My aging '91 GXE has not been kept in very good shape the last couple of years, mostly due to my being a college student and not having much cash. My friend who is somewhat good with cars said he'd help me give her a little tune-up, so I took him on the offer.

The engine was running pretty rough, and I had originally taken it to a Pep Boys, but they wanted to run it through a diagnostic with a "master technician" to see what was wrong (meaning masterful fists full of cash, more like it). So anyways, we just did the plugs, wires, and air filter. The spark plugs were black, wires toasted, air filter black. So I was expecting a decent improvement in my car with all these changes. However, the engine seemed the same, if not worse afterwards. The engine still vibrates quite a bit, and the car is very, very sluggish.

We think the sluggishness is due to a hole in the muffler, because the car is very loud. However, I was expecting some kind of improvement with these changes. I ordered Chilton's book, so hopefully we can do a bunch more fix-ups to help the car, but does anybody have any ideas on what is causing the engine to vibrate so much, and why it is so sluggish (other than possibly the muffler)? And what are some other key things that need to be done for a good tune-up?

Also, this is probably the temperature sensor or something, but the temperature gauge is often going up to the hot end even though there is plenty of coolant in the car. However, it is also burning coolant (I have not seen any puddles on the ground, and it takes like 2 or 3 weeks for the coolant to get low, so I assume it's burning and not leaking), so would the temperature sensor cause it to burn up as well? I don't know much about the cooling system.

Thanks for any help

 

u gots sumthin serious goin on, or lotsa little stuff, nuttin simple n quik here....thats all i can say...good luck tho