left the gas station, about a mile back onto 84West, i noticed the car suddenly had no power what so ever.. felt like i was driving with the ebrake on almost (i wasnt). Pulled over to the side of the road, and she died. Hmm... Tried to start it up... felt the started SLOWLY TRYING to turn.. hmm? after about 5 min, turning the key resulting in NO sound.. and my horn made this very faint dying cat sound. The battery seemed dead, but how would this cause my car to die, if i was driving? Noticed smoke coming from the hood of the car, and as i popped the hood, i hoped no one who has ever owned a fiero was driving by, as i can only imagine what they would have thought with me having the hood open on a fiero. I envisioned people yelling "it's in the back moron!". Luckly i heard nothing of the sort. When i opened the hood i saw coolant bubbling out of the coolant tank... Probably a gallon or so leaked out.. I touched the cap. OUCH, thats hot. Anyway, the cap fell off?? I screwed the cap back on and it stayed on and stopped bubbling out. Called trusty old AAA, had to pay for the tow as the town i was in was under their coverage? Whatever. Hyatt i believe was the name of the company who sent out a tow truck, and i must say, they are some of the nicest mechanics i have ever met. The one actually told me he had 4 of them at home.. Not something you expect when bring a fiero into shop. I remember the last one i had and the faces and sigh's i recieved when bringing it for simple things.
ANYWAY, they put a new battery in it and it started right up.. then when i gave it gas, KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, cept louder and quicker.. odd, i didnt hear this before. They check the antifreeze as my engine was also overheating QUICK.. There was none in the back? The put some in the back and filled up the coolant tank, and when i started it back up, the temp was at a normal level, but still with the knock on acceleration. They checked my oil and said that it was dull, but they saw very small specks of metal.. said this could be a potention future problem, but not something that was cause my current problem. They said i could try driving to walmart to pick up some mysterious marveous something or other. Well i decided this was my only option as leaving it there would leave me stranding in NY for the night.. i had to work on saturday, i couldnt be stranded there. I drove about 300 yards down the road, and as soon as i TRIED to pull out, i noticed the car had NO power again, just like when this started.. like i had the ebrake on (i didnt), then it died, and died good, wouldnt start up at all.. Out comes the tow truck again, to take me back to the shop.. At this point they were closing so they said they would have to check it out tomorrow. So looks like i wasnt gonna make it to work the next day
The guy who towed us in told us about a hotel down the street, which was conviently located next to a 24 hr diner and bar. At this point, im already gonna bounce my rent check, so i spend $30 at the diner/bar.
Wake up the next morning to see what they found out about my car. They tell me they have been getting calls all morning for tow's so they having gotten a chance to check it out yet, furthermore, i forgot to leave my keys there.. Well i get up and look out the window.. YAY! its raining out! So i got to walk down the road to the mechanics in the COLD RAIN.. Got there, the one mechanic went out, and started the engine up, which started up fine this time, despite the fact that it didnt even try yesterday.. anyway, still with the loud knock, and no power when driving.. he said that it was definately something in the engine, and they are equipted to work on the engine there, so there was nothing they could do. Wonderful!!
So looks like im pretty much screwed. I asked the guy if i could leave the car there for the week till saturday when my next day off is.. He said i could for $50, not bad. Called my dad, and had him come up and pick me up. So now i have a fiero, that doesnt run, in NY, 240 miles from home...

Now i have till saturday to come up with some way to get this thing back home. I get paid friday, so the 2 options i have are...

a.) have it delived here
b.) rent a Uhaul and dolly

Both options will cost my about $500

Can anyone out there help me???
if not to bring it here, to store it till i can get the time/money to bring it back home, resonably priced?

oh yea, and just for the record, this REALLY SUCKS!

Knocking noise? Your rod is about to throw, sorry man, your engine is either gonna need to be torn apart and be completely rebuilt, or your rod will break off and go through the block, possibly resulting in a fire, or your engine is completely bad. Was this a 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder? I thought you said GT.

I really don't know what that has to do with God.

