1985 Oldsmobile 98 Regency from North America - Comments

The passenger side window doesn't go down (it fell into the door & had to be "demobilized").

The air conditioning doesn't work.

Nobody can ride in the back of the car, because it bottoms out if people are back there. Its the struts or shocks that are bad.

The door to the gas cap has rusted so much that it is permanently open. In fact, most of the car is rusted (I'm glad it was a brown car to begin with).

The car sometimes shuts off right before I back it out of a parking spot, but then I turn it over again and it is fine.

The radio stations deprogram themselves every time I shut the car off. I've tried to fix that by changing the fuses, but that hasn't worked.

Very rarely the car's engine alarm dings and the oil gage goes from over-full to empty within a second or two, and then back again. Then I know I need to put more oil in as soon as possible, or else the car will break down.

The tailpipe and muffler rusted so badly that they fell off of the bottom of the car (that was a fairly cheap fix, though).

This car will never stop running! The engine is a fantastic piece of machinery that has reliably gotten me from point A to point B for 15 years. I cannot say enough good things about how reliable this car has been for me!

This car rides like a dream! The ride is smooth, and the car has great get-up-and-go! Friends always prefer to ride in the Oldsmobile because there is a lot of room, and it is very comfortable.

If the car's engine alarm dings and the oil pressure gauge (not the level gauge by the way, it's a pressure gauge) jump like that, it means you're burning or leaking oil constantly, and that alarm/gauge thing happens when the level has gone down so low that your engine is about to seize up.

Check your oil every week! check the LEVEL with the DIPSTICK. then you won't be running low over and over, a habit that will definitely kill your car.

Cheers,

Don.

I am happy that you are happy with your car's previous reliability, but if you don't put some money into it SOON you are definitely going to be giving it to the salvage yard.

I drive a 1978 Lincoln Mark V and I have had to sink hundreds into the engine and drive train to bring it back to factory standards because the previous owner was too frugal to take care of it properly. Luckily, I paid very little for the car as I traded a 1973 Cadillac even for it. (Paid 500 for the Cadillac.)

When the oil pressure gauge drops, you should also physically check the oil level on the dipstick to confirm that it is really low. Otherwise, it could just be that your sending unit is clogged. If you just automatically add oil and are over filling it, the excess pressure could cause other problems, like blowing out a seal. Just make sure what the problem really is.

Yeah just keep the oil full (check it very often, like at least once a week), check the transmission fluid once in a while, and the fluid in the radiator, and you'll be fine. No need to really spend much of anything to keep an old GM going, just do the basics.