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It seems that if I dont drive my car very much (to work and back) for a day or two it will run great the days following. Must just be me.
I hope they get the scumbags who did what they did today. They're head should be ran over by an aurora with the traction control off.
Needless to say, I did not get any work done today. This kind of things show us how little our Aurora repair complaints really matter.
God Bless the American People.
Henri
On a personal note, I work at the Buffalo airport and to say the least, it was very trying being in the midst of all this. There are planes everywhere at the airport and it is all very surreal. I used to shuttle customers to and from the airport and there was a man that used to use the service all the time. Out Monday AM, in Friday PM. He told me once that he worked in the World Trade Center. As of now I am uncertain of the status of this man. I know for a fact that he has at least two kids. This is a senseless tragedy and the perpetrators must be eliminated at all costs. Stay safe out there and good luck to all.
Thank you all and God Bless.
Lets remember to be respectful of other cultures, regardless of their background. Innocent people from other nations who live in the USA should not have to fear for their lives on the street. If we hold strong as a public, we can demonstrate our amazing tolerance as US citizens.
Without this, we are nothing.
Ken
The Nissan Maxima we bought instead is something of a step down in quiet and comfort, but I'm hoping for much lower operating expenses.
Symptoms: the 95 Aurora would stall when coming to a stop. Once it stalled going into an exit ramp. The worst time was turning a corner while in a medium sized town. I had to muscle the steering wheel to get around the turn.
The other thing was the transmission thumped while coming to a stop at each braking.
My mechanic said that because both transmission and ignition problems happened at once, this meant it was probably what I will detail below. The other thing was that I needed to apply the gas in order to start the car.
Reading from the invoice:
Labor
Checked Foriac operation and found pintle stuck. Replaced and adjusted. ---------- $150.00
IAC motor assembly ------------- $157.64
Throttle plate cleaner --------- $ 13.20
Other news: I live just 25 miles from NYC. Nobody I know was killed. Besides my own business, I work in the video department of a church. News trickled slowly, but surely, but by about 10:30 we quit packed up and basically acted as support and A/V personnel for church leadership.
(I may be doing the Father Michael Judge memorial video through my own business)
I called my mechanic to confirm with him our Wednesday appointment.
Aurorabill
Well, I'll get off the soap box. I too am sorry to see Olds be killed off by GM, but if my experience is in any way representative of the quality of cars coming out of Olds today, we are better off without them.
My wife and I have had 3 olds. The first a '81 Delta 88 was killer. I loved that car, but my wife had to get something new. She got an '86 Delta 88 that was a pile. I had almost given up on Olds, mostly because of the blah styling. Then of course came the Aurora.
Luckily I have not had any probs, but it's still under factory warranty.
The Maxima's engine is a marvel. I don't like the styling too much, but Nissan's V6 is hard to fault. Good luck.
Service Bulletin Number: 010101
Bulletin Sequence Number: 177
Date of Bulletin: 0101
NHTSA Item Number: SB617758
Make: OLDSMOBILE
Model: AURORA
Year: 2001
Component: POWER TRAIN:TRANSMISSION:AUTOMATIC
Summary: GM POWERTRAIN IS INVESTIGATING A WHINING NOISE IN THE 4T80E TRANSMISSION DUE TO SPALLING / PITTING ON THE DRIVE AND / OR DRIVEN SPROCKET THRUST BEARINGS
and
Service Bulletin Number: 130201
Bulletin Sequence Number: 180
Date of Bulletin: 0102
NHTSA Item Number: SB618111
Make: OLDSMOBILE
Model: AURORA
Year: 2001
Component: POWER TRAIN:TRANSMISSION:AUTOMATIC
Summary: INFORMATION REGARDING 4T80E AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION (WHINE NOISE). *JB
The way I got such a good deal on the 2002 AV8 was to be the brother of a person eligible for the employee price. That took $5000 off the sticker. The other $2500 came from the $1500 loyalty coupon (from the 2001 Aurora) and the $1000 rebate on the 2002 models. I live in Northern CA, American cars don't sell well in CA (maybe that will change).
I have no clue as to lease prices, my guess would be that because of poor resale, Oldsmobile leases suck unless GMAC puts up the big offer.
