I am also one of the lucky ones with a EGRless 1992. I currently have 153k and I remove carbon buildup in my engine by "steam cleaning it" This is not the safest way to remove carbon buildup due to the possibility of bending a valve. but only if you are not careful. Other ways are using "Seafoam" or Gm top engine cleaner.. Personally I do not think it is necessary most of the tiem to use cleaners like this.

I pull a vacuum port off and run a vacuum hose to a container of water. I rev the engine to 1500 rpms, and let it suck the water in.. This will help remove carbon buildup on older engines which can cause detonation, and high heat temps in the combustion chamber( whch can lead to burnt valves).If you use a small diameter vacuum line, you will have no issues of filling the cyls up with too much water, hence bending valves.. Just do not try and dump a cup of water down the throttle body


I used to work at a dealer on these cars, and when a high mileage 3800 would come in failing emmisions with high N0x counts with an egrless engine, this would most always help it pass. That is after making sure the car is tuned up properly. I perform this every 6 months on my 3800 and it continues to run great.. Hell, my last 3800 car ran 370k and is still running today

2MCHPSI, I got my 92 egr-less Bonnie last month with 88K miles on it.What do you consider a properly tuned up car? Had an oil change last week and the mech found a short piece of rubber hose between the wire and the spark plug. He said it is used for checking a bad wire or a plug. I noticed when going thru 45-50 mph I would experience a slight roughness or a surge. He threw the piece of rubber away but this morning still noticed a slight surge when going thru 45mph. It does it randomally, not all of the time. I am taking my car in for a tune up later on this week. Plan on replacing the plugs, O2 Sen, fuel filter, PCV. Other than that, the car runs great.

Sounds like you might have a bad plug/wire. An old trick was to take a small vacuum hose and stick it between the coil and the plug wire. Then you could ground out each cyl to see a misfire when putting a load on the engine. Hey it is better than some techs. They would just puncture the boot to test.

You could have one of several problems. I would take a spray bottle of water and spray the plug wires until wet. Next start the engine and have someone load the engine. This means put the car in drive with the e-brake on and feet firmly on the brakes. Slowly apply the gas while on the brakes to create a load on the engine. When applying a load to the engine, see if it starts missfiring. You might be able to see the spark actually jump from the wire when wet. Usually this means bad plug wires. Now if the miss is real bad, it could be a coil pack, which would usually mean 2 cyls will miss at the same time.

You can check the coil packs by removing the plug wires 2 at a time for each coil, and test the resistance while lightly tapping on the coil.

If you get a tuneup, I would suggest getting plug and wires at the same time. If the plug wires are numbered, meaning the cyl number is shown on the wire, they are original . Most likely they have been replaced at least once before. If you see the wires numbered, by all means replace them right away.

One other possible problem could be at around 40 mph, your converter locks up, and this could "chug" at those speeds with a slight load.

2MCHPSI, Thanks for replying. Had a aircraft mechanic who also works on cars look at my wires this morning. he said they appear to be the origionals. Even said AC Delco on them so I guess I will get them replaced when I take it in for a tune up. He did say that the O2 Sensor looked fairly new.

How do I find the build date on my SSE?
I'll go look for the 'mushroom' tomorrow AM.

This is a good thread to read before the weather gets nasty in the NW...

Check your Driver'* door label!

Ooohhhh...I've never looked at it.
It says 11/91.
The plastic cover on the engine says: 3800 Tuned Port Injection.
The only thing I see that resembles a mushroom is a silver colored piece at the top right as you're looking at the engine. I looks like an upside-down mushroom and is inline with the fuel rails, I think. It says 'made in germany' on it.

Being somewhat of a fucktard sometimes, I need extra help in solving story problems...

The 8th VIN digit is an 'L'.

What did GM do to add the EGR unit?
Can that be added or do I just follow the maintainence and hope I'm lucky?

A quick question on the belt change, too...
If I get the Gatorback belt, is it a bitch to change belts?

Thanks. I feel lucky.

do i have that problem? and where do i look to find out when i was made?