It's a V6 as it'd an 86GT. We talked to Jim Lund today at the Rutland show, who is who my son purchased the GT off of.
We explained what we knew at the time and Jim said that if it is just starting to knock, you can possibly change the rod bearings by jacking up the GT, take one of the engine mounts off and remove the oil pan. This gives you pretty easy access to the rod bearings, where you can buy replacememt GM bearings to replace the worn ones and then put it back together.

If some one lives either near the garage in NY where the GT is right now, or even better can help him get it back home without costing him as much as he is looking at having to spend right now, we would really appreciate it. Maybe I could send a few 20th Anniversary T-Shirts or somthing in the direction of the person(s) who can help this nice guy out

Let us know.

Thanks

Steve

Sorry I just saw this post NOW, I was fixing my car today, and was watching a movie with the misses till just a few minutes ago...
Where is the car right now? Where in NY? I will be out for most of the day and night tomorrow, but maybe I can help...

THAT SUCKS.

Unfortunately, by the time you hear a rod knock the bearing journal is damaged beyond the point of repair. The loss of coolant coupled with the failure of the bearing makes me think that coolant leaked into the oil. When that happens the antifreeze shears the oil film on the bearings and allows immediate metal to metal conctact, thus causing almost instant failure of the bearing. If caught before the bearing completely disintegrates and the hard steel of the rod contacts the journal, the bearing can be replaced with some grinding of the crank being needed.

Considering the cost of the tow, you could almost put a short block into the car for the same price, especially if you can find a relatively low miles used one. The next best bet would be to find someone with a truck and rent a two dolly and bring it back yourself. If your AAA covers some towing, you might be able to get it towed that much closer to home. My AAA comes with 3 100 mile tows, I'd get a car of mine towed to 2 shops at 100 mile intervals in my direction.

Putting the car in storage might be an option, but you need to be careful that it doesn't become a long-term solution.

Good luck!

JazzMan

I had a similar situation with a 2.8 GMC Jimmy once. In my case, I had spun a main bearing. I rebuilt it myself, and decided to get a new block because it was less expensive than line boaring. I feel for ya! That truly SUCKS!
If I were closer, I would haul it for you, but unfortunatly I am almost 1000 miles away. The good news (if there is any) is that it is fixable. In my case, with 70% new parts (and good stuff mind you) it was about $1000. At least you will know your engine is right.

------------------
Paul

From right to left: Quick, Fast, and INSANE!

I don't think god hates you dude, more like a case of being suckered I'm taking a guess that you bought this car in NH, the last one these people sold, the guy who bought it scrapped it because it was so rotted out and not fit to drive apparently.

I Agree with these guys, don't waste your money putting bearings in it without doing the job correctly.

Best of luck man

All that you have to do is drain the oil and see if there is any antifreeze in the oil.If not,I'd go ahead and change the rod bearings,it's only to get the car home,not a long time fix.But best of luck anyway.Russ.K.

[This message has been edited by 87V6GT (edited 10-05-2003).]

If you know anybody with a truck or SUV you can rent a U haul car trailer for about $50 per day. That is what we do when we buy and transport cars. Its alot cheaper than a tow truck because its by the day not by the mile.

There is something wrong when a car implodes 6 hours after buying it.

Well, if someone wants to accuse us of anything, it would be maybe going beyond what most people, that at least I have ever seen do, in trying to do make sure everything we could do was done before it was sold even as these cars are sold as is.
I won't go much into the past example of the one that was apparently badly rusted beyond repair, be it just to say that the buyer of that one spent well over an hour looking it ALL over inside and out with a fine tooth comb, talked me way down due to some additional things he found that even we had never seen and I agreed to his amount because of it.
I never sold it as a Florida rust free car.
If he didn't like what he saw, was uncomfortable in any way with the condition etc, you know what? He didn't have to buy it. He was under no obligation to spend one dime on it, even though we nicely drove over 3 hours one way just to bring it to where he was as a convenience to him so he could look it all over. We did this even with no guarentees that he would even buy it for any amount.
But he did buy it, so he obviously liked it enough to still offer us enough that I accepted his offer. Now he has a show winning GT after putting a lot of work into it and we are all moving on.
So jelly2m8, take your clueless uninformed accusations and shove 'em.

