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TGPforums.com is now working again. It is still in archive status, meaning no new member registrations are allowed, but the forum is searchable without the need for a registered account.

...and it was terrible when GM did it too. FWIW my Northstar has zero stop leak in its cooling system as the problem was fixed correctly, no thanks to the General.

DOUBLE UPDATE - some really great news to report here. I was hoping for this and it just might be coming true..........I have been monitoring the amount of oil dripping in my flat pan since the return of the car, and its getting less and less. It may just be this was residual oil already on places on the motor that were not able to be wiped off, and I just might something here, an almost non-oil leaking LQ-1. Even the wife noticed how well the car is running, and if she notices, now that can't be bad, can it...........

I painted mine. Masked off the brake pad contact area. Held up pretty good 20+ years later, but I never drive it in winter.

Dude.... I own this car now.... Mine is exactly how your describing yours... From florida originally but Ohio car, hail damage, salvage title, center line wheels and the black hood and spoiler... Bro I have your car lol.

Short answer, not really. Long answer, yes but I'm not nearly smart enough for that and I think the number of people that mess with the 94/95 ECMs is in the single digits.

very happy to see it back up and running. I just went on there the other day for some part numbers. Thank You Luke.

Hello all -- New to me 1996 Grand Prix SE. I will fix this car up and my son will use for college. An experiment for me, too. How many miles can I get out of this car. Goal=200k. 3.1 motor. Auto trans. 102k miles. I live in Ohio. Florida car. Minimal rust. I see clean rockers, pinch welds, subframe, rear trailer arm connection! Clean, Dark gray cloth interior. Salvage title from hail storm. Good: Clean car. 1 year old rotors, pads, struts, front hub, 2 tires, New fuel pump and serpentine belt. AC works. Pioneer head unit. Looks to have nice specs and fitment. Bad: Hood hail damaged. 3 hail dings in front fenders. PO used duplicolor spray paint in a few spots. ABS light on. Windows and regulators kinda work. Needs inspection. I bought car and further inspected. Repairs so far: Transmission cooler lines rusted and leaking. Replaced. Changed transmission filter and fluid. Cooling system flushed (remove thermostat, fill and drain with distilled water 4 times), refilled with DEX 50/50, new thermostat, hoses, cap. Checked fans and they are working. Oil change to synthetic. Car is now running and driving. I plugged my Autoscan tool in and went for 2 hrs spirited driving. No codes and temp stayed between 170-190. Hot heat and cold A/C. No leaks I am experiencing "piston slap" when car is cold. Seems a common issue on 3.1 motors. I guess I keep the car maintained and live with it. Repairs in the next 2 weeks: Bad rear hub. Leaking gas filler. Windows and regulator. Interior light bulbs, some are out. Underside, door seams, inner fenders, and every nook and cranny will be oil sprayed with Fluid Film. Repairs in the next 2 months: I found and bought a NOS hood for $160! Body work on the front fender dings. Paint work on rear quarter. Front fascia needs to be attached. Replaced front door speakers with Kicker 41KSC54. Replace rear deck speakers with Kicker 41KSC6934. Trunk subwoofer. Kicker, not sure which one yet. Some vinyl graphics. I'm thinking a swoop on front fenders, or a rear quarter panel stripe. I saw a Gran Prix with Firebird on the hood, that was cool looking! I am thinking about a Firebird on the hood!!! Law says I needs a front license plate. I hate the offset look. Will related to center of front fascia. Not sure how that will look. The driver's door catch is annoying. It has 4 loud metal clunks sounds when opening and closing door. I can see the hinge is wore out, and lubing doesn't help. It will need to be replaced, but I am finding this part is NLA. Any suggestions? I scored some perfect Centerline Nitro 2 wheels on craigslist. They were on a 2002 Monte Carlo. 17x7. 5x115. 42MM offset. Polished Aluminum. WOW, are they light. Tire size calculators say 235/55R17 or 245/50R17 would be stock tire diameters and work with the 7" rim. I'm just starting research. Any thoughts or PICS on these sized tires for this style of car?

