Windshield needs to be replaced.
Exhaust from the manifold back has gotta go.
Front swaybar is unhooked.
1 or 2 bent rims.
ECM or some other sensor is faulty.
E-brake cables.
Needs a radio.
I bought this car a few weeks ago for 150 bucks. I haven't got it on the road yet, because I haven't done the repairs to it. I need to hit up the junkyard to find the parts I need. I know I will find everything there, because these A -body cars are so common.
Overall, the car is in nice shape. There's no holes in the floor or rocker panels. Even the rear trailing arms (a common Abody rust spot) are solid. A few spots on the floor are starting to get flaky, so after I get them taken care of, the wagon is going to get rustproofed.
The woman who owned this wagon before I did put a lot of money into it, judging by the stack of receipts that came with the car. Oil pan and gasket, water pump, starter, alternator, tie-rods, wheel cylinders and rotors, A/C converted to r-134a, remote starter, transmission filter and fluid were all replaced from 1999-2002 according the the receipts. Oil changes appear to have been done regularly, as well as tuneups.
Right now, I've got a bad O2 sensor, plus a bad ECM or something related to it that's causing an occasional code 42 to be thrown. When the SES light is on indicating the code 42, it really runs bad. Terrible idle, stalls in gear, coughs and backfires through the throttle body. This only happens occasionally, but in a way that's worse, as tracking down the cause of a random sensor failure could be maddening.
I've got 1 or 2 bad rims which make the car shake terribly about 50 mph. It's totally undriveable at that speed. Since a few rims needs replacing, I'm considering finding some 16 inch rims to put on the wagon (standard are 14 inchers).
Front sway bar is broken, so the car really leans in corners. I doubt it's real safe like that, so that's getting fixed soon.
It's a fairly big car, with a moderately big engine, so fuel mileage isn't going to be as good as my 88 Celica, but I'm hoping to get at least 25 mpg on the highway out of the wagon. I had a 1990 Ciera SL sedan for a few months, and it has the same drivetrain as my wagon. It got an honest 27.5-28 mpg on the highway at 110 km/h. It never had a tuneup while I owned it, so I suspect fuel mileage would have improved if I had done the tuneup.
A/C system was converted to R-134a sometime in '99, it still works, but doesn't seem to blow very cold. I'll get it looked at once I get this baby on the road.
Yes I agree, The Olds Cutlass Ciera IS a reliable car, I happen to own a 1991 Cutlass Ciera. I got it back in 1997 with 99,000 miles on it.I've had it 8 years now and turns out to be the best car I've owned;it is real tough.
The only major problem I had was a blown head gasket. (I think that was my own fault;I did not check coolant like I should have.) The engine does not have the cheap aluminum heads so they were not damaged. After the shop fixed it it was good as new.
I have replaced the starter and alternator twice and that's it. And I change the oil every 3,000 miles. And it uses NO oil between changes!
Last winter my anti freeze was weak and the bottom half of the radiator was solid ice!Amazingly, no harm was done.
I bought an extra car and let the Olds sit for a year and a half. After all that time it started right up and ran fine.
I know I should have the transmission fluid and filter changed, but I have not had it done since I own the car.
Yet it shifts smooth as silk and is trouble free.
You got a really good deal on your Olds... they are certainly good cars that I would strongly recommend!GM did a good job builing these!
Yes I also had a 1990 Ciera (International).Had it 4 years put 40000 miles on it with no problems. I bought it with 58000 miles and traded it with about 95000 on it. Other than brakes and exhaust jobs it ran fine. My heater also had the crunchy noises though as I read in another review here. Take it out on the highway for a 100 miles or so and it ran better that way afterwards than pouring injector cleaner in the tank & driving around town.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site