These are almost 20 year old cars people and no matter how well you prepare them for travel, especially for long distance driving, there are never any guarentees in a private sale (unless your a car dealership and offer a warranty of course or something).
So Gridlock, unless you are aware of some special fluid or magic dust you can buy at K-Mart that guarentees a car will never break down at any point after selling it, you need to either offer some help or just shut up.

We feel really bad that this happened. We have tried to offer what little help we could at this distance away, but unfortunately there isn't much more we can do now. If he had been a lot closer to us when it happened we could have gone out there and possibly done a lot more to help.

We purchased the car off summerjim (Jim Lund of Maine) about a year and half ago and had not needed to do much to it other than some parts replacements on it like tires, brakes, seat covers and such. The car is very soild and has a strong engine and was very reliable for my son.
Jim stated that the owner prior to him had recently rebuilt the engine, and you could certainly tell by how much power it had.

Here is just some of what we did on the GT the few days leading up to John arriving to pick up the car.
Once the first down payment arrived, my son stopped driving the car. So it sat undriven for about 4 weeks. It was started a couple times to move it for mowing so no stones or anything from the mower would hit it and stuff like that, but not driven out of the yard onto the road to avoid any risk to a car that was now sold. My son is in college and hadn't been home for a few weeks anyway, so it sat awaiting it's new owner.
A day or so before John arrived my Dad (87V6GT) started up the car and checked everything over. He discovered that the starter was acting up a bit. Knowing that it would really suck if the starter died alltogether, and being an automatic you just can't pop a clutch to get it going again, we all decided not to risk that chance and we agreed the best thing to do would be to spend some money out of our own pockets and purchased a new starter. We paid a bit more and got one with a lifetime warranty and insalled it. Then it seemed to be running a bit rough. It didn't seem to be running as smooth as we were used to, so my Dad did the code thing on the dash. It was coding at 32, bad EGR. So my Dad quickly ordered a new one and had it overnighted and the next day he rushed up and picked it up and installed it. But it was still running kinda rough so once again my Dad took part of it apart and saw some carbon build up in the tube, so he carefully cleaned the EGR tube and put it all back together and she was back to running great once again.
he then took it for a test drive down to the next town and back and it ran great with absolutely no hints or signs of any problems.
Even though this car was sold as is where is, with no guarentees and no warranties, we still went ahead and spent money buying these new parts and installing them before they took possession. We had told John it had been a very reliable car and based on how great it had been for Stephen we felt it was reliable enough to be driven just about anywhere
After we handed over the keys we even followed them back up street just in case, and to make sure the battery didn't die on them. The battery was a bit weak from sitting and we even offered to help in buying a new one if they wanted, but John felt it would be OK and it seemed to be the couple times he tried it.

We weren't there in NY when it broke down to see and hear what possibly happened, and I'm not sure if we still know what happened yet. But we did everything we could on our end and then some before we felt comfortable enough in releasing the car in Johns hands for the long drive back.

Even after we knew that he had broken down, we immediatly attampted to continue to offer whatever help we could via e-mail, phone calls and here on the forum. I even talked to Bob Parker at Kick Hill to see what options he could offer thru us to help with anything, even worst case a good deal on a replacement V6 engine, with the shipping to John at part of our expense.

This is supposed to be a helpfull Fiero community, and I don't think throwing around false accusations is a good way to be helpfull, especially to John.

John could really use some help right now, if anyone can offer any?

Steve

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 10-05-2003).]

Just for the record here, i would like to point out that Steve has been very helpful and concerned throughout this whole ordeal. This is not his fault, this is no ones fault. No one can predict such things will happen. Right now, i honestly dont care what it wrong with it, my only concern is getting it home as soon as possible.

Hmm, and I didn't even name any names, pretty good guess on my part huh? No need to make excuses, bite the bullet, and take it like a man.

