Managed to snag an awesome deal on this car, test drove it a couple times today. Friend of the family's grandmother owned this car and hardly drove it, only 16900 original miles on it, she's selling it to me for $2000 and a couple days of manual labor.

Outer body could be in better shape, but for a car that's almost 30 years old and has been in Michigan most of it's life I'm not complaining. Interior and undercarriage are looking great too.

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Onto the questions though: radio doesn't work. Turn the **** and you can hear the speakers turn on, but either I couldn't find an FM channel or it's just flat out not working. Don't know if it's a fuse or what, thoughts?

Also, just wondering what I should do when I do take this thing home. Fresh oil, tune up? I have no idea what kind of work to put into it right off the bat. I will say the belts and hoses under the hood look great, had to have been replaced at some point.

 

Welcome to the site, looks like a nice score. I would do the normal safety stuff, check brakes, wheel bearings, suspension, body bushings, change fluids, give it a tune up, and see how old the tires are. The radio could be as simple as the antenna is disconnected.

 

Ditto the advice above.

Most likely a power antenna on that ...

Does it go up ?.

That's a RBLS you have there which is a step above the D88RB.

Only made them the 2nd half of the year for 84.

1985 saw a full year of production.

While the regular RB seats are very nice & nothing to sneeze at, the RBLS seats are as plush as it got ... basically the same style as the 82-84 Ninety Eight Brougham's.

Big plus there if the interior is in nice shape.

 

83 or 84 Delta 88 Royale Brougham (noted the electroluminescent lights on the B pillar) by the looks of the pics. Very nice car. The 307 4bbl and 200 4R are a nice combo and fairly smooth and economical. As Eric says, basic safety checks and fluid changes, plus check exhaust.

Don't assume anything even with low mileage. No offence, but that car doesn't look like a 17k mile car from the outside. If you have some docs (service records) that confirm it, that would be fantastic. Reason I mention this is the car only has a 5 digit placeholder and may have turned the clock once. How does the interior and engine compartment look?

2000 doesn't seem too bad if it truly is a low mile unit and looked after. I sold my 1983 Ninety Eight Regency Brougham for 1200 back in 2003 and I figured I got a great deal for it. How's this car for options?

re: radio. Yes, it could be the power antenna or it could be the radio itself. Good thing is the radio is easy to remove if necessary. Does the power antenna go up when the radio is turned on? It should because the antenna is switched to the radio on/off controls. If not - that antenna is a real PITA to get out/replace. I know because I had to do it.

 

Thanks for all the quick replies! Honestly I hadn't thought to look at the antenna when I was playing around with it, will have to check that when I actually pick it up. As far as the condition of the car itself, the engine looks good, it starts up nice and still sounds good. I'm no mechanic but my current car ('94 camaro) is in much worse shape than this.

Haven't checked through the car itself for any maintenance docs, but I do know the car has sat in a garage for many years, was taken out about two years ago to be driven regularly. I'm guessing that's when the belts got replaced because those should be dry rotted if they're the original. Will take it to a mechanic friend once I have it and get it looked over well, love how it rides, would love to baby it and keep it going for as long as possible

 

You would be wise to check the tires for ageing and replace them if they are older than 8 years or so. This is a well trodden path among classic forums, but always worth another trip.


Roger.

 

Tires are a must, the current ones will serve to get it home but not for very long afterwards (car is located about an hour from me). If the antenna were simply disconnected where would one hook that back up? Also, from some googling I believe the fuse box is located underneath the steering wheel? Somewhere on underside of the dash I guess?

 

The fuse block on the 83/84 is on the left side of the firewall, just to the right of where the parking brake is.

On the power antenna, there should be a wire (Green I think) that has an electrical connector to the mate on the antenna. You should be able to find it going into the fender along the top left of the passenger side.

If you open the passenger door, you will see 2 or 3 bolts that hold the antenna to the fender about half way down the inner side of the fender. Use a flashlight to locate the electrical lead (the wires are close to the bottom of the antenna) and follow that up to the connector.

 

My guess is that the power antenna is simply stuck from years of not being used. You said yourself that the car "sat in a garage for many years." That would be enough to do it. It seems unlikely that it would be disconnected as why would anyone do that? Perhaps if you could somehow grab the top of it and pull it up a bit you could unstick it? Not sure that's a good idea, but I'm not sure what the method is for freeing up a stuck power antenna.

I wonder if the fuse could be blown as well. Is there a separate fuse for the power antenna? If the antenna became stuck and the motor were straining to raise it, could that cause the fuse to blow? My guess is that, if there is a fuse and if it's blown, replacing it will just cause it to blow again as there was a likely a reason that it blew in the first place, and perhaps the antenna being stuck could cause this.

