1987 Oldsmobile Delta 88 from North America - Comments

EGR valve replaced in 2000.

Cruise control no longer works.

Radio has to be smacked around to get it to work.

Water pump went in 2001.

Rack and pinion replaced in 2001.

Driver's seat no longer in upright position, a little uncomfortable on long trips.

Left turn signal no longer cancels out automatically.

As many others have said, this car is quite deceptive if you're going on looks alone; it has all the hallmarks of a "granny" car. I desperately needed a car and I bought it from the estate of an elderly man my in-laws knew who kept it garaged and used it to go on local trips to the store, etc. Since it never really went out on the highway in its 1st twelve years, we had to do a lot of work year one (about $2K worth) to get it up to snuff. Gave it a massive tuneup - the mechanic was amazed because it still had all the original parts, including the air filter, put on 4 new tires, replaced the EGR valve which was causing a rich fuel mixture problem and she was good to go.

Mostly regular maintenance except in 2001 when she needed a rack and pinion replaced, and water pump later that year, but after 14 years something's going to quit; finally replaced catalytic converter a few weeks ago, it went for nearly 130K miles (not bad!)

Very good passing power, what a terrific engine under the hood - my neighbor always comments that it purrs like a kitten and I should never get rid of this car. This is an excellent car for all kinds of weather. I find the brakes last a long time on this car, in the 110K miles I've driven I've only replaced the front brakes 2x and the rear brakes 1x. Tires also last pretty long time, at least 60K if you rotate them about every 6-7K miles.

I'm having some problems with the car now, but the mechanic can't quite pinpoint whether it's the tranny, torque converter, timing chain or what. It's not shifting gears properly and it's eating a lot of gas as a result. Fuel econo is usually excellent on this car, have gotten as much as 450 miles on a tank (or about 28 miles to the gallon). Econo is now about 23/gallon.

One thing I've noticed, and maybe it's because of its earlier life, but this car strongly prefers the highway; open her up and she's happy -- when driving locally has a tendency to run rough and stall sometimes. Stalling problem is much more noticeable in summer after doing a highway stretch and coming into town - perhaps it was the cat - guess we'll find out next year.

Overall, I love this car; it's peppy, safe and great all around. I prefer driving it over my husband's newer Lumina because my car just has more guts and can really climb the hills pretty well. I feel very safe in it, even with the problems it's having right now. Treat it right with regular oil changes and tire rotates; do your proper maintenance and this gem will probably last 300K miles.

I don't know if you'll get this message, but anyway...

Re the stalling/rough running it's the Idle Control Valve and the throttlebody, I cleaned mine this summer @ 230k for the 1st time and it's now gone (the stumble had been there since approx 1990). The O2 sensors on these cars suck, that's why your economy is poor. replace it.

If the stumble doesn't go away after cleaning the intake it's likely your coils/wires... I did the coils/wires/plugs this spring ('03) they made a huge difference, after them the stumble was still there so I cleaned the intake and then cried... she runs so nice and idles so solid now it's a damn shame the body is completely rusting out, in typical buick V6 fashion the motor will outlast two bodies! lol.

BTW I've done some checking and the reason everyone finds those motor to be so capable is because it has a hydraulic roller camshaft and dead-sexy aluminum tunnel-ram intake. That plus a bunch more niceties motors of its day didn't have all result to 200bhp... all other buick V6's have 170hp except for the newest ones (ie 2001 ish) this motor was 15 years ahead of its time! :)

I know bc my dad has a 1994 3800 and my grandpa has 2003 3800, my hunk has better pick-up than either... plus it more torque than my 4.3 litre astro van... amazing motor. lol.

If you have any more q's...

Zenon222 at hotmail.

Great review BTW, reminds me that hunk on my driveway was once a really nice car! lol.