On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:12:08 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:46:45 -0600, wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:01:23 +0000 (UTC),
(Larry W) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
...snipped...

My 89 Caprice has lots of miles and I've never had any carb problems,
aside from the choke being a little touchy. I cant complain about the
gas milage either.


What engine does your Caprice have? I think by 89 the 305 and 350 had both
been switch to TBI but maybe a 307 was still available with a carb.

It's the 307 Olds engine. The body is a station wagon, and they seem to
have always used those engines in the wagons.

My son had a mid to late '80's Chevy wagon with the Olds engine.
Bought it used about in 1999 or 2000. There was a batch of those
307's made with soft cylinder walls, and he got one.
My mechanic told me this, and he had seen more than one.
With about 70k miles on it the blow-by was so bad the cat got plugged
and my son had to hole it with a screwdriver to get down the road.
Since my son really liked the car, I had my mech put in a new GM
Target 307. Same warranty as GM factory. Cost me about $2500.
My mech said it's a real good engine except for that bad batch.
A couple months later the car was stolen, and never recovered.
No insurance. Book value was real low.
Think it had a quad. I remember my mech told me it would cost more if
the blow-by had screwed it up, but he got it all running sweet.


I guess I had the good engine. Over 200k miles and it still runs well.
This is the first I heard about this problem. The one thing about them,
they never have the best power on hills, and that was disgussed in a STW
discussion group I found on the web some years ago. They said it was
because the shape of the cam, which made for better gas milage, but a
little low in power. I live in a hilly area, so at times it is a bit
doggy, but I've had this car for many years. I'm just used to it, and
take the trans out of OD on those hills, and take my time getting to the
top on the real big hills.

Too bad yours was stolen, bet it would still be running.