LED third brake light modification. To preface, my 1994 Z34 Lumina was driving down the road, and the third brake light trim cover fell onto the back seat. Upon a little inspection, the 3rd brake light housing was in sorry shape, and had been glued together in the past. Ordered a used light off eBay. So the factory bulbs are halogen 891 bulbs. There are a handful of sellers on Amazon that say they sell led versions of them. I was skeptical that they would fit in the housing. I had 194 led bulbs and sockets on hand, and decided to go with those. So the first thing, is to pop off the red lens, easy enough. Then use a uni-bit on a drill to open up the sockets to 5/8th inch From here, need to cut some lugs into the light housing for the 194 bulb sockets to thread into. I used a small 3 sided file. Took all of 15 mins to do. Then a little bit of wiring to do… splice wires and old connector together. Clean it up, snap the lens on it, and enjoy. This took all of 30 mins to do, with stuff I had on hand. I’m not a fan of the oddball bulbs that were in it, and glad I changed them.

Looks like a good mod to do. They use the same oddball bi-pin bulbs in the Cutlass Supreme spoiler rack as well. I would recommend using red LEDs, even behind a red lens. You'll get a better color, especially since LEDs are a cooler color than the original halogens and tend to look even more faded behind a red lens than halogens. The 194 socket will also fit larger T15 sized bulbs since they have the same wedge base. You can use 921 LED replacements for more brightness which is always a good thing with brake lights. I've tested some 921 LED replacements that are insanely bright.

They installed plugs correct for mid to late 90s 3100 engines, not the early 90s 3.1L. The symptoms fit the extra large gap. I also installed new AC Delco wires and a new O2 sensor, but I’m thinking the plugs were the problem.

It's that time. The oil leak in the rear main seal of my 1994 Cutlass Supreme SL with the 3.4L motor has gotten so bad that it needs to come out for repairs. In addition to this being in need of replacement, I am going to have the oil pan gasket replaced as well, along with the 3 coils and the alternator while the motor is out of the car. In addition to that, is there anything else anyone can think of that should be replaced while the motor is out, as this would be a golden opportunity to get it done. The engine compartment will also be degreased to clean up the big mess this leak has been making. It does not need a timing belt, water pump, or any intake manifold work as this was all done 5 years and 10,000 miles ago and no issues here.

Looks like the quick connect fitting is ok. And the leak has otherwise dried up. Only time will tell though.

I've only seen terrible results from those products

I've never used that product, but I'm generally not a fan of stop leak products. I've used them in the distant past. In my experience, they tend to cause more problems down the road.

Thanks I will check that out. I did buy some of Bar Seal's best stuff and already it seems to be working. I'll know more about that in a few days. There was coolant on top of the hold down bolt (for the oil pump drive) and moving on down that way. But, I cleaned it all off before putting in the bar seal, followed the instructions and then drove the car a bit. No leaks last night and no leaks this morning, it's all dried out. Hopefully this will be the end of that, but I will keep my eye on that fitting.

It's possible coolant can leak from the intake manifold if they messed up the install somehow, but it's also possible it could be the heater hose quick-connect fitting. That's another source of coolant leaking from around that area that I believe is a fairly common issue. Especially more likely since they had to disconnect the fitting and probably didn't replace the fitting. It's this part: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/oldsmobile,1994,cutlass+supreme,3.4l+v6,1223367,heat+&+air+conditioning,heater+hose+connector,6876 It's located right above the crossover pipe and you might see evidence of coolant having dripped on the crossover pipe shield if it's leaking. I would put a white cloth under it and see if it gets wet.

Sweet! Sucks that you can’t make a new account though, searching the forum is cool but if I want to view an individuals account I can’t without my own:/ still great work keeping the site up though, great wealth of information

The booster is held on with a 1/4 turn lock. Make sure the locking tab isn’t holding it from rotating, (push/pull it into unlocked position.) then get a prybar on the master cylinder studs and rotate it off. It’s so simple it’s stupid. Just an odd ball design.

Don't know how important this was to the corrosion resistance, but I forgot to mention I primed mine with Rustoleum Cold Galvanizing Compound spray. It worked surprisingly well as a primer on bare metal. It never chipped, flaked, or peeled. I don't know if it's the same formula today as the one I used a couple decades ago. Photos looks like it's now a smooth gray primer appearance, but mine was a very sparkly shiny bright metallic silver color. Almost looked like fine very fine glitter. Still have the can and looks like it's the same can as the current product though, so who knows.

