sluggish 95 riv

Did they use the AC Delco spark plugs or some other type plugs?
What heat range?

Bert

I bought AC plugs for them - that's all I like to use on my cars (being theyre all Buicks at my house). And while I was running it, the car was sitting just under 200 F. Unless that's not what you meant haha.

He was asking what the number was on your spark plugs. Do you use stock plugs? Or do you run a "colder" plug?

Oh ok...they're stock plugs.

Plug rating shouldn't cause you to loose any power as long as they're in good shape.

Thanks AA - didn't think that mattered too much.

I'll be driving the car again tomorrow to get it back to my cousin's for a different inspection. I'll try to work on some different driving and try from a stop to see if the car feels normal in that respect. I'm going to fill it up with 93 and maybe put some injector cleaner in it. I have my doubts the cleaner matters but anyway - I'm highly suspicious of my cousin putting 87 in the gas tank instead of 93, so I'm hoping that the problem. Sigh...I hope to figure it out. I bought a fast car for it to be fast! Not just to look fast:-)

I missed the part about the possibility of 87 octane in the tank. Note that our cars "require" premium. It's not an option like with so many engines out there.

If your cousin put 87 in the tank, and you tried to go WOT, it can knock so badly that the PCM may actually decide to switch over to the "bad gas" spark tables. This is a special ignition spark map that uses retarded timing to let the engine run safely - whenever some dolt fills with regular by mistake. It's protecting your pistons from certain destruction by making the engine less powerful.

Here's what I'd do:

• Don't run WOT; drive the car easy until your almost out of gas.
• When the low fuel light is on, fill up with the highest octane you can find (93-94 is perfect).
• Drive home and remove the PCM fuse in the door fuse panel for one hour, then reinsert and see if your car has any extra power.

Good luck!

Thanks guys I'll do that. I figured I would run it down to almost empty first. Well, I'll give it a try as soon as I can bring the car home. Until then, any other suggestions or advice or anything at all is VERY welcomed as I am new to this generation of Rivieras as well as supercharged engines.

-Z

Hey all - I got my Riv back today and I clean the throttle body and opened up the intake (still need a new filter) a little. I put fresh gas in it and it seems ok so far - not as slow as it was. I still want to reset the PCM though tomorrow so I'll let you know how that turns out. I'm very happy with the car otherwise!

So.....want to hear a classicly stupid solution to a dramatic problem? I fixed the sluggishness of the car.


The carpet was bunched up under the pedal...




Either way, I thank you all for the advice and the knowledge gained from this experience. Oye...

Lol, if any of us had suggested that, you'd think we were trying to insult your intelligence!

Glad you fixed.

Haha seriously. I feel like such an idiot. I should have known it was something really stupid like that. But yeah I'm glad it's fixed. The car feels great!

Good deal, glad you found the problem. I bet you were surprised after you fixed it.

After we put the motor back in my GS a few years ago I drove it around for a few days before I realized I had the wrong throttle cable bracket on it and the secondaries were not even opening up

Bert

Haha I know how you feel - had a similar problem on our '87 Regal Limited that my dad and I dropped a 455 Stage 1 into.

Wow, that's funny! Glad you found and "fixed" it!

Haha I still feel like an idiot for it every time I think about it. It is pretty hilarious though. Oh well! I hope people learn from my mistake .

It's better than the other way 'round... My brother's fuel injected 455, we have had the carpet hold the gas pedal at WOT before. Talk about thinking quick to get out of an escalating situation... you don't know it happened until you want to stop accelerating... :shock: