Hi - Newbie & Inexperienced DIY Mechanic
July 4th, 2017, 08:46 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 8
Hi - Newbie & Inexperienced DIY Mechanic
It's great to be here at Classic Oldsmobile. I've found this forum quite useful so far, having read many useful threads.
I'm fairly new to car repair - I am 20 and bought my first car less than a year ago . I had been searching for a first car for months, looking for perhaps a Buick Regal or Buick Lesabre, or a Crown Victoria, based off of what I read about inexpensive cars that are less of a hassle to maintain with plentiful parts.
It's kind of a funny story, I had ridden along with my dad in his '03 Silverado on the way downtown and saw this '90s white car sitting in the grass under a car port. I honestly thought, "Wow, that is one ugly car" (it had a front grille that consisted of two small ovals that looked like squinty eyes close together).
Then one day, my dad got a Hyundai ad flyer in the mail - one of those scratch-off "You win a giftcard/TV/new car" scams - he said "Hey, it can't hurt to look."
After a couple hours of getting the runaround from a salesman at the dealership, we went and took a look at that ugly white car. It turned out to be a 1998 Oldsmobile 88! I had read a lot about how reliable Buick 3800 engines are, and while the car looked ugly to me, it was in great mechanical (and electrical as it turns out) condition. It just needed a new valve cover gasket and for the rear quarter panel to be straightened out so that a new tail light would fit in. I bought it for $800 that day.
The mechanical repairs I did myself, but the bodywork stumped me. I called a body shop that said they didn't work on cars that old, and I figured it'd be too expensive for me anyway, having spent most of my money on that car. Long story short, my dad came up with some ideas that involved a farm jack, 2x4s, a hand drills thick cables, and a tree (we did not necessarily use these tools all at once...)
We were able to straighten it out just enough to put the new tail light cover on and make the trunk waterproof again.
Anyhow, with this car I went from near-zero mechanical experience to being able to make minor repairs. I changed the front valve cover gasket, oil, coolant, and air filter. I also drained the transmission and changed its filter. I know that the procedure I used should've been done twice to change about 3/4 of the fluid, but honestly I was too tired to do it again and decided that the fluid wasn't my problem anyway. I also fixed various interior things like the power window and power seat switches and light bulbs.
That car really grew on me and doesn't hardly look ugly anymore, but I was itching to find something that needed fixing, and honestly I wanted a "real" Oldsmobile. So I bought an '83 Olds 88 for $300. The owner had left it in an auto shop's front lot, and they had been telling him to tow it for months.
The timing chain broke, according to the owner. The windshield was cracked, and there were other cosmetic issues (which explains the price). I checked his story with the mechanics and they said it was indeed the timing chain, saying that it probably broke other stuff when it snapped (I assumed they were talking about the valves). They quoted him $3500 to fix it, and obviously he didn't want to spend any more money on it. I read on here though that Olds 307 engines are noninterference so I took a chance and got it towed home.
Again, I had never done anything like this, so after many 5 hour afternoon sessions I changed the timing chain, water pump, thermostat, oil, battery, and added coolant. (By the way, the chain didn't snap, the camshaft gear had worn itself down to sharp points and the chain skipped a lot). I also bought a lot of tools along the way. I finally (tonight) managed to get the engine started, but it revved really fast so I shut it down. It was very exciting, but scary - I had worked for almost two months not sure if the engine would even start when I was done, and here it was, running!
The problem is, it's now running way too fast, like someone is flooring it. I'll probably make another post about it.
If you're still here, thanks for reading this, and thanks for this awesome forum full of useful info and knowledge.
I'm fairly new to car repair - I am 20 and bought my first car less than a year ago . I had been searching for a first car for months, looking for perhaps a Buick Regal or Buick Lesabre, or a Crown Victoria, based off of what I read about inexpensive cars that are less of a hassle to maintain with plentiful parts.
It's kind of a funny story, I had ridden along with my dad in his '03 Silverado on the way downtown and saw this '90s white car sitting in the grass under a car port. I honestly thought, "Wow, that is one ugly car" (it had a front grille that consisted of two small ovals that looked like squinty eyes close together).
Then one day, my dad got a Hyundai ad flyer in the mail - one of those scratch-off "You win a giftcard/TV/new car" scams - he said "Hey, it can't hurt to look."
After a couple hours of getting the runaround from a salesman at the dealership, we went and took a look at that ugly white car. It turned out to be a 1998 Oldsmobile 88! I had read a lot about how reliable Buick 3800 engines are, and while the car looked ugly to me, it was in great mechanical (and electrical as it turns out) condition. It just needed a new valve cover gasket and for the rear quarter panel to be straightened out so that a new tail light would fit in. I bought it for $800 that day.
The mechanical repairs I did myself, but the bodywork stumped me. I called a body shop that said they didn't work on cars that old, and I figured it'd be too expensive for me anyway, having spent most of my money on that car. Long story short, my dad came up with some ideas that involved a farm jack, 2x4s, a hand drills thick cables, and a tree (we did not necessarily use these tools all at once...)
We were able to straighten it out just enough to put the new tail light cover on and make the trunk waterproof again.
Anyhow, with this car I went from near-zero mechanical experience to being able to make minor repairs. I changed the front valve cover gasket, oil, coolant, and air filter. I also drained the transmission and changed its filter. I know that the procedure I used should've been done twice to change about 3/4 of the fluid, but honestly I was too tired to do it again and decided that the fluid wasn't my problem anyway. I also fixed various interior things like the power window and power seat switches and light bulbs.
That car really grew on me and doesn't hardly look ugly anymore, but I was itching to find something that needed fixing, and honestly I wanted a "real" Oldsmobile. So I bought an '83 Olds 88 for $300. The owner had left it in an auto shop's front lot, and they had been telling him to tow it for months.
The timing chain broke, according to the owner. The windshield was cracked, and there were other cosmetic issues (which explains the price). I checked his story with the mechanics and they said it was indeed the timing chain, saying that it probably broke other stuff when it snapped (I assumed they were talking about the valves). They quoted him $3500 to fix it, and obviously he didn't want to spend any more money on it. I read on here though that Olds 307 engines are noninterference so I took a chance and got it towed home.
Again, I had never done anything like this, so after many 5 hour afternoon sessions I changed the timing chain, water pump, thermostat, oil, battery, and added coolant. (By the way, the chain didn't snap, the camshaft gear had worn itself down to sharp points and the chain skipped a lot). I also bought a lot of tools along the way. I finally (tonight) managed to get the engine started, but it revved really fast so I shut it down. It was very exciting, but scary - I had worked for almost two months not sure if the engine would even start when I was done, and here it was, running!
The problem is, it's now running way too fast, like someone is flooring it. I'll probably make another post about it.
If you're still here, thanks for reading this, and thanks for this awesome forum full of useful info and knowledge.
July 5th, 2017, 06:55 AM
#3
Olds Fever
Join Date: May 2011
Location: New York (Upstate)
Posts: 4,441
Welcome to the group... Young blood into the hobby is always a good thing... Looks like you are more then willing to take on what ever is needed to accomplish your mission of keeping the 88's running... Learning from this site is unlimited, keep reading and asking, you will definitely reap the benefits from it...
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