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My question is how difficult is it to change this cartridge-type filter vs. more standard spin-on type oil filter? Has anyone done this filter change themselves and, if so, how is it done (what kind of housing is there for the filter cartridge and how is it removed from the engine)?
Looked at a '03 Accord yesterday. Looks bigger.
More front seat room than last year's model.
fit and finish very nice compared to the GM products. Choice of wood or metal accents.
240 hp is very impressive sounding with a 0-60 between 6.5 and 7.0 secs.
Honda engines are the smoothest around.
23K for a loaded EX with 4 banger. I think the V6 is about 2 grand more, so it is about the same as the wbodies.
Grand Prix GTP will be replaced this winter. So I would wait.
Not sure how you will feel going from the DOHC to the pushrod 3800 engine.
If intrigue continues to run well hold on to it until next year.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Pete Goergen
My Aurora had visor "extendors" -plastic tabs that slid out and covered the gap. Even my Taurus company car has wider, sculpted visors, that cover the gap.
Does anyone know if there is an after market, sun visor extender that can be attached to the existing visor? Or am I stuck with paper-clipping a road map like my dad did in our Chevy wagon back in the 60's?
There are about 20 of them there.
You haven't waxed them already?
I like the new Accord but for the cost of a V6, I'd go Maxima or 04 Grand Prix. Besides, the Accord is a car for the masses, I'm not interested in following the crowd.
I cannot BELIEVE how different the interior is. It looks so vastly different. When did they change the interior in 98? I thought the interior was always the same. I know the XFiles car had the same interior as the rest of us. Does anyone know more about this?
I would like to see a better picture so I could see it better.
Can anyone figure out anything from the VIN?
My computer monitor at work is very dark so I couldn't tell if it has 12volt power at the right side of the console.
Did you notice how much quieter the 2002 is vs. your '99?
Those wheelwell liners really help the road noise issue.
A color not available until '99.
Also it has the very rare Sable interior.
Which was basically the neutral or mocha with black accents.
It might be a '98 that was repainted bronzemist.
It is a low option car nonetheless. Manual driver seat and no tweeters on the side doors tell us that is a base car.
This is the first intrigue that I have ever seen with the Sable interior.
Sure makes me value my interior more :-).
The Goodyear shop said the car is out of alignment, which caused the problem. But I think it's just crummy OEM tires. (Alignment might be a bit off, but this strikes me more as tire failure than just bad "wear". It was a front tire originally, but it's been on the back now for the last 7000 miles. Plenty of tread left... I think it should have lasted another 20-40K.)
Anyway, I'm gonna use this as an excuse to get away from those squeally Eagle LS tires, and try out the Michelin Pilots. Yeah-- kinda pricey, but it's only 30 bucks a tire more than the Eagles... Not really such a big expense, when you spread it over a couple of years driving.
The dealer i last bought from charged C$299 but I negotiated down to $150 which is still too much, but better than most.
dbogey, that sounds like a great deal if they will do it. If they do, I'd go for it. Either that or hold onto yours for another year or so and trade up to a Cadillac CTS in 04 which is what I'm probably going to do. If your looking at an Acura then your like me and you lean toward the extra refinement a luxury car offers and as good as the Intrigue is, a luxury car it is not. Good luck with what sounds like a "fun" dealer to deal with.
He assured me the Yokohamas are still good performing H-rated tires, and with the savings in cost, the Yoko's could be sipped for extra wet traction for what it would have cost to get Michelins anyway.
I was receptive to this argument b/c ten years ago I lost control of a car in the rain. Feeling my car whirl off the roadway on the wet is not something I want to experience again.
Anyway, the Yokos seem to ride well enough on the way home. They're just a little quieter than those 36K worn Eagles were. And a little stiffer, but not too firm. I'm still in Portland now, but I'll be putting 3K on these real soon for going cross-country.
This is the marketing blurb from Yokohama's site:
"AVID H4/V4 combines decades of race-proven technology with an uncanny ability to deliver superior ride comfort, low noise and long treadwear through all kinds of weather."
Their blurb for the T4 makes more mention of cornering ability. I haven't driven much on these yet, but my impression so far is cornering with the H tire is about the same as it was when the GoodYear Eagles were new.
I will be curious to try these under different stopping conditions. I often felt like the Intrigue anti-lock was a little too "eager" with the GoodYears. Maybe tires with more bite will dampen it a little.
Haven't had any regrets. Lotta room, lotta goodies, decent mileage. I really like the 270hp I6.
Dindak, my 2002 Intrigue doesn't have an oil life monitor. I have an idiot lite that is preset to 3000 miles after each change.
b4z, yup I expect synthetic oil to last 10000 miles, if it is kept clean. Some manufacturers recommend that interval, or 1 year, whichever comes first. Don't forget, the 3000 mile change interval has been around since before there was synthetic oil. The manufacturer obviously is making the safest recommendation, based on a previous generation of lubricant. It is intended to protect them from a worst case scenario, so they provide a recommendation that doesn't begin to reflect the capabilities of syn oil. Basically you are using a substance that is very different from dino oil. It does not break down as quickly, nor does it change state to varnish and it tolerates much more heat.
