Back after almost 12 years!

[Daniel Herring]

Hi, I'm back after getting another new-to-me Pontiac Bonneville! Been a long time since I've been on this board but I remember a lot of fantastic advice and knowledge here.

I'm on my 3rd Pontiac Bonneville now. I currently have a 2004 SE, just found it with 39,000 miles on it. Once I'm done with some maintenance on it I hope to get some good pictures of it, the car really doesn't show it's age and mostly looks and drives really well still.

My previous Bonneville's were an '88 and and '91. The '88 died with transmission failure in 1st gear about 10 years ago, and I got rid of the '91 with about 172k on it about 6 years ago. Engine still ran well but the car was feeling very worn and getting more time consuming to maintain then.

I also still have an '03 LeSabre right now, with 227k miles on it, keeping me in the 3800 family. Transmission is feeling a bit worn but the engine runs fantastic still. Little more than regular maintenance on that car for most of it's life, biggest repair has probably been a water pump replacement about a year ago. It's been my daily driver for several years now.

Anyways, hi to everybody! I wonder how many people are still here from back when I was last here?

[95naSTA]

Welcome back.

39k is literally nothing. That's awesome.

[Daniel Herring]

Thanks! Yeah, I thought I was about to leave the 3800 world when my LeSabre was gone, then I found this Bonneville and once I checked it out had to get it. Southern California car, seems like it sat in a garage a lot of its life. About the only bad things I can say is it probably should have had at least a couple more oil changes in its life, and had the coolant changed much earlier. Also one of the lower rocker panels has a bit of damage, but it's not very noticeable if you're not looking for it.

Anyways, I've spent the last couple weeks getting maintenance caught up, put new wheels on it, and just having some fun with it. Just tonight I did a pan drop and filter change and put in spacers in the 1-2 and 2-3 shift accumulators to see how that does, and put a new heavier, finned pan from zzperformance on the bottom of the transmission. Afaik it was still the factory transmission fluid finally coming out after 17 years, which blows my mind a bit. Didn't look too bad either.

Drove it around for a bit after and had a blast.

[nos4blood70]

Welcome back!

My 2003 SLE with 221k miles feels similar to your LeSabre. The body and transmission are rusty and tired, but the 3800 remains very willing and trustworthy.

Glad to see people are still wrenching on these, they make such good daily drivers. I already worry about the thought of what to replace mine with when it does eventually let go.

[Daniel Herring]

Welcome back!

My 2003 SLE with 221k miles feels similar to your LeSabre. The body and transmission are rusty and tired, but the 3800 remains very willing and trustworthy.

Glad to see people are still wrenching on these, they make such good daily drivers. I already worry about the thought of what to replace mine with when it does eventually let go.

Thanks, and yeah, they're great cars, especially if you're the type to want to maintain them. There's still plenty of them out there, but lots of them are getting up in age and wear at this point. But seems like the 3800 will tend to keep going as long as you maintain it. Before I found my new SE, I was looking at Hondas, Mazdas, and wondering what would be a good, fun, dependable car for the next several years at least.

I'm excited for this Bonneville. I'm also going to put in an aftermarket stereo/head unit to modernize it (add Android auto/Apple carplay, back up camera, plus some better sound), maybe do some paint work, and then hopefully keep it running as a daily driver/family car for several years.