Oldsmobile Intrigue: Problems & Solutions

indrgb

My Intrigue has a strange noise that started recently and I welcome other opinions. When I start it cold, it makes an odd, low frequency humming noise. It only lasts for about 45 seconds, or about the same time as the secondary air pump is running (the electric smog pump that the later year Intrigues have). At first I was sure it was the air pump bearings going out. There is a TSB about this problem. But then I noticed the noise would start as soon as I put it into gear. A light bulb turned on (in my head) today. I think it might be the alternator. What happens when you put it in gear? The RPM drop, causing the alt. to work as hard as it can while supplying the huge air pump load (it has a 50 amp fuse). As soon as the air pump cycles off, the humming stops.

Anyone agree or disagree with me?
Thanks.

racer68

Does anyone know where th vehicle speed sensor is located. I,m pretty sure it will be somewhere on the transaxle but since I have been unable to find a repair manual for the 3.5 engine I havent, a clue where to look. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also does anyone know where I can get a repair manual for this car (other then the dealer).

Racer68

racer68

Hi, I had exactly the same thing happen on my 2001 intrigue. It was still under warranty and the dealer said it was a broken wire on the left rear sensor. Bad news; to change the sensor they had to change the whole hub. Good news for me; it was under warranty.

subprman

Does anyone have any suggestions? My wife has a 2001 Intrigue with 104,000 miles that we've had since new. Our teenage daughter has been driving it all summer and is about to take it with her to college 500 miles from home. She has told us that the Trac, ABS and SES lights have been going on occasionally, the drivers side turn signals keep blowing out, the headlights blow out frequently, the gas gauge doesn't work, and most recently, it made a groaning sound and the steering either locked up or tightened while going into a curve, causing her to go into the oncoming lane. I took the car for a ride to see for myself and nothing happened. Since the turn signal problem needed to be fixed, we took the car to a local shop that was highly recommended. The trac, abs, ses lights came on again while we were parking the car at the shop. The lights didn't come back on when the car was re-started a few minutes later. So far the mechanic has had the car for two days and was able to fix the turn signals by replacing the part that the bulb attaches to, but can't find anything else wrong with the car other than the gas gauge. He said they're not reading a code, the speed sensors are fine, they don't hear a groaning sound and they are not able to see any of the problems for themselves, except for the gas gauge. What's wrong with this car and how do we fix it? I want to avoid taking it to the dealer since they told us the balance shaft was going almost a year ago and that we needed a new engine. This happened one day before the transmission had a meltdown 400 miles from home. (When I brought the car back to complain, they said that there was nothing wrong with the transmission while they had the car and we still need a new engine! That was 10 months ago.) Any ideas other than pushing it off a cliff?

racer__x_9

There is access to it from inside the trunk, take a look at the obvious location. You can change the bulbs, I don't know if you can clean the rear shelf from here though

dtownfb

As far as the fuel guage, mine also does not work properly. i use the trip odometer. I have read the problem is with the fuel sending unit. You can access this through the trunk. Despite what you might hear, you can buy the fuel sending unit separate from the fuel tank.

Regarding the steering, many of us have had vibration through the steering wheel or creaking and groaning but I have not heard of the steering tightening up so much that you can barely turn it. It sounds like maybe the car cutoff or there was a temporary loss of power steering. On another place on the internet, it was suggested it could be a problem with the power steering high pressure hose being restricted. You may also want the mechanic to look at the crankshat position sensor as well. It may not send a code. Some here on the forum have replaced it before it causes too much trouble.

Trac, ABS and SES light: That seems to be a common problem with the Intrigue. On another forum, a poster suggested it could be the wheel sensors or a bad wheel bearing. Since your mechanic checked the wheel sensor already, I would have him look at the wheel bearings.

subprman: I will tell you i am not a mechanic or automotively inclined. Most of this informtion I have gained from reading this forum religiously for the past 4 years as well as another one. Your problems are not uncommon. If anything I have posted above is incorrect or wrong, someone please correct me. I don't want to give you bad information but i also want you to get the car ready for your daughter. I can imagine how you must feel sending her off to college in a car you are not 100% sure about.

Good luck. And check your Car Space e-mail. I sent you a message.

di99

Found the access to replace the bulbs, but no way to clean the rear shelf w/o dismantling everything, unfortunately. Thanks for the reply though

eactcoastmc

MOTOR NOISE!!!
The top end of the motor under the valve cover on one side (3 of the 6 cyl.)is very noisy and also bone dry. THREE mechanics later still no fix... Looking for a motor diagram to see how the oil gets pumped up to the double overhead cam. Also, the motor runs great, no skip....
2001 olds intrigue. 3.5 liter engine

chasz

I have a 2000 Intrigue that has the same problem that oscarz2 describes in his Apr 2001 post : when the engine is warm (cold or hot starting not a problem) it will start up to the 1200 rpm level, then kind of stumble as its rpm drops down to around 300 rpm and then die. Second try, riding the starter it will start up kind of rough and maintain idle. My car has 85K miles. Plugs, air filter, gas filter all replaced.

Previously the dealer replaced the EGR valve and cleaned the fuel injectors. That seemed to resolve the problem but after a few thosand miles the same problem is reappearing.

