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Oldsmobile Intrigue Maintenance and Repair
pcx
Member Posts: 2
in Oldsmobile
I have a 1999 3.5 GLS with 120,000 miles, auto. This weekend it ceased to catch in any gear. I can move the shifter through reverse, park, Drive, 1,2, and 3 but nothing happens. I only care about being able to drive but will list all known problems in case it helps.
1) Car seemed to hesitate in first gear. This was a one day event when it was foggy. Never happened before or after. Short drive, don't know if it would have persisted once warmed up.
2) Two days later, after oil change, car drove fine. Driving 35mph, a thunk, and then total loss of propulsion. Engine kept running and sounds fine. Transmission doesn't seem to want to engage.
3) After sitting two hours, I started the car. Car shifted into gear. A slight whining noise from engine or under car. Shift to Park to look. Transmission disengages and will no longer find any gear. Shifter moves normally with no binding. Engine light is on, don't have codes.
4) Day later. Mechanic goes to tow car, but says car shifted into gear. Not sure of details if towed or drove to shop. They don't want to touch it because the don't do transmissions.
Other problems, probably not related nor of major concern.
a) Burns 2 Quart of oil every 3000 miles
b) Starts up, then dies. Always starts right back up. Pumping gas helps. Either way car revs high, then runs fine.
c) Refuses to start (once in 3 years)
d) Windows don't work in warm weather
e) Wife wants mini-van but loves the car.
Tonight I I've found a number of posts about the starting/dieing problem, but nothing about the failure to catch a gear. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Remember, I can shift, it just doesn't engage. Thanks
1) Car seemed to hesitate in first gear. This was a one day event when it was foggy. Never happened before or after. Short drive, don't know if it would have persisted once warmed up.
2) Two days later, after oil change, car drove fine. Driving 35mph, a thunk, and then total loss of propulsion. Engine kept running and sounds fine. Transmission doesn't seem to want to engage.
3) After sitting two hours, I started the car. Car shifted into gear. A slight whining noise from engine or under car. Shift to Park to look. Transmission disengages and will no longer find any gear. Shifter moves normally with no binding. Engine light is on, don't have codes.
4) Day later. Mechanic goes to tow car, but says car shifted into gear. Not sure of details if towed or drove to shop. They don't want to touch it because the don't do transmissions.
Other problems, probably not related nor of major concern.
a) Burns 2 Quart of oil every 3000 miles
b) Starts up, then dies. Always starts right back up. Pumping gas helps. Either way car revs high, then runs fine.
c) Refuses to start (once in 3 years)
d) Windows don't work in warm weather
e) Wife wants mini-van but loves the car.
Tonight I I've found a number of posts about the starting/dieing problem, but nothing about the failure to catch a gear. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Remember, I can shift, it just doesn't engage. Thanks
0
Comments
The 3.5L engines burn oil. NO getting around this. At some point after 60k miles they will begin to burn oil. Watch your "low oil" light and keep a bottle of oil in the trunk. I have the Walmart 5 quart jug in my trunk for this very reason.
The starting and dying sounds like the beginning of an ignition problem. The general consensus is if it continues and the "Check Engine" light does NOT come on, it is most likely related to the ignition switch. If the light does come on, get it scanned. You may also see the "security" light stay on as well. That is related to the ignition switch as well.
You are simply experiencing some of the many "characteristics" of these vehicles. I'm sure there will be more to follow.
This weekend was the first time. And it is sitting in the mechanics lot because it won't engage period. We have never had a problem with the transmission until this happened. I always assumed you would experience some type of sign before a complete failure.
<<you need to have a shop look it over.
Sending it to a transmission place tomorrow for estimate.
<<At the very least replace the transmission fluid to see if this improves or worsens the situation.
I'll be sure to mention it as a first step. I don't have time until next weekend to work on it.
I forgot to mention that after changing the transmission fluid, it always started looking dirty after 3,000K miles. Might have been trying to tell me something, but I just wrote it off as curious. 60,000K miles later I know see maybe there was something to it.
thanks.
let me know anyone out there!!
So my question is does anyone have any big problems getting this engine out (there's not much room to work with) and what could I be missing?
Another thing is when we looked at the other engine that were putting in, we noticed an extra bolt hole way down on the right, but for some reason it doesn't have any threads and we can't seem to see it or find it anywhere in the car, so could there be a bolt in that and could that be what's keeping the engine from coming out?
Anyone else with a similar experience?
recently ive been having trouble with the battery holding a charge over night.
i originally thought it was leading from an aftermarket alarm system that was installed at circuitcity about 10 months ago.
hears a time line:
2 weeks back i was visting my gf in pittsburgh. car sat from friday to sunday with alarm armed. it was completely dead sunday. -also very cold that weekend
monday night it was i didn't arm it but it was dead tuesday.