You get it, you have those rims that visually open up the brake/suspension components much like the rims I have. When the rims and tires look good the rusty looking parts stand out. All the replacement parts for our 1st gens almost immediately flash rust out of the box and most 1st gen rims are mesh or solid so it never mattered, until 2026 when these are the "newest" classic antiques. I`m not trying to build a show car but something resembling a higher optioned factory 1 off that might show up at a show or randomly in traffic because the MPGs on a 3100.

Wrong plugs altogether? Or correct plugs but gapped incorrectly? OEM plugs were always a requirement for these cars, and even 20 years ago, we had quite a few bad running engine posts where the fix was "replaced plugs with OEM". I've seen these things run nearly flawless on heavily worn OEM plugs with gaps closer to the 0.090" range...so I'm not sure the gap alone was the main issue.

SOLVED! It’s unreal, but the shop installed the wrong spark plugs! Gapped to 0.060” instead of 0.045”. I put the OEM plugs and it runs great.

UPDATE: I was just advised the mechanic is going to elect to go the RTV route; the head will not be pulled for this job. I think you can all hear the huge yell of relief coming from this desk. I'll be sure to post once completed.

One should have the service manual within reach for electrical diagnosis.

Hi, I’ve just stumbled onto this forum, and i figure I’ll probably need to post here eventually acquired my luminator last year, 2nd owner from a grandma. 70000 (got w 55000)miles. Here’s some pics; thx yall

Factory cassette deck is my choice for any 1st gen!

BEN??? Had to look at your user name a few times. Holy shit man. Its been a few minutes! How've you been?!? If for whatever ends you can find the Bose specific speaker brackets they can accommodate a bigger speaker. If you're using a 6.5 round you could make an adapter plate and then use a block of wood or something to take up the space to the bracket. Though honestly some self tapping screws would make the quickest work of it.

Both of those pieces aren't available anymore NOS. A parts car or junkyard run will be your best bet. I actually found my pieces that way. For the door weather seal, it's part #10283235. For the windshield cowl base, that rubber piece is apart of that metal base where the wipers rest. That part # is 10122028. I actually have the door seal but I need it for my STE. Sorry, I think I might have got the last NOS one. I bought it 6 years ago or so. Possibly...a Lumina/Regal/Cutlass sedan might be the same? I don't know for sure though. Also, a local glass shop might have the rubber piece in stock or could order it for the windshield base. I'm going to the junkyard soon and If I find a good one...either one of those parts, I'll grab them for ya.

My 89 Grand Prix was not in use for many years, the radio degraded in that time. It started to give a lot of pops and bangs. So much it seems to have blown a front speaker in the few moments it has been turned on. The speaker is an easy fix, just remove the dash pad and screw a new one in (16054362 is replaced by 15173233 and can be easily found). My system is a 4 speaker with Remote control head 16075882, the optional Cassette+equalizer 16050912 and steering wheel controls. The amp and receiver (16072780) which is located above the glovebox is the one that typically causes issues. I found the documentation here on the forum, unfortunatley the link for the amp doesn't work anymore: But even better than documentation, I found a common cause and fix for the pops and bangs: I tried exactly this procedure: https://reattaowner.com/roj/component/content/article?id=198:radio-capacitor-replacement-instructions. The 6 green capacitors were indeed shot. I found d4x5mm (not d5x5mm), 1uF, 50V, 105°C replacement capacitors at RS and had a specialist to put them in. The radio now works well, only some very minor pops are still noticable when the volume is turned to 0. I am very happy with the result and recommend this fix. However, I did notice now that my FM tuner apparently only goes up to 104.05MHz... Scanning, or manual tuning to get past 104 make it jump to the bottom of the frequency band again. I wonder if anyone else had a similar issue or fix for this?

Just to prove I’m not full of it. Here from the parts manual is the entirety of the LG5 engine air intake system

I was in the car audio industry for 10 years in my younger days. I’d strongly suggest you use the crossovers on those tweeters. If you don’t, you’ll be sending full range to them and they will go pop. They cant handle any low or midrange frequencies, they’ll also sound much better with the crossovers. Good place to stuff the crossovers is behind the kick panels. I would suggest Velcro and a zip tie to hold them in place. I’ve had my crossovers there for years with no issues. It’s easy to drop the wire down from up top when the dash pad is removed. Solder and heat shrink!

