Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

[Sobek]

A good friend of mine has a 98, 3.8 Firebird for sale. It has 45,000 miles on it, was only driven by his mom daily to and from work, often was not driven at all for a couple of weeks (recently was parked for 3 months).
It's a red coupe with T-tops, nice condition in and outside, is "supposed" to have all the maintenance done on time - but she's an older lady so who knows..
Their is asking around $6500-$7000 for it, but...

After inspecting it here are a couple things I've noticed:
- when engine is cold I have to crank it for about 3-4seconds before it starts - kinda weird for a car with only this many miles
- after starting (cold) the idle doesn't settle at 1000 rpm, but goes up and down for up to 45 seconds (sometimes almost stalling) - not a huge thing, probably some tune up needed
- oil pressure on idle stays around 35-45 psi - is that normal? Even when I hit the gas hard - barely increases and never gets close to 60 psi
- And the last BIG thing that needs some more explanation:
Red, sticky, clay-like substance in the radiator. A LOT of it actually. The car does not overheat, but I guess thats a matter of time. My question is - what would be the most common cause of it?
The coolant level was very low when I looked at it, so was oil (but oil level still above minimum). She had a new heater core installed in October (just 4000 miles ago) + a "chemical" (whats that?) and full system flush - I saw the papers.
It makes sense that the heater core went bad - it got clogged, but since they did a flush, why haven't they diagnosed the problem?

So - how much time, pain and money should I expect to spend to bring it to "clean" condition?
Will just flushing help? And since I don't know the cause of coolant "gum-up" - do I need to have the engine taken apart, replace gaskets and do some very detailed cleaning to get rid of that stuff??
Apart from that, car and engine runs VERY well.
Any opinions are appreciated!
Thanks a lot!

[RadRacer]

Re: Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

the clay-like substance in the radiator sounds like dex-cool breaking down. It's a special coolant that GM recommends you use with our cars, and after so long of imporper maintenance, the coolant begins to break down inside the radiator and all and leaves this red or brown muck like. A good flush and filling it with non-dexcool coolant should solve that problem. Not a big deal at all. As for the other problems, I'm gonna say it needs a new set of plugs, maybe wires too. One common thing with these cars is the wires will get too close to the manifold, melt away and begin to arc to the manifold, not letting the plug get much, if any, spark. How does the car run once it's warmed up? Have you actually driven it around?

[cybercide]

Re: Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

- when engine is cold I have to crank it for about 3-4seconds before it starts - kinda weird for a car with only this many miles
- after starting (cold) the idle doesn't settle at 1000 rpm, but goes up and down for up to 45 seconds (sometimes almost stalling) - not a huge thing, probably some tune up needed

This sounds like it could be the Fuel Pressure Regulator, a common problem. Is there a little bit of a gas smell when it first starts after sitting a little while? What happens is the FPR leaks gas into the intake down the vac hose, which floods the engine after it sits for 15 mins or so. Then it is difficult to start, and runs like crap for a short while after starting it. Cheap part, but unless you are a god it requires removal of the fuel rail to replace.

See this thread:
Hard Starting issue
http://forum.camarov6.com/showthread.php?t=79714

[Sobek]

Re: Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

Thanks for the posts.

Even when cold - car runs fine except for the starting issue (I'm not very worried about it now, though it might become an issue later).

The main things i'm concerned with:
- oil pressure (sensor error or something else - like what?)
- coolant. As I said it had a system flush and chemical flush (whatever that is). Maybe they just added some powder but not actually drained/flushed it....
If all it needs is a good flush - then fine (though this substance seems really sticky).
I just hope it's not head or intake gasket - and thats what I want to make sure about

[Smoke Panther]

Re: Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

I just hope it's not head or intake gasket - and thats what I want to make sure about

a bad intake/head gasket would turn your oil into the visual equivalent of baby puke, not put gunk into your radiator

[RyanAndyBob]

Re: Buying 98 3.8 Firebird with problems, need advice

I had the Idle jumping proble with my 98 red t-top camaro also, its more than likely your plug wires, 2 of mine looked like someone tried yanking them out and pulled the wires. anyway, long story short it did it to me all the time and i got to a light that was turning red, tried to run it and my car died on me b4 i could get through. not pretty :cry: . I say look into the wires it could be an easy fix b4 it gets bad.