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...and it was terrible when GM did it too. FWIW my Northstar has zero stop leak in its cooling system as the problem was fixed correctly, no thanks to the General.

Dude.... I own this car now.... Mine is exactly how your describing yours... From florida originally but Ohio car, hail damage, salvage title, center line wheels and the black hood and spoiler... Bro I have your car lol.

Hello all -- New to me 1996 Grand Prix SE. I will fix this car up and my son will use for college. An experiment for me, too. How many miles can I get out of this car. Goal=200k. 3.1 motor. Auto trans. 102k miles. I live in Ohio. Florida car. Minimal rust. I see clean rockers, pinch welds, subframe, rear trailer arm connection! Clean, Dark gray cloth interior. Salvage title from hail storm. Good: Clean car. 1 year old rotors, pads, struts, front hub, 2 tires, New fuel pump and serpentine belt. AC works. Pioneer head unit. Looks to have nice specs and fitment. Bad: Hood hail damaged. 3 hail dings in front fenders. PO used duplicolor spray paint in a few spots. ABS light on. Windows and regulators kinda work. Needs inspection. I bought car and further inspected. Repairs so far: Transmission cooler lines rusted and leaking. Replaced. Changed transmission filter and fluid. Cooling system flushed (remove thermostat, fill and drain with distilled water 4 times), refilled with DEX 50/50, new thermostat, hoses, cap. Checked fans and they are working. Oil change to synthetic. Car is now running and driving. I plugged my Autoscan tool in and went for 2 hrs spirited driving. No codes and temp stayed between 170-190. Hot heat and cold A/C. No leaks I am experiencing "piston slap" when car is cold. Seems a common issue on 3.1 motors. I guess I keep the car maintained and live with it. Repairs in the next 2 weeks: Bad rear hub. Leaking gas filler. Windows and regulator. Interior light bulbs, some are out. Underside, door seams, inner fenders, and every nook and cranny will be oil sprayed with Fluid Film. Repairs in the next 2 months: I found and bought a NOS hood for $160! Body work on the front fender dings. Paint work on rear quarter. Front fascia needs to be attached. Replaced front door speakers with Kicker 41KSC54. Replace rear deck speakers with Kicker 41KSC6934. Trunk subwoofer. Kicker, not sure which one yet. Some vinyl graphics. I'm thinking a swoop on front fenders, or a rear quarter panel stripe. I saw a Gran Prix with Firebird on the hood, that was cool looking! I am thinking about a Firebird on the hood!!! Law says I needs a front license plate. I hate the offset look. Will related to center of front fascia. Not sure how that will look. The driver's door catch is annoying. It has 4 loud metal clunks sounds when opening and closing door. I can see the hinge is wore out, and lubing doesn't help. It will need to be replaced, but I am finding this part is NLA. Any suggestions? I scored some perfect Centerline Nitro 2 wheels on craigslist. They were on a 2002 Monte Carlo. 17x7. 5x115. 42MM offset. Polished Aluminum. WOW, are they light. Tire size calculators say 235/55R17 or 245/50R17 would be stock tire diameters and work with the 7" rim. I'm just starting research. Any thoughts or PICS on these sized tires for this style of car?

LED third brake light modification. To preface, my 1994 Z34 Lumina was driving down the road, and the third brake light trim cover fell onto the back seat. Upon a little inspection, the 3rd brake light housing was in sorry shape, and had been glued together in the past. Ordered a used light off eBay. So the factory bulbs are halogen 891 bulbs. There are a handful of sellers on Amazon that say they sell led versions of them. I was skeptical that they would fit in the housing. I had 194 led bulbs and sockets on hand, and decided to go with those. So the first thing, is to pop off the red lens, easy enough. Then use a uni-bit on a drill to open up the sockets to 5/8th inch From here, need to cut some lugs into the light housing for the 194 bulb sockets to thread into. I used a small 3 sided file. Took all of 15 mins to do. Then a little bit of wiring to do… splice wires and old connector together. Clean it up, snap the lens on it, and enjoy. This took all of 30 mins to do, with stuff I had on hand. I’m not a fan of the oddball bulbs that were in it, and glad I changed them.

Looks like a good mod to do. They use the same oddball bi-pin bulbs in the Cutlass Supreme spoiler rack as well. I would recommend using red LEDs, even behind a red lens. You'll get a better color, especially since LEDs are a cooler color than the original halogens and tend to look even more faded behind a red lens than halogens. The 194 socket will also fit larger T15 sized bulbs since they have the same wedge base. You can use 921 LED replacements for more brightness which is always a good thing with brake lights. I've tested some 921 LED replacements that are insanely bright.

Frame rot, damn. He said it was rust-free when he got it. I guess 8 years of Ohio winters was too many.

They installed plugs correct for mid to late 90s 3100 engines, not the early 90s 3.1L. The symptoms fit the extra large gap. I also installed new AC Delco wires and a new O2 sensor, but I’m thinking the plugs were the problem.

Looks like the quick connect fitting is ok. And the leak has otherwise dried up. Only time will tell though.

I've only seen terrible results from those products

I've never used that product, but I'm generally not a fan of stop leak products. I've used them in the distant past. In my experience, they tend to cause more problems down the road.

