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2000 Grand Prix restoration

S

shawngerkin

New member
Hey everybody! New user here. Look forward to meeting and talking to everybody.
Here's my story...
Have a 2000 GT. Drove it for 5 years or so.
Had a couple minor fender benders so parked it.
Been sitting outside 2 years in Michigan.
Never done much work on cars but rather than throw her away (worth nothing i would guess in present state) i'm going to bring her back to life!
First i replaced battery. Was out of gas (evaporated?) so i put a few gallons in and a little fuel water remover type stuff.
Checked other fluids - seemed ok. Oil was in the middle of range on the stick and didn't look too bad.
Once i get her on the road will do oil change, prob replace fuel filter, etc.
Turned the key and she fired right up!
A/C pulley was turning but not much. Belt was slipping over it.
Serpentine belt wasn't in the best shape so i replaced it.
Same prob with A/C pulley. Turned climate control on and off - made sure air was off.
Pulley seems to be spinning normal now. Kinda rusty looking, will prob have to address.
Trying to not spend a lot yet until i'm sure no major problems. Might replace A/C compressor with tension pulley for now?
So first main issue/question for everybody...
After running for a few minutes noticed a little smoke coming up from just to the right of and below add oil cap.
Never noticed this before but then again never prob had the hood up - always took to quick oil change place.
I never had the recall work done for the engine fire issue either.
I'm thinking maybe while sitting there some oil has leaked onto the exhaust manifold which seems to be in the area of where the smoke could be coming from? Isn't this what the recall was for? Soooo do i let it run for a little bit and let it kind of burn it off? Maybe with a fire extinguisher handy?
Maybe try to clean the oil off with something? I do see some oil on front of engine. How much is normal i don't know.
Will maybe try to attempt the recall related fix myself at some point. Valve cover gasket? Pretty tough or not too bad?
Never worked on cars much. Looking forward to this project and your input.
I'm sure i will have more questions along the way!
 


A good guess is that valve cover gaskets might need to be replaced if oil is seeping out and burning up on the manifolds.

The brakes should be replaced because of "lot rot" from sitting for so long aswell.
 
Yeah rotors are pretty rusty. Think i had brakes done right before i parked it.
Figure i can get them turned probably and should be ok.
Not sure how pads and calipers hold up while sitting that long.
Car needs to be moved a few miles from where it was sitting to where i will work on it.
Think if i drive it carefully around the block a couple times it will "knock the rust off" enough to have brakes while i move it to it's new home?
 
few 60 to zero stops should clean up them rotors as long as they are not warped and don't park it right after stopping hard either. take it for a highway cruise 70 75mph or so to get everything moving good as long as the fluids are fine and everything else works normal. I did an engine swap on a car that was sitting over winter outside in ND and never did rotors on that car after a few good stops and normal driving id be surprised if you have any issues.
 


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