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I read similar things to what lee18 says which just proves my point. What, they didn't know it was going to be an expensive engine to produce??? Did they not know they were pumping a lot of money into said expensive engine for a division that was on the verge of collapse??? As I said, poor management. Why spend that kind of money without a financially justifiable reason? Basically a backup plan if Olds didn't pan out?
They should have made plans to use it all across the divisions. I mentioned it before. Look at Toyota. They use the 3000 engine in everything they make from Camrys to GS300s and trucks. If GM didn't have similar plans to use the 3.5 in Impala, Grand Prix, Regal, LeSabre and Catera, they shouldn't have built it in the first place.
I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Too bad I can't say the same for execs at GM.
That being said, stay away from '98s. While mine turned out well, it was also a later build. If you buy used, you have no real idea of when it was built without going into a lot of hassle with the dealer. I'd say look at 2000 and later. Plus, with a 2000 you're certain to get the 3.5 engine. Some 1999s have the 3.5 others have the 3.8.
Despite GM's stupidity, I plan on replacing my Intrigue with a 2001 or 2002 Midnight Blue GL.
I will admit defeat on the fender liners as the cause of the front end noise. It is pure and simple the struts which rattle over the concrete slab roads. The only aftermarket strut is made by KYB-the Asian guys. Maybe somebody can advise me. The car can't be sold in this noisy condition.
Will continue this later today.
Apparently, the Sensatracs have softer valving and the Reflex units are new tech and more performance oriented but as explained to me by a suspension wizard, you can have ten people drive the same car and half will say too stiff and half will say too soft.
By the way, How come I never hear about the Olds LSS. I like the way it looks but have never driven one. Maybe I'll pick up a used one down the road. There is no discussion forum on it. Any comments on the LSS? Anyone?
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Traded the car in on the 98 GLS which GM later purchased at 26k due to my great stories; and I added $700 to the refund check; bought the 99GLS w/3.5 which has endured 38k miles.
Back to the struts---Bilstein, Monore, and Koni do not offer struts for Intrigues--however any W-body replacement should work..
You mentioned LSS--brings up a story---I originally ordered a 98 LSS; when it arrived I was not in love with it. Its an old fashioned car and the biggest items under the hood were the coolant recovery bottle and the windshield washer fluid container. I opted for the Intrigue.. It was a mistake but hindsight is 100% so I make the best of it.
My 99 GLS has a new SLP exhaust system and a new extended warranty from GM..If GM tells me that they will not replace the front struts; then I cancel the warranty policy(free of charge; buy the after market strut and sell it..
I don't hot rod any car; but I drive fast which doesn't really destroy any of the mechanical items with undue strain.. The damn front end is noisy beyond anybody's wildest dream and that is not a common trait. I am fed-up with the service mgr. at the selling dealer since they have "5" 98 Intrigues' purchased at the auction which they use for service loaners and they have noisy front ends. GM will not pay the dealer to replace the struts; so I come along and guess what???? Its an Intrigue characteristic!!!!!
rbb2::::::You have a 98 or 99..????
With GM phasing out the 3.5; there must be a reliability problem or an emissions shortfall!!
Since I own my piece of junk I become the loser; the people that lease could care less and GM bites the bullet for their sorry showing..
The wife is going back to Flordia for a couple weeks at Sarasota so I must remember to start the Caddy. I will be home to work and start thinking about why should I work????
Hope the stock market stays positive long enough to unload some stuff quickly.
The reports were that every other division was getting the new mid lux platform except for olds.
to me that meant no more olds. But others on this forum wanted to debate it.
The 3.5L is going away and i am willing to bet that 2002 is the last year for new olds product.
I am with 1415 on this one. There is a reason that the 3.5 will not have a future. I am guessing cost. But emissions or durability could also be the reason.