Anyhow, John needs help.

John, I believe there are some good ideas about renting a tow dolly, and borrowing a tow vehicle already posted, unfortunetly thats probably the cheapest way to get the car home.

Unless you can find a forum member close to this area, I myself would be very un-comfortable leaving it in care of a total stranger.

I am vaguely familiar with that area, I think it is quite close to CT. I believe there are several PFF members in western CT, it might be a shorter tow to head backwards and have the vehicle kept at a better location untill a later time to bring the car home.

I'll sort through my contacts and see if I can find anybody in that general area.

quote Originally posted by jellyfish2m8: .

At least it's quite obvious that you have no idea what your talking about Jelly.
And yeah, John needs help, duh!

John, I don't know if you saw the latest responses on here yet: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/034317.html

When you get a chance please go check my thread out.
Looks like a few might be able to help.

Steve

ohhh stop name calling, it's childish. And nobody else wants to hear it.

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[This message has been edited by blackie2m6 (edited 10-05-2003).]

Well it looks like i have a friend of a friend who will tow it back home for me for a lil less then the other options. I just want to thank everyone here for being supportive. Once i get it home, be prepared for my million and a half posts in the tech section

That's good news John. the closet guy I could find was out near Boston, a bit too far away for you liking i would imagine.

Keep us updated, were here to help.

if u need some help when u get it back to H-burg drop me an email or call me (566-8063) i can come down and help u work on it if u like...i can probably get some other central PA fiero drivers to come along also...let me know, G/L getting it home!

------------------
Eric
'87 GT 5-speed Gold/Tan NOW with a 4.10 4-speed <- edit broke 4.10 back to 3.65 4-speed
3.1 TDC + other goodies coming eventually

SAVE THE SHAUN!!!

Much appreciated coinball!
just out of curiousity, is there anything special i should know about towing a fiero with a dolly? Maybe a dumb question, but i just wanna make sure.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune any how if you are going to dolly it put the back wheels on the dolly and tie the steering wheel with a piece of rope so it holds the wheel in place and take some strain off the key switch lock and wish you the best.

------------------
Tuners of the Quickest 4.9
12.51@118 mph

Hi. If you are going to use a dolly,be sure to put the rear wheels on the dolly and remove the key to lock the frount wheels straight.Good luck,hope everything works out for the better in the long run.Russ.K.

Since I was brought into this unaware I feel I need to set the record straight.

quote Originally posted by Fiero5: (1) I never sold it as a Florida rust free car. (2) If he didn't like what he saw, was uncomfortable in any way with the condition etc, you know what? He didn't have to buy it. He was under no obligation to spend one dime on it, (3) even though we nicely drove over 3 hours one way just to bring it to where he was as a convenience to him so he could look it all over. We did this even with no guarentees that he would even buy it for any amount. (4) But he did buy it, so he obviously liked it enough to still offer us enough that I accepted his offer. (5) Now he has a show winning GT after putting a lot of work into it and we are all moving on. (6) So jelly2m8, take your clueless uninformed accusations and shove 'em. [This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 10-05-2003).]

(1) I was told on the phone by your son (after he yelled to someone in the background) that he didn't know of any rust and that it was "undercoated when it was painted".

(2) I can accept this statement. It's a buyer beware situation.

(3) You told me that you needed to pick up some parts from Mark (where we met) anyway.

(4) Unfortunatly this is true also.

(5) I have an 86 coupe dressed and equipped like a 85 GT. By Spring the only things that will remain from the original 85 GT will be the engine, trans, wiring harness and a few interior parts. I now have to do a total re-skin of the car because no matter what we do good paint won't stick to the panels that came from the GT. The Dupont rep says "they were contaminated with something in a previous painting".

(6) Jelly's statement is basically true. It's just a little awkward in this setting of trying to help johneboy.

johneboy, good luck. I sincerely hope things work out for you. They are old cars, but they are good cars and parts are still plentifull. Like that last 2 posts said. Put the rear up on the dolly and tie down the steering wheel. Don't depend on the the steering wheel lock to hold it. They do tow very easily.

