I suppose the fact that problems are popping up with more frequency with an 18 year old car should be expected. Even with it's relatively low miles (115,000), time takes it's toll on parts almost as much as miles do. The other day Old Blue left me stranded once again. It appears that my recent repare made over lunch, replacing the ignition module, may have not been the source of my problems after all...even though it started up shortly after the repair. It seems it was gonna be one of them gremlins that would have to be hunted down and killed.
So sitting stranded, I called upon my parent to garner up a friend's trailer to haul it back to his place. In the past, I have also replaced a mass air flow sensor, O2 sensor, and mass air flow relay, all trouble codes that were tripped. Yet looking back, I truly wonder whether or not they were faulty or not. I have also replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, air filter, and gave the car a couple tune-ups already. Toss in a blown head gasket and oil pump pickup that fell off the pump for good measure. I've also replaced the front struts with Koni struts, the rubber bushing for the front sway bar (as they were dry rotted), and two rear sway bar links (as I snapped them on two occasions taking corners hard). Yet even with all those repairs, seldom has it left me stranded. Twice over the passed two years, one of which after a lunch time fix, it got me home and worked flawlessly for about another month or two....actually, those two time stranded in need of towing happened over the past couple months. I now think both incidents were likely related to my current troubles.
Having got my car back down in Adrian, I had my friend look at it, whom happens to be the best mechanic I know. He began trouble shooting and before long found the problem. 6 out of the 8 fuel injectors were bad, one of which was shorting out by apparently grounding on the intake manifold, causing the no-start situation. I ordered up a set of Accel fuel injectors along with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I've read mixed reports that boosting the fuel pressure aids these engines. Some claim as high as 15 hp gains, yet in reality I'd be shocked to see a 5 hp gain. Since replacing the injectors requires removing the intake system to gain access to the fuel injectors/rail, I figured I may as well replace other items that could fail, such as the fuel pressure regulator and EGR valve, as both would require tearing the top half of the engine off once again.
These are definitely the times it would be nice to have either my Challenger or Camaro on the road, capable of getting at least 15 mpg, so that I had an alternative means to get to work. Sure, it may not give the car enough oomph to live up to the muscle car heritage, but it would be a cool ride that could sport 300 hp or so and be used as a back up when called upon.
I've began putting money aside for purchase of a new Camaro or Challenger, a 2009 model or so. That being said, I may try and keep this engine in my Formula going as long as I can. Then once getting a new car, build an alternate drivetrain to drop into the Formula so it would become a second dependable/economical/powerful daily driver. As it is, plans for the Camaro are so over the top I'd have to refinance the house to drive it to work for a week, and the Challenger probably wouldn't end up too far behind in terms of it's gas guzzling skills.
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