Yes, my car has been doing that same thing for years. I think blk97 (Les) and I have a contest going on who will be in the worst spot when it finally fails to start.
The thing is that this problem can go on for years before it becomes a failure to start since mine always does. I also think it has to do with the ignition switch where you put in the key.
At one time my dash did not "boot up" when I started the car. But that problem corrected itself. The bootup problem occurred right after the car was worked on.
Do you notice that something small always goes wrong with your Classic after it is worked on? The problem usually corrects itself. Its as if the repair disturbed the car's aura and it needs to get it back again.
Yes, I think the condensation in the white back-up lights is quite common. I saw this on my '98 (and several others) a year ago when it was on the dealer's lot, but, by the time I finished the deal/picked it up in early April, the condensation wasn't happening. Fast forward to November, shortly before the expiration of my warranty, and the condensation started happening again (I live in Wisconsin = normally cold in late fall/winter). I showed it to my service dealer (not the one I bought the car from), but they indicated this wasn't an item that GM would repair under warranty.
I picked up another license plate/backup assembly off eBay (for $5) but haven't tackled swapping it out yet. Sounds like a "Challenger" problem - cold weather causing a bad seal :-(
With your 99 Aurora, premium is the way to go. The engine requires it. For the 2001 model, they redesigned the Aurora 4.0 to run on regular fuel (along with the 2000 Northstar).
I'm somewhat new to this board, I have a 1999 Olds Aurora in black, I had a 1999 Olds Intrigue, but the Intrigue was totalled in an accident, so I got an Aurora now and loving it. Well my question was "how do change the headlights" I don't have my manual yet, the dealer is buying me a new one, so I'm still waiting. I'm trying to replace my current Sylvania lightbulbs with some PIAA Platinums 9006. Any help is gratly appreciated.
Bought a CD cleaner and it took care of the E20 messages I was getting sporatically, but a problem remains with some of my CDs; kind of a static-y "sfut-sfut" sound that oscilates in and out. Anybody on this one? If it needs repair, I need some local (Calif.-Zinc?) alternatives to the exchange-only deal that the autherized Delco guy (dealers use) who will want $200-300 exchange only.Thanks
Does anyone know where I can get 1) trim for the rear window, and 2) the trim that runs from the windshield over the top of the car ending at the base of the rear window? The trim on the driver's side tends buckle and contract with the weather and does not fit tightly around the C-pillar/rear window. Thanks.
The "sfut-sfut" sound you are hearing is probably from the motor in the CD player wearing out. I know of more Delco CD players from 1995-1999 that have crapped out - it is rediculous. What happens is it is spinning the disc slightly too slow and there are gaps in the data stream. Best way to fix that would just be to get a new one off of eBay. People are constantly pulling those headunits to replace them with aftermarket ones, so there are lots of pull-outs on there.
Actually, I bought this Bose cd player off eBay 6 mo. ago for $150. It came out of a wrecked 98 Aurora. My 95 came w/Bose but no CD. With all the troubles, buying another would be another crap shoot. As for the sfut-sfut, it is like an electrical-static sound which only comes up when music is going but stops during quiet times (not just inbetween tracks); the fuller (not louder) the music, the more pronounced the noise gets and mostly it tags on to higher, treble sound as opposed to lower, bass sounds.
Yeah - that sound you are hearing is from the motor underspinning the CD. Not much you can do about it except replace it. You wouldn't need to buy a Bose unit - you could buy a regular one and, if you were familiar with electronics, you could just swap out the CD mechanism.
It sucks, but the CD player units in any delco stereo from 1995 or later have had an unusually high failure rate. When I got my car, it had an E-20. It wouldn't spin the CD at all.
I replaced it with a Bose headunit and then built my own stereo based around that. It's been great.
On the off chance that there might be some dirt or something interfering with the CD read, you should at least run a cleaner through it before you give up all hope.
But usually the sfut sfut sound is the death march of the CD player
Bahhh! Yeah I used a cleaner cd and the E20 code went away. I just need to find someone that will work on this and has access to Delco parts. I could always put my original Bose cass. back in and try to add a decent changer in the trunk, but I always hated that idea. Phoey! And I ain't buying another Olds Delco CD without hearing it first! Shucknet, did you say that a non-Bose, Olds Delco am-fm-cd will work in my Bose equiped car? Or just to get the motor out?
