Midian

This will be my first post. I bought the car about 2 months ago. Its a 88 Firebird 2.8 v6. I was driving on the freeway when my car started to overheat. I pulled over to the gas station and put some water into the car along with a quart of oul just in case. The reason i put a quart in is because the car came with a ding on the oil pan. it was leaking VERY slowly like a drop or two overnight. Anyways i thought something had gone wrong. I also put water in the radiator and almost immediately water started coming out near the serpentine belt. Maybe a broken water pump? I was about amile from home when the car started knocking really nasty. I then got off the freeway where its shut off on me and caught fire. I dont think it was too bad. Soome electrical wires near the driverside firewall were damaged. and the blinker wiring is all screwed up. the lights turn on. high beams work. the car cranks but im afraid of turning it on. A small hose going into the engine near the top of the engine in the back which runs to the front of the bay under the battery was cut. i dont know what its for? Can someone just help me out and tell me what i need to buy or replace and how i can go by doing so? This is my first car and i dont know much wiring or anything like that.

eseibel67

That hose is probably a vacuum line for the storage "sphere". That would be the least of your problems. An engine that knocks, quits while your driving and then catches fire is in deep doo.

Midian

yeah it lead to what looks like a sphere underneath the battery but what is it for? I think the reason it caught fire is because some water may have sprinkled onto the wires while i was putting some water in the radiator. It might have sparked the material on the hood or something. It was a "minor" fire.

DENN_SHAH

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to thirdgen
my guess on what started the fire would be on a leaking valve cover or some oil spilled on the exhaust manifold.

the vacuum hose goes to the vacuum reservoir ball.
the ball stores vacuum for the vent controls for the A/C and heating system.
you can either replace it or splice it back together with a couple of fittings and some more hose.
depending on what the parts cost, replacing it may cost about the as repairing it.

the harness isn't good but it isn't too terribly bad either, it can be repaired.
unhook the battery and carefully open the harness up. you don't want to break any of the wires if possible.
to repair it, i would splice in some new wire by cutting each of the damaged wires out and replacing them doing 1 wire at a time.
i would twist, solder and use heat shrink tubing on the the joints.
you'll need a decent soldering iron, rosin core solder, some replacement wire, and heat shrink tubing.
if you can't solder, its not hard to learn. im sure the are vids on youtube. then practice some.
stagger the solder joints so you don't end up with a huge bulge.
a decent soldering iron is ~$15-20.00.
i don't recommend using wire from the parts house, odds are it will be too big and too stiff.
you should be able to find some decent wire at your local wrecking yard by cutting off 2~3 feet out of the harness on a wrecked car, plus you may be able to match up the color of the wires.
use some good solder, you can get it at an electronics store along with some heat shrink tubing.

that said, now for the bad news, with the over heating and the motor knocking, its probably done and will need to be replaced.
you may have gotten lucky, but i would be very surprised if the motor is ok.

if you do need a motor, there are a lot of people here that have replaced their motors and can offer advice if/when you need it.

oamhmad

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like its 350 swap time!

Engine harness and fire damage will be much easier to access once the motor is pulled out.

Midian

Your oil spill theory sounds like what might have happened. I looked under the car today and found some oil on the chassis near the transmission oil pan and on the headers. There was also some oil spilling on the pipes near the oil pan. Now as for the swap do you guys know where i can buy a crate? or another engine? Maybe i can just rebuild it? what do you guys think would be the least expensive way. I may want to keep this one a v6 because it was my commuter and plan on keeping it that way. Anyways i wanted to thank you guys for replying and helping me with what you can. You guys are really #1!!

TallTim

iTrader: (2)

sounds like you want to get the car on the road reliably for minimal $.
Suggest finding out if the motor internals are still good. Water and oil still separate? If so make sure oil and water are up (at least temporary), try and start it. If it knocks then you are toast and looking at a rebuild/replace. If it does not knock drive a little and see if it has power. If it does then the leak fix and wiring repairs would be the cheapest to get it going. Keep us posted. I subscribed.