You’re absolutely right. Every low mileage older vehicle I’ve owned has been nothing but trouble. I say, if it’s older with high miles it’s a safe bet because it’s been reliable and maintained. I’ve owned vehicles with over 300 and 400k km on them and they’ve been some of the best I’ve had.

I am ...

If it's got tires or t1ts, it's gonna give you trouble, right? lol

I honestly think the worst job I've done on this car is having to change both the belts. I had a more enjoyable time replacing the water pump lol.

Well of course it's an old car. That's obvious that things will go here and there. Also, it's just under 130k MI. I figure that's fairly low for a car that age. My 2000 LeSabre has more miles on it.

I knew this car was going to have some gremlins given the age and all the bells and whistles ...

I’m pretty sure I bought a Bonneville that hates me. This *dang* car has been trouble since the day I bought it and has been nothing but headaches and kicks to the ribs while I’m down.

96 SSEi with 205,000kmin very good condition and only 2 owners. You’d think it would be a great purchase at $1000 ...

Went out to pick n pull on Sunday to get a manifold. Luckily I was able to find a 3.8 from a Grand Prix just laying on the ground totally complete so I snagged the manifold off of it in a matter of minutes. I got home and pulled mine off quite easily while still in the car. The new manifold bolted ...

Fantastic, looks like I’ll be making a trip to Pick N Pull today. Thanks!

So I purchased a zZP Downpipe for my 96. Not realizing between 96 and 97 the rear exhaust manifolds changed from the donut style gasket to the flange style. The Downpipe is designed for 97 and newer and does not fit my 96 manifold in any way shape or form. So my next best idea is just out a 97 ...

Got all up in there. Leaned over the back of the motor and revved it. Can definetly hear the flutter coming from the gasket. You can see the gasket looks like it’s starting to fall apart on the top and that’s where you can clearly hear the leak. Problem solved. Now to spend money to repair lol ...

Try feeding them a delicious bowl of antifreeze. That should solve the problem pretty quick.

All joking aside, small animals find their way into the strangest of places in vehicles.

Since I bought the car there has been an audible fluttery sounding exhaust leak coming from the back side of the engine or under the car.

I'm ordering a ZZP downpipe soon, but I am assuming this exhaust leak is only the gasket where the exhaust manifold attaches to the exhaust pipe, as the leak is ...

Good news. Just talked to gmtuners and they have compatible software that will work, so I’m going to give it a try and see how it works out!

So I got my pcm back from zzp a few days ago with the codes tuned out of it. Put it back in the car and sure enough, still won’t go into 4th. Zzp and I have given up on trying to make it work and I am sending it back to them in exchange for some other parts.

I will look into the gm tuners for sure ...

Now it’s starting to sound like a headache to go through all that. The pcm will be arriving on Monday and I’ll be able to try it Monday night. I just can’t get my head around how if it’s not supposed to be compatible, how did it work fine in the first place before it started throwing codes? That’s ...

That's interesting to know now. I sort of figured those codes that were popping up had something to do with the lock up after doing some reading. I've sent my PCM back to ZZP to have the P1810 and P0717 codes tuned out of it and see what happens from there when I get it back in a week or so.

I can ...

I should check on my SE and see if I can program it. My RPO code sheet is also missing in that car.

However I have had no luck on getting the SSEi to program and I have tried with several remotes. I'll try the SE today and report back.

What a laundry list...

On the SSEi over the past few days I have:
-Replaced the starter. It would freeze and jam and free spin in anything below freezing and would take several attempts to catch. That was about $100 for a new reman starter.
-Replaced the belt tensioner and did a coolant flush. It ...

Just watched a video on replacing the rear hub. Super simple on these cars. Local wrecker has a used gun for $60 so I’m just going to slap that on and a new set of shoes and we’re back in business.

Eats into the race car fund for next week, but can’t have a race car without a daily beater lol

I've tried to plug the ZZP PCM in a drive the car a few more times. Each time it either throws the same P0717 code as soon as you start the car or will come on after a minute or two. Or, the car may run fine with no CEL but will still not shift into 4th. It takes off and runs up to redline in all 3 ...

Thanks for all your great answers. Matt, that's interesting to know, as when I bought the car, all 5 studs were replaced on the passenger side and that wheel now uses different lug nuts.

Over the nexy few days when I have a chance, I'll have to tear it down and see what it looks like. I'm just ...

I searched around and found info on replacing front wheel studs but nothing specific to doing the rears.

On my beater Bonny, someone had already replaced all 5 studs on the passenger side, but the driver side rear had 2 that were cross threaded. In the process of changing wheels today, I broke one ...