You would have to take the CD player mechanism out of the normal Delco CD player and replace the one in your Bose. They are fairly modular, so it's just like 4 screws and a plug. It's not too bad of a deal.
Your other option, which is probably a better one, would be to put the Cassette deck back in and get a Delco trunk changer. The 12 Disc models are solid. I have yet to hear of anyone having any troubles with those. I put one in my 98 that came out of a wrecked 95 and it is great. No problems at all and works like a charm hot or cold.
Your car is probably already wired for it and everything. Just look by the power antenna in the trunk behind the carpet. There should be a 10 pin (4-6) 1 row connector floating around in there somewhere. It will probably have a green and dark brown wire going into it (if I remember right). An additional bonus of using the Delco CD changer is that your steering wheel controls will work with it. You can probably find one on Ebay.
You can e-mail me privately if you like (ryan@shucknet.com) and I can give you some more details. I have done quite a bit of work with Delco stereos, especially what is in my Aurora.
Here is an interesting one that maybe the group has seen. I Live near Toronto and for March Break, I took the family to Ottawa Ontario for the week. I have an 1995 Aurora that I have owned for about seven months without a hint of trouble. We drove to Ottawa, checked in to the hotel and parked underground. Came down the next morning to find that the battery was absolutely flat. I boosted the battery and load tested it at the dealer ship where I am told that the battery is in excellent shape. The very next morning, the battery is dead again. To get to the end of this story quickly, I eventually found that my power antenna was not retracting all the way down (thanks to salt and corrosion). If the antenna cannot be fully retracted, the motor just sits and whirrs away all day drawing current and eventually kills the battery. The solution was to wipe down the antenna mast with wd-40. When the weather gets better here, I will take it apart and clean it properly. I hope that this helps someone......Peter
I have noticed that my '95 has a small amount of water in the trunk lid. When I open and close the lid, I can hear it. By the swishing sound, it seems like it is behind the red plastic reflector with the Aurora insignia on it. I am obviously going to have to drain it somehow. Any ideas?????
va3pk- The manual says never lubricate the power antenna. Lubrication could damage it. It suggests that you dampen a cloth with mineral spirits or equivalent solvent to clean mast. Wipe mast dry before retracting. Chapter 3 pg 31. Just trying to keep you from buying a new one.
I had a problem with a 1995 Aurora that I recently sold. Oil burning. It started around 45,000 miles and stayed the same or got slightly worse. I was losing 1 qt every 1000 miles or less. The dealer blamed it on me using synthetic motor oil, which I always used since the car was new and it was fine till 45k miles. Then they next changed the PCV valve? At startup or idle or low rpm the exhaust was fine. At or above 4000 rpm you could see oil burning out. Esp at 5000 or more. Almost dark smoke. At this point the car was under the extended GM warranty. The only thing they could do was to pull the 4.0L V8 and tear it down to find out why it was losing oil. It was NOT leaking, it was consumption. They tried telling me that it would be $5k to take the motor out and tear it apart and that the Extended warranty company would NOT ok it, if after pulling the engine they didn't find a problem? What a load of BS. They told me I would have to pay to have the engine pulled. I declined.. meantime... I went thru 3 of those infamous CD players... even on my 4th.. constant E codes once a day, then its fine the next. Then at 70,000 miles the 100k tuneup sparkplugs were worn out and needed replacing. The dealer told me that plugs only last 50-75k anyway... Then why advertise 100K then? The car started run badly and miss... they changed the plugs and wires to the tune of $500 and the car ran great again. I had the old parts put in my trunk, so I know they did it. Then after that the check engine light comes on all the time, even though the car runs fine. Had it to the dealer and another Olds dealer 4x, they say its my auto start from the keyfob causing the light to come on... YET.. this auto-start was factory installed back in December 1994 when I bought the car brand new. So it takes 6 years later to cause a problem? The kept replacing all kinds of parts including the brake switch, each time blaming the light on something new.. then finally blaming my auto start which they installed. The light keeps going coming on even though it runs ok. It will come on then shut off or stay on. Then the fuel pressure regulator went twice in 8months, the first time the ext GM warranty covered it, the 2nd time they say no?? Its one fight after another with them. Then to top it off the right hub went, thankgoodness covered. I have a car that burns oil, and they still can't find a good CD player to install. It has 80k miles on it, and is in mint condtion, garage kept. They treat you like you bought a $18k Alero rather then a $32k aurora... I have to fight to get a rental car of any sort. I have heard of others having oil consumption problems with the 1995-1997 Olds V8 and Caddy V8's... has anyone else? My warranty won't even fix it. I am putting in 1 to 1.5 qts a month, I only drive 12k per year. I wouldn't even expect that out of a low end Gm car. Any suggestions? Regardless I will be trading in the car on something else shortly. Most likely something from Infiniti, Acura or Lexus.
