Just bought an old car. (1988 buick Riviera).

[rca2000]

I just bought a car, as a run-around car. It is a 1988 Buick riviera, with the GM 3800 V6 engine. 110k miles, and it is in pretty good shape, with only a very minor bit of rust near the edge of the hood(Heck, my van, an 2001, is getting that!!), and no other real inperfections in the body, other than near the top of the left headlight(a bit of damage, someone must have bumped sommethig, but very minor.) The interior is pretty good, the headliner is intact, of course the seats are cracked in places(leather ALWAYS seems to do that!!) as is the door arm rest. The A/C needs recharged. The window on the passenger side does not roll down right(you can hear a grinding, like a gear on the motor). But other than that--the inside is good. ALL gages work, including the touch screen and dash(except for the EL backlighting for the left and right switch panels--I suspect that it is a bad inverter,one of which I have a spare, from my previous rivs, I think). The radio is a BOSE, unfortunately, but does work.

As for the engine--it runs pretty good, NO knocks, or rattles, and NO smoke out of the oil filler, at idle or above. The tranny shifts smoothly. The CV joints do NOT make any noises, going around turns. The exhaust system is good, and quiet. The temperature holds pretty well,and the oil pressure is in the ok range--32-38 PSI at about 1700 RPM and about 25-30 at idle. Unlike my van, which needs a rear seal and is leaking about a quart of oil per wwek, this old car does not seem to leak ANYTHING!!

It runs and drives quite well-EXCEPT for a rough idle--I pulled out the codes, and a eo27 and eo28 are there"history". I suspect possibly the mass air flow sensor, dirty injectors,or such, may be bad, and it will need plugs. Under power, it runs good, and pretty swiftly. It DOES need struts.

And the price-- I paid $700.

Seeing the blue book on these--I don't think I did bad. Plus-- I got it locally--less than 2 miles away-- so there was no "cost of driving it back" from a long distance.

I figure on doing most of my driving in it from now on, work, radio clubs, "pleasure driving" flea mkts, routes(around here) and so on. My van will be reserved for out of town routes, swap meets out of town and long trips like to estes.

 

[philo426]

Good price and that Riv is a good looking car and pretty expensive when it was new!

 

[theblackknight]

It runs and drives quite well-EXCEPT for a rough idle

I can relate to that. my dads '95 chevy astro van has 175K miles on it.:yes: he still drives, it, it runs good, but the engine chokes and dies in idle.:sigh:

 

[rca2000]

I have driven it about 400 miles now.

And it DEOS sometimes miss in 4th gear, after overdrive kicks in(And before, but it is MUCH more noiticeable in overdrive). I put in a bottle of injector cleaner, and it seemed to help it some--I drove about 40 miles last night, running like a charm, not one miss during that time, shortly after I put the gumout injector cleaner in.

Today--I drove it some more. It started out fine, but develpoed the miss here and there. It was getting low on gas, so I put a few gallons of top grade gas in. It missed off and on for a while longer--then stopped missing and ran fine about 25 more miles, all of the way home. I filled up with Sunoco93 just before I got home, and it was running--and idling, quite smoothly when I parked it.

So.. I figure this IS dirty injectors. If I was dropping one of the coils, and thus--missing on 2 cylinders--wouldn't the miss be there ALL of the time once it came on??And if it was plugs--wouldn't the same thing apply??

I am planning to put good plugs in it soon--and maybe the 3 coils too. The previous owner SAID he replaced the plug wires and ingition module--but I am not sure about that.

When it is not missing--it runs VERY well, with great power. Gas mileage sems to be about 23MPG on average-- better than my van. But that is not surprising--the GM 3800 V6 is one of the best engines out there--IMHO.

The only other thing I would like to fix is the cruise control. It does NOT engage--even though the light for it and the CRT indication shows that it does. I checked the vacuum line from the cruise servo--and it is hooked to something going to the engine on the other end(perhaps the digital EGR valve or whatever it is).

How could I figure out if I need a new servo or not?? This old car is fun to drive, but would be a LOT funner with the cruise working--then, I could drive it pretty far without my foot getting tired!!

 

[Bigerik]

Coils are definitely a possibility on all the 3800's. I would start with a plugs and then test the coils (can get you the instructions if you need them.) Of and Kamakiri is parting out an 89 Lesabre, so you might be able to get some parts from there. Otherwise, it is a great car and a great drivetrain. Have fun!

 

[rca2000]

Well, it was missing some more today.

I would think if it was dirty injectors, that the good gas and injector cleanerwould have made a lasting difference by now. And--when not issing--it runs VEY well.

So...I do thinnk I may indeed have a bad coil. The problem is-- this one has the "magnavox" coil pack, and is one piece--not seperate as the delco one is. All 3 coils are potted into one housing. Not too mention-- according to some research--this magnavox module is a SORE SPOT for trouble on these cars.

 

[yungin's-dad]

I have an '89 Buick Lesabre T-Type. The car is clean, as it only has 46k on the odometer. But I must say, it's kind of built crappy as far as the interior and such, but I hear that 3800 is a damn good engine. It'll run forever if you keep the maintenance up on it. I would try having the injectors cleaned professionally or buy a kit and do it yourself. The injector cleaner is made to help keep them clean, if you're having trouble with them, it's probably too late, and may need to be serviced.

Enjoy it,

Ron

 

[rca2000]

I am getting a bit worried now....

I had the oil changed today(It WAS nasty and black looking), and I was NOT happy to find out that the oil pressure increased SIGNIFICANTLY, after the new oil was installed!!! Before-at idle, it was around 28-30 psi, now it is 35-38psi. At about 1500-1700RPM, it was 32-38PSI, now it is 45+ PSI!! SO...why am I worried about HIGHER oil presure??

It probably means that the old oil was in there for God-knows how long..they may had NEVER changed it!!

Now---there are no "bad" noises or smoke from the engine--but I just get a bit concerned that having old worn-out oil in the engine might not have helped things any!!

SO, it is unlikely that he did ANYTHING else to the car in the way of maintenance!!



Also--will it hurt the engine to drive the car with the miss in the engine?? I have new wires and rapidfire platinum plugs to put in the engine. But until then--is it ok to drive it(with the OD NOT engaged) until I get the miss fixed?? Someone told me that missing WILL hurt an engine--even something as durable and rugged as the 3800 V6. Is that true??

 

[Chad Hauris]

That sounds like very good oil pressure...I think some of my vehicles have about 10 psi hot at idle but still are OK.
What I would do with vehicles that did not seem to have regular oil changes was to change the oil and filter about every 200 miles about 4 times. This will help get the sludge out of the system.
A miss on a cylinder will mean unburned gasoline will go through the cylinder which can be hard on things...I'd replace all the spark plugs first thing.