380,000 Miles!

[PonBon3800]

I just bought this car a couple months ago for $450 (USD) and it had 374,005 miles on it. I'm now up to just under 380,000 miles (or over 600,000 km) on the original engine and transmission still! I will get a picture as soon as I hit 380K. It's a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi with the 3800 supercharged. All stock other than the air intake. The car is in great shape inside and out -- other than the rust by the gas cap

I have pictures of the car, but I can't figure out how to upload them to here

EDIT: I have figured out how to upload pictures and they will be posted shortly. (Post is pending approval and should be up once approved)

[redfury]

You need to host them and then copy the image link from where you are hosting the image from and insert it between "[img]yourimagelinkhere,nospaces[/img]"

[PonBon3800]

Thanks for the help. How do I host them? (If you can't tell, I'm new to the site)

[1oldman]

You need to host them and then copy the image link from where you are hosting the image from and insert it between "[img]yourimagelinkhere,nospaces[/img]"

I second that! - BC

[96 SSEi]

Thanks for the help. How do I host them? (If you can't tell, I'm new to the site)

hi, if you have facebook, you can use that and put the web address between brackets

I found this one - give it a try.....https://postimage.org/

[PonBon3800]

Alright! I think I finally figured out how to add pictures, so I will see if this works. Also, my car has finally hit 380,000 miles as of a couple weeks ago!! It's now currently up to 381,286 miles and counting, still running and driving strong on original engine and transmission! I'm confident it'll make it to 400,000 too!
My '02 SSEi is also loaded with every option: 3800 Supercharged V6, Heated/Leather Seats, Heated/Memory Mirrors, Memory Seats, Monsoon Sound System, Factory in-dash Heads-Up Display Unit, Moon-Roof, Upgraded Factory Chrome Wheel Package, and I'm sure there's other things that I'm forgetting at the moment. Only issue I have with it currently is none of the driver door switches/buttons work. Tried replacing driver door module, that did nothing so I've got no other ideas what it could be, The switches on the other doors work just fine, however. Other than that, it's a great car and everything else works well considering the mileage! Recently purchased a 3.6 pulley from ZZPerformance for it, just need to somehow get my hands on a puller so I can get it installed. My future plans for it are:

- Fix the rust by gas cap (Was quoted it'd be about $1,200 -- yeah yeah I know probably not worth it, but to me it is if I can afford it without issue considering the condition of the rest of the car, especially in the interior)
- Fix/Replace tail light lenses/trunk reflector (water gets in them when it rains) -- Maybe add some tint on them? Still contemplating if I want them stock or lightly tinted
- Considering HID head/fog lights and again maybe tint the lenses a bit
- Replace exhaust tips (Old ones either went missing or were stolen a long time ago)
- Potentially get headers, though I've heard the rear set is a pain to install...

Anyways, here are some pictures of my car since getting it!















I'll get better pictures on a nice sunny day after a fresh wash/wax. Looks really nice when it's all cleaned up with polished wheels and shined up tires. I don't think I'll ever be getting rid of this car.


Here's a couple pictures of the factory upgraded wheels as well, can really see how well they cleaned up. The guy I bought it from put about 8,000+ miles on this car before getting a Jeep liberty (took a bit of work to bring 'er back, he didn't take the best care of it). He bought it from his buddy who had owned it since about 75,000 miles and always was on top of getting regular maintenance and repairs done. He also had the wheels professionally cleaned/polished every year. I found a trick for me to do it myself at home since they had gotten pretty bad again...



Here you can see the difference in before/after a rather quick touch up...







Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed seeing my new pride and joy!

[nos4blood70]

Amazing! Other than the gas door rust, the car looks much cleaner inside and out than the mileage would suggest. Nice find!

[tytotheler92]

Those *dang* under gas doors!

That's awesome though! It looks great!

[MKMike]

Holy smokes that's a lot of miles!
Gas cap rust excepted, it looks fantastic.
Someone must have taken very good care for a long time.

I'd love to know how you got the wheels so polished.
Please share your method.

As for the door switches not working, very likely to be a faulty driver's door switch assembly.
It controls all the driver's door functions.
They typically short out after someone leaves the window open and water gets in.
Searching past posts yields posts about the issue, , threads like this one:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... lit=driver door switches#p447228

You might get lucky and find that it's only corrosion on the contacts.
If not, Andrew at Bonnevilles Unlimited sells good used parts.
His email is at the bottom of this page http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 44765.html
(and his boat roller trans mount is excellent, too)

[jradke61]

I'd love to know how you got the wheels so polished.
Please share your method.

Used tin foil on my swoopies that were looking pretty bad. Look like brand new wheels now and took very little time.

[PonBon3800]

I'd love to know how you got the wheels so polished.
Please share your method.

It's a secret haha I can't tell or it wouldn't be a secret anymore.....a hint though, the bottle features a gold Ford GT on it...and it's not any type of wheel cleaner, it's actually something else but still used for cars. You can rub it on with a towel but I like to use the foam ball things that you put on a drill, much better results than hand work. But need to use microfiber cloth and and a bit of elbow grease in the corners where you can't get the foam ball attachment to reach.

[MKMike]

Thanks for the hints and info.
Not being too familiar with the various cleaning and polishing compounds on the market, it will take me a while to figure out.
I have to do some cleaning and polishing when springtime arrives---which can never be soon enough.

[PonBon3800]

If I recall right the brand name is "Mother's" or something like that. Like I said though it has a gold Ford GT on it and isn't for wheels, but can be used on wheels. As you can see, it works really well.

[jradke61]

I'm telling ya, this wheel looked way worse than those. Considerable rust. A 12 inch piece of tin foil balled up did this.
Otherwise, for polishing chrome and aluminum Rebels is the best I've found and i had a lot of it to do on my Peterbilt.
Try the tin foil. You won't believe how quick it comes off.

[1oldman]

Very nice. Many cars with less than 1/3 those miles don't even look half that good. - BC

[PonBon3800]

Whoops, my bad. I was thinking of the spray wax I use, the wax is Mother's. What I used on the wheels is made by Invisible Glass, my bad. It does work really well though. If I spent more time on the wheels they'd be better still with less rust spots.

[PilotScott]

THAT is inspiration there...only 300k miles before I reach that point! Nice, nice find!

Amazing! Other than the gas door rust, the car looks much cleaner inside and out than the mileage would suggest. Nice find!

x2

[MKMike]

I'd love to know how you got the wheels so polished.
Please share your method.

Used tin foil on my swoopies that were looking pretty bad. Look like brand new wheels now and took very little time.

That's an interesting idea.
I found a page which details the science behind it.
Probably will be the way I go, since it actually converts the oxidation back to chrome.
http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html
Thank you to both of you for the replies.
I'm looking forward to having shiny wheels again.

[jradke61]

I'd love to know how you got the wheels so polished.
Please share your method.

Used tin foil on my swoopies that were looking pretty bad. Look like brand new wheels now and took very little time.

That's an interesting idea.
I found a page which details the science behind it.
Probably will be the way I go, since it actually converts the oxidation back to chrome.
http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html
Thank you to both of you for the replies.
I'm looking forward to having shiny wheels again.

Science is exactly what it is. You will be amazed at what it does. I know I was.
The cost, simplicity, and results can't be beat by any polish, wax, or cleaner of any kind.

[PilotScott]

Think I'll do that to my swoopies too...beats getting new wheels right now!! Great tip!