Two points: I have heard that the Northstar block has (had?) thin cyl. walls (or liners, is it an alum. block?) that could cause the oil ring on the piston to have trouble sealing I guess due to heat-related expansion. Secondly, the rings on a new engine need time to seat properly, especially the newer moly rings (compared to the old style in my 72 Cutlass for example) which need up to 10,000 miles to fully seat. During the break-in oil consumption can be high. My mother's 99 Caddy Concours 4.6 Northstar used a couple of quarts between changes for several thousand miles before settling down. The use of synthetic does not allow full seating of the rings and usually is not recommeded until the rings have fully seated.
On my 1995 Aurora I did use regular conventional motor oil for the first 1,000 miles then drained it and went with Mobi 1 after the break in period. For the first 50k miles the engine was fine wouldn't even lose 1 qt between changes. ... then after that major oil consumption. Every new car I have ever had I have done this with since about 1985. Only the Aurora and Caddy both with Northstar V8's have ever consumed oil this badly.
Does your mother's '99 Caddy V8 still consume oil? A couple of quarts of oil on a '99 between oil changes is ludicrous. Esp on a $40k + car. Something isn't right there. Although you say it "settled down" Keep an eye on that. Even an old 10 yr old car should be using a few quarts between changes.
I do understand what you are saying about using regular oil to break the engine in. I have head that before, HOWEVER... The Corvette comes factory filled with Mobil 1 synthetic, as do some other high end cars... they aren't having problems with seals not seating...
Many high-perf cars come factory filled with Mobil 1. In fact, if you check Mobil 1's website they have the break-in thing as one of their myths. Synthetic oil isn't some magical engine protectant. It is just a higher quality oil. It's like regular oil except without the impurities.
oldcarz I have a '95 Aurora which I purchased about 3+ years ago w/36k on it at the time. I put in M1 and it worked out for about 30k then it started using oil, about 1qt every 1500 miles. It now has 89k and it uses about a qt. every 1200 miles. I still have the M1 in it but am considering changing it to a conv. oil. We also have a '97 with M1 in it and it is not using any oil yet at 48k. I'm thinking about changing it out also.
I have owned my '97 for 2.5 years -- 37k to 75k miles. I have used Mobil 1 10W-30 from my first oil change, which I have been doing about every 5000 miles based on the DIC oil-life gauge. Consumption has ranged between 1800 and 1100 miles per quart, which to me is pretty alarming in a relatively low-miles motor. The service manual states there is not a problem until consumption is worse than 2 quarts in 2000 miles (why not 1 quart in 1000 miles?).
I see no leaks, so it must be going out the tailpipes. But, I have never seen any obvious oil smoke from the exhaust. I know that many Cadillac Northstar and Aurora engines have this problem. Yet, I have never seen an explanation for why this occurs. Are the engines set up loose for higher power? Doesn't seem likely to me.
I do not think the problem is caused by the synthetic oil. I started using M1 in my 1986 Fiero V-6 at about 75k miles and oil comsumption decreased, there were no leaks, and oil smoke at start-up (valve seals, a pretty common problem with this 2.8 V-6) stopped.
Another concern is low oil pressure. Having been sensitized to this problem by my Austin-Healey 3000, I was surprised to read in the service manual that normal oil pressure is as low as 4 or 5 psi. My DIC indicator normally shows 8 (or sometimes 7) psi when the engine is up to temp and at idle. So I guess it's OK, but I'm not comfortable with 7 psi.
