1987 Pontiac 6000 LE from North America - Comments

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.

I have been doing some research on this car that I own.

I bought it about a year and a half ago from an elderly couple.

Paid $1,600.00 for it and it is fully loaded and mint condition. Not a speck of rust either!

Only had 59,000 miles on it and a new paint job because of it having sat under pine trees, the horizontal areas were looking bad (the trunk, roof and hood) due to the sap from the trees.

This car has NEVER let me down. We live in the mountains of North Carolina and it's pulled through the snow and run up and down these mountains like nothing, using next to no gas in doing all of this. Recently it has begun to use more gas (excessively) and doesn't want to down shift to pull a hill. I think it is something simple like the oxygen sensor or a vacuum line that might be loose or leaking.

Well to make a long story short some guy told my husband yesterday that these cars are known to be lemons and we should get rid of it as soon as possible! I love this car and DON'T want to part with it.

So far in my past 2 hours of researching on the internet for this particular car, I have yet to find ANYTHING negative about it. All who have owned one say they WILL own another and most say they have over 200,000 miles on them and still running strong.

This car has recently flipped to 68,000 miles. For a 14 year old car, even the original cassette player still works great. The air conditioning is ice cold. The cruise control works. Interior is perfect... you name it.

Any suggestions as to the reason it is not down shifting on its own. I mean, if I lay my foot to the accelerator it will down shift, but otherwise it loses speed uphill and is drinking the gas. It is just the 4cyl engine and I know it shouldn't be using gas like it is. It never did when we first got it. It was EXCELLENT on gas!

We really cannot afford to financially put a lot of money into a car, be it this one, or another one.

I am so afraid he will make me part with this car for no really serious reason and VERY soon. *frowning*

I would really appreciate any help and or suggestions you might have.

Sincerely, Lisa McIntosh (nclisa@charter.net)

My recommendation to the upshifting problem is to do a T-Tech automatic transmission flush. You would be amazed at how sluggish an auto tranny can become with old oil.

Sergei@stones.com.

- I bought a 1989 Pontiac 6000 SW with 33K Miles. It now has 165K Miles and a noise in the engine that I am trying to troubleshoot. It has not lost power, and has good compression still. The noise is metallic and I'm thinking it may be a cracked piston skirt or worn rod bearing. It seems to be loader when cold; but sometimes goes away. I replaced the belt tensioner just to prove that was not it. Just today (10/22/2002) a fellow mechanic told me that the alum. oil filter housing (inside the pan) can wear out. Does anyone have a cutaway or photo of what this looks like? If so send it to me by attachment to Email to: Richard_A_Jamieson@dresser-rand.com thanks.