Can you tell me how you made out with this problem or can anyone else shed light on this? Thanks.

ammermann

I went back and searched and found lots of people having problems with flickering headlights. Anyone have problems with the headlights going out all together and then coming back on?
I have a 1998 Intrigue. Lights go out and I can either hit the sleep bumps on the side of the road or flick the dim switch a couple times and they would come back on. Tonight neither worked but they came back on when I came to a complete stop. It's getting dangerous to drive at night - any advice would be appreciated!

subprman

Here's an update: daughter is back in school without a car. Mechanic had the car for about a week before the lights would go on again. Since there were no codes, the sensors and bearings were ok, he concluded it was an electrical problem and suggested I take it to the dealer. He also couldn't see anything wrong with the steering (I wonder how far he looked into it), but at least he didn't charge us for anything. Made an appointment with the dealer for later in the week. I hate going to the dealer--never had a good experience there--and this is the 2nd Olds I've had that they said needed a new engine, but that's a story for another time.

winglet

I had a 2000 model that was doing the exact same thing. Even the cruise light would flicker. I put a new alternator on the car and it never gave me a problem since. I traded it for a 2002 and now it's doing the same thing!

winglet

Two weeks ago I was driving home from work, and both my ses and trac off lights came on; the car downshifted straight to first gear and would not shift out!! When I got home and parked, the ses light remained on, but the trac off light went off. I had codes pulled but can't remember the numbers. Two of them were for a shift solenoid malfunction and one had something to do with the traction control. Three days later, normal again. Is this something to worry about? What should I do? :confuse:

jellyroller

Help! My 1998 Intrigue GL is starting to fall apart. I have several problems that I cannot solve. First, my AC blows out of the top vents, bottom vent, and defrost all at the same time regardless of what shows on my automatic climate control display. Sometimes, it will work correctly for about 2 or 3 minutes but then reverts back to blowing out of all the three areas. Also, I have a whining noise that comes out of the front end when I turn. It sounds like a belt or a bearing squeeling. I thought it was coming from my alternator and replaced it but it did not solve the problem. This problem only occurs when the outside temp is cold. In the summer, no noise, the colder it is the louder the whine. Also, my cruise won't stay on and my rear windows don't go up. Not only will they not go up but they wont stay up. As I drive they slowly slip open a couple of inches. I read some advice on this forum about beating on the window motors and will try that tomorrow. Any advice (besides trade it in which is looking like the best course of action) would be appreciated. Thanks.

di99

99 GL - Had my AC worked on a few years ago (only blowing hot air), and when I got it back, had cold air blowing out one top vent and hot air out of the other. Anyway, sounds like it just might be a matter of hooking things up correctly (which in my case, they messed up, obviously)...in other words, might be an easy fix.
Whining noise...wheel bearing?? Though usually it's a groaning noise.
Windows...think all that is on the driver door (had that worked on because the windows would not go down).
Cruise control....wonder if that falls under the heading of electrical.
I am no expert, obviously, but have had some of the same problems. If you haven't already, do a search for electrical, cruise, etc, on this forum...same problems others have had and really good advice. Good luck :shades:

starman98

I don't understand why people are surprised the Intrigue is not a long lasting car. Its a GM and afrter 7-8 years these cars are ready for the crusher.

I owned a 1999 that got totaled for 4 years and in that time I was in the shop countless times.

mick1

1999 Intrigue just went over 156,000 miles today. It runs great. When can I get that long lasting American car award.

dinoburb

Greetings,

I have a 1998 Intrigue that has a squealing power steering pump. What is involved in the repair/replacement of the pump? How involved is the repair? Any special procedures involved?

Thanks,

dinoburb

dan75

I have a 99 Intrigue. Window regulator went out on driver's door; can find replacement/rebuilts for the other three windows, but not for driver. hard to go to Dairy Queen any more

ribscars

I know that there are some on Ebay, for about $55.00 that price includes shiping and thats with the motor hope that helps.

pattsf

Hi everyone...I have a 2002 GLS model and I recently broke my dirver side mirror while at a soccer game. The only thing that seems to be broken is the mirror it self...the motor still works fine and just the plastic/glass mirroring is broken. Does the whole sideview mirror have to be replaced or can the plastic/glass mirroring be taken off and replaced?? Thanks for the help.

tres_74

Off the bat I'll say that I didn't have this problem with my Olds Intrigue, BUT with the Grand Am I had before that I had the exact same problem. I took my car to the local Auto Glass place and they were able to replace just the mirror for a lot cheaper than I thought it'd be. And it was just the mirror part. That's what I'd suggest doing.

~Tracy

klg5fan

Go to Advanceautoparts.com they carry all 4 window regulators.

evandro

Or perhaps gmpartsdirect.com... I recently bought a regulator for the rear right door.

marco6

I also have a 1998. About 6 months ago within a 3 week period both my driver's window and a rear window did the same thing yours did. Is is a bracket that connects the window to the motor. You can't buy the bracket because it comes as part of the motor assembly. I bought the motor for the front window at cost and replaced it myself.. still cost $250. For the back window I screwed a bolt into it to keep it up and decided not to drop the money on it.
The whinning noise may be you power-stearing pump or you may just need powerstearing fluid. Not sure about the AC vents.

Good luck.

mike6453

It was a bad injector

j986r

I had the bearings replaced in my 2000 intrigue gx. Ever since I get a thunking or grinding noise when I turn at low speed. The guy who put them in says all is tight and good in the front end. The dealer said the front end needs to be lubricated and tightened down. (another 150 dollars) Has anyone had this problem? I have recently replaced the struts and a motor mount too. The noise persists from the first repair (bearings). It is not a bad bearing as the whining noise is gone.
HELP I like this car otherwise!

Karen_S

As we are moving to more focused discussions, this one will now close. Several new topics have been created and posts from here have been moved into them. If you are following this particular discussion, please go the Oldsmobile Intrigue top level and click on "track this group". That way you will not miss any new postings. You might also want to click on "Mark as Read" so the moved posts that you have previously read do not appear in your tracked items.

My apologies for any confusion and frustration!