2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue GS review from North America

Soon after buying my intrigue in 2002, it didn't start. after towing it to the dealership, it started fine with no problems. haven't had any problems until sept. 2007...car just didn't start one morning so had the starter replaced and has worked fine since.

Since dec. 2006 (on 9 hour trip), the battery light would remain on, but everything ran fine. had the battery replaced in jan. 2007; no change in the light. had the alternator replaced june. 2007; no change. but the light was not constantly on, mostly in cold weather so I didn't do any more. on march 1, 2008, the car died at a stop light (i see this is a common problem). since I didn't want that to happen again, I brought it to a reliable auto repair. they couldn't find any problems with the battery and the light problem did not appear on any test drives. peculiar. hopefully it was just a sensor that needed to be reset, but I won't be surprised if the battery light reappears after a few weeks.

BUT newly discovered problem... a coolant leak was found underneath (dripping near the starter... previous starter problem?). I decided to do the costly repair of taking apart that part of the engine (time consuming) and it was coming from the bypass tube. that has been replaced as well as, I believe, minor gaskets. they also noticed after taking apart the engine valley that there was an old coolant leak inside (corrosion). could possibly be from bad head gasket in the engine, but that doubles the cost, maybe more. since it wasn't a fresh leak, the alternative I went with is to have the coolant flushed and then add a "pellet" to the coolant that will create a temporary patch in any possible cracks (acts as a sealer). this pellet is made by GM and I hear it's pretty reliable. though it is temporary... it could last 1 year or 3 years, don't really know, but I'm praying for 3. or that there isn't a serious leak in the head gasket. otherwise I have to start all over again with the cost of taking apart the engine. an oil leak was also noticed near the engine valley so the seals were replaced.

Side note: the key-less entry randomly stopped working a few years ago and started working again after the starter was replaced (simply: power to the car was disconnected so computer was reset).

Side note 2: sway bar is broken on one side and cracked on the other. I was told about a crack last year, but got a second opinion that said nothing was wrong with it. guess I should have gone with the first opinion. ($300 part).

I also have the flashing dashboard and head light problem. so far it hasn't been a problem as it's been rare (hasn't done it since the computer was reset... maybe related) but it sounds like that should be a recall.

AND I found out my rack and pinion and power steering line is leaking. that's a costly repair that will have to wait until the government give me my "purchase incentive" check.

Overall the car has been really good (love that the back seats fold down and it's a good size car), just have had a few problems the last two years. I'm not too happy about the car randomly dying, so that worries me a bit. I've never had a car do that before (I've owned about 5...not at the same time). I haven't done enough preventative maintenance over the last two years (been on the search for a new mechanic) other than oil changes and tire rotation, so I think I'm paying for it now.