Pontiac Sunbird

Raise the roof was a common term of the late 1990's. The term generally describes placing your arms in the air with your hands at a 90 degree angle, as if you were placing them on a ceiling and then moving your arms up and down in the position. Past the actual verb of raising the roof, the meaning can be described as to "hype" up the event that's taking place (hypothetically raising the intensity level of the event...to the roof).

A car will stall when accelerating between 25 and 40 miles per hour due to a vacuum leak. When the cars computer cannot properly read the how much fuel to inject due to erratic air ratios the engine is prone to stall at random times.

Procedure

Important When required, refer to the appropriate year service manuals when performing the following procedures.

Remove camshaft from cylinder head. Pressure test cooling system.

While monitoring the pressure gauge for air pressure drop, inspect all hose connections and visible joints for engine coolant leaks. Inspect the camshaft journals and surrounding areas using a bright light, to help locate hairline cracks. (Refer to illustrations for examples of area where cracks may appear.)

Important Air pressure may drop slowly, depending on the severity of the crack(s).

If a crack is detected in one or more of the areas shown, cylinder head assembly must be replaced. If no crack is detected, proceed to step 5. Remove cylinder head and gasket. Proceed to step 6 and flush engine block and cooling system before installing new cylinder head and new cylinder head gasket.

Important Engine block, radiator and heater core must be flushed before installing new cylinder head and new cylinder head gasket.

If pressure bleeds down, but no leaks or cracks are detected, remove cylinder head assembly and inspect the cylinder head gasket for damage between the oil and engine coolant passages. If cylinder head gasket is damaged, remove and discard cylinder head gasket, and proceed to step 6.

Important Engine block, radiator and heater core must be flushed before installing cylinder head and new cylinder head gasket.

If cylinder head gasket is not damaged, inspect engine blocks for cracks in the oil and engine coolant passages in the cylinder liner area. If cracks are detected, replace engine block. Leave upper radiator hose connected to the radiator. Remove and discard lower radiator hose. Open radiator drain plug. Insert a hose in the upper radiator hose and flush radiator with clean water until clean water flows from the lower radiator hose connection. Remove and discard upper radiator hose. Remove water inlet housing and thermostat and discard thermostat. Remove engine cooling system drain plug, located at the right front of the engine block below the thermostat. Remove and discard water pump. Place shop rags in the exposed cylinder bores. Using a hose, fill the exposed water jacket surrounding the cylinders with clean water until clean water comes out of the thermostat location. Remove shop rags from cylinder head bores and apply a liberal amount of 5W - 30 engine oil to the cylinder liners to help prevent corrosion.

Important Do not install thermostat at this time.

Install water inlet housing to engine. Install engine cooling system drain plug. Install new water pump. Leave inlet heater hose connected to heater core. Remove and discard outlet heater hose. Insert hose into inlet heater hose and flush with clean water until clean water comes out of heater core outlet. Remove and discard inlet heater core hose. Remove and discard coolant recovery hose. Remove coolant recovery reservoir and flush thoroughly with clean water. Install remanufactured or previously removed cylinder head and new cylinder head gasket. Install new radiator, heater and coolant recovery hoses. Change engine oil engine oil filter.

Prepare a mixture of Calgon � or equivalent (automatic dishwater detergent), and water at the rate of 59 milliliters (two ounces) (dry measure) to 3.8 Liters (1 gallon) of water. The cooling system holds approximately 7.6 liters (two gallons) of coolant.

Fill the cooling system with the mixture. Run the engine for five minutes.

Drain the cooling system. Repeat Step 29 through 32 until all oil residue is remove from system. Fill the cooling system with clean water. Let the engine run five minutes. Drain the cooling system completely. Install new engine thermostat. Install cylinder block drain plug. Close radiator drain plug.

Important The vehicle must be level when filling with coolant.

Fill the system with coolant. 1991-1996 early vehicle equipped with "Green" Saturn non-phosphate ethylene glycol-base coolant, fill the cooling system with a 50/50 mixture of new Saturn non-phosphate ethylene glycol-base coolant (P/N 21030365, 3.8 Liter [one gallon] container). 1996 interim and 1997 vehicles equipped with "Orange" Saturn DEX-COOL � extended-life engine coolant, fill the cooling system with a 50/50 mixture of new Saturn DEX-COOL � extended-life engine coolant (P/N 21031164, 3.8 Liter [one gallon] container). Start engine and check for leaks. Fill the coolant recovery reservoir to the full cold line after the engine has run for two or three minutes. Install and tighten cap.

When adding DEXCOOL, Make sure it is mixed at a 50/50 ratio with distilled water. And never add any unless it is DEXCOOL or distiled water. Adding the old green takes away boil protection and returns the coolant to 2-3 year change cycle.

After you have released the tension from the belt, remove the 2 obvious bolts that hold it to the engine block.