Good luck,
Dave

When you get it back to Hbg and have a chance to look at the problems in detail...

If you need another engine, we're taking the 2.8 out of my *wife's* GT soon (engine, auto trans, harness, ecm, cradle, suspension, etc) for a caddy swap. (Exhaust manifold gaskets need to be replaced before installation - much easier when it's out of the car). If you want, we can work out a good deal (and it's local).

quote Originally posted by Panama Jack: When you get it back to Hbg and have a chance to look at the problems in detail... If you need another engine, we're taking the 2.8 out of my *wife's* GT soon (engine, auto trans, harness, ecm, cradle, suspension, etc) for a caddy swap. (Exhaust manifold gaskets need to be replaced before installation - much easier when it's out of the car). If you want, we can work out a good deal (and it's local).

Much appreciated. looks like i will be getting the car late friday night. So this weekend i will take a look at it.. and hit up the tech section for some advice and see if its something that would be more feasible (cheaper) to fix, or replace.

well $2500 later i have now have a non running fiero in my driveway. [sarcasm]yay![/sarcasm]

48 hours of no sleep = Grumpy John

But Atleast its in YOUR driveway now and not somewhere in newyork anymore. Think of it as a learning experience. you might end up with a 3.4 after this. Just think CHEEZE!!!

quote Originally posted by Gridlock: There is something wrong when a car implodes 6 hours after buying it.

LOL

[This message has been edited by TaurusThug (edited 10-11-2003).]

Man, that totally sucks!
John, If there is anything at all we can do on our end with helping you get any parts or anything, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Steve

quote Originally posted by Fiero5: Man, that totally sucks! John, If there is anything at all we can do on our end with helping you get any parts or anything, please do not hesitate to contact us. Steve

Got any extra northstars laying around?
j/k

I think im just gonna work on the body.. and other small things like that till this summer when hopefully i have the money to fix/replace the engine

quote Originally posted by johneboy: ...things like that till this summer when hopefully i have the money to fix/replace the engine

How about if I make an offer that would be difficult to refuse. If you pick it up at Rockcrawl's place and buy the first round at Carlisle 2004 - <2.8V6, automatic transmission, computer, harness, cradle, suspension - EVERYTHING!!!> - for the low, low, low, low price of ___. Just have to wait til January (or whenever Jon is ready to pull it out of my *wife's* GT).

quote Originally posted by Panama Jack: EVERYTHING!!!> - for the low, low, low, low price of ___.

TEASE!

quote Originally posted by johneboy: TEASE!

I'm cheap, but not easy. I PMed a phone number a few days ago... Call tomorrow and we can talk about it...

quote Originally posted by KRuzn MAchines: I really don't know what that has to do with God.

Some of us pay attention at the mention of His Name. It's an attention getter in the subject line.

This is sadly a bad trend that we have all been seeing on pennocks lately.
At times it seems to get worse and it has certainly been getting more and more attention by many of the caring members that are on here.
Lately we have had a much higher number of "members" (and I use that term lightly) that seem to suddenly come out of the woodwork or snap into a bizaar second personality and post on a thread with no other intentions but to try and stir the pot so to speak by posting insulting, useless and irrelevent comments. Look at some of the useless posts on this very thread, Posted for no other apparent reason than simply to try and stir up something. They are offering no uselfull information, no usefull suggestions, just spurting out mindless crap in an attempt to try and get something going.
Then, for those of us who are actually trying to offer help or usefull suggestions, as well as the person who is actually looking for the help, have to wade thru all of the BS just to try and get to it.
Yeah BigRed88,that was very usefull here.
Thanks for your helpfull contribution

Listen, this was an unfortunate incident that no one could have foreseen. No one could have predicted this. We had never had any problems with the way the car ran for the year and half or so that my son owned it. It gave us no warnings or hints that anything was ever wrong and up until 6 hours into Johns trip home it was obviously running as it should. We sold this car based on those facts and when we did become aware of a few problems right before John took delivery, we even put a few new parts into to it just to make sure. We sold it on good faith based on what we knew at the time of the sale and we had no idea that anything like this would happen.
I think it would be really helpfull now that unless you have something positive and helpfull to post here, maybe you should go troll some other forum.
Thanks

Steve

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 10-11-2003).]

