these cars are a nightmare ???

[1chance]

I wish i could tell you it going to be OK,......but that would be a lie! The best advice i can give you is this. If you plan to stomp down on it better have HIGH OCTAIN GAS110,116, OR ALKY. Dont go over 13psi boost if you dont have that, and these cars dont like running WOT for more than a mile, or two.

 

[tom j]

Thats the reason they call it the DARKSIDE!

 

[87NAT]

In order to drive these cars, you really need to be mechanically inclined and be able to do the majority of the work on your own, otherwise paying a mechanic to do the work for you is going to get outrageous and I wouldnt trust most normal mechanics on these cars at all.


And yes, the fun will only get funner as the cost of parts and expenses keep rising! I dont even want to know how much I have spent on these darn cars.

Take that advice as religion. I couldnt have said it better myself....

 

[Jmccustoms]

I can tell ya , your gonna lose your hair, skin and sanity but when the boost rolls outta that bad boy and your walking away from a stang or anyone that decides they want to get a good view of your license plate.........its worth it, and how many cars can you run mid 11's and get 28 mpg on the highway?? Its going to the grave with me but I cant get enough

 

[kenny]

Sell it to me for $2k. I'll make it run 10s next week.

 

[gngeorge]

bought my 87 T in 89,chip,exhaust,stat,kn filter,suspension,test pipe,air bags,shift kit,large trans pan,I was kicking a lot of butt in the streets till 1995,spun a bearing and it was all downhill from then till this day,but I had a lot of fun and some good memories

 

[turbo39151]

Powerwagon05: Take heart. You only have one of these to deal with. There are many of us on this board that are so afflicted with the need for boost that we punish ourselves by owning several Turbo Regals..

I can speak from personal experience... These cars will break you if you cannot work on them. If you have no inclination to learn or try to wrench on your own car, do yourself a favor and get out now while you can still afford to. Otherwise, welcome and enjoy :biggrin:

 

[GNVYUS 1]

OP, put what state you are from in your Profile, most likely you brought it to local Joe mechanic and he's learning also about the car on the clock.

Your best bet is to tell us what state you are from and then local board members can recommend trusted and knowledgeable shops to send it too.

And GN's have been turning normal folks into Mechanics since 1984. :tongue:

 

[darkred87T]

Don't feel bad. I bought mine as a salvage (abandoned at a shop and turned over to the state of P.A.) Thousnads of dollars, blood sweat and tears later and It still won't ilde right. I hope to chase it down with my new Champion P&P heads, intake and Comp 206/206 cam. They just came in the mail today.

Talk about overtime.

 

[TURBOV8R]

Wes put it on the head,Keep it simple,learn,ask ?'s. Guys on the board have been a wealth of info & great parts to keep 'em goin.Have fun............

 

["Turbo-T"]

I wish i could tell you it going to be OK,......but that would be a lie! The best advice i can give you is this. If you plan to stomp down on it better have HIGH OCTAIN GAS110,116, OR ALKY. Dont go over 13psi boost if you dont have that, and these cars dont like running WOT for more than a mile, or two.

I think this is a good quote to live by. I mean were these cars problematic when new? Or did it occur after mods were made?

 

[Grimster]

It's a 21 year old car, there's no telling what all has been abused, broke and not fixed, jury rigged, and just plain tore up on a car that old. It's a crap shoot, you shop, and you shop and you ask, and you research, and you finally find "that car" and you buy it, hoping it's the right one.

I spent several months looking for one, finally drove 600 miles to Virginia to pick it up, and drove it home. Well I wasn't even near back to TN yet and noticed if I kick it a bit to pull a hill black smoke belches out the back and a check engine light comes on so I basically just drive it very easily home, the roughly 590 miles remaining of my 620 mile trip!!! (yeah indeed)

I get home and immediately order a powerlogger and scanmaster (roughtly $500), and pull that engine code with a paperclip. Code said "lean condition" yeah all that black smoke says "lean condition" is NOT the problem, but if the ECU THINKS it's lean, but it's belching smoke, then an O2 sensor is LYING to the ECU.

That was my first fix, an $18 oxygen sensor, and a $9 socket to pull the damn thing. NO MORE SMOKE yeah!