I doubt there is much of a reliability problem with the 3.5 any more than the Aurora 4.0 or other Northstar motors, but I sure hope mine is reliable as parts are going to be mighty expensive for such a rarely produced and discontinued motor. It may just be too expensive to produce for the Intrigue and cars they were hoping to expand its use into to make sense in the long run.
etharmon:::::::You asked about in another forum a question about the Touring versions of Olds and Buick. After my wifes 82 Z-28 was sold; I bought her a new 87 T-Type Electra, white with red leather. Had three round trips to Delray Beach Fla and I remember that I flat-spotted all 4 tires on the second trip and threw them away before 25k miles. They were Goodyear GTs. Sold the car to my neighbor at around 35k miles. I believe he keep it until around 90k. Buick suspension sucks.
Noticed lately when running the engine 3.5 at slow speeds when cold; any acceleration exposes a valve tick-tick which disappears after its warms-up..Checked the oil tonight for it changed Tuesday and I have piled about 500 miles and it was right up to the top mark; and soo clean it was hard to read.
When I had the new exhaust system installed I was under the car for the first time, and it looks brand new, no rust or oil wetness anywhere. In fact, the engine/transmission and body undercarriage are fairly streamlined; well aero shaped and quite compact in the belly area.
I am going to call a KYB installer tomorrow to find out the cost of the installed struts for the Intrigue. The KYB website lists local installers. The pricing was found on some suspension warehouse website located in Margate, Fla.. which stocks the KYB struts..
KYB's are quite popular with taxi drivers in New York, they say that they are the only shocks that can take the constant beating of the potholed roads. I understand that they will last forever.
Although, i have 200,00 miles on the bilsteins in my camaro. They are a harder riding shock, which the intrigue doesn't need.
I also don't like the low seating position.
I was talking to neighbor of my daughter's in Florida last month and his son had a 94 Camaro with the 3.4 w/manual transmission. Remember him saying that it had 170k miles and was getting a new water pump. Never got close to the car but it looked mint from across the street and sounded super going down the street--little rework of the exhaust system. They seemed happy.
dindak::::::Detroit is in forecast for snow; very light though.. My wife has a 9:15 flight to Sarasota this evening; I can see it being cancelled with all the problems on the east coast. It was a last minute booking on Friday afternoon luckily she used her flier miles for the ticket; otherwise it was a $650.00 idea. I see a couple chip stocks announced bad news so that sector will get creamed today. I flip/flop ATML and ALTR frequently and I almost dumped them Friday; but came up short. The Nasdq collasped the
last 30 minutes.
b4z::::::Thanks for the strut tip; I like firm ones, just not rattlers.
The current 3400 OHV V6 offered in the Aztek/Rendezvous, all GM Minivans, Olds Alero, Pontiac Grand AM GT and Base Chevy Impala is IN NO WAY related to the old 3400 DOHC engine. The OHV 3.4L has been very reliable so far.
Think of this approach as having GM take the current OHV 3800 and convert it into a DOHC engine....lots of problems in the process.
The current family of Northstar engines can trace their origins back to the noisy Quad 4 DOHC engine offered in the late 1980's and early 1990's. That engine was a school of taught for GM in the development and production of cammed powerplants but certainly the 3400 DOHC was not.
I bought a new 79 Firebird for my daughter when she went off to college and it was a small V-6 with a displacement less 3000; something around 2310???? It also had an auto trans.
I drove one of the 3.4 twin cam Luminas and had the 92 Regal GS appraised for trade-in. I ducked the bullet and took the Regal out at 95K with a beautiful cash sale and the buyer never drove it until he backed out of the driveway; driving away into the sunset.
teo:::::::Great display of Chevy depth--never had experience with any of the 3.4 engines and they don't sound too exciting.. A corporate driven engine that is cheap to build yet light enough to stick in Aleros and Grand Ams to give that feeling of power..
Started out at 102 hp and got up to 140 hp by the time they quit with it. The current fbody came out in '93. It came with a 160 hp 3.4L pushrod motor. I believe this motor could go 170,000 miles. No way the 3.4L DOHC could go 170,000 without constant maintenance.