A 2003-05 Sunfire most likely has the Ecotec 2.2 motor. The filter is a cartridge element type which is located on the forward side of the engine on the drivers side; (below and slightly left of the power steering reservoir). The oil filter is located under (inside) a black cover about 3-4 inches around and has a large hex head nut molded on top of it, to fit a socket on it. When replacing the oil filter element, press the tipped O-ring side of the filter down into the filter cavity until it locks in place. Then place the cover on top and tighten it. The cover will automatically lock onto the top section of the oil element as it is being tightened. The drain plug is pretty standard and on the oil pan. However, most people are accustomed to a metal oil pan, and when viewing the Ecotec motor they confuse the metal TRANSMISSION pan as the motor oil pan. The motor oil pan is actually aluminum, and looks like a continuation of the upper motor. For that reason, you don't "see" an oil pan. Knowing this fact, the oil drain plug is now easy to locate. Look at the far passenger side of the metal transmission oil pan. Now look at the very front of that section of the transmission oil pan and follow that ''line of sight'' until you reach the bottom of the aluminum motor (''oil pan''). The oil drain plug is right there, with it's head facing towards the transmission oil pan. The drain plug (on a 2005 Sunfire) requires a 15mm wrench/socket; and has a built in rubber seal, which should be lubricated with oil before tightening.

on drivers side located around the bumper and tire you have to jack the car up to access it On what year? On my 92 Sunbird it's on the passenger side bumper, not the driver's side. Makes no sense, on driver's side the battery is in the way, not to mention many other things. On the passenger side there is nothing and I was able to access the horn easily from under the hood (well, it's tight but...) WITHOUT jacking up the car and getting underneath.

CHECK GUAGE LIGHT COME ON

I'm just guessing here, but perhaps the brake booster is leaking. It uses engine vacuum to provide braking assistance. It's the large canister thing, usually on the firewall, behind the master cylinder. If it is indeed your brake booster leaking vacuum, you may also notice a change in your idle speed or may experience rough idle. Your engine's computer adjusts your engine's idle according to vacuum. If vacuum is lost anywhere on your engine, the computer may adjust idle inacurately. Whooshing brake sound + changed idle may be diagnostic of a leaking brake booster, although idle won't always change.

my 1997 with the 2.0 mpfi tops out at 138 on flat ground. exhaust mod and cold air intake. nothing else.

No. You may want to buy a book though on how to do it. A car parts store will have repair manuals for about $16.00. You can also check out the Public Library for info.

have you checked your fuses?

open the hood, grab ahold of the black pod which is on the signal light , turn and pull out. light just pulls out of socket , replace by pushing in new bulb then put back in slot of signal light holder and twist to tighten again,,,,,,done deal

check brake fluid level under hood probaly low

I don't know if this makes any sense or not but my owners manual says it is a Fuse TURN B/U 20 amp. This is for the turn signal and the back-up lights Fuses tend to be color coded, making life so much easier. A 20 amp fuse is the yellow fuse and run about .85 cents each. Look at the fuse box cover (on your left near the peddles) on the back of that should be the set up for your fuse box, what size they are and where they are positioned in the fuse box.

you can replace the keys by the vin number thru a GM dealer but they will not return, recut or refund if the key does not work. If the door or ignition switches have been replaced before this will not work! It also cost about $50 PER KEY and required the title to the car, a picture ID and the owner at the dealership. It is less expensive to replace the locks from O'Reily's at a cost of about $35 for all 3 locks. This is a relatively easy fix but also only works if your key is a single sided key. If the key is a double sided key you will need to have a locksmith put the ignition in the "on" position to replace the ignition switch. (just did this yesterday)

If it's like a 92 bird, then the 3 main vacuum lines are located between the Air Filter hose and the throttle body. There is a little Plenum that has the IDLE Air Control motor on one end and a rubber connector coming out of the side of it with 3 rubber hoses in it. any other vacuum hose lines from there are located under the big intake plenum (the big aluminum cover in the middle that has "3.1 Liter V6" written on it.

All four brakes should engage at the same time. You probably need to bleed your front brakes. If road conditions are wet or you haven't driven the car in a while, drum brakes sometimes "grab". Many cars have rear drum brakes and front disc, this could be what you're expieriencing.

On most or all gas powered cars that R fuel injected from the factory, the fuel pump is inside the gas tank from the 1980's to present.

Hard for home mechanic to do. You can mess up your timing just changing it. Best for this vehicle to go to the shop.

Talked to 2 mechanics that I trust about doing it myself and both said, knowing my abilities to fix cars, that I'd best leave it to them.

Just got my girlfriends water pump on her '94 Sunbird LE 2 liter replaced and after all the research I did I'm glad I didn't do it.

i believe your relay might be acting up. i would replace it r u sure u aren't stuck on delay!!?? been there, done that!! This happened on our 94 Sunbird LE...it is indeed the relay.

If it is still in the same place as a '93, it is behind (near the connections of) the Battery.

I'm guessing you have the Turbo version. This sounds like "torque steer" a common problem for front drive cars with any power. No harm - just hang on.

the head has ten bolts and you half to take them off first you hafto take the timing belt off and then the water and oil.take the thming brakit off and the top timing gear you can pull off the headnow put on new head with gaskit don't scrach the surfice!!!!!tightin new head bolts to like (95fps)or more make shour to youse new head bolts.