Pottsville,PA. Looking for help/lookover?

[Kristoff]

Hi I haven't been here for a while pretty much since I bought my car.
Anyway I have a few problems. Or maybe just one now?
I'll give you the scoop. Name is Kyle and I'm 19, I own a 1984 Z28 305 H.O. Camaro(automatic) for an estimate of 6-9 months. I just graduated high school in 2008. I have a girlfriend and a baby girl coming around May 5th. We plan to name her Kira. Right now I work in a factory "Alpha Mills" and make $7.50 an hour. Since the holidays are over work is pretty slow and im only getting 20-30hours a week and with taxes and bills I got very little to spend. I only own one car and that's my camaro. The worst thing is I have to drive it in this snow just to get to work, (going 10-15 miles an hour the whole way luckily its only about 5-6 miles from where I live!) At my house I don't have a garage either...my poor car. I would like to go to college for general mechanics, but I only know what I learn from doing myself which isn't too much. I can change fliuds, and tell certian paints from eachother engine,altenator,batter,vaccum hoses,radiator and hoses, air filter.

I read many general books like mechanics for dummies and ect. I didn't know what I wanted to do in life till I actually got my first car in 12th grade (A geo storm lol yeah I know funny what I came from.) I was already in college prep so I finished. In my geo storm I changed my brakes,altenator,eletric coil,battery,starter, and put a full exhaust on. Also I installed a full stereo system in the geo than transfered it to the camaro.
Each of those tasks took me over an hour to do which I did alone in my alley with a jack and sometimes ramps if I was lucky. Well I'll get to the problems at hand.

First the more simple problem. My camaro it leaking antifreeze coolant. I think its just from a loosened hose/leaking. I would have to buy coolant ever week or two and fill it.(Well today was pretty nice out so I check the mouth peices of most of them and found some fluid behind one driping down.) So I unscrewed the clamp removed the hose wiped it off and reattached and tightened. Hopin that will solve that issue.

Second, when I would turn the car off sometimes the engine would "keep on going/turning/rumbling and than a "backfire"(pop) would come out the exhaust pipe. I think it only happen because the coolant is low, and the engine is hot so it keep on burning gases? I'm hoping fixing the first issue will resolve this one also.

Third and final, is it likes to stall...alot. It's when I go to step on the gas it hesitates. Like a balloon letting air out it just stalls and dies. And if Im moving its ok. But if I'm moving and I press on the gas I can feel the hesitation. It Idles around 500-700 rpms
My guesses are that it's either there is a leak within the vaccum(i squirted the hoses with soapy water and found bubbles on one hose so clamped it on better. But didnt get to really go over whole vaccum system cuz its so cold out and water and cold don't mix.) Another thought I had was the carburaetor might be dirty? So I sprayed it down with carb cleaner for a good 30minutes. I'm pretty scared to take the carb all the way off and clean it by hand.


I seafoamed my car within the first month. And change the gas filter to see if that would solve stalling.

I'm all ears. I'm pretty shy but I am willing to drive to someones house/garage within 30-45 minutes of pottsville PA onthe weekend. If they are willing to look my car over and tell me what I need for free. Sorry but I'll have trouble paying for the parts/fluids let alone the labor/work. Thank you for reading let me know if I can supply more information.

[Kristoff]

Ok, so I get off work today and I'm driving down the highway to advanced auto to see if I can get diagnostics check for a vaccum leak or something. Well my car starts smoking I lift the hood and coolant is squirting everywhere from the boot/cap under on the top right side under the radiator cap. The boot was all cracks and dry rotted. Thank god I was on my way to the parts store. So fixed that up. Than I ask the guy if he can run the checks and told him whats going on. He told me they don't carry anything to run scans. Than tells me that I the carb probably need rebuilding and I shouldn't try it cause I can mess up the setting of the floats and catch my car on fire. So I asked who he would reccomend and he gave me names of a couple people. Than I went home and my uncle tells me my cousin got his car scanned by auto zone which is like 500 feet down the road from advanced auto....So I go there and they tell me they don't do it either! Man what a day. So, I guess ken's tires is the next stop to check if they can scan for problems...

[ssdreamz]

those places use ODB1 and 2 scanners, basically im sure your car is not complient with ODD1 or 2. im no expert but i does sound to me like your carb/ignition has some sort of problems

[Kristoff]

anyone give me an estimate on a carb rebuild? its the quadrojet one. I am only going to get about a 100 buck this week and maybe 150 next friday with the holidays times are rough. and I can't even afford to have my car down on a week day and miss work.

[jaybirdz28]

I live 20 mins from pottstville and im a certified mechanic and tow truck driver ive redone 6 82-87 camaros and to this day own one what do ya need. Jay Jaybirdz28@aol.com

[rolling thunder]

Hey im not really sure where pottsville is (im only in PA for college) but if williamsport is close to you im more than willing to help. Im not a certified mechanic but ive beent working with third gen camaros for like 7 years now and i own and 83 z with the lg4 v8 basically the same motor without the cam (as well as an 85 birlinetta ,86 sports coop, and now and 86 TA) so im very familiar with your car. Im especiall well versed when it comes to older carbed v-8s in general. I also have tons of documentation includeing a factory manual for an 85 camaro that covers your motor and most everything else for that matter. So trust me i know how it goes being in a tight spot depending on a car you dont know how much you can depend on so if theres any way i can help let me know.

[Kristoff]

Im about 100 miles away estimated 1hour 50 minutes.
If you had you own house and garage man I would drive to you on the weekend for help.

Now my heater core is leaking also... my whole passenger floor is wet with fluid.

I make $200/week.=$800/month

Phone-$60
Internet-$45
Car Insurance-$150
Heating/Eletric-$200

Leaves me with about $350 for Gas,Food, and something for myself a month.

So I am emailing jay now. Really can't pay for labor. So looking for free help/interest.

Thanks.

[rolling thunder]

Hey thats cool but like i said if you even need anything just let me know. and by the way about the heater core if its leaking you can bypass it to get by untill you can replace it. Anyways though good luck.

[Kristoff]

Originally Posted by rolling thunder

Hey thats cool but like i said if you even need anything just let me know. and by the way about the heater core if its leaking you can bypass it to get by untill you can replace it. Anyways though good luck.

I have to drive to work and i need to defrost my car every morning so bypass right now isnt a option. So at the moment unless I can get a weekend with a garage I won't beable to replace it till warmer days.

[Kristoff]

Went down to Jay and his friends. Very nice guys. Told me issues I had and helping me through them.
Thanks for everyone's concern and suggestions.