One time, i had my bonneville on the interstate, and i came upon the generic stuck up jerk <u know, 2 lane highway, 1 lane each direction, 55 mph speedlimit, with that one guy who goes really slow until u try to pass them, when then force u to pass them at speeds that the cops dont seem to appreciate> that pushed me up to 70mph until i had enough and floored it. the tach jumped up to 6300 rpm <seriously> as the car hit 3rd. it would have kept going if i didnt let up a littlebit. i ended up going to 90 <stupid van couldnt keep up > but when the tach jumped up to 6300, the cam sensor magnet flew apart, which was a two day job to fix. the whole time i was working on the car, i was wondering if this car had a linkage that allows you to change at what speed the car shifts. i know my 84 tempo has one, but does this car? or is it in the computer? i frequentlly redline when all i want is good solid acceleration, with a shift somewhere in the middle, not the end. i know nowdays a lot of cars wont redline, like my friends new grand am. it redlines at 6000, but upshifts at 5200 rpm floored, and will downshift down to 5600 max. i wish mine would do this, except with an acceptable rpm like a 5500 maxx maxx, because thats where the power peak is. i will say one thing, it sounds pretty good at 6 grand, but i think it sounds the best at 3 grand.

Now we know your engine is dead.

The linkage is by the TB, you press the button on the top, pull the linkage as far as you can out, then let it go, and move the TB to full throttle

BTW: my car sounds best a 3k rpm, because that'* when it makes the least power, and sounds the best, or when i'm not holding on because of the power, and can actually pay attention to the road, and the car. Don't know.. but either way, your engine is now going to be on it'* last limb because of that 6300 run, unless it was a fluke, my icm reports wrong rpm all the time though, but nothing that high.


-justin

"And now for another episode of good idea, bad idea"

but after i changed the cam sensor magnet, the car still had the get up and go it had in the beginning. it just seems like lately, my tempo can outgun it, and its sitting in my back yard dead. its slowly fading, not suddenly gone.

Something'* wrong with your transmission. The orange zone is ~5000rpm, and the car won't go more than that before it shifts. In D, of course.


And my car sounds best at 1900-2500rpm, at 1900, there'* one exhaust resonance that gradually turns into another at 2500.

2900+rpm sounds just downright horrible from inside the cabin. Not as bad on the highway, as the wind noise drowns out the engine, and the VH in the NVH is nicely damped out at all rpm.

Sounds like your tach is off (2000 rpm at 70 mph in o/d lockup is about right). AFAIR 6300 rpm in 3rd would be over 100 mph. Might want to check with a scan tool.

Also I suspect the ECM will cut off the fuel at 5700 rpm.

Cam magnets at this age (happened on my 8 seem to occur at anything over 4000.
Is a simple, 30 minute way to replace a cam magnet http:/6007.us/cammag.htm

Now I just had my transmission redone, and mine is doing the same thing.
If I want good accel from her, I've got to bring her near/into the red.

Back on topic... I think she sounds best at 3500-4000rpm... just the right about of intake and exhaust.

it could have been second. all i know, is it jumped up there at 70 mph. now that i think about it, it probly was second. but still, it shouldnt rev that high.

I have to dump the Prom to see what the fuel cut off RPM is. 5700 rpm was from an AYTH ('90) VIN C. ANCX ('88 ) is set at 6000 rpm (also VIN C). YMMV. Is quite obvious when it happens.

GM Guages are somewhat notorious for being more of a "none", "some","more","lots" than accurate. Most are pretty good but the sensors can get waay off particularly if there are grounding issues. Oil pressure sensors are particularly bothersome (have seen 10-12 psi, enough to turn the light off and fuel pump on, without the engine running).

Tach is a digital signal until it gets to the guage so should be right but have seen failing ignition modules do starnge things.

That said, many years ago my mother had a F*rd with a C-6 automatic that lost second gear. If you floored it at 60 it would try to kick all the way down to first which was "interesting". Briefly.

On occasion I have seen 440T4/4T60 transmissions fail to shift from first to second. Suspect this was more from not having to shift from WOT for a long time.

Just back from some quick trials with the 88, digital readouts, and 2.97 gear. At 45 mph in third it was reading 2250 rpm and 2900 rpm in second. Since first tops out at 42-45, I doubt that it went down that far.

70 in second would be 4200 rpm so it would be beating a ded horse to shift down that far and is certainly in the "sling the cam magnet" range but looks like it should be good for 78 mph ( 5000 rpm) without damage. Even a GX3 car would be under 5k at 70 in second.

First step is definately to check the tach.