-again pretty cold outside
took it to walmart. they said it was either the battery going bad or something draining the battery. so we put a new battery in.
ok with the new battery i tested it over night again with the alarm on and again it was dead.
took the car to circuity city and the alarm brain was replaced. - i dont think its the alarm installation at this point.
also worth mentioning is a stereo system i have installed. if you need more details on that i can provide them. but i run about a total of 700rms. (included sub amp and front stage amp). this has been installed for about a year so there could be some alternator failure going on...?
this week after have the alarm brain replaced i tried it over night again.
sunday night i had the alarm armed and i had barely enough juice to get it started.
monday night i didnt arm it but again i had barely enough to get it started.
last night i armed it again but i went back over my stereo install and tightned everything up. ( i doubt it's the stereo but i have to rule it out). again it was about to dead to start in the morning.
tonight im trying with alarmed arm but the fuse for the power wire that goes to amps removed so the electronics will not see any power.
if its dead then its not the stereo.
First do not go to Walmart to try to resolve an electrical problem. Oil change, new battery, tires, sure but not problems with the car.
What was the result of pulling the plug on the radio overnight?
If the battery is still dead in the morning, have your charging system checked by a mechanic. It could be a bad alternator. Also check the battery cables.
im still trying to figure mine out. seems all things are point to the alt or wires...
For a used climate control, check E-Bay. A bunch of parts stores sell used Intrigue parts on E-Bay with a warranty. I've bought 3 things for my Intrigue off E-Bay and have not had a problem.
If itis cold enough a discharged battery will freeze and it will kill it faster.
Have you verified that you trunk and or glove box lights are going out?
You will only solve this problem by a logical approach. Recharging the batt and hoping that it will mysteriously start working is a waste of time and possibly a battery.
You need to hook an ammeter in series with one battery lead and measure te current drawn. It should start around an amp and settled down to a 100 milliamps after the cpu cycles after rehook up.
If the current stays higher than 1/4 amp then you need to start pulling fuses one at a time until the current drops down and there ya go.
even with the charger on it all night the battery wasn't holding a charge. i think the battery is fried. plan is to get the free replacement from walmart and go to advance auto. they can do the real testing to see if the alternator is putting out the juice.
back to the my corrosion thing. reason im leaning towards it is because
1) battery terminal corrosion could explain low charge on battery
2) wire corrosion along any point on the charging system could explain low charge on battery
3) car will run with dead battery so alt is still functioning
**please correct me if im wrong**
also it appears that the previous owner may have had a corrosion issue at the battery pos end of the wire. it looks like its been cut back afew inches. reason i suspect this is because my car is suppose to fit a larger/longer battery but the wire wont reach the terminal.
**this is mostly speculation. please advise me with other idea's and solutions**
You do not need an air compressor to keep windows from frosting up in the winter. Although it does speed up the process. There are thousands of cars that do not have AC. So ignore that for now.
If'n you have air flow from all vents and you have proper heat control then I would look to the recirculating door vent. This is used for AC mileage/efficiency.
It has a damper door like the others that block the fresh air intake and simply recirculate the air within the car. Called MAx air on some brands. It conditions the interior air instead of constanly cooling new air, resulting in less load for the AC hence better mileage. Twoo problems, If you have a sicky in the car, then your spreading disease and if its cold outside the problem is that it recircs your breath and moisture and that hitting the windows causes instantcondensation. I believe that if you have recirc selected and select defrost it defaults to fresh air for this purpose.
Check to make sure the dimmer switch is not in the off position. I know it sounds obvious but.....
When I turn my AC on the driver side gets super cold but the passenger side stays HOT.... I tried turning the temp up and down and nothing works...
All the passenger side will do is blow the same hot air temperature.
The drivers side works just fine but I cant use my ac with the passenger vents blowing heat...
Can someone please tell me what could the problem be??? I would love to have AC for the summer lol...
Thanks everyone
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0fecd2/48!keywords=allin%3Amsgtex- t%20limit%3A.eea8f2f%20blowing%20hot%20cold%20air#48
hope this helps.
One valve is in near the overlfow bottle, below and toward the center of engine compartment. Other one is towards the front on drivers side, near air cleaner. Isolate the sound to one or the other.
Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks a lot!
I'm planning to replace my Intrigue this summer so I plan to have my mechanic re-charge the system with freon and add a dye to find the leak. Hopefully the charge will last until I can replace this car.
If it makes you feel better, my AC quit blowing cold and I had very low freon (to the point that my compressor wouldn't even turn on). They charged the system and added dye to the refrigerant so they could later see where the leak was coming from.
A month later and the air is not cold at all. Apparently I have a leak in my evaporator which is up under the dashboard and a real pain to access. They mentioned my compressor was making some groaning noises (I've heard it too) and that it would most likely need replacing soon too. The total cost was going to be over $1,600. That is about half the value of the car so I can't justify that expense.
So relatively speaking, be glad it's just your compressor and not the evaporator.
My solution is to pay a couple of hundred dollars and tint the windows. Then in a few years just buy another inexpensive car.
I recently spent 6 hours replacing the AC compressor, and the car seemed to be smoother than ever. I drove home one afternoon and when i tried to turn on the accessories to roll up my windows before a storm, the key refused to turn at all. Now my fine machine is a paper weight.
I've used graphite spray and have worked the lock and steering column and shifter. Doesn't seem to make any difference. The wheel has not locked and I can still turn it, but the shifter is in park and you cant push the car.
Haynes doesn't make a manual for Intrigues, the closest you can get is a manual covering all buicks, pontiacs and olds's from '85-'05. Can anyone give me some advice or get me started on how to remove the ignition key cylinder so i can replace/repair it?