Bought Myself a Lemon

I have a mystery wire. When I was taking this apart I noticed it because I didn't remember disconnecting it. Also I numbered all the wires as I was taking them off and this one wasn't numbered so I'm pretty confident it wasn't connected to anything before.

The wiring harness which I'm not using on the engine I purchased does not have this wire, it's from a 2006 Grand Prix and supposed to be interchangeable. It's the only one that harness doesn't have that mine does AFAIK.

There is one other connector on the harness that has exact same connector and that is for the oil sensor in the oil pan. The oil sensor has black and brown wires, this mystery wire has white and brown.

What you looking at here is the bracket for the transmission cable. The grey plastic holder is obviously where it goes, there is nothing else that would reach that holder but there is nothing anywhere near it. I'm wondering if the original tranny had something to connect this too?

Any ideas?

My old man picked the oil filter a couple of days ago, wrong one. Have to wait until tomorrow...

Thanks for the updates Richard.

Richard S. wrote:My old man picked the oil filter a couple of days ago, wrong one. Have to wait until tomorrow...

Nothing like waiting for that first turn of the key, then listening closely for scary sounds and either ... or

I'm fairly confident. The oil I drained out of this engine looked really good, dirty but it had that clear look. Of course I don't know how long it was ran... Going to get the filter now.

Houston, We have lift off!

A little rough start but got very smooth after about 15 seconds. Gas is very responsive. No lights on the dash, no leaks,no knock and nothing on fire.

Still need put the struts on and do a road test.

Did you ever investigate the problem on the other engine? Maybe I missed it.

Flyer5 wrote:Did you ever investigate the problem on the other engine? Maybe I missed it.

No, but I may dig into if I get some time. The way I was looking at it was it had 114K on it, fix it and then be fixing something else or get newer one? I plan on keeping this car for a very long time and that's doable because the body is in such great shape. Not really a tough choice IMO as long as the junk yard is being honest with me. The only questionable thing at this point is the transmission and how many miles that has on it.

Engine is for sale if you want it.

Actually I'm going to throw it on CL for $50 for parts/rebuild... not sure what it's worth at the junkyard.

Richard S. wrote:My old man picked the oil filter a couple of days ago, wrong one. Have to wait until tomorrow...

A real DYIer would have made it fit ! What did you buy all those torches and welding equipment for ?

Any job is not complete w/o ten thousand trips to a parts store. Its the only thing that annoys me with DIY projects. Spend more time a stores than wrench on parts.

davidmcbeth3 wrote:
A real DYIer would have made it fit ! What did you buy all those torches and welding equipment for ?

It was for a 3.6, mines a 3.8. It was a little bigger but did fit the space and the gasket was the same. Only trouble was it was different diameter thread otherwise it would be on there.

Any job is not complete w/o ten thousand trips to a parts store. Its the only thing that annoys me with DIY projects.

There is small family auto store about ten minutes away, Keystone is about 1 mile from it which is largest automotive warehouse on the east coast. If he don't have it in stock he can give you a slip to pick it up at warehouse. if you need it immediately. I usually just call and pick up in the morning.

Richard S. wrote:Houston, We have lift off!

A little rough start but got very smooth after about 15 seconds. Gas is very responsive. No lights on the dash, no leaks,no knock and nothing on fire.

Still need put the struts on and do a road test.

It is always a good feeling when they fire up without any problems. Keep an eye on the coolant level as you run it. Seems like every time I think I have gotten all the air bubbles out of a cooling system it burps and needs another gallon.

Glad to hear that it's running.

Another GM lives to rust another day!

Rob R. wrote:
It is always a good feeling when they fire up without any problems. Keep an eye on the coolant level as you run it. Seems like every time I think I have gotten all the air bubbles out of a cooling system it burps and needs another gallon.

I just have water in it right now, no thermostat. Have a couple of odds and ends to finish up. Flushing the radiator is one of them. The water already has a bunch of crap in it.

Not sure if should go with regular anti freeze or go with the dex cool. The dex cool is supposed to last longer but from what I'm reading if it gets a little low and gets air in it that's when the issues start. Think I'm going with the regular anti freeze.

I also have one other major issue to solve, it smells like a chick with a lot of perfume.

Almost forgot, I have no clue what that wire is for I posted earlier. I'm assuming it's extra.

I also have mystery vacuum line, I was banging on the strut and it fell off the back of the engine. WTF!

It's smaller diameter hard plastic, identical in every way accept the shape of one that goes from the intake to before the throttle body. Both of those are accounted for on both engines so it's not that one. I don't remember it, I've looked and can't find anywhere it would go. I've also looked over some diagrams, parts for sale etc and can't find it. I think it may be from another car and was laying on the new engine, presumably behind the exhaust manifold where you couldn't see it. I did find some washers and other pieces laying on the engine block.