1994 88 Royale Help Plz

[dmcmaste]

I am trying to pass the Virginia State Inspection for my 1994 Eight Eight Royale. I need to fix several things. This is my first car, I got it as a graduation present from my grandmother. So I have been learning things about cars, repairs, and costs. I got the a dealership to run some tests on my car which was a waste of time and money.

List of problems:

* bad oil leak underneath from lower intake gaskets
* need new break pads in the front
* check engine light comes on every now and again (the guy said I need a new PMC chip to even start addressing the problem, but the guy at auto world said there was no such thing as a PMC chip)

For the Oil leak I bought a new lower intake gasket manafold. If someone could tell me how to replace this, that would be greatly appreciated. I also bought a new bolt for the oil pan.

I have never changed my brake pads so I need instruction on this also.

As for the check engine light the gut at autozone hooked up the obd II reader into my car and there was a link error so he said check my fuses. Any other thoughts?

I know this is alot but thanks for your time.


If you can help me with any of these problems let me know. Thanks.

 

[thejmfc]

First off, welcome. Secondly, congradulations on getting an awesome car for a gift.

On to the problems...

On the changing of the lower intake gaskets and brake pads: Do yourself a huge favor right now, and invest in a service manual of some kind. Chiltons or Haynes manuals aren't perfect, but they will tell you everything that you need to know to get these jobs done. Far better than anyone can do online. They will also give you torque specs so that you don't strip anything or overcompress a gasket.

My guess as to what the dealer was trying to sell you is a PCM (powertrain control module, aka "computer"). Dealers often try to sell things to kids who don't need them and (generally) don't know any better. However, the fact that the autozone guy couldn't even read your codes does suggest that there's something really wrong. It could well be that you need a new PCM, but I really don't know one way or another.

First, I'd do what the man says and check those fuses. If they all look good, then I'd try another autozone. Not to be mean, but people who work at Autozone aren't necessarily the best and brightest. Your man might not have known what he was doing. If only you had a '93 or older, you could check the codes yourself in your own driveway... oh well.

Let us know how it goes.