97 - 99 Gs

[turboman38]

Has anyone put over 100,000 miles on one of the supercharged engines? Wandered how well they hold up?

Any common/reoccurring problems with these cars?

Considering buying won as a daily ride but am skeptical about buying an American car for a daily ride. I take car of my cars and want at least 150,000 miles out of them.

Any input is appreciated

 

[KendallF]

I'm at 85k+ on my wife's 97..haven't looked lately. The basic motor has held up really well; I did have a trans failure at 56k...ack. I have had some minor issues and have replaced the alternator & water pump, and fixed a cracked A/C hard line. The climate control display has gone dark but still works perfectly (very common apparently). I have had a 3.4" pulley and a K&N on it since the first week we owned it, and my wife drives it, uhhh, aggressively. It turned 14.16@96 last year and some mid 14s@95 this year at Reynolds; overall I'm very happy with the car.

 

[1quick6]

Does the pulley change void the warranty?

 

[UrbsNSpices]

Gasket

I was getting my belts changed and I asked the guy to track down an little oil leak. Sure enough it was the rear main gasket, or what ever the the real name is. From his experiance it is fairly common on the 3800 engine. In fact he showed me two Pontiacs that he was tearing the engine down to replace the gasket. The gasket is 15 but labor is like 600-700. Unless you can do it yourself.

I have no business takin an engin apart. Thats why I got an extended warrenty...As far as I could tell there was no leak at 48k when I bought it, it has slowly developed. it is still tolerable at 62k

Oh by the way the belts cost 165 to change on my Rivi because the dammned engine mounts captivate the belts...assey

Urbs

-
97 Buick Riviera SC

 

[RossGN]

Hate to say it, but Consumer Digest rates the Regal as one of the used cars to avoid. They really seem to have a lower than average resale value...don't know if that is due to mechanical problems associated with the car or not.

 

[TriShield]

I wouldn't think much of Consumer Reports or Consumer Digest's reliability ratings, they are gathered from survey answers where you can write anything.

My family owns a number of cars "to avoid" with no problems. Most of them GM products.

We've had two supercharged 3.8s with over 100,000 miles, they last just as long as the normal breathing version. No problems at all, not even with burning oil.

Watch the ignition coils if they haven't been replaced yet, and plan on having the timing chain and water pumps looked at or replaced near 150k.

 

[TriShield]

I almost forgot... the supercharger oil should be changed at least as much as recommended by the manufacturer to avoid problems with the supercharger itself.