oldsguybry

The trunk wont close on the 93 Buick now . It was a problem when I bought the car , and was able to turn the key in the lock , and it would close then . No matter what I do now it wont close or latch would be a better term . I also can't seem to find a place that sells a trunk latch assembly or even the term It all started when I went to my trunk early in the morning to see where my tools were , and it started raining , the trunk would not close , had to remove battery cables , had to put large rock on trunk lid , and clean anything of value out of the trunk , and then hiked 2/3 of a block to get to my apt . I'm going to bed now . I will be starting the motor mount repair tomorrow ( second attempt ) , along with the other new problem . There is antifreeze leaking down above the bottom pulley , so I figure it's the waterpump which is another fun repair on that car . any last minute tips or tricks would be appreciated .

Allan R

The trunk latch isn't one of those electric pull downs is it? From the sounds of what you're describing the latch is not catching. You should be able to adjust the latch (bottom) in the trunk well. It's either too high or too low. From your decription I'd guess too low. Will it close if you give it a good slam?

Water pump? Actually not a very hard job on the 3800. Here's a perfect DIY video of your car showing how to do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=DYFz-6_GJ_g

oldsguybry

I seen that video , and I wish it was that easy . I'm not sure what year car this guys working on , but mine has a big motor mount and bracket in the way of everything . I have to get the mount off anyways , but that is where I was confused last time I tried the repair . I was trying to raise the motor with a jack and a small piece of wood on the oil pan , but it seemed the whole body of the car was raising with it , even with the bolt out of the mount . perhaps I didn't raise it high enough ? I don't want to break anything . It seems you have to raise the motor high enough to clear the mount/bushing out of the bracket , and then somewhere I read that you have to shift the motor from the other end to get the bracket to move over far enough to get at the last one or two bolts on the waterpump out . It also seems that every site I've gone to tells me something different then the last one I was on about this repair , so i'm going to have to find out as I take things off . I will take some pics of this while i'm there .

oh .... I went to my car today and the trunk worked on the first try lol

Allan R

Hmmm, a moisture sensitive trunk? That's funny....

Do you have a CSM for the Buick? I have a funny feeling you'll need one eventually. What about a chiltons for the time being?

oldsguybry

You may be right about slamming the trunk harder , but it was early in the morning and I didn't want to wake anyone. I will have to lube/examine the latch and striker to see if anything is bent . I had to run some errands , so I'm starting the repair in a couple hours ..... hopefully

Allan R

Actually, you hit on something most of us don't do. Lube the latch mechanism and strike hook. That can make a huge difference right there. Let us know what happens...

BTW, anyone who wakes up at the slam of a trunk isn't really asleep anyway, unless .......they're sleeping in the trunk

oldsguybry

My luck continues ........ I was leaving a friends house across town , and I turned the key and nothing ! The battery was fine , but I noticed the security light staying on longer today upon start up , and I also noticed it went on while I was driving , and then went off again .... anyways , I banged on the starter in case it was that , took the battery cables off for 10 minutes or so , and nothing worked . I Finally got it started by turning the key back and forth real fast while moving it up and down once I rolled the car from a incline to a level surface . I'm going to research it to see if it's the Ignition switch , or the neutral safety switch , or a security system issue that I have read about , but that was with late 90's GM cars though . For the money I paid for this car , it's still well worth it . I just hope the snowballing comes to an end ... so if the dumb thing starts tomorrow , i'm once again going to attempt the other repairs tomorrow ( if that's safe to say )

oh BTW .... Today would of been perfect to work on the car because tomorrow is going to be in the 90's , so that should be fun .

oldsguybry

I had no problems with the trunk today . I would make sure the latch was in the proper position , and then close it a little harder and it worked fine .

as far as the sleeping in the trunk , i've yet to try that

Allan R

Bryan, does this car have a VATS key? The chip might be degraded over time and might not have the right resistance. Check your chip with a multi meter and compare it to the info on this VATS key chart. http://www.vatskey.com/vats/vatskeylock.htm

oldsguybry

That's so funny , because I just found the same sort of info on it .....


The coded key probably needs to relearn. Turn ignition to crank and release. Let sit in on position (engine off of coarse) for a full 10 min. turn off for 30 sec. and repeat 3 times engine should start. This procedure should take 30 min. so a booster is needed to maintain a full 12 volts. Do not attempt without a charger connected .

or like you said , it may be wore out or something.

ok , so if it don't match anything in the VATS chart then it's bad ?

oldsguybry

here's another post I found on the site I was on .....

