Tough 1st year fellas. Need some comfort

[ncmalko1]

Bought an 87 GN with 47,000 mile and a strong thumbs up from my mechanic 1 year ago. I've put 500 miles on it this year and it needed new tires, then a new radiator, then a new O2 sensor, then a new main seal (massive oil leak), then a new brake system, then a new this and a new that........

Well anyway I turn her on and let it idle for 5 minutes once a week and now I'm seeing a small 4 inch puddle of tranny fluid on the ground. AM I IN BIG TROUBLE?? I don't even drive the thing and it consistently breaks. Any ideas??

 

[MENTL231]

Sell It To Me For $2,000 And It Will Never Break Down On You Again!!

Good?

Problem Solved!! :d

 

[Blazer406]

IMHO... what you are seeing isn't any different than any other 21 year old car that has basically set up for 19 of it's 21 years..... Do you do any of the work yourself? These cars can be costly to own if you can't/don't do any of the work yourself.

IMHO.... fix the tranny leak.... and drive it to work... at least once a week... and maybe around on the weekends. These cars survive much better when driven.... at least when you do have issues... you have at least been enjoying the car..... not just watching it.

 

[Grumpy]

Ya have to remember they are a 20 year old car.. I think driving them more keeps things working better on them.. Leak could be a simple fix. good luck with it

 

[87NAT]

Welcome to the club! Dont matter how many miles it has. These cars are still 20 years old. Things will break, leak, come apart, rattle, come out of a adjustment, miss, sputter, die, squeal, spark, no spark, too much fuel, not enough fuel, knock, etc........

Seriously, these cars take time and TLC but you have to love them or you will just keep pulling your hair out and sell it. But when they are running right...look out!

 

[buttonfly]

Bought an 87 GN with 47,000 mile and a strong thumbs up from my mechanic 1 year ago. I've put 500 miles on it this year and it needed new tires, then a new radiator, then a new O2 sensor, then a new main seal (massive oil leak), then a new brake system, then a new this and a new that........

Well anyway I turn her on and let it idle for 5 minutes once a week and now I'm seeing a small 4 inch puddle of tranny fluid on the ground. AM I IN BIG TROUBLE?? I don't even drive the thing and it consistently breaks. Any ideas??

I don't think your in big trouble. How long was the car sitting before you bought it?? I know mine had been sitting for 4 years. I have done everything you've done and then some not including all the peformance parts. Its not uncommon at all to see repairs like that after a car has been sitting for any amount of time. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do a fuel tank, new pump which you should do anyway. Seriously though on your transmission leak you probably have a output seal leaking or something. Can you take a flash light and see if you can see where it is coming from?? That would help to give you an accurate estimate of what your up against. Jason

 

[turbo39151]

Welcome to the joy of owning a Turbo Regal! This is common....

 

[buttonfly]

Wow! everybody wanted a piece of this one. 5 posts within 2 min's

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

I agree with the others, drive the car at least once a week, helps keep the seals lubed/good. Sounds like a nice car by the way, congratulations!

Chuck

 

[ncmalko1]

this is such an amazing (family) web site. Thanks for the technical and mental support!

 

[Underboost]

All TR's leak.

 

[VadersV6]