Thanks I will check that out. I did buy some of Bar Seal's best stuff and already it seems to be working. I'll know more about that in a few days. There was coolant on top of the hold down bolt (for the oil pump drive) and moving on down that way. But, I cleaned it all off before putting in the bar seal, followed the instructions and then drove the car a bit. No leaks last night and no leaks this morning, it's all dried out. Hopefully this will be the end of that, but I will keep my eye on that fitting.

It should retract. Almost seems like it could be getting bound on something as you said it drops slightly below the close point. You can check for it getting mechanically bound by removing the fuse and connecting a multimeter in Amps mode in place of the fuse. When it stops moving, see if it's drawing any current. If it is, the motor wants to move it, but it's getting mechanically bound. If no current when it stops, then a switch or relay is electrically preventing it from moving further.

It's possible coolant can leak from the intake manifold if they messed up the install somehow, but it's also possible it could be the heater hose quick-connect fitting. That's another source of coolant leaking from around that area that I believe is a fairly common issue. Especially more likely since they had to disconnect the fitting and probably didn't replace the fitting. It's this part: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/oldsmobile,1994,cutlass+supreme,3.4l+v6,1223367,heat+&+air+conditioning,heater+hose+connector,6876 It's located right above the crossover pipe and you might see evidence of coolant having dripped on the crossover pipe shield if it's leaking. I would put a white cloth under it and see if it gets wet.

So I've had 2 GTP's so far, but this is my first Buick Regal GS. bought it from a grandpa and it was very basic looking when I bought it. Since buying it a couple weeks ago, I've tinted the windows, installed 4 Buick puddle door lamps, white face gauges, scangauge ii, black-housing headlights, zzp F-body brakes, tinted the taillights, installed red reflective lettering on bumper, custom front license plate and holders to match car theme, and took out the window and shift bezel wood trim and painted it flat black to match the rest of the car. I'll post pics when I get it all done, still in the process of some of it

One should have the service manual within reach for electrical diagnosis.

Hi, I’ve just stumbled onto this forum, and i figure I’ll probably need to post here eventually acquired my luminator last year, 2nd owner from a grandma. 70000 (got w 55000)miles. Here’s some pics; thx yall

Both of those pieces aren't available anymore NOS. A parts car or junkyard run will be your best bet. I actually found my pieces that way. For the door weather seal, it's part #10283235. For the windshield cowl base, that rubber piece is apart of that metal base where the wipers rest. That part # is 10122028. I actually have the door seal but I need it for my STE. Sorry, I think I might have got the last NOS one. I bought it 6 years ago or so. Possibly...a Lumina/Regal/Cutlass sedan might be the same? I don't know for sure though. Also, a local glass shop might have the rubber piece in stock or could order it for the windshield base. I'm going to the junkyard soon and If I find a good one...either one of those parts, I'll grab them for ya.

HERE'S MY CAR AFTER ALL THE VISUAL UPGRADES

OK Got this knocked out yesterday. Gave the TGP a rear suspension overhaul. For those that wanna do it themselves. 4 REAR gen2 lateral links work great, and are like $24 brand new off rock auto. the front ones have to be shortened by 1.5 inches to work properly and have a good range of adjustment. The guy who cut and welded mine put a piece of 1/2in round stock inside the joint (fits nice and tight) and chamfered a 45* angle on the edges before welding them. I am confident that they will hold up great. for reference I used RAYBESTOS Part # 5762115 but anyhow. here we go. and yes. you have to drop the rear subframe to get the old ones out, gas tank is in the way of the bolts coming out through the rear. I turned the rear bolts around so if i ever have to drop the links off again its not nearly as bad to do, pic of that shortly. maybe that is why my car was impossible to align. I'd bet some tow truck driver once upon a time did that old crap removed, new lateral links fit like a glove I am so happy with how this worked out, will be doing this to the z34 100% for sure.

I talked to the original owner Kevin a year after buying the car and he showed me old photos of it in Florida before it came up to ohio, guy definitely loved this car. Shame it's poptart crust now.

Sway bars just fell off the frame not too long ago and one of the front wheels is pushed up farther than the other one right where he said the subframe cracked.... Rear driver side has a decent hole through the frame too. Was told it was completely unsafe to drive at this point so I only drive it here and there. Will probably drive it until it gives out completely or part out within next couple years.

It's at around 151k right now, unfortunately with the frame rot probably won't make it much longer. I bought it at 135k so I had fun with it while I could.

I believe it has that dip or channel in it so that it locks to the metal base and follows it's curves.

It definitely takes dedication to own a Northstar Caddy AND keep it running reliably for that many years, especially in a salt belt state ! All joking aside, they are nice engines, and can be made fairly reliable if you know their weak spots. I know that it's not exactly the same, but the Shortstar we had in our Intrigue years back was arguably more reliable than any 60 degree V6 or even 3800 i've ever owned. It reliably needed the oil level topped off every 1500 miles or so, but outside of a bad CKP sensor and an alternator....that powertrain was rock solid up until the day we scrapped it due to rust.

Now in that same spot I see a coolant leak . Very small but it's there. I will be trying out some bar-seal stop leak on it in the hope this will stop it. Something else that's odd is, I had them change out the LOW COOLANT sensor for a new one, and the LOW COOLANT warning still went on anyway. The car is not low on coolant. Geez.