To Buy Or Not To Buy - 2000 Bonneville SSEi

[Noah.Dreams]

I've just made an offer on a 2000 Bonneville SSEi and I need to know about personal experience with defects, that is besides the cloudy headlight lens.

It was driven by a little old lady from Powder Springs, Georgia. She just retired from AT&T. The mileage is 85k and she claimed she only drove it Tunica or her bus stop 2 miles away. They accepted my offer of $7,250.

I don't know nothin' about Superchargers tho.... how about you?

[00Beast]

i've got one, love it, i'm sure other ppl will chime in, just surf the board, and ask lots of q's, there is no stupid question.

[Bugsi]

Electric window motors fail at an unusually high rate.

[TenGHz]

First check out this link:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... ?f=18&t=88

Some of the fields aren't filled in yet, but the headings are common problems for the '00+ models.

What I would do is turn the car on, and turn the steering wheel from stop to stop, all the way left to all the way right and back again. Do this with both windows open up front. Listen for any popping, clunking, loud groans, etc... Some groaning will be normal, but it shouldn't be excessive. The movement should be pretty smooth with no binding.

Then, open the hood, and look under the front lip, right by where the latch is. There shouldn't be any paint bubbling. While your in there, check the coolant level. Make sure that if it's cold the coolant is up to the cold full level. Also, again if it's cold, open the radiator cap. Look in to see if you see any sludge or crystalized coolant. Being an old lady car, she probably still has Dex-Cool, which is a red color coolant. This coolant is a problem in our cars, and should be flushed out and swapped ASAP with a 'mixes with all colors' coolant if you decide to actually buy the car.

Also, under the hood take off the engine cover. Just take off the oil fill tube, and the rest will be obvious on how to do it. look under the supercharger at the little pockets in the valve covers, etc... Look for caked on coolant. With that mileage, it'll probably be time for some new LIM gaskets, if she hasn't had them done already. A bit of oil in those spots is probably normal, and isn't a big deal - the valve cover gaskets can seep a bit, but it shouldn't be excessive.

Finally, check the floor in the back seat. Lift up any floor mats to see if there is any moisture. Also pop the trunk and look in the bottom of where the spare tire is to make sure that is dry as well. Leaks usually pool in these areas, and can be common, especially if the car has a sun roof.

I think that's a pretty good list of things to check (my list and the list of things in the thread I linked to above). I left out the usual used car check list (you know, the check the tires, and kick them stuff), I just listed things that are specific to these cars.

Please, anyone add to this if I missed something! We'd be glad to help you fix any problems you have or will ever have with the car. We have an amazing resource of knowledgeable guys known as 'gear heads' and they are always willing to help us out if we need it. Good luck with your purchase, and hopefully if all goes well, we'll have you as a new member!

[Noah.Dreams]

http://www.dexcoolsettlement.com/

Now I'm really scared. Does a 2000 SSEi come with the 3.8-liter V6 engine RPO L36?

[Peterg22000]

no, the SSEi comes with the 3.8-liter V6 RPO L67 (supercharged)
the SLE, SE come with the L36

[2000Silverbullet]

You will probably have to change the lower intake manifold gasket. If you are handy on working on cars, it's easy, if not, it will cost you about 8 hours labour at the shop plus $100 for the gaskets.

That's a good price for a great car.

[Noah.Dreams]

Peter - I'm gonna hold you to that. I want this car, and you just eliminated the top 3 defects.

no, the SSEi comes with the 3.8-liter V6 RPO L67 (supercharged)
the SLE, SE come with the L36

[Whitecrystal1]

Peter - I'm gonna hold you to that. I want this car, and you just eliminated the top 3 defects.

no, the SSEi comes with the 3.8-liter V6 RPO L67 (supercharged)
the SLE, SE come with the L36

Just be sure to flush out the Dex if you get it.

Good luck

Have you ever replaced the upper intake manifold or the lower intake manifold gasket in the 95? I've done mine twice already. If you are loosing coolant that may be a sign of it leaking as that's what happened to me both times.

[Noah.Dreams]

I flushed the Dex-Cool in my 95 after the first couple of years, but I've always lost coolant. I replaced the water pump back in 2000 and the intake manifold in January 2008.

Now it needs a new AC and the mechanic advised against spending $2k to replace it. Do I need a specialist to replace the air conditioning?

[BlackHawk99]

Do I need a specialist to replace the air conditioning?

No more of a specialist than one that can repair air conditioning issues in any other car on the road. $2K sounds outrageous. I'd shop around more.

[Lil'missburnout]

That sounds like a great deal for the car.

As with all cars, you will have issues. But it you keep up with them a car can last you forever. There is one advantage you have buying this car over others..... Bonneville club. It has saved my butt a few times not to mention the money I would have spent to fix the wrong things.

I hope everything works out for you.

[Whitecrystal1]

Now it needs a new AC and the mechanic advised against spending $2k to replace it.

I spent around 800 in mine last year when the compressor went bad. I had a mechanic at the dealer fix it on the side though. The compressor was $500 (wholesale price from the dealer), plus there was a couple other items he replaced. He only charged me $150 for the labor. If you are going to keep the car I would shop around. My father-in-law had a shop add AC to his Bronco since it never had it from the factory. It cost him around $1600 and that was for a complete system.

Have you had a chance to look the car over again for any of the common problems listed?

[Noah.Dreams]

I've got the next two weeks to have the car inspected. First stop is to drain orange Dex-Cool in the cooling system, then drain the transmission. I'm tempted to completely replace the rain deflectors on each window just as a precaution.

Do you know how labor intensive it is to replace the deflector?

[Whitecrystal1]

Do you know how labor intensive it is to replace the deflector?

This is pretty easy to do yourself but you don't need to replace the deflector (unless it's actually bad). I did all of mine and after I did my first door the rest took less than 30 mins each. Most of that time was spent cleaning the old butyl seal off the door panel and the deflector. After that was all clean I replace it with ribbon seal that I bought at Advance Auto. I paid $8 for one box and one box is enough for two doors.

Here is some info that will help you see how to do this.

http://www.focaltechinc.com/josh/bonnev ... ak_fix.pdf (1.6MB, Adobe Acrobat)

[Bugsi]

I literally JUST did both of the front door weathershields on my 97 this past weekend. In my case, the plastic shields had been torn and had come detached from the adhesive holding them to the door by previous (hack) stereo installers.

I bought 10mil plastic sheeting from a hardware store, and bought 3M strip-calk, part number 051135-08578 from a NAPA auto parts store. (See picture in this thread where I asked what that stuff is: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =19&t=1432 ).

I scraped the old sealant off the door and easily wiped up any residue using mineral spirits. I gave it a final cleaning with a wipedown of lacquer thinner. I simply cut a sheet of plastic a little larger than the door, ran a bead of the strip calk around the door, and stuck the plastic to it, then smoothed it down by rolling over it by using a socket from my wrench kit as a small roller. Then I trimmed away excess plastic with a pair of scissors. The strip-calk is about .25" diameter, you can run two layers of it for a thicker seal.

It was VERY EASY to do. By far the hardest part was removing the door trim, and that's pretty easy if you know where the fasteners are and have a door trim removal tool.
-Mark

[Noah.Dreams]

I just got the car home. The spare tire well had about 1/2 inch of water.

Any idea which seal is defective?

[Noah.Dreams]

While reviewing the repair history, it shows that the intermediate steering shaft has been replaced 4 times. This indicates another problem but I can't put my finger on it.