4. Is there an engine cleaner that you'd recommend?
I have a personal friend of mine named Terry that posted this on our messg bd. He does personal spectrographic oil analysis and testing and he has come to a conclusion for this.
"There is one product that I do recommend no matter what oil or engine you use;Auto-Rx. It is vegetable based,does not affect chemistry or viscosity at all. It is NOT an Additive but a engine cleaner that really works. It has a residual effect because it cleans the rings and valve seats and valve guide seals so well. Lasts 10,000 miles or so in a gasoline engine.
Doesn't damage anything in our tests. Check out the website at www.auto-rx.com . You will not be disappointed in using this product. I'm going to be telling all my analysis customers to use it.
The Auto-Rx sounds like it may be worth a try. I think I will buy some and try it just before the next oil change. I read the testimonials and these people are convinced it works. I don't know what local car stores if any will carry it? Does anyone know where to purchase Auto-Rx? Anyone with any experience out there using Auto-Rx?
Right now, I think the only place you can get it is at the website. I would call them. I am going to add to my car at 10K, which will be closer to the end of the year.
oldcarz: My mom's Caddy has about 20,000 miles on it now and I think I heard it has settled down to one quart between 3000 mile changes; like my 95 Aurora w/60,000. But, with her car, it never goes much more than 5-6 miles to work so it doesn't get warmed up like it should, or travel at speed like it should (except for a 45 minute trip to LA once every couple of months).
My beloved 97 with 65K is in the dealers to get a tranny! I can't beleive this car could break down so soon! It started as a slipping and was intermittent then lately it's beome more of a problem. The dealer said I would save money by getting this SRTA for $3400. Ouch! Anyone esle have a slipping transaxle?
The lumbar buttons and seat memory buttons quit working the other day. Thanks to earlier posts on this site, I knew to check the wires where the door and frame come together. Sure enough 3 wires were broken. I pushed the rubber protective sleeve around the wires into the door in order to get to the wires. Had a heck of a time splicing the wires, not a lot of room to work in, was able to get some slack in the wires from the car side. I used the plastic twist connectors to re-connect the broken wires, as I couldn't get a crimping tool into the space. ... If any of the controls on the door quit working, check the wires between the door and the car!
musclecar97: Good timing on this one as I had developed this a month ago. Removed the door panel and could not find anything. Problem started only when the door was openned all the way. It was when I grabbed the rubber insulator and wiggled it when the power was gone completely. I wonder if my Warranty-by-net will cover this.
pizza - sorry to hear about that. I imagine your warranty will cover it, I read the fine print on mine and it said "wiring". The only problem is I've got a $50 deductable and then Gober gets to work on my car. The fix took me less than 1 hour out in the driveway. I could have saved alot of time if I hadn't been checking all of the fuses, and just reconnected the wires. I didn't even unhook the battery to do the job. Goodluck.
musclecar97- could you tell how the wires split/broke in the first place? Were the breaks closer to the door or the body? Oh, and by twists, do you mean those acorn things? TIA Jay
the wires were broken in half right in the middle between the door and the body. There is a jillion wires that run through there and the broken ones were on the inside of the bend (the easiest ones to get to) and when I pulled back the rubber cover they were right there. Apparently this is a common problem on these cars. The wires that split were not very thick, I would guess around 20 gauge, though the one for moving the seat back was a thick orange one, I think it had more to do with their location, like maybe part of the door cuts into them when it is closed. The connectors used do look like small acorns, they're standard twist electrical connectors that you can get at Walmart or hardware store, I'd get an assortment of sizes. If too many of those wires break I'll need to soder in replacement wire because there isn't enough room for too many of those connectors.