Scanmaster and powerlogger arrives so I install that, and well, it shows like 20 degrees of knock retard when I stomp it (that's an OH **** type of thing). "Must be either my fuel pump or injectors ****ting the bed" so since my chip was ancient, I ordered a hot wire kit (about $35), fuel pump (about $110), new injectors, and TT chip (it was I think $360 total?). And install them myself (I'm a total idiot with cars, just FYI).

Stomp it and.....

20 degrees of knock retard!! Goddamnit, something else is wrong. So, if your fuel pump is good, and your injectors are well, injecting, then something else is wrong. Well I notice my "boost" maxes out at 14.8 PSI really fast, and just maxes out, on the powerlogger, ah well I need a 3 bar map sensor ($64 with shipping) to see WHAT boost I'm hitting. So I order one and install it. I'm hitting 28 PSI boost if I WOT it (no alky!!!!). But the wastegate is being sent the "open up dummy!!!" signal so what... Turns out the little 7 inch rubber hose between the solenoid and the wastegate is totally dry rotted, so when the solenoid opens and sends boost pressure to the wastegate, it just exits via the 3 inch rip (in a 7 inch rubber hose) and the wastegate sees 0 boost, while it merrily hits 25+ psi!

A quick trip to Oreilly's where they GIVE ME (as in $0) the damned little 7 inch piece of hose, and my over boosting is gone, it maxes out around 12 psi and everything is hunky dory, someone put an adjustable wastegate in the car "previously" so I give it a few turns, hitting a max boost of 15 psi and no problems so I call that "good" and don't push it. Now it's a year later and I'm thinking "ALKY TIME!!! YEAH!".

So. Welcome to our world! Really it is a lotta fun! If you pray for me I'll pray for you!

 

[powerwagon05]

thanks for all your insight and experiences, i think with some help from time to time from all the really cool people on this site this is gonna be fun:biggrin:

 

[Project TNX]

I haven't fired mine up yet (had it for 4.5 years now, LOL) but I replaced every sensor, every filter, all new relays and pumps, etc.... When this thing gets dialed in it will basically be a new car. I have pages of receipts, but I'm not tallying up the total until I'm done and it's on the road.

 

[hrhoward]

Hey look, these cars are fun as hell when they are running right. If you, or become friends with someone who has, figure these cars out it will be quite a kick in the pants. I have owned one since '88 and will never be without one if I can help it. I lucked out, these are the cars I learned on.

That being said, I wish I could get that lazy-ass s.o.b. hrhoward to fix my transmission!! He has had the parts now for over 6 months and has not even cracked it open yet!!

 

[Skylark455]

I traded a Chevy truck to get an 85 T-type about 4 years ago and a week after I got the car I was putting an exahust on it and had to put a trans in it. After that and some tune up parts and tuning I trusted that car to go anywhere and loved it. I drove it for year and a half with out any major issues. I then sold it because I wanted to get a intercooled car and I was building a house. Now I am back looking to get one here in the next year or 2 because I had so much fun with the Hot air.

 

[BASS]

As long as you keep up with the maintenance and dont detonate it, these cars are pretty reliable. The $$ comes in when U want to upgrade to bigger turbo, intercooler, heads, etc (and even then, its still waaay cheaper to upgrade than a Supra or 300zx and can be made faster for less $$)..

 

[mr_nate]

When I first bought my car, I had the same thoughts. It's one problem after another. I don't have a garage, so it makes working on the car extremely difficult, and I'm not a pro-mechanic, I can do the basics, but I've never gotten into rebuilding the engine or anything like that. All the knowledge I have on the car is from taking stuff apart, and trying to get it back together. (The internet has been a huge help)
If I had to take the car to a mechanic every time something went wrong, I'd be flat broke.
No matter how much bull**** I have to deal with, with this car (constant maintenance, theft etc.) I love driving it, and have never even considered selling it for something else. I think half the pleasure of owning a GN is knowing how much time and effort you put into it, and not owning some turn-key maintenance-free flashy car.

 

[Skylark455]

Powerwagon05 I think I figured out your problem. You let Doug take your car for a test drive :biggrin: .

 

[Buick_noob]

I love the bodies of these cars and sometimes I wished I bought a Regal V8 and just did a LS1 or even LS2 swap. But I haven't had problems yet where I have to take the motor apart. I think if I was going to do anything to the Motor next it will be a LS3 with the new 6 speed automatic.