How much do you think it would cost for electrical issue and HVAC door vents issue?

[GabsOlds]

Damn! That sucks! For that amount, you could have bought another car. Hope you get some of that back. 

[89-W-Body-Regal]

Thanks, My family has owned the car since the showroom when my grandpa bought it on March 27, 1989. We have every service document almost, along with Dealership Literature I been hoarding on. It’s worth all the money spent to us. I just wish I can find a good shop who can do any type of work on any car and be honest about their work. I live in Philly, and most owners don’t keep an old car as long as we did. So most shops don’t know how to work on out of date cars. That’s why the work ain’t cheap when you find a place who can because they can do anything others can’t do. Every time we go somewhere they start out honest and seem great. They after you go to them it gets like a nightmare. They all change their tune after they start working on you’re car and get to know you because they know you love you’re car and you will spend the money to get it fixed. I just want someone honest who won’t go back on their word or hide something. We been too two worst places in ever, this one has got to be the top on the list. I guess you don’t really know what your getting into until you go to the place to see how things work out for yourself. You can’t trust reviews because the owners are probably the ones who write them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by 89-W-Body-Regal

[GabsOlds]

Yeah. That's terrible. Good luck next time. Since you are going to keep the car for a long time, i suggest you learn how to work on it and start fixing it yourself. If you dont already have one, I suggest you find a GM shop manual for the car. And it would also help to get a beater car for daily duties. 

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by GabsOlds

[digitaloutsider]

Agreed, get the manuals and learn how to wrench yourself. It's a good car to cut your teeth on. There really aren't many gotchas in a 2.8/3.1 1G.

[89-W-Body-Regal]

Yeah agree on that. I been meaning to buy a parts catalog and a shop Manual for my regal. Going to look for good condition copy’s for myself.

[GabsOlds]

Another thing you can do is spend some money on Rockauto from time to time. Say, a small budget on a monthly basis. Starting 2 years ago, I buy parts through the year to take to Botswana in December for the Cutlass. My front side turn signal bulb went out, and i couldn't find the very small bulb anywhere. So when i got back to Ohio, I ordered an assortment of bulbs from rockauto. And things like the fog lights housings, manifold gasket set, brake kits, the timing belt tensioner from a website that MemphisMan shared a while back. I've noticed  too that items i got from rockauto as "wholesale closeout" are no longer available. So, get them while you can. You might never need them, but you'll be glad when you do. The only problem with rockauto is that if you buy a bunch of stuff at once, the shipping goes way high bcause they never ship from 1 warehouse. 

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by GabsOlds

[oldmangrimes]

My formula:

Rockauto(and/or Ebay) + manual(and/or Youtube) + tools(Yay, new tools!) + w-body.com(of course!) + elbow grease = running 1st gen (233k miles and counting) + personal satisfaction of doing it myself + tools (because I get to keep them, it's on this side of the equation too!).

  

 

 

[cheatah faheatah]

2 minutes ago, oldmangrimes said:

My formula:

Rockauto(and/or Ebay) + manual(and/or Youtube) + tools(Yay, new tools!) + w-body.com(of course!) + elbow grease = running 1st gen (233k miles and counting) + personal satisfaction of doing it myself + tools (because I get to keep them, it's on this side of the equation too!).

  

 

 

= PRICELESS.

[Go4DaMo]

It depends on where he lives and what's available.
Many dealerships will tell people with older cars "go pound sand".  Especially for problems that the original poster had.  Imho, good luck finding any dealership in Mass or Conn that would work on that car.
Electrical troubleshooting can get super expensive very quickly.  And, the chance of the owner being PO'd and Very upset over bill (regardless of the final price) is 100%.
Dealerships here will tell the person to take it to an electrical troubleshooting place.  And, most of those places would have zero experience with a W-Body.
So, often, for older cars that need special/different work/repairs, it can be a big hassle or impossible.  That's very true for older cars that aren't classics or super popular (Camry, Accord, etc).
Yea, places here will replace the brakes, do the half-shafts, replace engines/trannys, etc.  But, when I thought that I'd need to have my tank dropped to replace the fuel pump, because of the rust (from the snow here in New England), the independent rear suspension, the ability/issues in get potential replacement parts for the independent rear suspension, places told me "I was much better off living with a fuel gauge - or be prepared over a thousand in repair cost, and the possibility of the car not being repairable" (but, I'd still be responsible for the accumulated repair costs).
Back many years ago, my '94 Achieva with the rare DOHC, 5-speed, and dual exhaust (ha ha) option need an exhaust.  That section also included the cat.  No OEM, or replacement part was available.  So, every place told me "You're SOL"!  Because of the smog laws, they wouldn't even custom build an a exhaust to the exact OEM spec.  Yea, I don't understand that BS either.  Argg!  But, the Dealerships, every major exhaust place, every local shop I went to, and even the "custom" shops I went to told me the same exact thing.
So, getting different things fixed can vary a lot, depending on where people live.
Fwiw, I made an appointment with a local shop in Northern NH (no smog laws in that section of NH) that a friend knew, I took a long trip up there, had a "custom-made" replacement exhaust system put in, and drove back.  The car never had problems with emissions testing.

So, having an older car, that was not popular, can make it a massive PITA to get even simple things done.

I've started to notice this crap even in northern Ohio. WHEN I trust someone with my Lumina, after testing them with my pickup trucks, mechanics will him-haw and drag their feet like it's a one-off vehicle, no one short of middle-aged will consider wrenching on it, and I'll ask them to fix, say...4 problems...and it most often is handed back to me with half of them fixed. Perhaps any douche with a 93 Chevy must be too poor to fit the bill in their eyes, but it creates a huge hassle to schedule another drop-off 3 weeks down the road to pay them to finish it. Perhaps I should wear a 3-piece suit or make it rain in the repair bay so they can just give me my car back SAFE for my daughter to ride in it. Just cause it's an old car doesn't mean I want it less than a-spec when lives are at stake.

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