Sounds like you have bad contacts in the lock cylinder for the resistor in the end of the key. Have you tried both keys? If yes I recommend replacing the lock cylinder.

well , I only have one key so i'm not sure about that one , and this is the first time I had a problem with this not starting .

Allan R

Huh? If you turn off all the accessories on your car with the key to 'on' for 10 minutes, that's gonna drain your battery below 12V?? Are you kidding me? Oh well, give it a try and see what happens. I would think that the key would 'learn' plenty on it's own once the car is started and key left in the 'run' position.

Bryan, far as I know the VATS keys just need to be in the right resistance range. Can you post the link that you read that stuff? The VATS resistor chip could fail for a number of reasons. The chip codes have enough variation in resistance ranges that it shouldn't happen, but hey it's GM technology.

oldsguybry

If the key is not in the right resistance , will the car still start ? because I just got back from driving it . I had to wiggle the key around real fast while turning the key fast back and forth , and it started again . I came back from a drive and it would not start again until I repeated the above step again ..... I'm begining to wonder if it's the cylinder lock now and not the VATS key .

I agree with you about the battery thing with the accessories being on ... that's a bit overkill . also , I got this info from Fixya dot com . I think maybe it's worth trying the relearn thing before trying to fix the cylinder lock or something . This car also has a airbag which I would like to get rid of if possible . I don't like the idea of a 20yr old bag of gas ready to go off in my face while i'm driving to work or something

oh BTW ... it's 30 minutes total that you have the ignition on for

oldsguybry

after more research , it looks like a new key would cost way more then i'm going to spend if I can help it ... someone said that he did not want to spend $185 on a new key so he wanted to bypass the security system , and that's where I found this entre ......

Im trying to bypass the security sensor so my car will start 1995 buick lasabre
===========
The "Sensor" itself consists of a couple of metal fingers that grab the flat of the key on either side of the little 'chip' (it's actually just a piece of metal that has a particular resistance matched to your Security Module). These fingers are in the moveable part of the key receptacle in the steering column. The wires connected to these fingers often break, and a standard 'fix' is to spoof the system with a resistor that electrically looks just like your key.
The wires come out of the bottom of the steering column, and can be snipped there and the proper resistor soldered in. I can't remember which wires they are right now -sorry! But this may be enough for you to go on with additional 'net searching.
The module on a '92 is behind the glove box. Don't know about the '95.

oldsguybry

keep in mind that i'm just finding info on these matters , and trying to see which one seems more like the culprit . I have not tried any of these things yet . I was going to maybe try the relearn thing with the car out in the parking lot like it says on that website , but i'm not real sure that is the problem yet . This blows !

and I have to replace the waterpump tomorrow , for it's leaking even worse now ..... today is way to hot , and i'm a procrastinator

I also noticed that the car won't start whether the security is on , flashing , or off ..... doesn't that reinforce that the ignition cylinder lock would be the culprit ?

oldsguybry

I beleive this is the best approach to the Water Pump and Motor Mount repair .....

For 1992–95 vehicles, remove the torque axis mount, as follows:
Use a suitable engine support fixture and lifting bracket to raise the engine slightly to take the weight off of the engine mounts.
Remove the through-bolt from the torque axis (front) engine mount.
Lift the engine with the support fixture until the power steering reservoir touches the strut tower cross brace.
Loosen the bottom two bolts on the torque axis (front) engine mount.
Remove the A/C line clip and top two bolts on the torque axis engine mount, then remove the mount.
Remove the 2 bolts and nut attaching the engine torque axis mount bracket assembly to the front of the engine.
NOTE: On some engines, when you remove the 13mm bolts, coolant will flow from the bolt holes, so make sure to position a drain pan under the pump before unfastening the bolts.


Remove the water pump attaching bolts, then remove the water pump from the vehicle. Remove and discard the gasket. Thoroughly clean the gasket mating surfaces.

