How y'all doin

[Heywood]

I've been registered here a week or two but I'm only just gettin round to posting my intro thread. Anyway it's awesome to see the V6 has it's own community and already I've found tons of useful info here.

Car: 98 Firebird V6 automatic, 75k miles, red exterior, cloth int, completely stock
I just got my 'bird March 27 and lemme tell you I LOVE IT! It's my first car! (Yea at the ripe age of 21 I've had it with borrowing family cars )

(Here's a short story... feel free to facepalm but bear with me, I'm a first time car buyer and trust me I've learned some valuable lessons)
Unfortunately since I've had it it's been quite a headache... I paid $6k for it after a 5 mile test drive and TONS of research on 4th gen F-bodies, but 2 miles down the road from the dealership (after paying for it) the SES light comes on :mad: and the engine was stuttering ever so slightly around 1500 rpm :mad: Turned around, went back to the dealer, he said it was most likely just plugs & wires that needed replacing. Dad and I thought, "no prob, we got a great deal, a tune up is no biggie." Less than a week later it was in & out of the shop (turns out it had the wrong kind of sparkplugs in it :omg:, and bad rear rotors & brakes (but passed VA inspection.... somehow...)). For the next day or so the car was running great, then soon the hiccuping started again. Every day it got worse, but only between 1600-1700 rpm under acceleration. It did this for 4 days then yesterday the SES light finally came on again (same "random misfire" code) and just tonight I dropped it off at the shop again. Oh yeah and now the brakes are squeaky as hell despite just being replaced. SIGH.

Anyway, I didn't want my intro thread to turn into a woe-is-me troubleshooting thread so here are some pics of my pretty =D

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...uarterhigh.jpg (that's my friend in the passenger seat.... Don't ask lol)
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...rpassenger.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...quarterlow.jpg

Really it's an absolute blast to drive (when it's not being such a... oops almost said a bad word).

[vanbibber]

Re: How y'all doin

could be worst chief, i bought my car for 11k drove it for 3 days and it wound up taking a dump. 3800 bucks and months later i could drive the car id been making payments on without enjoying. since then i have another 3k in it just fixing things and probably wind up with another 30k in it if i keep it. talk about money pit.

welcome to fbodies, they look great, break easily and at times make you want to drive into a school bus full of puppies due to rage.

[ssms5411]

Re: How y'all doin

Welcome to the site, used car dealers are rip offs, they just clear the codes before inspection so it passes. If the engine is still good then I would be happy because the rest of the car looks great.

[Mighty Thor]

Re: How y'all doin

Welcome to the board.

One thing about buying an F-body whether V6 or V8 it's a gamble. You just don't know what the previous owner did to it.

You're in the right place though. We can help you. Have those codes read and let us know what it is. One thing about V6 engine they are good engines, there's nothing too nightmarish about them. It's very fixable.

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BTW it sounds to me it might be the MAF or Coils. But have the codes read just to be sure.

[Opontee]

Re: How y'all doin

Welcome aboard. My 94 3.4 has 265,000 miles on it. Barely any problems. One tranny, one rear end, one fuel pump and a bunch of brake pads.

[truekoa]

Re: How y'all doin

Get it fixed, the breaks easily and often lol, but its worth it.

The car looks nice. You learn as you go.

Any plan for mods to the car yet?

[bigairboarder44]

Re: How y'all doin

that's a good lookin' bird! it's nice to see another firebird around here.

[Heywood]

Re: How y'all doin

could be worst chief, i bought my car for 11k drove it for 3 days and it wound up taking a dump. 3800 bucks and months later i could drive the car id been making payments on without enjoying. since then i have another 3k in it just fixing things and probably wind up with another 30k in it if i keep it. talk about money pit.

welcome to fbodies, they look great, break easily and at times make you want to drive into a school bus full of puppies due to rage.

Did you get it with a warranty from a dealer, or through private sale? After seeing some of the good deals to be had in these forums' classifieds section I don't blame anyone going the private sale route, but personally I like the peace of mind from a warranty. (I actually found some great deals on my local craigslist but of 3 sellers only 1 would return my calls :rolleyes: ) I got mine with a powertrain warranty but it was only a 50/50 warranty as the dealership had problems with people hot-doggin it and blowing out their engines in the first month then coming back to get it replaced for free.

Welcome to the site, used car dealers are rip offs, they just clear the codes before inspection so it passes. If the engine is still good then I would be happy because the rest of the car looks great.

I just got the car back tonight and HUZZAH apparently it was only a bad spark plug wire. I got lucky... These past few days I was so afraid it was a bad cylinder.

Welcome aboard. My 94 3.4 has 265,000 miles on it. Barely any problems. One tranny, one rear end, one fuel pump and a bunch of brake pads.

Dang! I think they call that a survivor!

Get it fixed, the breaks easily and often lol, but its worth it.

The car looks nice. You learn as you go.

Any plan for mods to the car yet?

I'm strapped for cash at the moment lol but actually the next thing I'll do to it is touch up some of the scratches and chips in the paint... The previous owner thought it would be a good idea to drag stuff across the decklid >_>

that's a good lookin' bird! it's nice to see another firebird around here.

Thanks a lot! I was originally looking for a black firebird but a family friend & car collector told me "I've never lost money on a red car." And when I saw this one in person I was :omg:
Camaro or Firebird, pics just never do it any justice.

[stevethepirate]

Re: How y'all doin

Welcome to the jungle.

Nice looking car, good to hear you got the issues figured out.

[vanbibber]

Re: How y'all doin

Did you get it with a warranty from a dealer, or through private sale? After seeing some of the good deals to be had in these forums' classifieds section I don't blame anyone going the private sale route, but personally I like the peace of mind from a warranty. (I actually found some great deals on my local craigslist but of 3 sellers only 1 would return my calls ) I got mine with a powertrain warranty but it was only a 50/50 warranty as the dealership had problems with people hot-doggin it and blowing out their engines in the first month then coming back to get it replaced for free.

no i didnt, reason being that it was going to get alot of money dumped in right off the bat (heads/cam/long tubes/stall and gears) so the warranty wouldnt have done me any good. but thanks to the car crapping out immediately the 4k i was set to drop in it went to just getting it back on the road. been nothing but headaches ever since.

[transamtom1]

Re: How y'all doin

Welcome:)

Arrest Me Red gets a lot of attention from the police as well;)

[heavychevy383]

Re: How y'all doin

...if the guys/gals on here can't hook you up with the help you need, then nobody can-in that case start looking for the aforementioned bus full of puppies-lol-you will find out real quick that there is a wealth of helpful & knowledgable folks on here willing to go above & beyond what i ever would have expected prior to joining-so welcome to the forum & enjoy the drive!