My friend has a Roadmaster wagon that im going to start helping her with. Its a 95 with an LT1, and needs a tune up. This fancy distributor cap, does it have to be changed each time, like the old style ones? Its awfully expensive for a girl going thru a divorce. She has another problem with very high crank case pressure. sometimes it blows the dipstick out. Also she keeps having moisture in the oil which rusts the top of the dipstick and it breakes off. any ideas on any of these things? Thanks for any help.
Moisture and pressure in the crankcase sounds like headgasket issues. Regarding the Optispark distributor, it doesn't necessarily need to be replaced at every tuneup but, may need it on this car due to mileage and poor performance. There's a lot of LT1 wagon knowledge at http://gmlongroof.4umer.com/.
The PCV system may be clogged. A good tune-up can be plugs, PCV valve, and maybe wires. Wires are a PITA to replace. the two back plugs are replaced from the bottom. If the PCV valve fixes the dip stick pop out issue, your head gaskets are probably OK. The dipsticks are noted to have issues, but a PCV valve may get rid of some of the water vapor in the block. Check the passage for the PCV system for clogs as well.
It may also have blowby problems because of worn valve guides/seals or the engine is just plain worn out from poor maintenance. I would start with a compression and leak down test before doing anything else.
Thanks for all the suggestions. any other special tips on the tune up would be great. Planning on Friday night for this project and the smoother the better. this is her daily driver, and she works 2 40 hr jobs, so not a lot of time to get to the car, and it cant be down.
x2 on checking that the PVC system is all hooked up correctly and replacing the valve. You sure aren't going to change the distributor cap if you only have Friday evening to do a tune-up for sure, if you do the wires you may need more time than that. They aren't the normal work on them blindfolded small block Chevy engines by any means. I'd do the plugs first and see how it runs then go from there, one step at a time or the car could be down for days.
OK, now where is the build sticker hidden on these? Need to make sure if the suspension is heavy duty or not before i buy shocks.
The SPID is on the D pillar passenger side gate jam. Check for F40 as suspension, heavy duty front and rear. FE2 is suspension, handling.
Results Well, we made it through most of that ordeal. We didn't do the shocks like we planned, one of the bolts were missing from the rear shocks; when that was replaced it fixed the floating issue she complained about. The plugs and wires are a project just because you cant get to anything, but its done now. The pcv system wasn't even connected and she was blowing oil all over the engine compartment from the pcv hole. so that is corrected. Also the emissions hose that goes from the breather to the exhaust was missing. Much improved running, so much that her 12 yr old daughter noticed an immediate difference with" wow mom, the car is much better" next project is ball joints. Shes eating tires.