Ancient Iron

Last minute tipsor tricks? Sell it and buy an Olds

oldsguybry

actually the Buick is more reliable , unless your comparing to 70's Olds , well then your just spending all your money on gas . This is my point a to point b car , and I only paid 1 bill for it .... The 3800 is a good engine as long as Dexcrap antifreeze is not in it , along with the brand name Buick or Mercury back in those years . Heck any American car back in the early to mid 90's was great . I don't want a 2000ish faulty Chevy motor in my olds either . They used the 2.4 in Chevy and Olds Alero which I can't complain about it much yet personally ( mine has 84,000 miles ) , but have known people to have had problems with them motors going through a lot of oil after 100,000 miles and dumping it in the exhaust system somehow fouling out the cad convertor among other things .

oldsguybry

so far i've spent a little over $100 on this car since I bought it . I figure if I even spend upwards of $500 on this car , it's still WELL worth it .

Ancient Iron

I would not keep on disconecting the battery cables while it's running, It's a great way to damage the computor as they need a good ground. These cars aren't like the old ones with points. As for a Buick being more reliabe than Olds I don't think so Buick just has more electrical crap to take a dump on you!!! As for a Chevy motor I have an '05 3.4 in an Impala and it runs like a charm!!!

oldsguybry

You may be right , but Buick is still good . The only exp I have with 90's cars was the 92 Cavalier 5 speed I bought new . I sold it in 2004 with 200,000 miles on the 2.1 L . Man that thing was great ! Thanks for the tip on the battery cables , I'll definetely keep that in mind now . This is why I bought this car , because I only have so much money and I know the early 90's cars were decent , but you never really know what your gonna get .

Ancient Iron

It's a shame G.M. was the BEST now it's just going down the dumper. You want a good car and I speak from expieriance???? Buy a Ford Crown Victoria, They run forever get good milage and run a V-8 I have a '94 and I wouldn't trade it for anything else

oldsguybry

It was nice and hot out , especially in a one car garage but I removed all the bolts ( the bottom ones were tough ) on the motor mount , and jacked the motor up till the power steering was just touching the cross brace ... This was the only way to get the mount off . Then off came the mount bracket ....



and here's the pile on the floor ....



I drew this diagram before removing the belt , and set it right here



Removed the waterpump and that's when the worst part starts .... cleaning off the old gasket material .... I think this part took the longest ....

oldsguybry

Some more parts added to the floor pile .....



Waterpump installed fairly easy ...



and here's a pic of the new mount and bracket installed ....



Unfortunately the mount was not the problem .... the car still has a jump to it when I hit the gas from a stop , so that rubber that was missing in the old mount wasn't that bad . There may be another mount in the back on the tranny that I have to examine , because it has a loose piece of rubber on it . I have the ignition issue left to deal with , and there is some kind of bog in the throttle when I hit it , so that may be my jump feeling i'm getting , but it reminds me of a bad mount .... how do I know ? I had a 67 Cutlass that had a bad motor mount , and the feeling is very similiar . I also have not tried adding seafoam or marvel oil to the gas yet , so I was going to see if that fixes the bog in the throttle .

oldsguybry

I just noticed now ..... WTH is with the brown crap in the waterpump compartment area , and you can see where it ran down ( looks like paint ) .... inside the radiator looked much the same all over . It's like glued to everything , Was this Dexcool ? The reason I ask is it's about the same color . or did they color their motors brown back then ? lol

CQR

looks like rust. I'm not a fan of dexcool. Most likely is a little bit of oxidized iron from the inside of the block & heads.

oldsguybry

Hey you called it on the mount looking ok now you win an all expense unpaid trip to my house to help me fix all my cars!!!! How does it feel to be a winner ?

Allan R

Bryan,
Good to see you got it done. X2 with Clint on the rust. The 3800 is an iron block IIRC and chances are that the PO was just running straight water, or close to straight water for some time to get that effect. My cars have only had good antifreeze mix and I've never seen rust like that on my water pumps.

The hesitation on acceleration could also be a sticking EGR valve. Don't know if you can clean the one on your car, but prolly can get one from the wrecker? (you'll need a new EGR gasket if you take off the old unit) New EGR's are pretty expensive, and I don't know for SURE that this is the problem; but it's worth checking out. I think the EGR on your car is easy to get to and only takes 3 screws (10mm?) to undo. That's all it was on my series II 3800.

oldsguybry

found the EGR , will clean tomorrow . I may want to put some kind of gas treatment to clean the fuel system on the motor too.

Allan R

Excellent. Before you do gas treatment consider either a container of GM Engine Top treatment or Seafoam. Seafoam actually claims you can use it in the oil and gas for better effects. If you put it in your oil, you should change it within 300 miles though.....