Filter it.
I do not use ordinary filters. To be most effective, there are deep filters specifically designed use with syn oils. Mobil sells the most popular one, but Blue LIne and Amzoil also have long life filters for syn oil.
My Intrigue has a 6 qt capacity, I believe. My approach is to replace the filter and add a quart at 5000 miles. I think there is a difference between dirty dino oil partially used syn oil. That is why the added quart provides the additives to safely go to 10000 with the rest.
one2one, I am not surprised that Castrol recommends changing at maufacturer intervals. It is incredibly good for their bottom line, and illiminates any hassle with the car makers. I have used Syntec by the way. One of the best on the market.
How long did you keep your cars while using Castrol? I switched to syn early on because I plan on keeping the car a long time (after a year and 2 months I've put 29,000+ miles on it) and want as little trouble as possible from wear and gasket problems. As I mentioned earlier, I'm using 5W-50 because of the oil consumption. I've read more times than I can remember that people using syn have dropped their oil pans after 100k and it's so clean you could eat off it. That's what I'm looking for.
But it is not really a true "oil life" monitor either. Number of starts, rpms, etc. are factored into the equation. If yours is going off at 3000 miles then you are accelerating harder than normal driver or doing a lot of stop and go driving.
Regarding 3000 mile oil changes: My 203,000 mile Camaro has the Tuned Port Injection engine which by design runs hot. My second cooling fan is calibrated not to come on until 230 degrees or if the A/C is on.
As you can probably guess this is hard on oil. I adhered to a 3000 mile oil change strategy except for 3 times where I went to 5000 miles.
My oil pressure will actually drop after 2000-2500 miles unless I use Valvoline HD 20w-50.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I probably should have done a 2500 mile oil change interval.
This car absolutely abuses lesser oils, so the 3000 mile oil change has validity.
Consumer Reports did a study using NYC taxi cabs in 1996. Here's a summary I found on the web: "The testers placed freshly rebuilt engines in 75 New York taxis and then ran them for nearly two years, with each cab racking up 60,000 miles, placing different brands and weights in different cars and changing the oil at 3,000 miles in half the cars and 6,000 in the other half....The two most surprising results: the frequency with which oil is changed doesn't matter after the first few oil changes on a new engine, and the type or brand of oil used can not be shown to make any difference."
Given that most of our Intrigues' duty cycles are much less severe than the typical NY taxi, if you are changing your oil more often than the manufacturer recommend interval (or oil change indicator), you are wasting your money.
Like b4z, it's more than an idiot light and I think it's pretty good. It's definitely not on at exact intervals. Sometimes it's 5000 kms, sometimes it's 8000.
As I mentioned above, there are numerous studies that show that after using syn oil pans are clean as a bell. Now, if using regular oil leaves filthy, gunky deposits, that stuff is bound to get into the engine and affect it. If an oil pan is clean, there is nothing to ruin the engine. A lot has changed since 1996. Back then Slick 50 was a big deal. The very fact that syn handles higher temps better than conventional in itself means that it should protect better.
As far as the change oil light, the '98 went to 80,000 miles and was smooth as butter, no blue smoke from the exhaust.... In fact, for people who didn't know, they were shocked to find it had so many miles on it. And that was with regular QuakerState.
http://www.gmc.com/gmcjsp/envoy/
I personally like the exterior looks of the Trailblazer better than the Envoy though the Envoy has a better interior.
So their cooling systems are way above what we have in our cars.
We did buy the 2002 Intrigue. Pissed me off, but leases were out of the question as a result GM's Olds debacle. And, I really am influenced by the engines. Nothing else in the GM line was comparable or acceptable. Will drive the shortstar as long as I can. I no longer use pushrod engines.
b4z, I guess I didn't see the info regarding the oil monitor capabilities on the Intrigue. If it looks like an idiot light and acts like an idiot light, I did assume that it was one. Wonder why the Intrigue is SO much rougher on the oil than the Envoy though. With the non-sym factory oil, is still showing 70% remaining life at about 3500 miles.
dindak, I agree with the choice of vehicles, obviosly ..
I do believe they are standouts in their respective categories, and examples of state of the art engine designs, even if they can't make decent steering assembly for the Intrigue.
He felt that the Shortstar was a well made engine that he described as "beefy".
Nice to hear good things about my favorite GM engine.
I cited a controlled, documented study covering 4.5 million miles indicating that changing oil more often than the manufacturer recommended didn't improve an engines longevity after 60,000 miles.
"Numerous studies" (can you site an actual reference?) showing synthetic oil leaves oil pans "clean as a bell" in no way contradicts or disproves the CR study.
Pase buen dia.
Next vehicle may very well be a 2WD Trailblazer or Envoy barring gas going to $1 / liter.
:-(