My car's poor running condition...

[Sanitarium 73]

Hey I believe I forgot to mention the main part of my 79 Tbird TL's problem! It will probebly get a whole new motor, unless my problem is an easy fix. When it is started, it will run fine for around 5-10 mintes, but after that it gets bad. That is when the oil light will come on and flicker, and going up hills? Forget about it! We can go back, and start the car an hour later, and it will run fine. Of course when we restarted it, it was only to limp the poor thing home! I am sure that it would do the same thing again. Just thought I should let you all in on whats going on. We will have a very qualified mechanic who is a friend of ours to look it over asap. Thanks,

Jim

P.S. Thanks to Paul for all the help he has been providing on this same issue!

[Gearworks]

glad i could help you jim. ive always been like that. my friends tell me thats my only endearing quality(!) I always seem to be there to help.

so why break tradition? did you check the timing out? it may be a simple t/chain problem. ESPECIALLY if it has alot of miles on the factory NYLON COATED cam gear. they wear out and cause 9 kinds of hell...

let me know if i can help more...

paul

[Charles]

HMMMM... The running fine for 5 or 10 minutes is the part that confuses me. Look for something that changes in 5 or 10 minutes. For one thing the engine heats up so check to make sure motor isn't cooking regardless of what temp gauge tells you. Also run it awhile without the gas cap to eliminate fuel vacuum issues. Third,it may be a component of the smog equipment that looks for engine temp tosignal opening or closing. Good news is if it runs good for 10 minutes, it can run good for 10 hours once you find the problem. Good luck toyou.