Mustang GT is only about $350 more a year.
I have no points and no accidents on my record.
The front struts KYB brand for a 99 Intrigue are $102.03 ea.+frt+installation which must include an alignment. Total cost will be around $350.00 for the front..
Where are you getting your info? The maker of Monroe struts (Tenneco Automotive) say they make two designs for Intrigue: Reflex and Sensatrac. Shockwarehouse.com said the Sensatracs are available for Intrigue at $58ea (front) and $49ea (rear) with an available boot and jounce bumper kit for another $12 or so. They also said Reflex would be available for Intrigue soon. Maybe I was misled.
Don't get me wrong, I know zero about struts. I'm just trying to rectify conflicting information. The only reason I'm interested in Sensatracs is they are promoted as having softer valving for a smoother ride. I figure handling may be sacrificed
although there's no way to know for sure without examining the ride for oneself. Handling is good on my Intrigue so if it drops to marginal for a less HaRsH ride, I can deal with that.
I was under the impression that KYB specializes in the japanese suspensions, no? Maybe the web page I got that idea from was for another maker that I've confused with KYB.
At any rate, sounds like you may jump before I, regarding struts. Anxious to know the result.
My alternator is being replaced today. I sure hope that solves the problem. I felt good about my service advisor today (even though he gave me guff for taking the car somewhere else for oil change and tire rotation ($32 verses $75 at this place). When I took it in, there was a lady with a 99 Intrigue just in front of me, bringing it hers in for the same reason. He thanked me for alerting him to this problem so that they could replace hers with the redesigned alternator even after they'd already ordered the old one. Made me feel warm and fuzzy knowing that he made the extra effort to order her a redesigned one instead of just slapping on an old one (remember I had my alternator replaced in November and it seemed to be fixed until it started flickering again recently).
My dealer is an Olds/Cadillac. They had a new Catera in the showroom. Kinda liked it actually )(it was really easy to get in and out of) but the dash seemed really cheap, the door was very solid and heavy, had a nice feeling. Anyway, I was looking on the sticker and it says 3.0L DOHC 6 cylinder. Where is that coming from? I didn't know GM made a 3.0 DOHC 6. Very sad to hear that our engines are going away. I don't believe one bit that they're proving unreliable or have emissions problems. I think the brand managers of the other divisions just don't want anything to do with something that used to be in Oldsmobile.
Would never try this with Camaro, but it was in by blind spot, and with its low nose I thought this is a small car: Sentry, Civic, or Corolla. I was in Regal GS, and did not try hard. No performance shift, no spinning wheels, just moved from whole stop, than added a bit of gas.
When I looked at the rear view mirror before changing lanes, saw a wide low car far behind. Even checked the second time at side - expected a small car, and much closer. Sitting at the next traffic light checked again, and this time recognized Camaro.
The Camaro moved slow from stop. Probably, the driver is not great with stick. And it had not so great acceleration at all after peeking-up its speed.
At first, I was astonished. Than looked at specs, when returned home. Turned to be, a base Camaro with 3800 is simply no match for Regal GS or GP GTP. About second slower 0-60 acceleration, according to Edmunds.
I believe, it is also no match for Intrigue on highways, but faster from full stop.
Since next year is the last year some of the tooling will be getting a little ragged toward the end so any purchase should come at the beginning of the model run..Also be aware that car makers on build out situations have a habit of changing things and not letting the know. They just downgrade something and know body pays any attention. Case in point!!!