This week I noticed the parking lights staying on and if you watch them they go off and on and a relay in the PPL box (under dash) chatters...just doing what it is told I suppose...dealer say's it's the manual headlight switch...this we have never used due to auto feature so it can't be worn out...they tell me it cost $380 and 2-3 hrs. labor to install (said steering column has to come out to install)for a total of about $600. Also this week it started missing and spitting back (backfire) under light to medium acceleration and surges under full acceleration. I have noticed light carbon tracking on almost all the plug wires and wonder if they are the problem! Dealer say's $109 to install plugs...can back spark plugs be accessed by removing coil assembly. This Aurora only has 41,000 miles on it and these are my first problems...really like the car but I am getting a little scared reading this forum...as helpfil as it is may be the best advise might be to become an X Aurora owner...or surley I need to purchase an extended warranty...Thanks for any help...glad I found you all!
bullsender-Buy the warranty and enjoy. The plug/wire deal the Caddy dealers know quite well. The Delco plugs have been updated to avoid the failures evidenced by carbon tracking. So you should be good to go for many years to come. The front three plugs and wires are easy to do and you could pay someone to do the back, assuming they wouldn't charge the same labor time either way! Basically we own a somewhat high-tech luxury car that many of us bought used at a good price but we forget the high cost and frequency of maint. cars of this catagory; Caddy, Jag, Mercedes, etc. (even Lexus owners if they are willing to admit it!) All of my friends who own or had parents who own high priced foreign luxury cars would NEVER admit what they paid for plugs and wires, or that they paid a fortune for a dash wiring problem in there E-class Mercedes, etc., after touting German superiority ad nausium. Or even that they snuck it in to the dealer for warranty work when new!
bull - On the sedan discussion board, there are alot of posts on changing the plugs, of course there are also close to 3000 posts so good luck finding them. I haven't changed mine yet, 74,000miles, but plan to later this summer. From what i'v read here, you can do them yourself and you do have to remove some of the gizmos from the firewall in order to reach the back plugs. I plan on having a socket wrench with the u-joints to reach back in all those hidyholes.
Bullsender - The rear spark plugs are not as bad as it looks. You do need a universal socket and take that flat piece off the firewall (2 screws). I bought the wires at autozone for about $70 which is high compared to about $20 for my neon and lumina I also have.
Wow, you are lucky. I used to get wires for the Corvette (MSD's, not junk) for about $50-60, and they were pretty long and there were eight of them. When I recently bought wires for my wife's 4-banger Nissan I was blown away to find they were about $90... This was even for aftermarket cheapish wires. Four short little wires...
I wonder if it is the stupid OHC boot (it's a lot longer) on them that makes them so steep. Or if makers just figure people with OHC cars will shell out for them...
Just be careful when first threading the new plugs in if you use a U-joint on the socket. It's easier to cross-thread with those. A piece of hose over the plug might help you finger-thread it in the first little bit.
I think it does have to do with the wire boots being longer for OHC engines. My Ford Probe GT (DOHC 24V V-6) wires were almost $100 -- and that was for just "standard" ones, not hi-po. I asked my Local VIP Auto Parts counter person how much the wires set for the Aurora would be and he said about $80 for Bosch and that they'd have to order them.
Hey what up peeps, I wanted to share the news with you all about getting your owners manual online from this website, if you still have not purchased your own. What you have to do is register with these website and you should be able to see your owners manual. Okay so the website is https://www.mygmlink.com/main/US/en/gm/home once you register you can keep a profile on your Aurora or GM vehicle. I wish I had found this website a while back, when I was waiting for manual to arrive from the Oldsmobile dealer. This website had the owners manual for my 1999 Olds Aurora, so I take it, it should have the manual for the earlier Auroras.
Comments
Thanks,
Jay
The thing is that this problem can go on for years before it becomes a failure to start since mine always does. I also think it has to do with the ignition switch where you put in the key.
At one time my dash did not "boot up" when I started the car. But that problem corrected itself. The bootup problem occurred right after the car was worked on.
Do you notice that something small always goes wrong with your Classic after it is worked on? The problem usually corrects itself. Its as if the repair disturbed the car's aura and it needs to get it back again.
Yes, I think the condensation in the white back-up lights is quite common. I saw this on my '98 (and several others) a year ago when it was on the dealer's lot, but, by the time I finished the deal/picked it up in early April, the condensation wasn't happening. Fast forward to November, shortly before the expiration of my warranty, and the condensation started happening again (I live in Wisconsin = normally cold in late fall/winter). I showed it to my service dealer (not the one I bought the car from), but they indicated this wasn't an item that GM would repair under warranty.