I dunno Steve. If somebody bought a car from me on my trust and confidence, and it grenaded 6 hours later. It wouldn't be long before I was standing next to the guy looking at it.

Just my professionaly opinion on business dealings like this, I would have been more proactive and controlled the situation, not asked others for help while letting the situation get out of control for John.

CT

I agree that Red's post may seem "out of context" but the problem is that the car was sold in running condition. The price negotiated was based on that fact. As we all know, these are old cars and failures can happen at any time. Unless the new owner did something totally boneheaded in the few short hours that he owned it, this car was aparently a "time bomb". This doesn't mean that you were necessarily aware of any faults in the vehicle yourself but it was just dumb luck that you sold it before it blew up on you. I think that the price he paid is a bit steep for a car with a bad engine that had to be towed home. The least that you could do is reimburse him for the tow. Splitting the cost of another engine would be a great gesture. Taking the money and telling everyone else to "offer some help or shut up" is a statement of your character. Maybe Red was just trying to point out that this may be consistant behavior on your part? I don't know (don't want to know) the details so I don't mean to judge.

Please everyone just do the right thing and have a great day.

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quote Originally posted by johneboy: well $2500 later i have now have a non running fiero in my driveway. [sarcasm]yay![/sarcasm] 48 hours of no sleep = Grumpy John

Hey Man, just like me! Well, mine runs somtimes. Sorry to hear it's not running, but glad to hear you and the car made it back. Keep the faith - put a V8 in it.

[This message has been edited by Nachtzehrer6 (edited 10-12-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Nachtzehrer6 (edited 10-12-2003).]

A couple of years ago, I bought a new truck. Subsequently, I had no use for my old Bronco II, and put it up for sale.

A gentleman from another town came, drove the Bronco, and decided he wanted it. As this was a Sunday, he told me that he'd go to his bank the next morning, get a cashier's check, and come back the next night to pick it up.

After he left, I decided to take the Bronco for one last drive. I was tooling down the highway at about 55 when the transmission started acting up on me. I was able to limp the truck home, and I called the man and told him what had happened, and that I'd have it checked the next day.

Took it to the transmission shop, and they told me that it was basically shelled out, and would cost $1500 to rebuild it.

I called the guy back, and gave him three options. 1, he could just walk away. 2, I'd have the transmission fixed, and the sale price would be the same as what we had agreed upon BEFORE the transmission went bad. Or 3, I'd sell it to him for the sale price, MINUS the $1500 for the repair of the transmission, and I'd even tow it to any shop of his choice, if he thought he could get it rebuilt for less.

He picked number 2, and so I paid for a rebuild on the transmission, and he got the truck for the same price we had originally agreed upon. Yep...it cost me $1500 that I had earmarked for some really nice things for my new truck. But my reputation and integrity was worth more than that. He had purchased the truck from me with a working transmission...so that is what he deserved to get from me.

Do the right thing, Steve. At least, help him out with part of the cost of a new engine. Maybe you didn't know that the engine was on its last legs...and maybe you did. Only you know for sure. But this kid came all the way there to buy a car from you, based upon your opinion that it would drive anywhere....which it didn't. The least you can do is shoulder part of the cost.

[This message has been edited by litespd (edited 10-12-2003).]

Well, today is my first day off, so i decided to start on the new project.. As some of you know the bumper was not on correctly... as the car had been in a fender bender... well, when i took the bumper off, i see that behind the plastic honeycomb thingy, the metal is bent to hell, furthermore rusted, and when i TRY to pull it back into shape, it will break

also, rust has eating these little bracket thingys under the car, which i posted in the tech section
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/042227.html

i will spend most of the day working on the bumper fixing the tears and such, but at this point... with that rust... possible bad engine... what the hell should i do?!?