GTJOJO

97 aurora with 250000 miles burns and leaks oil, but i keep oil and Lucas in it and it still runs strong....leaks power steering fluid, but again i keep it full, and nothing but an occasional whining....leaks coolant, every 3-6 months i run some stop leak and its good for another 3-6 months, till it puddles under the car again...can't locate the leak as it is impossible to see anything in that engine compartment, and can't afford to start replacing parts without being absolutely sure.....that's the background, now here's the problem...2 weeks ago coolant puddled under the car, and leading up to that incident it has been leaking PS fluid at a much faster rate (fill up every 2-3days)...a day or 2 before the coolant puddle it started making a horrible metallic grinding/screeching noise on start up (sound like a choking goose) ..definitely mechanical like a bearing, or pulley, or maybe something worse. You could tell that it had trouble turning, until it started, then the noise would go away!, and it ran fine. I changed the oil (fearing a head gasket prob) no water in the oil....put some Lucas in....started it, again the noise, then it faded like always....put some stop leak in the coolant, started again, same noise then fade, turned the heat on high, which produced the noise again (first time it ever made the noise while running), but still it faded out...as it sat running for 25 min this noise would come and go while the heat was on, but no heat= no noise.....2 days later no start just click like bad starter or ground....checked all grounds, cleaned them charged battery..battery is good...went to hit starter with hammer to see if it would go..couldn't find starter, so banged around randomly on bottom of engine...it started while my friend banged and i turned key...again with the noise...replaced starter (found out it was in intake)..starter not the problem, new starter has more juice, u can hear it trying to turn...occasionally it'll rotate a little, but not enough to crank...something mechanical is providing too much resistance for the starter, banging on it seems to get it moving enough to start, but once running the noise goes away??? has to be the water pump right???? couldn't be PS pump could it????? hopefully nothing major, please help

GAOldsman

Honestly? Sounds like you may have hit the oil pan where the oil pump pick up is located and caused it to starve the engine from oil




This honestly sounds like it is time for a new mill but who is to say without someone physically looking at it that knows what they are looking at. Doesn't sound good from your description.

GTJOJO

No GA, the noise occurred before the hammering, and we mainly hit on the supports.

and yeah it's probably time for a new one, but i'm gonna try and get every last breath outa this one



success!! and failure water pump, upper and lower hoses, t-stat, and tensioner replaced. Motor turns, and i think the noise is gone. But still won't start....got a pretty good backfire out of it though. The water pump runs off of a pulley coming out of the over head cam. I couldn't have turned it out of time could I?..... More likely i didn't get a good seal on the intake when i replaced the starter, as i did this on the 4th, and did it sorta in a hurry... gonna pull it apart tomorrow, and clean it up real good and put some form-a-gasket on it....the intake has two plastic seemingly reusable gaskets, they don't have to be replaced do they?, as they run $50, i would hope to be able to reuse them..... any info or advice would be greatly appreciated. thnx

GTJOJO

on a side note, I must say that the Aurora is the last great olds. I have never been a GM fan..always more of a ford guy. (hope that doesn't get me banned) you can have your camaro's and nova's, but I've always loved the old 442's, and this aurora has grown on me. Got it for cheap, and have had it for 3 yrs, it leaks every fluid that it can, I had the brake lines rust out on me, a door latch rusted off, but I must say that it is the most luxurious, smooth cruising, reliable(til now), haul A## beater that i have ever seen. If she's dead, well i got my money's worth. If she lives, well then i love her that much more....as bad a shape as it's in, a lotto jackpot comes my way and i might just tear it down and do it up right..(knock on wood)

jaunty75

With 250,000 miles on it and the two dozen or so problems you mention, I think you got the last breath out of this thing long ago. Time to stop throwing money and time at it and treat yourself to something with less than 200,000 miles on it. Nothing lasts forever, and this car has already gone well longer than most.

Boldsmobile

I got 225,000 out of my last Aurora and only sold it because i bought a second gen.

Im curious about the PS leak. Where does it leak from? Any chance the power steering pump is making the noise and causing the resistance?

Starter, yea done one of those. Not as bad as i thought.

GA, have you ever seen an Aurora oil pan? Im curious because you are giving a rather grave opinion.

GAOldsman

Yup and just wanted to shed some light onto how he could have caused major catastrophic failure by just haphazardly just banging around at the bottom of the engine as he stated. I was trying to not sound rude, although I concur with what jaunty is saying.

And now that I read the other post, GTjojo it is sounding like the timing belt may have went south, who knows for sure without physically looking at it in person?

Boldsmobile

Ok, wasnt sure how he could hit the pan and cause a pick up issue.

Both my Aurora's had a cast aluminum Oil Pans as i believe all did. I believe it would crack before it could be deflected enough to cause a pick up issue.

GTJOJO

starter changed.....water pump, upper and lower hoses, t-stat, and radiator cap changed......as i said, i slapped the intake back together on the 4th(trying to eat some burgers and watch some fireworks).....pulled it apart today, and cleaned it up real good, and put some permatex on it. Fired right up...Yay.....but busted the serpentine belt, so no power steering, and no alternator. Figure it's gotta be the tensioner, or the ac compressor (air doesn't work) siezed. Either way, it runs now, and i figure the worst is over with......I will figure out which pulley is stuck, and i'll be back in business.......Thnx to everyone that tried to help, and I'll keep ya posted

GTJOJO

to GA...and Bolds..... I'm not one of those yahoo's that just starts hittin stuff with a hammer ***** nilly(man i sound old).....but i see that my post may have lead u to believe that......... anyway, i'll post the final diagnosis, and hopefully if someone else runs across this prob one of us will be able to help

GTJOJO

oh yeah....to Bolds.....don't know where the leak is......not the pump, cuz I can't see anything up top.....once it's runnin, I'll have someone take a look at the R & P...as it's something that i don't want to mess with....hopefully a gasket set and a rebuild will do the trick (i've got a guy that'll do it)....I'll keep ya posted

Boldsmobile

I didnt think you damaged the pan. I would suggesting that i didnt see how you damage the pickup inside without first breaking casting.

Is that a first gen? Idler pulley bearing seizing up?