I picked up another license plate/backup assembly off eBay (for $5) but haven't tackled swapping it out yet. Sounds like a "Challenger" problem - cold weather causing a bad seal :-(
--Robert
whose Aurora is otherwise running great
One other question....is premium fuel the way to go with this engine?
Thanks,
Jay
As for the sfut-sfut, it is like an electrical-static sound which only comes up when music is going but stops during quiet times (not just inbetween tracks); the fuller (not louder) the music, the more pronounced the noise gets and mostly it tags on to higher, treble sound as opposed to lower, bass sounds.
It sucks, but the CD player units in any delco stereo from 1995 or later have had an unusually high failure rate. When I got my car, it had an E-20. It wouldn't spin the CD at all.
I replaced it with a Bose headunit and then built my own stereo based around that. It's been great.
But usually the sfut sfut sound is the death march of the CD player
Your other option, which is probably a better one, would be to put the Cassette deck back in and get a Delco trunk changer. The 12 Disc models are solid. I have yet to hear of anyone having any troubles with those. I put one in my 98 that came out of a wrecked 95 and it is great. No problems at all and works like a charm hot or cold.
Your car is probably already wired for it and everything. Just look by the power antenna in the trunk behind the carpet. There should be a 10 pin (4-6) 1 row connector floating around in there somewhere. It will probably have a green and dark brown wire going into it (if I remember right). An additional bonus of using the Delco CD changer is that your steering wheel controls will work with it. You can probably find one on Ebay.
You can e-mail me privately if you like (ryan@shucknet.com) and I can give you some more details. I have done quite a bit of work with Delco stereos, especially what is in my Aurora.
I Live near Toronto and for March Break, I took the family to Ottawa Ontario for the week.
I have an 1995 Aurora that I have owned for about seven months without a hint of trouble.
We drove to Ottawa, checked in to the hotel and parked underground.
Came down the next morning to find that the battery was absolutely flat. I boosted the battery and load tested it at the dealer ship where I am told that the battery is in excellent shape.
The very next morning, the battery is dead again.
To get to the end of this story quickly, I eventually found that my power antenna was not retracting all the way down (thanks to salt and corrosion).
If the antenna cannot be fully retracted, the motor just sits and whirrs away all day drawing current and eventually kills the battery.
The solution was to wipe down the antenna mast with wd-40.
When the weather gets better here, I will take it apart and clean it properly.
I hope that this helps someone......Peter
When I open and close the lid, I can hear it.
By the swishing sound, it seems like it is behind the red plastic reflector with the Aurora insignia on it.
I am obviously going to have to drain it somehow.
Any ideas?????
Secondly, the rings on a new engine need time to seat properly, especially the newer moly rings (compared to the old style in my 72 Cutlass for example) which need up to 10,000 miles to fully seat. During the break-in oil consumption can be high. My mother's 99 Caddy Concours 4.6 Northstar used a couple of quarts between changes for several thousand miles before settling down. The use of synthetic does not allow full seating of the rings and usually is not recommeded until the rings have fully seated.
Does your mother's '99 Caddy V8 still consume oil? A couple of quarts of oil on a '99 between oil changes is ludicrous. Esp on a $40k + car. Something isn't right there. Although you say it "settled down" Keep an eye on that. Even an old 10 yr old car should be using a few quarts between changes.
I do understand what you are saying about using regular oil to break the engine in. I have head that before, HOWEVER... The Corvette comes factory filled with Mobil 1 synthetic, as do some other high end cars... they aren't having problems with seals not seating...
I have a '95 Aurora which I purchased about 3+ years ago w/36k on it at the time. I put in M1 and it worked out for about 30k then it started using oil, about 1qt every 1500 miles. It now has 89k and it uses about a qt. every 1200 miles. I still have the M1 in it but am considering changing it to a conv. oil. We also have a '97 with M1 in it and it is not using any oil yet at 48k. I'm thinking about changing it out also.
