1997 aurora lots of problems

I purchased my aurora last july from a used car dealer who was very shady. the car was in a wrech and he never told me and it had all kinds of problems with it. I had to replace the steering rack at dealer fro about 450, had to replace the alternator which was 200 just for the part, the radiator which was 250 for the part not to mention the labor. All that is fine almost, after replacing the radiator the low engine coolant warning still is always on and clearly the engine coolant is as full as it should be. I am also seeing lots of oil leaking from around the oil pan gasket and was wondering how hard that would be to replace. And the starter might possibly be going. I really would like to keep the car now because if i were to sell it I would suffer a big loss. Anyone with any tips or suggestions please let me know.
Thanks,
Scott

hi,,well i can tell you a few things i found out with my aurora...mine's a 95' and it's a great car other then the oil leak.theres a seal on the lower part of the motor which leaks oil..this is very common on the aurora motors.it looks like the dripping is comming from the oil pan but i'll bet it's the seal on the lower half of the motor..either way,there both VERY costly repairs..if you look at these repairs in the general motors shop manuals they recmnd removing the engine to make the repair..i think the enging can be dropped down to replace the oil pan gasket but is still a big job for the do-it yourselfer..i was quoated around $1,800 for the seal and $1,000 to $1,500 for the oil pan gasket...as i said my aurora has been a great car other then the oil leak.if your having all kinds of problems with yours it might be best to sell it and get out of it before you dump real big bucks into it.

that sucks skit0321...i have a 95 aurora and i feel as if i was ripped off 2....i've had several things done to the car i've had the fuel pump, transmission, radiator, and master cylender all go bad on me..these were all pretty costly fixes 2....only sugguestion i have is about the low collent light flashing...it may be that the sensor burned out inside of there when the car was over heating...just a guess though.

that sucks skit0321...i have a 95 aurora and i feel as if i was ripped off 2....i've had several things done to the car i've had the fuel pump, transmission, radiator, and master cylender all go bad on me..these were all pretty costly fixes 2....only sugguestion i have is about the low collent light flashing...it may be that the sensor burned out inside of there when the car was over heating...just a guess though.
the only other thing i can think of is adding some stop leak into the oil..i'm not sure how good the stuff works or if it's bad for the motor..it might slow the leak down though..???

well I can tell you from the coolant thing, I had the same problem and I couldn't figure it out, so after my radiator went I decided I should change my thermostat, and well that was the best thing to do cause it was so worn out that when I took it off the spring shot off, but I replaced it and then put everything back on and never had it happen again. now since my car is getting more miles on it i have to replace the sensor the on the cat converter, and clean the egr, and its throwing a airflowsensor code which it has done when I check the codes everytime. so I'll do it all my self cause I dont like ppl working on my car I dont trust. And Im trying to get a manual for the tranny so I can change the shift selonoid myself and only spend 100 bucks for parts. but I cant seem to find a book and every time I go on ebay someone out bids me by like freaking 50 cents, pisses me off.

i have those 2 books your looking for.You can have them,but you pay the shipping costs.

And Im trying to get a manual for the tranny so I can change the shift selonoid myself and only spend 100 bucks for parts. but I cant seem to find a book and every time I go on ebay someone out bids me by like freaking 50 cents, pisses me off.[/QUOTE]






:smile: Hey Silverbullet, I have the manuals for the 97 also. Any pages you need I will scan them and email them to you. Thanks for your posts also in the past they were helpful... :smokin:

I wouldnt feel to bad about paying $450 to replace the steering rack at the dealer as that is less then half what it should have cost. My steering rack went out last summer and dealer cost for a factory steering rack is around $840 plus another $200 for labor to put it in. I check several dealers and tehy were all within $50 for the total job.


BKVic

I really would like to keep the car now because if i were to sell it I would suffer a big loss. Anyone with any tips or suggestions please let me know.
Thanks,
Scott[/QUOTE]

As someone who had owned an Aurora, my best advice is to slap a "For Sale Cheap" sign on the thing and take your losses. The money you have put in thus far is called in business parlance as "Sunk Costs". Don't let that hold you back from doing what is smart for the future.

The car is beautiful, rides like a dream and it sucks big time that a car with so much appeal should be such a piece of crap. This is a case where beauty is only skin deep. I sold my Aurora which had a dizzying array of problems and took a $3000.00 loss. I only come back to this forum to reinforce my decision to sell. I took a big loss but it was so worth it. I now have a Mercury GM LS which is about the same as a Crown Vic. In no way does it look, run, or ride like the Aurora. But unlike the Aurora, it will more than likely Run and Ride a long time without problems.

Hi I Dont Know If You Know This Or Not But There Was A Safety Recall On That Car Something With The Fuel Rail I Think. They Were Catching On Fire. My Very Good Friend Also Owned A 96 Or 97 And Ity Caught On Fire Right In His Driveway Next To His House. He Got An Insurence Check And A Few Months Later Got A Notice In The Mail About The Recall. He Also Had A Problem With Coolant. Check To See That You Are Not Loosing It Through The Intake Or Head Gasket, As He Was. My Suggestion Would Be To Not Put Too Much Money Into That Car. He Had A Ton Of Problems With It And He Got Slammed Pretty Bad With That Car. Check Out That Safety Recall. Hope This Helps You Out Good Luck.

