My son had another car pull out in front of him on the way to community college 13 Nov. Totaled his 05 Focus. Today, through a network of a friends relatives I bought him a 96 Cereia 3.1 V6 with 27095 ORIGINAL miles, 2 owner, pristine. I never liked GM especially A bodies, but at $3500 this was to good to pass up. Now except for possible dry rot hoses, tires, belts, what should I look out for. It is basically a time warp.
Also, 3.1 is push rod, correct? Original tire size? Upgraded tires? Change trans fluid now? (will change oil/filter ASAP) Considering where we are starting, how long will this orphan last? All input gratefully received.

 

3.1 is a push rod motor and will last a very long time. There are guys with over 200,000 miles on it, racing the car and putting it thru it's paces.

It's known as the 60* V6. This motor been around since about 1980, and GM either still uses it today in some forum or just retired it for 2009. The 3.5 in the GM minivans and possiblly the 3.9's are built on the 60* platform.

With a 1996, I would look for the rubber rot like you said. Probably just the tires right now, 12/13 years old isn't too bad and with low miles, I think the vacuum lines should be good.

The biggest problem with the 60* motors is the Lower Intake Manifold Gasket leak, often refered to on the internet as the LIMG leak. Basicly the Dex-cool crap eats away at the gasket and it starts to leak. More time than not, the leak is external and leaks down the side of the block, but it's usually the back of the motor. On transvers motors (FWD) the leak starts on the driver's side on above the head cloest to the firewall. However I've seen then leak on the other side behind the pulleys which makes it a bit harder to see. Otehr time the coolant will leak into the combustion chamber and steam will blow out the tailpipe, but the worst is if it mixes with the oil. Choc Milkshake anybody. Simple fix actually, probably around $600 to $800 at a good mech's shop. Of course GM's had this problem for about 20 years now and it was just corrected in 2003 for good. (An Gm can't figure out why they are hurting ) Use the Fel Pro metal gaskets to replace.

Other than that, it's a good soild powerplant. Do you know which tranny it has? If you can find out, I may be able tell you more about the driveline. I would flush the tranny fluid, but go to a dealer. They have the machine that will suck out all the fliud from the torque convertor. My 4T45 tranny only loses 3 quarts by dropping the pan, but the tranny actually has 10 to 13 quarts of fliud Shouldn't be too much, cost me about $135 to do it a few years ago, yes at the dealer

If you want bigger tires, put a nice set of rims on it from tirerack. You want to plus size correctly or you'll screw up the speedo and odometer. I don't know the orginal size but I bet it's 15" wheels. you can plus size safely 1 inch, maybe 2 inches, but I only go 1 inch bigger than what the car came with stock. I did go from 14" to 17" on the ex-wife's Cavy, but the Cavy did come from the factory with 16" on some models, so I really only when 1".

say stock size is 195/65/15 then you can go 205/50/16 and probably be ok. A wider tire, better contact, more rubber on the road, and a better stants. Tirerack will help you plus size correctly for your car

Any pics of the car? I'd like to see it

 

It might take another 20 years or so before they call a 96 a classic. I thought this was going to be some 50s-60s car, not a 96. LOL well good luck with it anyway.


Josh

 

oldlegodad, welcome to our site. I too was excited to begin with, but that car is only 12 years old, heck my daily driver is 9 years old and it is the newest one in my stable! We are glad to have you and you will get some assistance here, Redog is perhaps our most knowledgeable member on the newer oldsmobiles so you are in good hands.

 

Welcome aboard

X2 look to redog for the answers on the newer classics

 

...for the welcome. I read in wikipedia about the gasket problems. Will have son keep an eye out. As for transmission..will get that done ASAP also at multi brand GM dealer close by Car may have come from there originally.

 

Welcome to our site! We MUST see pics!

You might consider removing the throttle body and desludging the back of it. While it is off you should also clean out the idle speed control motor. This will greatly improve the driveability of your car.

 

Put tags on today and drove 20 miles to get VA state inspection by a trusted shop. Clean bill of health. No problems with hoses or anything else. Found original receipt in owners manual: 01/28/1997 $14,098.00 With trade. How neat is that?? Drove nice but not as sharply as my Mazda PU or the Focus...so son will have to slow down while driving an "old ladies car". I sure hope so. Re: the recall on rear seat belt anchors. Where do I check to see if this VIN was done?

 

Just contact GM. I had a recall done on my Buick GN 18 yrs after the fact. They looked up my vin and could tell it was never done. JKaz