I've noticed that there have been a lot of threads recently dealing with vehicles that were former "granny cars." (previous owner babied them or whatever, then they fall into the hands of someone a little harder on them.) I was wondering if anyone had any tips for "breaking in" a car like this. How long should you have the car before you drive it hard? The main reason I ask is because my "new" car seems to have been a granny car. I generally drive like a sane person, but you gotta see what she's got occasionally:) I'm just afraid I'm gonna tear something up after spending nearly $7,000 on this lower mileage LTZ. Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as always

I've noticed that there have been a lot of threads recently dealing with vehicles that were former "granny cars." (previous owner babied them or whatever, then they fall into the hands of someone a little harder on them.) I was wondering if anyone had any tips for "breaking in" a car like this. How long should you have the car before you drive it hard? The main reason I ask is because my "new" car seems to have been a granny car. I generally drive like a sane person, but you gotta see what she's got occasionally:) I'm just afraid I'm gonna tear something up after spending nearly $7,000 on this lower mileage LTZ. Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as always

my 97 lumina was babied and since i got it ive been driving it harder then its ever seen. that was 2 months ago and now im having coolent problems, leaks and possibly head gasket failure. :disappoin

oh my! I'll keep drivin easy for a while then!

A few issues here.Carbon clean it,flush the coolant well! You will probs have 2 do at least intakes,so what if you bought it right.The low milage will counter that.The issues are upper coolant passages,not valve train or bottom end.

isnt it quite late to be online gw84? HA good night!

A few issues here.Carbon clean it,flush the coolant well! You will probs have 2 do at least intakes,so what if you bought it right.The low milage will counter that.The issues are upper coolant passages,not valve train or bottom end.

do you care to elaborate on this? I am so confused::screwy:

isnt it quite late to be online gw84? HA good night!
Ha ha tblake, I was just thinking the same thing about you!

Let me give you some advice be very easy on it. I bought a 96 Lumina in April of '06. It'd belonged to a granny and had about 68,000 on the ticker. This was my first ever Chevy(I wanted to give GM a chance). This month I changed jobs. My driving distance went from a 2 mile round trip to a 60 mile round trip. I got into the gas to merge onto the interstate and apparently now have a blown head gasket. Pulled over to a gas station because it started running hot, checked the coolant but it had disappeared. Oil was a nice creamy color afterward. Good luck with yours.

I kinda work my way up to how I actually drive over several months and do a couple of oil changes before it's ready for the full blown wrath of my right foot.

I've also read that it's best to slowly push it harder and harder over time. However, It was also noted in the same publication that the higher rpm's that it's not used to will make it more likely to cause leaks.

I've also read that it's best to slowly push it harder and harder over time. However, It was also noted in the same publication that the higher rpm's that it's not used to will make it more likely to cause leaks.

I know what you mean. Leaks suck.