1990 Oldsmobile Ciera Interational from North America - Comments

Brake job front and rear, windshield replaced 1 year later. Exhaust job.Air conditioner needed charge at 90000 miles. Routine maintenance.

I had very good reliability with my Ci-era, people. My heater also had the "crunchy" sounds when the blower was on. Mine was a blue car with blue interior & some options like rear view mirror lights, a 16 way power driver seat with manual recline, power passenger seat, cloth seats. I have heard some horror stories from Ciera owners, but I had good luck with this one and my 1987.Though the 87 had a couple more problems. And I also tend to trade my domestic cars before they reach 100000 miles. The one problem I can remember reading about 1990 Ci-eras was, that the windshield could pop out during a front end collision. And the door mounted shoulder straps (hated those) might break in a high speed crash.

My dad had one (90 Cutlass Ciera International) for a few months as a company car until they ordered him a new Dodge Caravan. It had the FE3 package and it handled well for a front wheel drive car. It was the strongest front driver I had driven, and it had a lot of torque steer. There was 100K km's on it and there wasn't a rev limiter or a top speed limiter. I wonder if since it was a fleet order if it might have had the police chip? Cops used them from 90 to 95. If you're searching for junkyard parts, look for old government cars and take the PROM chip. The Chevy 2.8 and 3.1 V6's I have driven weren't nearly as fast. And the 86 Gutless Cutlass with the 2.5L Tech 4 engine was the slowest car my mother ever owned. The FE3 and Chevy Eurosport suspension parts are basically the same and they really improve the handling.

The throttle bodies on V6's need frequent cleaning to cure rough idle, and don't forget to clean out the IAC port. Buy some sand paper, rust converter, and a fiberglass body repair kit and it's easy to fix all the rust and holes on older cars.

It makes better sense to buy a mechanically fit car with low miles and full service records than to buy a rust free fixer upper. I did all the body work on my mothers 86 Ciera on a Saturday and a spray bomb paint job on Sunday. There were a few holes in the doors, around the gas filler door, and the lower edge of the rear quarter panel near the plastic bumper so the fibreglass was required. You can sand the fiberglass resin so smooth that you don't need body filler, just a tube of spot glazing putty.

Always check the subframes for rust on these cars; if they're solid, the engine is strong with no coolant or oil leaks, and the transmission shifts without slipping, then they make good beaters to drive for cheap.