Mambamonster

Well i had a 97' Explorer V8 and i loved that thing to pieces but one day me and my buddies were doing some dumb @#%@ and it was hydrolocked. Now i have a black 95 cutlass supreme coupe. Imean i paid 1500 for it and so you can expect its what is for that cheap. I wanted to not spend much tho because money is tight and i need it for college. Anyways just to make me feel better about the wheels im driving i just want to hear if any of you have anything good to say about this car...

lee172

pics man! you know the drill!

The_Shark

what engine? olds are known for bad lines and the 3.4 is known for busting rockers, but other than that they are not too bad. (better than a exploder IMO)

Mambamonster

Its Poop to be honest, it has the 3.4 and it sounds like a fricken old truck. haha yea lee ill find time to upload them. And thanks shark it makes me feel better that not having the explorer anymore is not so terrible. haha

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Rockers you say?
You realize the 3.4 in those cars are DOHC right?

And what's wrong with the Explorers? Had a '98 and an '01 Explorer, both 5.0s, were awesome trucks.

mechanizeddeath

I have a '96 Olds Ciera. Completely different car of course, but they do share some parts and both are Oldsmobiles.

Here's my Olds:



Not that cool, I know, but it was only $600, has brand new brakes and front tires, and runs perfect.

HJJFFFAA

Looks to be in pretty good condition for 600 bucks.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

x over 9000, awesome, bulletproof cars.

ThunderbirdJunkie is envious of mech's ride.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Here is my olds. Oh... wait.

The_Shark

dont those have the pushrod 3.4 also? i thought only the aurora used the DOHC v8 and v6.

later model explorers arent too bad, but the 6cyl and autos sucked on the earlier ones, chains going out at 80k autos that never shift out of third and just shoddy interior and blend door problems.

HJJFFFAA

Cologne V6 did all it needed to and I never had any shifting problems with my 1994 'sploder. Interior was fine by me. I just wish it wasn't crashed into. []

The_Shark

sounds like one of the good ones or very good maintenance or both.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

No, they did NOT have pushrod 3.4s. The pushrod 3.4 didn't even come out until 1999 in front-drive cars. The '93-5 Camaro was the only car to have a pushrod 3.4 until the '99 N bodies.
You need to start educating yourself before making crap up dude. ThunderbirdJunkie has probably owned more GM 2.8s, 3.1s, 3.4s, etc than you've worked on and he's never even HEARD of a "rocker problem" in the 60 degree GM V6.

Never seen a timing chain issue out of an SOHC 4.0 Explorer that was properly maintained. People that do 10,000 mile oil change intervals are the only ones that have issues out of those engines before 200,000 miles. Have you ever actually done a timing chain job on an SOHC 4.0 Ford V6? Betting no.

The 1st gen Aurora ONLY had a 4.0L version of the Northstar V8. The 2nd generation had a 3.5 liter V6 version of the Northstar V8 as well as the 4.0.

Both are good engines.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

ThunderbirdJunkie wants that Fairmont [>:]

The_Shark

ohh tbj.

note if im not positive i say think, or believe or heard. also i have seen 3 3400 and 1 3100 that bust rockers that come in with a really loud "knock" and kick the engine around. i have seen 2 4.0's with bad chains, one busted as it was being brought in. no i never did a chain job, book time is around 13 hours or so and Ford suggest to install a new engine as a broken or slipped chain results in top end engine damage.

GM makes (or buys) decent DOHC engines, however the northstar has problems with the oil pan leaking, and usually is never a cheap job.

mechanizeddeath

Thanks guys. Yeah I got a pretty good deal on it, I can't complain. Most of the time when I've had a car payment, it's been in the $150-$200 a month range, so at that price if it lasts me just 4-6 months I'll be more than happy. I've already had it for one and it shows no sign of breaking down anytime soon.

Overall shape is good, a few cosmetic defects here and there, and rear fender rust of course, but I'm very happy with it. Smooth ride too, it's like riding on a magic carpet with loveseat on top.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

OK, going to stop arguing with you, since it obviously doesn't do a lick of good.
But, here goes anyway.
GM has always been at the top of the DOHC game. The 2.3 liter 180 hp Quad4 in the late 80s before Honda could build a V6 to match that power using the VTEC crutch, the 385 hp and 405 hp LT5 engines, the 214 hp DOHC 3.4 that outpowered Honda and Toyota's variable valve timing V6s until the early 2000's when the engine had been discontinued for 5 or 6 years, the Northstar with its unmatched longevity (YES, LONGEVITY, despite being a PITA to change the starter on) and 300 horsepower to boot.

How about the Cosworth Vega? 110 hp, twin cam 2 liter I4 in the mid '70s. Ford's 302 was only making another 10 horses.

The_Shark

yes, i knew GM has made DOHC engines for a time, most models are pushrod, nothing wrong with that.
opel-gm did make a 3.0 engine for a saturn and the eco tech is saab based which isnt too bad.

i think they should bring back the Quad-4, yes it had its issues but it was high output and imagine what can be accomplished with today's varible cam systems.

HJJFFFAA

I call it, Ecotec.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Imhotep?

mechanizeddeath

lol

The_Shark

how much is the damage grammar cop?

HJJFFFAA

Wait, I didn't even read that. You think the Ecotec is SAAB BASED?

The_Shark

scratch that, i did some digging, thanks to the net ive heard that its opel based, lotus based and saab based, but all are a branch of GM-Europe. supposedly it was first used on lotus, and first designs where from the 70's.

actually both ford and GM (and recently mopar) have unique designs in europe, the G-8, festiva, (i belive the malibu) and soon the cruze, its hard to tell if designs are from the US or if they are exclusively european.

you can go on and nit-pick all you like, i used to be a textbook, that was before i had a job and went to collage, so all i go on is memories, prove me wrong and i will agree, i will not argue the truth, however there is a wrong way and right way to correct someone, and that you cannot look up.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Lotus did the majority of the design work on the Ecotec

The only thing Saab did with the Ecotec is work in direct injection on the earlier turbo models for their own cars.