well my water pump went on my 01 Grand Am with a 2.4L, the water pump was so mangled that coolant went into the timing chain cover through the pumps shaft and there was a beige ish milky looking residue on the cover which i presume is oil and coolant, so I cleaned it out all nice again and finished installing the water pump but before i took the tensioner off i wired the chain to the gears in the housing so it wouldn't move a tooth and throw the timing out, so I 99% sure that the timing is not the problem, but anyways all is good with the water pump and i also installed a new thermostat just because i was already in there, but I didn't replace the manifold gasket because it was still in good shape, then started it up and it was running like a bag of crap, so i figured maybe the spark plugs need to be changed so i went out and bought the Bosh Platinum +4 plugs and then it just started bogging even worse and when it idles it's in between 655 RPM's and 785 RPM's i hooked it up to my Snap-On OBDII reader and still nothing just misfiring on cylinders and didn't say which cylinder(s) it was.So I cleared the code and then the SERVICE ENGINE SOON and TRAC OFF light went out Then i started looking more into the symptoms and it seemed like the exhaust was plugged and the exhaust fumes were coming back into the manifold and seemed like it was being restricted so I thought well it still has all the original parts since new so I thought maybe the cat was bad because I could smell the sulfur so i replaced the catalytic converter and now still it runs like crap, but when the engine is cold it runs okay there is no loss in power but after about 5-10 mins of driving its has next to no power like its running on 3 cylinders. I am completely stumped now, I highly doubt its the cylinder head or the block is cracked because its no longer leaking coolant and there is no coolant in the oil. the car was sitting for about 3-5 days before I last started it, but on Monday when I drove it to the shop it just didn't want to start at 8am it would start but i'd have to pump the gas to get it to start but once i put it into gear it would stall and the idle would low in neutral...the whole car shakes like someone is pushing it from behind.. so if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to be bringing it to my dads friends shop (Active Green & Ross) tomorrow if I cannot get it figured out and get them to hook it up to their computer system.... I really hope its nothing major because this is my winter and work car and I really dont want to drive my 135i in the salt and snow


SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!


Joe

Vacuum leak on manifold or the timing is out!!

its impossible for the timing to be out because i wired the gears to the chain before taking the tensioner out,

what manifold are you talking about intake or exhaust ?

this problem occurred before i took the water pump out..actually on the morning i took the pump out it was running like crap...maybe bad gas????


there is black water coming out of the exhaust which never use to be in there
and the car was sitting for about 3-5 days without being ran

your timing may have jumped

but it will run semi normal when the engine is cold tho and then once it get up to operating temperature thats when you really notice the boggy-ness of the engine.... I don't see how the timing could have jumped if it was running like this the day i brought it to my shop to work on it, all the teeth on the gears are fine, so i dont get how understand how you think the timing has jumped? especially with it wired in three diferent points locking its position

oldschool59 wrote:Vacuum leak on manifold or the timing is out!!

this, and that would be intake manifold.

Sounds like a misfire, I would take out those bosch plugs and put in ac delcos or ngks. Also check the rest of the ignition system, like the coil housing.

Now that I think about it the fuel pump could be bad, check the fuel pressure when the car seems to bog or not start.

okay figured out the bogg yness of the engine it was the spark plug boot came off the coil pack on the cylinder closest to air filter/drivers side, and now it has its power back but still seems to idle low/high and no idea, but one friends works for Lee Munro (its a GM Dealership) so Monday he's going to hook it up for me and see whats the issue, cause my computer can't read whats going on

who know it could be the TPS (Throttle Positioning Sensor)