This '96 Bonnie SE, L67 supercharged, is really becoming a nightmare. Love the ride... but sheesh! Before I can get one thing fixed, something else crops up. I'll put the total list at the end, but here'* the latest:

After driving for about 15 - 20 min.... i.e. just as she warms up.... I notice a miss developing, mainly on hills or under heavy acceleration. It was miss then go, then miss.... ends up feeling like a "surging". This will get worse and worse, till the misses are nearly complete stalls. As the problem worsens, the Speedometer will fluxuate wildly. When the Speedometer drops to 0, watch out, cause all power will be gone. It'* not completely stalled on me, but by this time, I'm looking for a place to pull it over. If it got any worse, she would surely die. As it is surging and sputtering, and the speedo is going haywire, it will shift into higher then lower gears, like it can't figure out which to be in. It will also sometimes slip for a moment while switching gears. Again... I haven't continued to drive it for too long after that starts, so I don't know how bad it would get. Once cool, it seemed to run okay again, until it warmed up. I did search the archives, and found similar issues, but they were all different series of vehicles, and described a bounce tach, not speedometer. Any ideas?

Here'* the complete list of problems in 2 months of owning this car. (Showing 80k, by the way). There'* a massive "Clunk" when turning sharply in a parking lot (backing out of a space, for example, or starting to go forward again.) A friend says CV Joint, but the boots are good and a mechanic has said that it sould like a suspension part. SC coupler rattles. Ordered part + Oil. Tensioner pully on the SC belt failed. Cut the SC belt, running without the SC. AC compressor began making noise when AC cycled on. Then the AC pulley locked up and I nearly set a belt on fire. Unhooked the AC Compressor electrical connector. Power steering pump seems to drain fluid, but I can't find the leak... it whines all the time. Tranny also seems to have a whine in it, and while looking at it, I noticed a rebuild sticker on it. Gas leaks out of the filler hose unless you trickle it in. (Can't park on a steep hill with a full tank, either.) Turns out the filler tube is very rusty. It seems like anything that spins on the engine has a problem. I'm worried the car may have been underwater at some point... or else has many more miles than showing.

Most of that'* just ranting, but if anyone has any ideas on it, let me know. Otherwise, I'd like to diagnose the main problem at the top before sending it to a mechanic in a couple days.

Thanks, Mike

I know what Don'* thinking. Alternator/battery. And voltage dependent components are confused and have NFC what to do. I'd be checking your battery cables and cleaning them on both ends of each hot and ground wire, and checking alternator output and battery supply with ignition off. Full electrical clean/check.

For your clunk, it'* probably an upper strut mount. You can spray some major lube up in there from the bottom and the top to help troubleshoot. The clunk should be less pronounced with a good goop job. Get a can of sprayable light grease like Lithium grease so it'll get in there. If it gets better, or changes noticably, there'* your culprit.

I did not notice any other gauge anomolies.... but to be honest, between being flumoxed by the hopping speedo and looking for a place to pull off if she died, I might not have noticed the other guages. The check guages light / bell did not come on / sound. And the Check engine light did not come on. I may have a chance to drive it tomorrow, but I've got alot of driving to do for the business, so I'll have to take a different car for work. Would a batter / alternator problem cause the tranny to slip and shift like that... and cause the miss?

--MIke

Loss of power to the ICM/coils.
Loss of power to the trans shift solonoids.

Okay.... that makes sense. So if it is an alternator / battery issue, I should see the batt gauge swinging around, and the other guages as well? I'll take her for drive tomorrow and see, but I'd like to know exactly what to watch for......

Might not see that at all. Typical is just fine most of the time, then BAM! Out of nowhere, the barbed tail of a stingray......

.....****. Wrong story. Sorry.

Seriously, it'* fine most of time, with occasionally totally dropping out. Remove and clean both ends of every positive and ground to and from the battery, alternator, chassis grounds, and starter.

If that doesn't do it, have the battery and alt checked, but an intermittent may be hard to duplicate for those two items. I have seen batter posts broken or cracked INSIDE the battery case that can cause the same symptom, so just keep that in mind during your troubleshooting.

You MAY be able to duplicate this at idle by doing the shaky shaky.

Yeah.... I've seen electrical problems like that occur in other cars before.... No rhyme or reason. Just happens, without warning, at random. However.... this seems to happen at about the same moment.... after driving 15 or 20 minutes, once the car warms up. Let her cool back down for a while, and she'* good to go again. (I've only seen that cycle twice now, but it was identical both times.... so much so, that I'm assuming if I take her out on some errands today, she'll do it again, the exact same way.) Also begins under the same operating conditions.... hard acceleration and or steep hill......

I will look at and clean the contacts, as suggested. But assuming that'* all right..... does this resemble the torque coverter problem that I've seen some 2000+ Bonnie drivers posting about? And... if it is electrical, should I see all the guages bouncing around? If it is JUST the speedo, what would that indicate?

By the way.... I'm not sure I want to know.... but what the H*ll is the "Shakey shakey?"

Shake the cables at idle.



Helps to shake your arse at the same time.

Your speedo is strictly electrically driven. The torque converter will have no effect on it'* reading. It literally reads what your differential is doing.