I read in the newspaper today there is a recall on about 206,000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP and Buick Regal's because of an oil leak that can cause a fire.

I wonder what's different about the park avenue with the same engine that causes it not to get recalled.

I got 202,000 miles on mine, no fires yet. It does leak oil like a siv, but all blown buicks do that.

I found a bulletin but not a recall. This is for the Super Charged engine only. No mention of a 'thermal event' either.


#08-06-04-019: L67 Engine Oil Smell or Odor, Leak at Left or Front Valve Cover (Replace Valve Cover Gasket, Grommets and Spark Plug Wire Retainers for Cylinders 1-3-5) - (Mar 11, 2008)

My 97 Park Ave has the 3.8 engine, has about 330,000 miles on it, gets about 31 mpg, uses about a quart of oil every 3000 miles (which is right where I change it any way) and runs like the fine tuned piece of machinery it was made to be. Add to that the fact my wife has hit at LEAST eight deer with it, and you can see why I still have it.

Yeah 8 sounds about right, you should have seen him try to roll the driver side window up one day.

Those 3.8's are 300,000 mile motors. We had a Buick avenue, 91' with that motor, only real problem was the harmonic balancer went out and the water pump, water pump was a bitch to change. The sencond balancer was going out and it had been rearended a couple times, so my dad sold it to the junk yard to get rid out it.


Isn't the recall for 3.2 or 3.3 motors?

I've got a 97 GTP and the funny thing is I just had the valve cover gasket replaced a week ago. I had been smelling burning oil for a while until we noticed some leaking when we were putting in windshield washer fluid one day. Yeah, they were a little late, but at least I didn't have a fire!

While we are talking about 3800. We have a 04 regai and all we can get for miles per gallon is about 21, has anyone else had this problem??

As an aside, for the moment, the 2.2 non-turbo Chevy Cobalt motor is good for 98,000 miles.

Nary a problem. just changed the plugs a week ago, they looked to be in good shape. Hoping to see 300k out of this one.

have a good day,

mjs

Nothing in the current recalls about any oil leaks. Doesn't mean it might not be coming.

My 3.8 was getting about the same until I took it in and had the garage do some work on the "internals" like setting all the fuel feeds and a ton of stuff I still don't understand. The transformation was incredible. It ran smoother, the mpg went way up, and it had incredible 'snap' for the size of the car vs the size of the engine. It cost me about $150 but I saved that in fuel. The car has over 330,000 miles on it and there isn't any place I can get to by driving that I wouldn't set out for tomorrow morning. Of course, it has been taken care of all its life. My Father told me when I was young that if you change the oil o a car when it needs it, keep good tires and a good battery in them, they'll last a long long time. I put a new battery in my cars every two years whether they need it or not and by and large, I change the tires every year to 18 months. I just had my first flat tire in YEARS the other day (traveling at 93 mph I might add) on I-95 between Ft Lauderdale and Miami. The tire had less than 4000 miles on it and the inner side wall appeared to have blown.

I heard it is coming at the coffee pot. It will be a version of the bulleting I posted.

If you paid for these repairs, hang on to your receipts, you may get it back.

Is it possible that the tire had a leak? This type of blowout is usually caused by running low on air...unless something rubbed on it, or possibly an impact separation from a pothole?

Just curious because having a blowout for no reason is something to be concerned about.

Mike

Mike... I'm not sure what happened. I don't think I hit anything and my 'low tire' light didn't come on until about two seconds before I knew it was flat and that stupid gauge is way too touchy for my liking. I took it into have it taken off and changed and we could find nothing that gave indication I hit anything. I called the tire store from which I bought it and gave them the info from the tire so they could check it for similar faults but they had nothing on it. As I think I posted here or some where else, I am real picky about the condition of my tires and I watch them all the time. I hate changing tires on the side of the road, let alone changing tires on the side of I95 when there are six lanes and everyone one of filled by car going at 85mph+!

i have a 2000 grand prix with the super charger and we got our recall paper in the mail on tuesday. called the dealer and they know nothing about it yet. they said to bring in the slip and let them see it.

My recall slip said they would let us know when there are parts available to fix it.

Aaron,
Is the cat plugged? That'll make the back pressure go way up, and then it'll knock, and pull timing. Updated ROMs can help too if they have made a service release for it.

Mine is gonna be getting the cat sawed off and a O2 simulator plugged in where the rear O2 sensor was. I took it apart at 196k when I had some misfire issues, didn't look plugged, but I don't want it to cause trouble later, and it's effectiveness is probably worn off by now, so it's not doing the environment any favors.

My park ave has been the most bulletproof car I've ever had. I change oil filters everytime the light comes on, and top off the mobil 1, then do a complete change with mobil 1 every other time the light comes on. Other than that it's been belts and fluids, and plugs... I did have 1 bad plug that caused the misfire problem I noted above. I also swapped the coupler out on the supercharger, they only last about 125k, but it's a $30 part.

Funny thing is that it gets better mileage than the wife's brand new Nissan Versa, but not as good as my 86 Grand National, so the newer the car is the worse mileage it gets, I guess. Or maybe the more power it makes the better mileage it gets?

Amen! I was always a Chevy, Olds and Cadillac guy but this 97 Park Avenue I have has changed me around. If I was to buy a new car, it would be the new Buick Lucerne, the younger sister to the Park Avenue. My father in law has one and he loves it. I've always used Mobil 1 in mine as well.

The newer cars have stricter emission standards, especially the NOx standard. In order to get under the NOx standard, you have to richen the car, causing worse gas mileage. The older cars we could just lean out as much as 17:1 while cruising.

Yeah the hacked ecm on the oldest buick gets me a lot of mileage too. I need to pool some funds and time together and work on the tuning to get some better mileage on the 98.

I think in general people wig that their newer cars dont get that good of mileage.

We got a new Chevy Tahoe that tells you as you drive down the road what your MPG is. It also will switch in and out from V8 to V4 more if you going at a consistant speed.

My 99 sunfire with a four cyl. get about 27MPG according to the odometer. I reset the trip set and fill the tank. However, I set the cruise at 60 MPH on I-75 and every mile took 1 minute & 4 seconds, every mile for 20 miles! so I'm not really going as far as the odometer says I'm going. So I;m really getting about 25 MPG which sucks because it has a 5 speed. Seems I should be able to run 80 MPH and still get 30MPG? I use Mobil 1 also.

Do you have the correct size tires and air pressure by chance?

Do you have the correct size tires and air pressure by chance?

yes on the tire size. I do have one tire w/ a slow leak. My valve cover seems to leak more than it should.