I know she's in good hand.

Stuff happens, post on the Aurora if you`d like. Ive always liked those.

Well I'm sad to say that she has gone to her new home in New York City guy has another 9C3 but it's pretty clapped out being a new york car but hes gonna keep this one in storage and hes taking it to New Jersey this summer to have some Company that does really good work undercoating And hes keeping it in storage during the Winter months so I believe it's going to a good home. It was a fun car and nice project now I've picked up a 1996 Oldsmobile Aurora with a bad transmission so you know what's gonna happen the entire drive train is gonna come out and be refreshed.

I bought this 1994 Cutlass Supreme from the auction and who ever had it didn't finish the swap but I found out it's a 3.8 out of a Grand Prix.

HERE'S MY CAR AFTER ALL THE VISUAL UPGRADES

Don't forget. Like I said on FB that 99 gtp pcm will be plug and play on your lumina once it's swapped. No tuning or messing with antitheft needed

Check out Crutchfield. I got a single din radio/CD from them for my 95, Olds 88. With there free install kit, it was virtually plug and play.

yeah, it's in my gallery, this is the old head unit that was in the car, but the kit is the same one

Hey Iv'e browsed around here for a long time, but just actually joined for much needed help. My rear pads are completely gone and have damagd my rotors pretty bad. I went to replace the pads and rotor but noticed the rear calipers have the e-brake attached to it. How do i remove the caliper with the e-brake in the rear? I think i can remove the cable but the actually ebrake unit itself in the the way of the caliper bolts. any help is appreciated, thanks!

Yup. That'll do it. Not the best/most efficient method--but that'll work. Pistons definitely twist back in--unless you remove the one nut and one washer, and pull the eBrake cable bracket. Pushing the piston STRAIGHT in with a c-clamp is a thousand times easier than spinning it back in, and there's no special tool needed. Instead of the huge friction from the large piston seal, you have very little friction from the small O-ring that seals the small threaded post that the e-brake cable bracket is secured to. It could not be easier--except to have a caliper that doesn't have the e-brake mechanism. All four of my rear calipers have had the pistons pushed straight back in, one car has been done two--three times as the pads have worn out. E-brakes and service brakes still work just fine. This does NOT destroy the calipers IF (big IF) you REMOVE THE NUT, WASHER, and BRACKET. No promises on this working on the newer-style calipers, but it certainly works on the first-gen style.

VATS does not care about VINs. in fact, it has no way of determining what the VIN is that's stored in the PCM since it doesn't communicate at all, it only acts based on inputs.

Vats control Box is under the passenger side dash, By the airbag, mounted on the re-inforcment bar.. let me try and find a pic.. Top right By where the air-bag would be. I know this is the v-tas because i forgot to plug it back in when i did my wiring harness swap for hud and dic...

Nevermind what I said. I just re-read what was posted above. The factory speakers on these cars must be some complete shit. Nobody these days bi-amps a DVC speaker with two entirely different signals. Sounds like the only way to correctly fix this problem is what has already been suggested, to buy a cheap and weak 2-channel amp like an old Coustic Power Logic Amp-160 for like $40 and amplify the fullrange signal. Then again, I never really believed in dumping money into rear speakers anyway.

I'm not sure if there's room under the gen 2 intake. Never tried them, then went gen3. The can be made to work in a gen 3. You would need the following brackets. http://wot-tech.com/shop/all/l67-injector-rail-brackets/prod_119.html You'd also have to splice in different connectors. Might be more effort than it's worth for your application

yes. a 93 W with a 3.1 is OBD 1 and has the electonic tranny... so do the 91-93 3.4 cars

A junkyard. OldSkoolGP just converted his GP over to OBD-II. You may want to get in touch with him for any advice or tips.

For a conversion, youll need an OBDII wiring harness, all the extra sensors, the ports, computer. Sounds MUCH easier than it really is...

I'd take OBD-II over megasquirt. MS is really more of a hobbyist thing.. I wouldn't put it into something I drove every day.