 

That antenna retracts below the lip of the trim ring retainer, so no chance of just grabbing it and pulling. When these antennas break it's usually not the metal rod, it's the nylon or metal fishtape attached to the drive motor that pushes and pulls the antenna up/down. They can break anytime. Net result though is the antenna motor would continue to cycle because it wouldn't hit its limiter stop. Peeps would just unplug the antenna till it was fixed, or use the cassette player instead.

There should be no separate fuse for the PA, as it's switched through the radio.

 

Really? Even though it gets switched by the radio, does that mean it gets its power through the radio's circuit and not through it's own circuit?

 

Yup. That's how it was with mine on the 1983 Ninety Eight Regency Brougham. Same radio/same antenna style.

 

I get the feeling that the cassette player isn't hidden somewhere and is in the region of the am/fm controls.. And if that's the case then I don't think I have a cassette, which is unfortunate. Could actually test and make sure the speakers are still working. Will fiddle with the antenna when I pick it up though!

 

The antenna signal wire is a coaxial black cable that plugs in to the back or the side of the radio chassis. If the antenna is stuck you may be able to pull it out a bit and spay some wd40 down it, then work it gently up and down.

 

It's real common for the mast in the power antenna to fail and the motor keeps running on those models,so someone may have dissconnected it.Does any sound come out of the speakers when turning it on?

 

Welcome to the B-Body lovers association. My first suggestion would be to check your floors. If they're solid, get the car into rustproofing asap. Watch your weather stripping. They're beautiful cars, and the ride is .... hedonistic. But noone is repopping tins for these cars. Replacement sheet metal panels are high on the unobtanium list. While any competent body man should be able to redo rusty floors and rockers for you, it's all going to be one off custom metal work, and that adds up fast. Look after your metal.

And by all that's holy ... don't Donk it. Please, don't Donk it.

 

Going to look into the motor amd/or the antenna being disconnected. I've been in too many cars without radios, need my tunes!

Rustproofing sounds like an excellent idea. I live in Michigan, winter is cold and the roads get salty. How much does a job like that run usually? The interior is solid right now, could use a good vacuuming, but the body itself is showing some wear.

 

Nice B Body!

$2000 isn't bad but yeah check up low milage thing. This is the first year I haven't gone to Homecoming in 10 years and I've seen some pretty rough looking cars out there in Michigan.

The Power Anntenna plug is right by the hood hinge on the right side. Radio isn't too hard to remove if need be. Dash panel has two screws under the ledge and then it just pulls off. The radio is held in by 4 7mm bolts

EDIT: Oh yeah I almost forgot. You have to pull the ***** off the radio before pulling the dash panel. There is the ****, a spring, a little thin washer, and the back of the **** to adjust the front rear or left right balance. Be sure to put all the parts back the same way they come off and don't lose anything

 

I had my 1983 rustproofed several times during its life. The shop will likely have to pressure wash the bottom of the car/frame before they apply any undercoating unless they have new products that don't require that. It cost me a couple hundred bucks, but prices are regionalized so you might want to ask around first. They have to spray around the exhaust and suspension because of heat, and if you ever need to work on those areas.

Another area of these cars that is really an issue for rustout is the lower trim line where those wide body stainless steel door and fender pieces go. If you can get those off without damaging the clips (I believe you can get replacement clips for that still, but not sure), I'd also ask them to coat that area too. It almost never gets cleaned when washing and is a real collector for corrosive materials.

 

Welcome to the forum!

Looks like you could use some paint/body work on her, first step is to get the car running well and dependable.

Follow this link I did and it worked great, my car runs well and gets 16-17mpg city.

Have any interior pics or additional pics?

 

No link. As DD says ... first you deal with the Whoa. Then you sort out the Go. And only then do you deal with the Show.

 

http://tlentz.oldsgmail.com/more_power.html

Sorry about that

I used that guide as my holy grail when I first bought my Delta 88 hasn't failed me yet.

 

Me personally I wouldnt mess with the stock radio I would just UPGRADE

I put and 7 inch indash screen in mine. Not matter what car I have I always have to go aftermarkets on the radio and speakers.

 

Just got the car delivered to me! She looks a little rough, but she still starts up and drives well (think it needs an alignment).

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Update! My radio totally works, was playing around with fuses (basically taking them out and checking them) by some miracle my radio DOES work. So here's the question: If the metal/nylon ribbon that powers the antenna had broken, and the antenna was not disconnected, would I still receive a signal? Or does it sound more like the antenna is stuck at this point?