New to me Olds 88.

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Picked up the 88 this week. Whoo...it's more beat up than I thought. Getting any available service records Friday (been serviced at the same shop since it was purchased new in 1992) and will post some pics later this week.

But the details:
Vehicle is a single owner literal grandma driven 75,000 original miles 1992 Olds 88 Royale.

Known issues:
-Parking brake does not work.
-Brakes are spongy, is this normal for the car?
-Floaty ride, needs suspension evaluated?
-Missing front bumper.
-Missing passenger side mirror.
-AC blows warm. Will likely try a simple R134A conversion.
-Service Engine light on with DTC codes 13 and 44. Oxygen sensor?
-Sounds like an exhaust leak.
-Some oil leak on engine, dripping onto exhaust on driver's side.
-Power antenna stuck down.
-Headliner sagging badly.
-Broken center console/armrest.
-Doors will not lock by internal power lock buttons. Only manually or by the keyfob.
-Plenty of burned out lights.

Already replaced:
-11 year old Goodyears (only 10K miles on them) with new General Altimax RT43.
-New wipers as the old ones were shredding.
-New battery.

The oil is almost 2 years old, but has less than 1000 miles on it by the service sticker. Bulk 10W30 and a ProSelect filter. I'll be throwing fresh Quaker State conventional 5w30 and an AC Delco filter on it in January to start a new baseline for it. Along with any tune up I don't have records for.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I have a beater olds too, but i hope you got this cheap or free.


$600 for it. Hoping it have it in the "decent beater" stage for under $1500 total investment.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
yes! enjoy! "floaty ride"? you crack me up! probably normal. but you can check the struts....

Floaty might not be the best term. Definitely nose dives and settles back and forth under hard braking. Doesn't totally fail the bounce test, but has a lot more movement than the Outback.
 
Your Olds only has 75,000 miles?? [censored],that engine isn't even broken in yet! I must say,I'm jealous! Good score Hollow!!

My dream daily driver would be an 86-90 Olds 88,2-door with the blacked out "sport package",bucket seats,shifter on the floor/center console. They must be rare as hen's teeth because I haven't seen one in years!
 
LOL, I just gotta ask, HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY YOU TO TAKE IT?

Seriously, one of my brothers had one of those. He bought it new and had something like 190 K miles on it before he drove it to the bone yard.

There are a couple of repairs he ran into over the years. That engine has a spring loaded harmonic balancer on it. The spring will go bad, and when it does you get some weird noise from it.

Also there is a cam position sensor that goes bad. There are two ways to install a new sensor, you can take the engine apart and install it from the inside, or you can modify a new sensor so it can be installed from outside of the engine and use some "JB weld" epoxy to hold it in place. The JB weld fix does not require you to tear down the engine. You will have to first cut off the leads to the old sensor and push it into the engine. It then falls down into the engine but apparently never causes any problem.

It sounds like it probably needs new shocks all the way around, and then a good alignment.

It probably would be a good idea to change the power steering fluid, the brake fluid, and the coolant.
 
For the price paid and if the intention is a reliable daily driver/beater I would get a mirror from the junk yard, staple the headliner back up, weld a patch in the exhaust, find A/C leak and not worry too much about the check engine lights and would drive the heck out of it
 
If it has ABS it probably has the delco VI and bleeding that is a hassle. Check underneath to see if it ever blew a brake line and could have been pumped dry.
 
Front bumper and mirror will come from junk yard and get rattle canned by me to a "close enough" silver to match.

O2 sensor looks to be about $50 and I'll install it.

Headliner got thumb tacked up last night.

Exhaust weld will be $25-$50 at a local muffler shop.

AC will wait until next summer.

Will be ignoring shocks for a while until a new job shows up.

Can't complain much for $600.
 
Nice score on this one! My grandfather had one of these a while back and passed it on to my aunt. It drove forever, but up here the rust got it before it's time should have been up.

The headliners of GM products of the 80s and 90s all came apart at some point - it was inevitable. I just tore mine out and ran the cardboard form bare.

All Olds and Buicks of that timeframe felt like a boat on choppy water, even with brand new shocks. I think it was a design parameter to make them feel more comfortable. New shocks won't do a thing to change it.

Brakes were never good on them either. You can try fresh fluid and a new set of good pads and basic rotors, but it might not net you much improvement. Just the nature of the small brakes they put on them.

The good news is that if driven sanely on the highway, you'll likely get into the 30s for mpgs. Not bad for a decent sized V6. My dad had a 91 Buick Park Avenue and all of what you said applied to that one too. It would nose-dive something awful when under hard braking, but it was a great car for longer road trips. The trunk was huge!
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Did a grandmother really let that car deteriorate to that condition?


Yes. Yes she did. Before the most recent fender bender (reason for missing front bumper) the car drove about 20 miles a week. To church, to the grocery store, to doctor's appointments, etc. The mirror has been missing for about 7 years. She well over 90 and finally lost her license...I don't thinks he should have been driving for the past decade myself.

The Generals handle nice today. Looking forward to getting some miles on them.

Updates:
-Rear brakes are all but shot. Both wheel cylinders are leaking. Drums likely need serious adjustment and service.
-Struts are leaking (originals) explaining the notable bouncing on the interstate after hitting an expansion joint.
-Sprang a coolant leak, think it's just a dry rotted hose.
-Trying to determine what is leaking oil onto the exhaust...making quite a smoke show.
Service records show only oil changes and fixing of things that actively broke. So, I need to add a coolant service, AT service, and a few other things to my list.

Any common leak points? Oil is all over driver's side of engine.
 
When you do get around to doing the shocks, get the lowest cost shocks for it. Expensive shocks have too rough of a ride, so much so that you may end up pulling them off.

The down side of low cost shocks is that they don't last as long.
 
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So...here's what I'm working with.

Sideview. Note the 100% Natural Broken Parking Brake Alternative (patent pending):
IMG_0297.jpg


Front view, AKA Something's missing here...and yes, that is black tape holding in the turn signal lens.
IMG_0298.jpg


Passenger door, AKA Something's missing here part two:
IMG_0299.jpg


More missing parts. Maybe they took a vacation together.
IMG_0300.jpg

Also, note the 11 year old Goodyears. At least THAT is better now.

Why my radio reception is awful. Gonna replace this with a manual one for cheapness.
IMG_0301.jpg


The best part of the car:
IMG_0303.jpg


Good old Phase I. Note the broken oil dipstick.
IMG_0304.jpg


Note the oil leak. Any clues?
IMG_0305.jpg

IMG_0307.jpg


Waaaaaaait. What's that?
IMG_0306.jpg


Aww, [profanity]. Well, this explains the low coolant. Wonder if JB Weld will hold for a while...
IMG_0308.jpg
 
It should. Get it COMPLETELY clean, then COMPLETELY dry, and it should hold.

OTOH...Rock Auto lists a radiator for $70.
 
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