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200,000 miles... What all should I do?!


Night Fury

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So I am giving the GP a tune up here pretty soon...

 

I am definitely getting the coolant flushed, along with a new thermostat. Should I use Dex-cool or green? It has (presumably stock) Dex...

 

Trans flush?

Where is the PS fill/check? It sounds low.

Seafoam with SC?

SC oil?

Spark plugs/wires?

Air filter?

Brake fluid?

PS fluid?

 

What all should I do?

 

The only "run-bad" symptoms it has is that it hesitates(and rarely stalls) with warm starts...

 

I want this car to last 4 ev ah!

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Dexcool got the car to 200,000 why mess with what works, a coolant flush would not hurt though.

 

has the trans been regularly serviced through out the cars life? if not then you are probably better off not touching it.

 

behind the alternator and down.

 

you can do that.

 

probably couldn't hurt

 

do they need replaced? if so then do it. pull a few plugs and inspect.

 

if it is due, then do it.

 

leave it alone

 

leave it alone

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I wasnt sure if I was able to seafoam a car with the supercharger, so I skipped it.

I just got doing some of mine. I did the SC oil, oil change, air filter. I am going to try and finish it today with plugs and wires. I am also bleeding my brakes since I lost some fluid when I changed all my pads and rotors and the reservoir overflowed.

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I wasnt sure if I was able to seafoam a car with the supercharger, so I skipped it.

I just got doing some of mine. I did the SC oil, oil change, air filter. I am going to try and finish it today with plugs and wires. I am also bleeding my brakes since I lost some fluid when I changed all my pads and rotors and the reservoir overflowed.

 

If the resevoir overflowed then it's not a big deal since no air got in the system. unless you had a caliper line off or something Idon't see how air would have got in the system.

 

I'd for sure flush the brake flush and doing the power steering fluid won't hurt either. Most cars don't have an interval for P/S but I feel it should be done at least once in the car's lifetime - it doesn't change color for the hell of it.

 

 

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The only "run-bad" symptoms it has is that it hesitates(and rarely stalls) with warm starts...

 

I want this car to last 4 ev ah!

 

Aww shucks Buck.

 

That sounds exactly like my wonderful white Cutlass Supreme with 3.1 MPFI!!! Except it went from rarely, to sometimes, to often. Are you familiar with that car and engine?

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I agree if the tranny has never been serviced, leave it alone.

 

I also don't really think flushing the brake and PS fluid is all that important. It's all the original stuff in each and every one of my cars ...my Chevelle's PS fluid is 32 years old.

 

I would definitely do SC fluid, coolant flush, plugs/wires, serpentine belt, air and fuel filter. Seafoam it before you do plugs/wires so you don't foul the new plugs.

 

One other thing I always do with my cars, is check the front end for loose parts, such as ball joints, and tie rods. With 200k, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shake down and make sure everything is tight.

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The only "run-bad" symptoms it has is that it hesitates(and rarely stalls) with warm starts...

 

I want this car to last 4 ev ah!

 

Aww shucks Buck.

 

That sounds exactly like my wonderful white Cutlass Supreme with 3.1 MPFI!!! Except it went from rarely, to sometimes, to often. Are you familiar with that car and engine?

 

I'm familiar with the issue(lol) but not with this car/engine.

 

Do I still use the brake booster line for seafoam?

 

Is there any way to tell if the tranny has been flushed short of stickers applied/asking orig owner?

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As long as the trans fluid is still redish, and not burnt and brown/black, then I wouldn't worry about changing the fluid and filter. its been highway miles on that car, and the fluid shouldn't be too dark.

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Is there any way to tell if the tranny has been flushed short of stickers applied/asking orig owner?

 

The advise from Regal GS and IndependantFool is great!

 

But, to supplement a little, here's some advise (errr . . . . common sense).

 

If I recall correctly, you bought the car from a GM dealership. They should have all of the repairs done on the car from a GM dealership on this continent. I have gotten a number of these reports using the VIN# on the car. If you phone the service department they should be helpful, but since it's not an emergency, just try and steer clear of busy hours, out of respect and to increase your chances of getting good help (so ideally between 10:00 and 11:15 and 1:30 and 3:00.

 

They can take your VIN# and give you an entire report of every thing that GM has done to your car. Oil changes, ball joints, hubs, bearings, everything. The only problem is if the original owners never did anything at a dealership, but you can even see when the recalls were done, etc.

