Shopping for a used '00-'03. General things to look for??

[RackNRuin]

Hey folks,

I'm new to the forum. Had a Maroon '92 SE for my 2nd car back in the day. Anyway.. I've got a Subaru right now that I'm sending down the road and I'm looking to go back to another Bonneville. I just don't know anything about the 2000-2005 generation.

I'm going to look at an '02 SSEI this weekend. It's got just around 100k miles on it. One owner, all stock. Salesman says they just replaced the "knuckle" (?) and tie rods in the front but that everything else is good to go. They had it up at $4500 a few weeks ago now it's down to $3500.

Any suggestions on what issues to be on the lookout for? Any typical problems to watch out for?

thanks!

[J Wikoff]

Make sure the windows work, the regulators break. Pay attention to slop and clunks in the steering, the intermediate shaft has some issues. Look for yellow/greenish stuff on the inside of the oil fill cap, that's a sign of leaking lower intake manifold gaskets - needs fixed ASAP with aluminum LIM gaskets. Look for coolant leaking under the plastic elbow coming out of the passenger side of the lower intake manifold, and into the alternator bracket. It's a cheap part that fails. Try the seat heaters, if the light immediatly turns off, they've got an issue.

That's a pretty good price compared to what dealers are asking for Bonnies here.

[00Beast]

This, all of it: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 18&t=25362

[candybonne]

All those are good but Check the supercharger. Trust me its worth taking the belt off and turning it by hand. If it doesnt turn smoothly the bearings are going out. Unless you like driving with a bird screaming for their life under the hood.

[RackNRuin]

Thanks! These are all very helpful.

Now just keep your fingers crossed that this car is free of too many demons....

There are actually a ton of them around me for pretty cheap money, so hopefully I'll be introducing my new acquisition soon.

[jedwards83]

That is a good price- I don't think you'll find any with zero problems. Once the cars hit that age with 100k, that's prime time for the usual problems to rear their ugly heads, probably why so many people get rid of them.

[harofreak00]

That price is TOO low... I'd be cautious.

A knuckle is not a part you normally replace unless you get in an accident or hit a curb or something. Ask more about that.