1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL from North America - Comments

Rear brake calipers seize.

Transmission needed rebuilt.

Dashboard warped.

Center console fell apart.

Torque converter now locks/unlocks at 54/55 mph.

Center arm rest is cracked.

The car has been great except for the above noted problems. The trick to keeping the calipers from seizing is to use the emergency brake everyday. Now that I do that, I have had no problems. The torque converter problem will be an expensive fix--so I'm leaving it go and I just don't drive at 54 or 55 mph!

I'd like to know if anyone has had any major problems with the 3.1L engine and at what mileage. I'd like to keep driving this car, but with 162k miles on it, I'm getting worried about major engine problems. I'm not have any signs of any yet.

You wondered about troubles with the 3.1 engine. Well, my Grandmother-in-law gave us her '93 in May of 2001. A year later, the engine spun a bearing and seized. Which caused us to borrow $2600 dollars to have a re-manufactured engine installed. The mechanic said it was because the car hadn't been driven enough, which made sense because my Grandmother-in-law bought the car brand new in '92 and had managed to put a measly 35,000 miles on it. Plus, it didn't appear that she'd had the oil changed regularly.

Well, it's a year and a half later and now our re-manufactured engine is in being serviced. About a month ago, we noticed it was burning oil, but since there were no other obvious problems, my husband thought it was simply a seal loose somewhere. Well, then the engine started backfiring, so we decided to take it in. It was under a 3 year warranty, but this mechanic is telling us it's no fault of the manufacturer, but that the engine became severely overheated at one point. So badly that our 6 cylinder car was only running on 5 and most of the pistons were trashed. There was oil blown everywhere. And burnt onto everything.

We had to have our braking system fixed last year... now we know what contaminated our master cylinder... ENGINE FLUID!

So now we're stuck trying to figure out how a year and a half old engine could overheat that badly under normal use. My dad seems to think my husband was hot-rodding it or something, which is causing severe frustration because we babied this stupid car after the work it had done before. We never drove it over 55mph for the first 6 months (break-in period) and we kept the oil changed regularly.

The mechanic said the temperature gauge is functioning fine. So how did we not know?! One of life's great mysteries, I guess.

I would be very interested to know if anyone else has ever encountered problems like this.

Oh, one more thing. It spun a bearing before... the mechanic just informed us that it almost did it again. So when we get our car back, we're gonna be paranoid taking it anywhere. What a pain. Cutlass' are built well... I would just like to know what's going on with our engine.

I've got a '93 Supreme. Our engine has been okay. You can read my review - it's the one titled "A lemon in sheep's clothing." But besides recent stalling problems, the engine has been okay. It's just everything else that is falling apart at a very quick pace.

Hello.

I acquired My 1993 cutlass supreme last year Feb, of 2003. it has been one year since I have had this car. My Friend gave me the car with a ROD KNOCK at 100,300 miles. I took it back to my house and My Friend and I took turns trying to blow it up in the driveway. We succeeded!.. I then Put a Well maintained "oil changed every 2,500 Miles" 3.1L From a 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix in it.. We found the the car had a fairly BRAND NEW transmission in it.. The car was Cherry. Ran OUTSTANDING. I have now put almost 30,000 miles on her, she has 125,700 miles now..Unfortunatly, Things are starting to "Fall Apart" literally. The power door locks do not work. I was driving one day and the dash started smoking the Relay went. The Window switch went on the passenger side, The rack is going. It leaks anti freeze "i have no clue where its coming from". The stop lamps work when they want to, as well as the turn signals. The oil pressue gauge does not work anymore, The Cruse control dose not work, the blower motor for the heater is shot. And Oh the air "when it worked" came out only from the bottom.. I loved this car, but I guess its age that's getting the best of it... By the way, has anyone ever replaced that MONO-Leaf In the back of the car? I did.. It broke because of faulty shocks. and Bushing ends at the end of the mono leaf.. Stay on top of the shocks!. Other than that she served me well.. The best car I ever owned, and now in its age with its problems. She NEVER let me Down.

My car has 145500 miles on it and it still runs like new. and the caliper I have had no problems.

I bought my 93 olds Cutlass Supreme in 95 and traded it in 04. That was the best car I have ever owned - and I'm looking for a convertible to restore.

I managed to get about 250,000 miles out of it. The transmission wears out after about 150,000 miles and I had mine rebuilt at 180,000.

GM's brakes are terrible - mushy and wear out too easy - replaced 6 or 7 times - normal for the mileage. Car didn't handle well in heavy rain - easy to hydroplane and you had to give her plenty of room to stop.

Lost the alarm & electronic locks when the alternator went out early on. Some time later the cruse control gave up too.

This car made one heck of a throaty sound when you got down on her! Must have been the dual exhaust...

The car was solid when I traded it, never having any engine trouble (3.1 V6). Every mechanic I know has called me a liar, but I hardly ever chainged the oil - 3 to 5 times a year max (+/- 30k/miles per year). I belive the key is always to use a good oil and always use the same brand - Castrol in my case.

I had the Heads up display (best thing ever!), Sun roof, Leather, nice sound, steering wheel hvac & stereo. Very nice car. Today I drive a Buick Rondezvous - a nice car - but I miss my olds!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.