Sounds like a dream car compared to mine. Dont feel bad.
I'll bet what is going on with yours, is what happened to mine. The way Buick lined up the tranny lines, they tend to rub up against each other, or the frame, and wear down over 20 years, until is wears to the point a pinhole opens up. The same thing happened to my wife's mustang...and it was only 4 years old when it happened. 20 years is a long time. I had an unexplained tranny fluid leak...just like a drop or 2 a night. Then 1 morning I was warming the car up and saw a big puddle accumulating fast. I looked under there and there was an extremely fine stream squirting out of the line, right under the engine. The stream was so fine I couldnt even see it! It wasnt until I moved my hand under there, that I saw it spraying on my hands. Its amazing such a fine stream could flow so much fluid, so fast. I went through hell trying to rig it so I could get to work, and ended up missing that day. About 10 inches out from the trans, I used a dremel with a stone blade and cut through the lines, and removed the other ends from the radiator, and pulled both hard lines out. I used a brake line flaring tool to flare the ends out, and used rubber tranny fluid hoses and ran them up to an external tranny cooler mounted in front of the radiator with the mounting ties that come with the kit. I used 2 fuel injection hose clamps at each end, and like I said, I flared the ends of the hard lines, so that when the hose slips over the line and the hose clamp is tightened, the hose will never pull off from pressure. I highly recommend you flare them, or just get the right fittings and run rubber hose all the way to the tranny. But the way I did it, it only ran me like 80 bucks for the cooler, lines and clamps. I'd almost guarantee you've worn a pinhole somewhere, and its really hard to find sometimes. It'll be easier to just cut the lines close to the tranny, remove the other ends and pull the whole mess out and go with rubber hoses.

 

[Underboost]

I had that same problem VadersV6 last year. I also had a similar problem with a fuel line.

 

[V8Assassin]

Hang in there, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. I picked my GN up the week of Bowling Green last year and am hoping to have it back together and running before BG this year.

 

[79TurboCutlass]

You're doing more harm than good by starting it up for 5 min a week. That is just long enough to build condensation up in the crank case, oil and exhaust. Drive it once and a while to get it up to opperating temp to burn off all that condensation.

 

[GNRick]

I bought my 25,000 mile GN last august- the brake light was on, new accumulator fixed it. Then I changed the coolant and 300 miles later I needed a new heater core. I drove the car a little bit yesterday when it was 70 degrees here. Today it is back to normal- 25 degrees with winter storm warning. So I guess I won't be driving it for awhile.

 

[Grimster]

Look at it this way, that tranny is not a $4500 item like it would be if your "just out of warranty" say, 2004 <something> did the same. You're talking, worst case scenario, a $800 rebuild, and probably just some cheap seals you can replace yourself for a few bucks and an afternoon of cursing and banged knuckles.

And it's been said, these are old cars, they break, things leak, if you pay a shop to do it all, you're gonna be paying thru the nose.

I bought my car in June (or July) last summer. 71K miles in great shape. I drove it home over 600 miles with my wife following along behind in her Yukon.

So far: new fuel pump and wiring (not broke but needed upgrading), new injectors (again, not broke but needed upgrading), new O2 sensor (mine was shot), new plugs (shot O2 meant I had some serious fuel wash of my plugs/cylinders thanks to how rich it ran), had to find and fix a boost problem, new calipers and rotors and pads, new maf and translator, new powerlogger and scanmaster, new stereo head unit, new rear speakers (they rattled), new brake fluid reservoir (cracked).

To be done SOON: new tires and front end alignment (uneven wear up front) and this MAY turn into more parts up front since the reason for uneven wear might be wore out front end bits, and new dash and door speakers, and gotta fix the trunk springs so they "spring" properly, new dew wipes, new tires and rims (because I want GNX style rims).

Get some good wrenches and go at it it's fun!

 

[boostingbuick]

How many old cars can you buy from the 80's that don't need to be fixed?


However, howmany of them can you keep dumping money into them and still get your money back out of it?!!!

But I'm sure you bought it cause its want you wanted, keep in mind of the good times.

 

[LBNJWE4]

yep, sounds like you are in the middle of working the bugs out. My car sat for 10 years at my parents house until I was able to have my own garage and afford parts. now I am going through the same as you. Hang in there, and ask questions on here. I would have spent thousands on mine in the last year if it weren't for these guys! Don't get discouraged, these are cars are fun to drive and you will regret it later on if you decide to get rid of it. Depending on your intentions with the car it sounds like you are nearing the end of the bulk of repairs anyway.

 

[ncmalko1]

Well atleast I live n AZ. That means Nick Micale "has my back". He is an amazing GN mechanic. Need to get the GN their to fix the brakes anyway!!