I see no leaks, so it must be going out the tailpipes. But, I have never seen any obvious oil smoke from the exhaust. I know that many Cadillac Northstar and Aurora engines have this problem. Yet, I have never seen an explanation for why this occurs. Are the engines set up loose for higher power? Doesn't seem likely to me.
I do not think the problem is caused by the synthetic oil. I started using M1 in my 1986 Fiero V-6 at about 75k miles and oil comsumption decreased, there were no leaks, and oil smoke at start-up (valve seals, a pretty common problem with this 2.8 V-6) stopped.
Another concern is low oil pressure. Having been sensitized to this problem by my Austin-Healey 3000, I was surprised to read in the service manual that normal oil pressure is as low as 4 or 5 psi. My DIC indicator normally shows 8 (or sometimes 7) psi when the engine is up to temp and at idle. So I guess it's OK, but I'm not comfortable with 7 psi.
http://www.auto-rx.com/index.htm
Most of you know Bob the oil guy..A quote from his website...
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/
4. Is there an engine cleaner that you'd recommend?
I have a personal friend of mine named Terry that posted this on our messg bd. He does personal spectrographic oil analysis and testing and he has come to a conclusion for this.
"There is one product that I do recommend no matter what oil or engine you use;Auto-Rx. It is vegetable based,does not affect chemistry or viscosity at all. It is NOT an Additive but a engine cleaner that really works. It has a residual effect because it cleans the rings and valve seats and valve guide seals so well. Lasts 10,000 miles or so in a gasoline engine.
Doesn't damage anything in our tests. Check out the website at www.auto-rx.com . You will not be disappointed in using this product. I'm going to be telling all my analysis customers to use it.
Terry "
Any thoughts???
What's up RJS?
Good Luck
TIA
Jay
The connectors used do look like small acorns, they're standard twist electrical connectors that you can get at Walmart or hardware store, I'd get an assortment of sizes. If too many of those wires break I'll need to soder in replacement wire because there isn't enough room for too many of those connectors.
Anyone have any advice on removing and re-installing the door panels ? Anyone ever replace a window motor on their own?
Thanks in advance.
and if you watch them they go off and on and a relay in the PPL box (under dash) chatters...just
doing what it is told I suppose...dealer say's it's the manual headlight switch...this we have never used due to auto feature so it can't be worn out...they tell me it cost $380 and 2-3 hrs.
labor to install (said steering column has to come out to install)for a total of about $600.
Also this week it started missing and spitting
back (backfire) under light to medium acceleration
and surges under full acceleration. I have noticed
light carbon tracking on almost all the plug wires
and wonder if they are the problem! Dealer say's $109 to install plugs...can back spark plugs be accessed by removing coil assembly. This Aurora
only has 41,000 miles on it and these are my first problems...really like the car but I am getting a little scared reading this forum...as
helpfil as it is may be the best advise might be to become an X Aurora owner...or surley I need to purchase an extended warranty...Thanks for any help...glad I found you all!
bullsender-Buy the warranty and enjoy. The plug/wire deal the Caddy dealers know quite well. The Delco plugs have been updated to avoid the failures evidenced by carbon tracking. So you should be good to go for many years to come. The front three plugs and wires are easy to do and you could pay someone to do the back, assuming they wouldn't charge the same labor time either way!
Basically we own a somewhat high-tech luxury car that many of us bought used at a good price but we forget the high cost and frequency of maint. cars of this catagory; Caddy, Jag, Mercedes, etc. (even Lexus owners if they are willing to admit it!) All of my friends who own or had parents who own high priced foreign luxury cars would NEVER admit what they paid for plugs and wires, or that they paid a fortune for a dash wiring problem in there E-class Mercedes, etc., after touting German superiority ad nausium. Or even that they snuck it in to the dealer for warranty work when new!
I wonder if it is the stupid OHC boot (it's a lot longer) on them that makes them so steep. Or if makers just figure people with OHC cars will shell out for them...
Just be careful when first threading the new plugs in if you use a U-joint on the socket. It's easier to cross-thread with those. A piece of hose over the plug might help you finger-thread it in the first little bit.
I asked my Local VIP Auto Parts counter person how much the wires set for the Aurora would be and he said about $80 for Bosch and that they'd have to order them.
Jim