BTW, the 2002 AV8 is EPA rated at 1MPG better than the 2001 model. I have no idea what they did to make that happen. New car smells great, drives great. Me happy guy on outside (inside guy still want's to cry).
Also try putting it in 3rd (direct drive) gear to see if it may be the 4th-gear gear set. Also try neutral to see if it is engine speed related.I know my tires are very noisy at 80mph on certain road surfaces--much more so than is normally acceptable for touring tires--but since I normally love Michelin tires I'm not complaining. There may also be a ground-out condition with a heater or A/C hose--it's amazing how little it takes to telegraph noise into the cabin.
In addition, Granatelli Motor Sports offers a mass air flow meter for the Aurora 4.0 that is supposed to add some power due to lower restriction and it communicates differently with the computer. It sounds much like a chip improvement. They are going to fax me the dyno graph for the Caddy northstar. They don't have a graph for the Aurora. It's $250 bucks and is supposed to add 10+ HP at the rear wheels. Not bad if true. I'm not sure how this would work with a chip/computer upgrade if they ever became available. It is supposed to be really easy too -just the 3 screws that hold the sensor on and unclipping the electrical connection. The lower screw seems easy to lose. I don't have magician's hands, so I'll have the local mechanic help me out. It's a 10 minute job.
Check out Granatellimotorsports.com I hope I spelled that right.
Have you noticed any of these behaviors in your Aurora? Is it something that is genetic to the car??
-Steve
There was a guy on the Lincoln LS board that did a lot of dyno testing on his LS V8 and he basically confirmed the added power. I've talked to people who have had the cat-back put on an STS and they swear by the performance and basically confirm the HP claims.
I really hope to get to a dyno just to see what some indution improvements do. I'm hoping to see 5 more at the wheels. Anything more would be a bonus. Nothing radical, but I'm just trying to incrementally make it a little faster. I don't think that will overload anything. It would just have power similar to being between a stock SLS and an STS.
The Classic site just turned over 5000 visitors. Thanks Aurorians!
Hi Pizza - looks like we're a couple of SoCal night owls.
GM Announces Revised Oldsmobile Product Lifecycle Plans
Detroit - General Motors announced today that its current plan is to end Oldsmobile production with 2004 models. GM previously announced that Oldsmobile products would continue to be produced and sold until the end of their current product lifecycles, or production would end earlier if market demand fell below economically viable levels. Oldsmobile production has remained unprofitable and, therefore, GM's current planning is to end production with the 2004 models. Here are the current product plans:
Product
Current Plan for Models
Intrigue 2002 - production ends 6/2002*
Aurora - V6 2002 - production ends 6/2002*
Aurora - V8 2003 - production ends 5/2003
Alero 2004 - exact build-out date TBD
Silhouette 2004 - exact build-out date TBD
Bravada 2004 - exact build-out date TBD
* As previously announced
Oldsmobile dealers were told that the Oldsmobile Dealer Agreements would continue with the term of their current agreement unchanged. This announcement gives dealers significant flexibility to best manage their business through this transition. Dealers will be able to continue operations such as selling Oldsmobiles, providing Oldsmobile warranty service, accessing the GM auctions and participating in Goodwrench Service Plus.
In a letter to Oldsmobile dealers, Bill Lovejoy, group vice president, Vehicle Sales Service and Marketing, said "Dealers have been asking for more information about the phase-out of Oldsmobile in order to give them more flexibility. We intend to continue to provide them with timely information about our plans to help them plan their business."
Oldsmobile dealers still have an opportunity to avail themselves of the Transition Financial Assistance Package, which was designed to help them plan and manage an orderly transition of their Oldsmobile business.
Thanks for the info on the plugs. I'm relieved to hear that it wasn't too big of a deal. My father always says, "The difference between a hard project and an easy one is the right tools." Seems to be true. One question - Even with the universal swivel attachment, did you have to remove anything to get to the rear plugs? That ignition module seems to be in the middle of things.
-Steve
"Torque Management
Torque Management is a function of the PCM that reduces engine power under certain conditions.
