1990 Oldsmobile 88 Royale 3.8L V6

Summary:

SLUB = Sleeper Luxury Utility Boat

Faults:

I had to replace the water pump at around 280,000 km. Ended up breaking two bolts - the pump was the original and the bolts were 13 years old, so no big surprise. It sat for 3 months while I tried a bunch of methods of removing the broken stubs, ended up putting the pump on minus the two bolts (which were next to (each other ) and haven't had a leak yet.

I replaced the radiator at around 170K km. Normal maintenance in my book.

The weld that held the left arm of the bracket that held back of the seat to the base broke on the drivers side seat, not unexpected considering... I won't go there.

The front inner fenders rotted out, but the guys the put the undercoating on missed them for some reason, couple that with Northern Ontario winters, and it was bound to happen.

I suspect that the EGR valve is dead, as it has started acting up. It won't idle properly and is running a bit rough, I'll be checking it next week with a Tech 2 when I get back to work.

General Comments:

This car is the most reliable vehicle I have ever seen, and the engine & transmission are the most reliable I have ever seen (I'm a mechanic, and from personal experience the 3800 Series II is even better than the Series I).

This car can survive without regular maintenance, it's not advisable, but it can still do without for a while.

The complete surprise that is this car's power is a treat as well . This car can haul 4800lbs safely and in my books could also classify as a "sleeper". People look at it and think "Grampa & Grama", which is somewhat true in the fact that it is amazingly comfortable, but I have also surprised quite a few "tuners" out there.

It has decent gas mileage too, if you drive it right. Even acceleration and avoiding the accelerate-coast-accelerate method improves gas mileage immensely, but this car can also coast at highways speeds for some distance!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th May, 2004

6th Oct 2004, 10:07

Very nice write-up. I have the same car and the engine and transmission is so quiet and smooth!

6th Dec 2004, 11:57

You rated performance a 10/10?

Clearly you have never driven anything before that was even close to being fast.

16th Nov 2005, 18:51

We towed a two horse trailer, regularly for over 8 years with this car. It's comfortable and after 5 hour drives I can get up stretch and walk! Our Oldsmobile was finally laid to rest with 340,000 kms the culprit - rotted out strut towers and engine cradle. On the day the engine light came on I opened the hood and the engine had dropped 5 inches... sorry old girl time to go. We drove her to the wrecking yard. Our Olds was the most reliable car I have ever owned.

1990 Oldsmobile 88 Royal 3.8L V6

Summary:

An all round solid car

Faults:

Nothing yet has gone wrong with the car since I have got it.

General Comments:

Although I have not had this car for long it has been pretty good to me for the time I have had it. Since I live in Canada and I have only had it since the early part of winter I haven't had a change to test out the performance of this car. I find the power of this car lacking when pressing the gas down to far, and the gears seem to sleep for a few seconds then finally catch into the next gear and making it accelerate. I do have 2 questions for anyone who could help me out. 1) If I where to race what would be the best way to go about pressing the gas? Just slam the pedal to the floor? 2) The engine seems really quiet and since I'm novice driver and the car does not include a tachometer I'm not sure how hard I'm pushing the engine. If anyone can help me out you can e-mail me at patrick_tytgat@hotmail.com it would be much appreciated.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th January, 2004

29th Jan 2004, 10:20

First, your car is so far removed from being anything even close to a performance car that you should not expect to be too competitive in races. Your Olds was designed to transport Mom and Pop and their kids to church in comfort, not challenge other cars at stoplights.

A bigger concern, though, is that anyone who does not even know how to accelerate their car should probably not even be driving, let alone attempting to race. I'm glad you live in Canada so will not be likely to encounter you on the road...

30th May 2004, 07:52

Pedal - Metal is B-A-D. This will spin your tires even on dry pavement, and after a while will damage your axles (this engine is damn strong, 165hp and 220ft/lbs) and as such should be compensated for. This is not a race car, just a really strong boat, and should be treated that way. This car also has the Driver Information Center (can't remember if it's standard equipment) which under the "gauges" button will give you coolant temp, tach, and one other thing that I can't remember at the moment. Hell, if you want to "tune" your olds, just grab a supercharger off of another 3800 Series 1 engine (92 Bonneville for instance).