Had a 89 6000 SE 2.8 V-6 which had the STE suspension goodies and was just as tight at 90k miles as new. Sold to a private party.. Picked up a 91 6000 SE 3.1 V-6 larger wheels; but found out later no suspension upgrade--std 6000 setup. Never read the brochure or never even thought about. 91 6000 production was extremely limited and in fact I think after one month they stopped. Drove the beast 90k miles and it shook the whole way..Had the front brakes turned once; one alignment and a set of tires..If I would have read the brochure I would have realized it was not the same as the 89. The car had a 1500 mile history; the original owner was GM, car was stolen, stripping wheels, battery, and spare tire. Car was recovered and Pontiac dealer purchased it; replacing the missing items. They replaced the wheels with 14" and I told them that 15" was std so another couple weeks the wheels were replaced. I beat up the price for a couple days and bought the poor thing. It was a fair deal; but not the 89 handling.
As for the 3.5, I have read in Pop Mech. and other places that GM will use this motor in the new CTS (Catera replacement), which is based on the new rear wheel drive Sigma plaform.
lee18 : I didn't realize St Catherines was getting production of the 3.0L. That's great. An engineering buddy from university used to work at that plant, but I'm not sure if he still does. I lost touch with him a few years ago.
60 degrees is optimal for a V6 due to its number of cylinders and firing order. The honda is a 60 degree design and is as smooth as silk.
There are packaging efficiencies with a narrow angle design, that a 90 degree can't equal. A 90 degree does have more room for the intake runners which will help low and midrange torque and power.
A 90 degree requires a balance shaft to smooth it out some.
Due to its width the 3.5L would probably not fit in the mini van chassis that GM is currently using.
It looks like the uses for the 3.5 are limited to the midsize and large cars. Not enough volume for what GM needs. The fbody is going away, so that is not a potential candidate either.
Too bad.
oscarz2:::::::I can't locate the Monroe pricing on the shockwarehouse website. Every time I plug in all the numbers it spits out the KYB pricing which is 60.15+11.81-boot/bumpstop+30.07-upper mount. I will try again today.
Had to take wife to airport last night and I-94 was a skating rink for 35 miles going to Metro and well salted coming back. 30 min trip took 1 1/2 hrs going; got back to the house and the fax/computer line was out of order--watched the boop tube and see we picked up some more snow this am.
Thanks for the help on struts--talked to my Firestone tire storeowner and he will not do the KYB strut. He will do Monroes; but he is still peeved about when I had the Monroes installed by the Buick dealer.
jg28:::::::Your Cadillac/Olds dealer is a thief--$75 for oil change/tire rotation should also include "dinner for two", martinis extra!!! Consider your self lucky not to own a Catera--its a 3700# tank with the reliability of a Yugo.. It has a resale value similiar to the Intrigue..
yurakm::::::The dual exhausted 3800 Camaro uses a higher axle ratio so it would probably cream the 3.5 up to 60mph; but after that watch out. Camaro is too heavy to offer much excitement with 200hp. and probably would be great for me the AARPer. My nearby Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealer has a leftover 00 Trans Am for 21995 and he also has 4 used Intrigues, 3 Aleros, and 2 Auroras.. A 99 Aurora is listed for 19,995 showing 16k miles..
Here is a real eye-opener on the same used car lot is a 99 Acura 3.2TL for 22,995 and a 99 Intrigue GLS for 14,995..That type of a spread is hard to accept..Hate to post this data for "jgriff" could really get into trouble.. However if you approach it from the logical beginning the TL owners pay sticker and we Intrigue owners bask in rebates and discounts.
Got to go get dressed and meet my attorney for discussion/lunch/lawsuit...
Olds called yesterday and asked if I was happy with my Intrigue... told them, yeah, after spending three months trying to get an alternator that worked. Funny thing is, we called Oldsmobile several times during that fiasco. Guess their in-house communications is about as good as their marketing.
Ken
No snow to worry about!
Sorry, couldn't resist!
Do you guys remember the 4.1L 252 CID version that was available in the early 80's?It came in the lesabre.
Back to the pontiac. I remember that this was originally an odd fire engine. That was converted into an even fire. It was available in the firebird and lemans.
In the 70's and 80's GM was still using different engines for most divisions.The cutlass GT was still available with the 307 CID in 1987.
One year report on my Intrigue coming later this week.