When I used Seafoam in my 98, it really really really smoothed out the idle. I pulled the vacuum line off the brake booster and fed it in through that. Follow the instructions to the letter and you should be ok. Seafoam does have a guarantee. If it doesn't work you can get your money back.

The GM stuff is a little pricier - like always.

Whichever you decide on (if you decide on these) follow the directions to a T.

oldsguybry

I think you can use Marvel Mystery Oil too . I was told to watch out or don't use Seafoam from someone who supposedly got that info from a mechanic , so i'm not sure if I got bad info or what . I read the instructions on it , and realize you have to follow the instructions to a T . How strong is this stuff ? and do I have to be concerned about using Seafoam ?

Allan R

Well, I was somewhat apprehensive about using it for the first time too. Watched lots of Seafoam videos on the web, visited their site and read all their tech talk. Then I tried it. How strong is it? Don't know how to answer that. What I do know is it actually worked to smooth out my idle. The directions say to use 1/3 in the TB, 1/3 in the oil and 1/3 in the gas. I used 2/3 in the TB and 1/3 in the gas. Mostly cause I just had changed oil and didn't want to waste a fresh oil change. After you've done the 'soak' and start up the car it will smoke like a banshee till it flushes clean. So don't do that around your apt during the day. Wait till night when no one is watching, or go to a secluded area to do it. Makes it look like something's on fire! LOTS of smoke for about 3-4 minutes, then it settles down fairly quickly. Seafoam does say you may need more than 1 treatment; I didn't.

CQR

Seafoam is good ok to use. just follow the directions and skip the part about putting some of it in your crankcase. (I try not to put any solvents into a place that lubricants are supposed to be) The best fuel system cleaner I have found is 44K made by BG products. Yes it is expensive but it works. and you only need it about once every 15K miles.

oldsguybry

The car would not start after work , but started without problems three times before that . I'm going to take a trip to Radio Shack to get the few items I need to bypass the VATS system ... seems to be fairly easy , just cut the two wires from under the dash from steering column , and add a resistor of the same value as your key .... I guess the smart thing to do is make up a few of them , for I may need to replace the one I installed from time to time . This will solve my problem until something else decides to break I noticed the security light was not flashing this time . It stayed lit up , even after removing the key , but I guess it does for three minutes then shuts off . The wiggle the key trick did not work this time .

oldsguybry

I bought a new key , it was only $27 so I did it . The guy at the locksmith cut the key wrong , and it would not turn the ignition . They sent me to a different locksmith who then cut the key . I will find out if that works when I get to work , because that's where my car is .

Allan R

$27 for a new key?? That's a lot. On the web you can get them from 5.00 to 12.00 (ducking for cover). I'm curious to see how your bypass of the VATS system works. I bet it will turn on the security light permanently.

Sorry to hear the car wouldn't start. But at least no one's gonna be able to steal it!!!

oldsguybry

I really don't have time to wait for a shipment .
maybe the cost includes figuring out the value of the key + You would think the cost of the key would be more , because of the built in chip . I got it started with the new key , but not without wiggling the key again and turning back and forth . The security light was flashing this time , and i've got the car to start ( with a wiggle of the key of course ), but sometimes all I have to do is turn the key and it starts with the security light flashing , and with the light steady .... so it could very well be the module and not the wires on the cylinder lock .... If I add the resistor and I have the same problem , could the module be bad?

Lady72nRob71

Dexcool is orange, so that is part of the crap you see.

Scrape at the dried stuff and see if it turns to tan powder. If so it is cooling system sealer. Many GM cars were required to have it and was sometimes recommended by the factory CSM. My Caddy requires it at each coolant change. It had a Gm # but was just like Barrs you could get at Wally World. All the stuff is is ground up walnut shells. The particles are supposed to remain in suspension in the cooland and when they pass through a leak, they expand when exposed to air, thus (hopefully) plugging the leak.

Allan R

Yup, what Rob said ^^^. The GM part number is 10953473. Contains 6 cooling system cooling tabs. They are about 1" in diameter and 3/4" thick. Instructions say to add all 6 to the cooling system (crush them to feed into the rad). Note: Rad must be cool enough to open. The pellets are a 'vegetable' formula. Designed to plug any gaps in the cooling system. You add this stuff when you replace the coolant.

I used this stuff in my wife's Saturn. Only her cooling system is sealed so you have to add it through the overflow container.

oldsguybry

Ducking for cover ? lol I can't throw anything at you from here in Wisconsin silly !