Torque Management is performed for three reasons:
1. To prevent overstress of powertrain components.
2. To limit engine power when brakes are applied.
3. To prevent damage to the vehicle during certain abusive maneuvers.
The PCM uses manifold vacuum, intake air temperature, spark retard, engine speed, engine coolant temperature, A/C clutch status, and EGR valve position to calculate engine output torque. It then looks at torque converter status, transaxle gear ratio, and brake switch inputs and determines if any torque reduction is required. If torque reduction is required, the PCM retards spark as appropriate to reduce engine torque output. In the case of abusive maneuvers, the PCM may also shut off fuel to certain cylinders to reduce engine power.
There are five instances when engine power reduction is likely to be experienced:
- During transaxle upshifts and downshifts.
- Heavy acceleration from a standing start.
- If brakes are applied with moderate to heavy throttle.
- When the driver is performing stress-inducing (abusive) maneuvers such as shifting into gear at high throttle angles."
The very next section in the book covers traction control. Traction control may apply the front brakes, or it may apply the front brakes and reduce engine power by shutting off fuel to one or more cylinders.
The book doesn't mention anything about retarding ignition timing as part of the traction control program.
Based on the text, one could conclude (perhaps incorrectly) that the stock 4.0L has more torque available, but the PCM won't allow it to be used.
I doubt that the stock engine output is right on the edge of activating the computer to limit output. The reason I say this, is that certain Caddy upgrades have been documented to increase output and acceleration and I've talked to one guy that did put the Corsa exhaust on an STS and he loves it with the increased acceleration. The Caddy and Aurora are basically the same engine. I think it is also reasonable to assume that they would not be "programmed" much differently.
I have a copy of the Car and Driver article that covers the Tim Allen 398 HP Deville (they almost picked an Aurora for the project). I don't remember any mention of the computer there having to be adjusted. Not to say it wasn't, but I don't think it was mentioned. I'll check again. You can link to the article or maybe a summary I think on Caddyinfo.com. From that site, you can link to extreme motorsports that has made some basic improvements to the Caddy and has documented significantly quicker 0 to 60 times.
It all boils down to whether 20 to 30 more HP and torque will activate the computer as you have shown. 20 or 30 more is about all I hope to get.
When I talked to RSM racing, they said they will come out with a supercharger for the Aurora! I wonder how that will work with what you are showing us. Maybe it won't. I'm not interested in any superchargers though. Just better breathing and perhaps a little different fuel feed as augmented by a mass air flow sensor of computer upgrade is all I want.
What is your thought as to how much straight line power is too much? Some of those other safeguard scenarios you cited are certainly horrible from the standpoint of sudden impact on the car's driveline.
I know that you may not have the time or expertise to remedy here ailments, but she does not understand that.
I will take time and caring to get your Aurora to trust again. You may need to seek professional help....
Good Luck.
I saw that same picture, "NYC Closed to all traffic, but failed to note the Aurora". I was working on a video project including photos from that JPEG collection.
Funny thing is... I have a black 1995. I am one of a few people on the NJ highways who still has the (15 year) old license plate. It looks, however, like the person inside may be a woman or some guy with long hair. Nowadays, nobody drives my car but me. That picture has been squeezed, of course.
I wasn't on the highway during those days.
Aurorabill
Curious, does anyone's engine click like it's low on oil when it's hot? It's got to be the oil pump, or the dipstick is wrong.
Louis
The 2002 seems to have even more pep than the 2001, even the wife noticed it. There is a noticably nicer growl from the exhaust. Things look the same underneath, the only published difference is the 1 MPG improvement in EPA city & Highway mileage, so I am not sure what they did to make it happen. Just passed 200 miles on the 2002 4.0L, and love it. The wife decided to take the "BYE OLDS" plates for her 2002 Silhouette, so I will get the "2K2 OLDS" to follow the "2K1 OLDS" plates that were on the 2001.
What was the approximate cost to trade the '01 for the '02?
I'm a pleased owner of an '01 and would like an idea of the hit I'd take to swap for
the '02. If the difference is totally unreasonable, I could get an extended warranty
and just keep my car for for a longer period of time. If I did the '02, I'd get the CD
changer and perhaps a sunroof that I do not now have.
Keith Smith