1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL from North America - Comments

Digital dash functions intermittently.

Retro-fitted Air Conditioning the year after I bought car.

Replaced Exhaust Gas Recirculating valve June 2004.

Replaced power steering pump/housing Feb 2005.

Repaired broken drivers door linkage.

Replaced AM FM Tape player.

The car had the transmission rebuilt and the brakes redone by the previous owner just before I bought it.

It has four wheel anti-lock disc brakes. He had all four calipers and rotors replaced, with the pads. I know that he did not even get his money back on the transmission rebuild alone, let alone the brake job, in the selling price of the car.

I am the third owner of this car. I bought it for a reasonable price (I think) $1800. I knew that the Air Conditioner did not work and that the power steering leaked when I bought it. The car had no rust at all and still does not. It has been driven mostly highway from new. The paint is in reasonable shape, a little faded and numerous rock chips on the front half of the hood.

I had the A/C retro-fitted the following year of purchase. I cost about $1000 and still has to be looked at as it just does not keep the interior cool on hot days. The dealer says they fixed all leaks, but they may have missed something.

The climate control unit had to be replaced at the time of A/C repair as it was causing the heater motor control door to stay open and was unbearably hot, even in winter. That was about $100 and was included in the $1000 dollar cost.

The broken drivers door linkage was a $2 fix and an hour of my time.

I tried to repair the digital dash, but minimal success. By securing a small piece of plastic between the casing and the circuit board I managed to stop the flickering, but it still goes blank from time to time. The parts person at the dealer says that a rebuilt one is about $500 and I am hoping to find a lower price.

I just had the power steering unit changed. It cost$200 for the part and one and a half hours labor charges. It had a cracked fluid housing and leaked badly.

The EGR valve failed on a road trip and melted the vacuum lines that controlled the cruise control. The EGR cost $300 and I installed it myself. It was easy to do. Then replaced the cruise control vacuum lines and no troubles since.

A tape jammed in the deck and I had to remove the unit and take it apart to get it out. After I reinstalled the deck it did it again so I replaced the unit with another one from the wrecker for $75.

The car has lots of power. It accelerates smoothly and quickly. I can pull out and pass a B-train semi on highway with no trouble at all. It will climb from 90 kph to 130 kph to do so in very little time. It corners well for a large car and is very, very comfortable on long trips.

The car burns no oil. On a 3500 km road trip last summer it was only down half a liter of oil at the end of the trip.

The car always starts and has never left us stranded in two and a half years. Other than the above mentioned costs I have only done the usual things like new plugs and wires as well as a new set of tires. The car is very good on fuel. On one road trip with four passengers and a trunk full of luggage we averaged about 35 MPG and got as high as 37 MPG. Not too bad for a large car.

No one complained about comfort and the trip was about 1000 km. Even with this load the car would accelerate up the long Rocky Mountain highways easily.

I would definitely recommend this a s a good second car or even a first car for anyone who is ready to take care of things like the digital dash and radio problems.

I also have the digital dash in my 91 cutlass supreme.

The speedo and fuel gauge go blank or flicker often to

often for my liking. Ihave also priced 2nd hand dashes

and have got a price for $300.00 with tradein. this price

is canadian. New was $500.00. Good luck.

Cutlass owner.

I had the same problem after 1 year, then again 10 years later. I went to a local junk yard and got a new one for $100 US. Later on I found out that there is an internal dc to dc voltage converter that fails and causes the dash to work intermittently.

Suggestion to all with the digital dash and other issues...

GM has reported that the three-point digital dash has a faulty chip called a "smart driver" and maybe a few bad solder joints as well. The DC to DC converter was another reported issue. Suggestion - replace it with the full gauge (digital or analogue) dash and replace the harness plug (you can obtain wiring/upgrade instructions from GMGoodWrench. com if you contact them), temp sensor and oil sending unit, and you're good to go. The full dash does not have the chip and the digital simply relies on the same principals as the analogue full gauge panel, it's just represented in lights rather than a needle.

The power steering is another issue. If you buy this vehicle used and the previous owner has not done so, replace the pump and lines. The factory lines have a tendency to slowly deteriorate due to the aluminum being too thin. The pump reservoir also can deteriorate.

On the alternator issues. Do your research and double check which amperage is your alternator suppossed to be. The issue is the first alternators that were issued for these vehicles was the wrong amperage. This wasn't really solved until around 1992 when GM repair shops started having a bunch of these come in with electrical issues concerning alternator and battery. The recommend amperage alternators for the V6 models is now 100 amp. Although that may seem low, it's perfectly suited for the 3.1 V6 and it's components and will last considerably longer.

As far as radio and "ETR" models, newer version is always better. There are several Delco/Delphi models designed to fit the CS and several others. I recommend that if you want to keep the look of the Olds dash and buttons, but would like and additional 25 more watts per channel (50X4) and more reliability and features such as an equalizer, the model# 16155113, or the Buick equivalent model# 16085414. As for CD there is only a Buick model I can recommend so far which is the model# 16085434.

Be advised that you can usually find all this stuff on Ebay for much cheaper and in better condition that a junk yard, you just have to look.

I hope this advise helps you all.

Thanks.