 

It's quite cool, now I didn't buy any of my cars at GM and have never serviced them there, but they've done a couple of reports for me with no questions asked, now that might be because I'm somewhat of a celebrity, I've done them to try and determine if I want to buy the car - you know before buying it??

 

That's what I would do, start there, you might find a transmission fluid change somewhere on there. If there's only one major tranny shop in town you might want to check with them as well, have them run your VIN#, just make sure that you let them know it's not a liability issue (not trying to blame them for something), you're just wondering if they've done it or not.

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I agree if the tranny has never been serviced, leave it alone.

 

I also don't really think flushing the brake and PS fluid is all that important. It's all the original stuff in each and every one of my cars ...my Chevelle's PS fluid is 32 years old.

 

I would definitely do SC fluid, coolant flush, plugs/wires, serpentine belt, air and fuel filter. Seafoam it before you do plugs/wires so you don't foul the new plugs.

 

One other thing I always do with my cars, is check the front end for loose parts, such as ball joints, and tie rods. With 200k, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shake down and make sure everything is tight.

 

Brake fluid flushes are just as important as changing coolant. If you leave it a long time all the crap in the fluid will start attacking your calipers and wheel clylinders. Eventually they'll destroy the sealing surfaces - this goes for the master cylinder and ABS module as well. Again, fluid doesn't change color because it wants to. Brake fluid starts out beer color and it normally will be discolored by 50,000kms.

 

P/S may not be as important, but it too will have some shit in it and it really isn't that hard to change it out - even if you don't all of it out.

 

I'd change the transmission fluid even if it is brown. I have changed COUNTLESS transmissions' fluid with BLACK fluid in it. Never had a problem with customers returning with any problems. Of course, on Suzukis they make it easy to dump and fill so you don't have to use a flushing machine. It's more gentle this way - but GM doesn't put a fucking plug in their pans=fail!

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I agree if the tranny has never been serviced, leave it alone.

 

I also don't really think flushing the brake and PS fluid is all that important. It's all the original stuff in each and every one of my cars ...my Chevelle's PS fluid is 32 years old.

 

I would definitely do SC fluid, coolant flush, plugs/wires, serpentine belt, air and fuel filter. Seafoam it before you do plugs/wires so you don't foul the new plugs.

 

One other thing I always do with my cars, is check the front end for loose parts, such as ball joints, and tie rods. With 200k, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shake down and make sure everything is tight.

 

Brake fluid flushes are just as important as changing coolant. If you leave it a long time all the crap in the fluid will start attacking your calipers and wheel clylinders. Eventually they'll destroy the sealing surfaces - this goes for the master cylinder and ABS module as well. Again, fluid doesn't change color because it wants to. Brake fluid starts out beer color and it normally will be discolored by 50,000kms.

 

P/S may not be as important, but it too will have some shit in it and it really isn't that hard to change it out - even if you don't all of it out.

 

I'd change the transmission fluid even if it is brown. I have changed COUNTLESS transmissions' fluid with BLACK fluid in it. Never had a problem with customers returning with any problems. Of course, on Suzukis they make it easy to dump and fill so you don't have to use a flushing machine. It's more gentle this way - but GM doesn't put a fucking plug in their pans=fail!

 

Want to know the reason why I never flush brake fluid in my cars? The brake lines always rot and the system gets flushed when they get replaced lol. But the brake lines don't get replaced until usually 100k+ on my vehicles. Salt is FTL

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Wow I can't get over how bad it is over there! I don't think I've sen a rotted brake line on a car before lol - rubber hoses cracked for sure, but never a rotted out steel line!

 

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Wow I can't get over how bad it is over there! I don't think I've sen a rotted brake line on a car before lol - rubber hoses cracked for sure, but never a rotted out steel line!

 

 

I'll take a picture tomorrow... you wont believe your eyes.

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Wow I can't get over how bad it is over there! I don't think I've sen a rotted brake line on a car before lol - rubber hoses cracked for sure, but never a rotted out steel line!

 

 

I'll take a picture tomorrow... you wont believe your eyes.

 

Be glad you don't live in the north, most times if you have a leaking brake line you're better off cutting both ends and running the new line elsewhere. As soon as you start messing with the "cluster of lines" in the plastic holder deals, you'll start getting pinholes and leaks EVERYWHERE on your other rusty lines. You'll always see clipped lines still in the holders up here.

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So I had the trans and the coolant flushed yesterday.

 

I didn't buy it at a GM dealership.

 

Okay, I didn't either, but they still gave me the information. You just have to ask nice. Don't ask too nice (unless the guy at the counter is also gay).

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