1987 Pontiac 6000 LE review from North America

Well, it finally died. Just plain wore out. If I wanted to fix it, it would have needed a ring-job and crank trigger.

The distributorless ignition is ingenious. No timing adjustment.

The throttle-body fuel injection system has just one fuel injector, and it lasted all 200,000 miles.

When I got the car, it had lousy performance, but I replaced all the sensors with Bosch replacements, installed Bosch platinum spark plugs (for 2 bucks a piece why not?) and replaced the oil with Mobil 1. The oil pan never leaked a drop. I also upgraded to a K&N air filter, which is washable and is guaranteed for 1,000,000 miles.

The transmission was good as new with 200k miles. What killed it was a crank trigger failure. Before I could fix it, the wacky timing hammered through the rings. This engine has no timing belt or chain. The cam timing is done by a set of huge gears, which were perfect when I tore it down last week. the only repairs it ever needed were the fuel and water pumps, both of which died within the last 10,000 miles.

I was rear-ended by a Honda Civic 2 years ago, and the car was officially totalled, but I drove it another 50,000 miles, having been paid for its total loss. My car didn't even crack a tail lamp. The Honda Civic is rotting away in a junkyard with a totalled front end.

This is a great car. Buy one before all of them are gone. The 2.5L "Iron Duke" engine is famous for its great design and reliability. Unfortunately, GM doesn't make the "duke" anymore.