Hi I Dont Know If You Know This Or Not But There Was A Safety Recall On That Car Something With The Fuel Rail I Think. They Were Catching On Fire. My Very Good Friend Also Owned A 96 Or 97 And Ity Caught On Fire Right In His Driveway Next To His House. He Got An Insurence Check And A Few Months Later Got A Notice In The Mail About The Recall. He Also Had A Problem With Coolant. Check To See That You Are Not Loosing It Through The Intake Or Head Gasket, As He Was. My Suggestion Would Be To Not Put Too Much Money Into That Car. He Had A Ton Of Problems With It And He Got Slammed Pretty Bad With That Car. Check Out That Safety Recall. Hope This Helps You Out Good Luck.

Hi,

I don't know if you directed your response to me or another one in this thread. You are right about these cars, the safety recall and so on. As far as reliability goes they suck big time. I lost several thousand on mine. As far as I am concerned, Oldsmobile needed to go belly up. This car originally was going to be a Cadilac. The Cadilac division should thank their lucky stars that this lemon did not get included into their stable. I wish it were a better car. I would love to have kept mine. But if you have one, your wallet is seldom going to see the inside of your pocket.

Hi,

I don't know if you directed your response to me or another one in this thread. You are right about these cars, the safety recall and so on. As far as reliability goes they suck big time. I lost several thousand on mine. As far as I am concerned, Oldsmobile needed to go belly up. This car originally was going to be a Cadilac. The Cadilac division should thank their lucky stars that this lemon did not get included into their stable. I wish it were a better car. I would love to have kept mine. But if you have one, your wallet is seldom going to see the inside of your pocket.


I disagree with you BIG TIME papasmith and others who think the Aurora is a lemon? Maybe you are not maintaining the car right? My Aurora has been reliable, a better ride, comfort inside, and better looking than just about most cars on the road. If you love the car so much mabye purchase a 1999 or later, or maybe earlier and find a decent mechanic you can trust! Also you can purchase a warranty! Thats what I did and have not had any problems in a long time! It has helped me get thru 3 hard, cold, major winters over the last number of years. The warranty is a great investment(since all cars break) and piece of mind. By the way, ever since I purchased the warranty, the car is running just about perfect!

I disagree with you BIG TIME papasmith and others who think the Aurora is a lemon? Maybe you are not maintaining the car right? My Aurora has been reliable, a better ride, comfort inside, and better looking than just about most cars on the road. If you love the car so much mabye purchase a 1999 or later, or maybe earlier and find a decent mechanic you can trust! Also you can purchase a warranty! Thats what I did and have not had any problems in a long time! It was helped me get thru 3 hard, cold, major winters over the last number of years. The warranty is a great investment(since all cars break) and piece of mind. By the way, ever since I purchased the warranty, the car is running just about perfect!

Like you, I am responding based upon my personal experience but only partially. To a greater extent, I am responding from the perspective of many, many others experiences in this forum and elsewhere. There is no doubt in my mind that the Aurora was a poorly designed piece of junk. Look at the posts in this forum, the number, and content. Then examine the posts in nearly any other forum on any other car. If you look at the ratio of complaints or appeals for help in relation to the number of posts and weigh in the number of these cars that actually sold, you will find that the Aurora should have never left the drawing board. Look, for example, at the Lincoln Town Car, Lincoln Continental, the Ford Crown Vic, or most of the Cadilac lines. Most of these cars sold significantly more than the Aurora yet notice that the number of posts, the ratio appealing for help in regard to a problem and the severity of the problems. You will find that the Aurora has far more and much more expensive problems on average. You have just been EXTREMELY lucky. Or is it, just that the people who owned Aurora's are not maintaining these cars as well as folks in other forums? Or maybe, those who own Auroras are more short sighted and are inclined not to buy warranties like those in other forums? Keep the faith my friend. I wish you luck. If you get through the next year or 15,000 miles without a MAJOR expense, you need to call Guiness. Like I have said before, I dearly wish that the car was more reliable. I would have loved to have been able to have kept the one that I had.

Well, the good news is that I do not have to worry about the next 15,000 miles because we are covered for the next 36,000 miles more so by the time it reaches a little over 110,000 miles, all the parts will be replaced just bout by myself or a mechanic. I guess I am lucky also I have never broken down or been stranded and made it thru all types of weather and zombies, in New York and elsewhere. If you think the Aurora is a lemon like yours (sorry) and is poorly designed, so be it you are entitled to your opinion and so are others. There is probably a good batch of Aurora's out there and a bad batch. The bad batch had a druken assembly line.

I wonder if the problem with the Aurora,is the aluminum heads. And engine block.

Sad to say , Caddy designed the engine for aurora . Its just a detuned northstar. My friend bought a new sts and had problems with the northstar engine until it blew up. He got his money back with the lemon law. Im rebuilding my 4.0 with timeserts. When I get my 96 running Ill share how reliable it is overall.

I wonder if the problem with the Aurora,is the aluminum heads. And engine block.

Not really, at least not all of them. The Aurora transmisson is known to cause all sorts of wallet busting problems as well as about every other system in the car. Goodbye Oldsmobile and good riddance. If GM doesn't start getting its act together in regards to quality, other well known marquees will soon follow. Check out GM's rapidly declining market share. Kind of sad.

Not really, at least not all of them. The Aurora transmisson is known to cause all sorts of wallet busting problems as well as about every other system in the car. Goodbye Oldsmobile and good riddance. If GM doesn't start getting its act together in regards to quality, other well known marquees will soon follow. Check out GM's rapidly declining market share. Kind of sad.

:evillol: Well you can always sell your 95 lemon and leave this board. No room for haters here in this forum. Why dont you purchase a KIA? Or something else that would be more economical for your lifestyle? You love bashing the Aurora due to yours being a lemon and not others. How can you judge a whole company GM based on one car? Some people care less about Market shares. Sell your lemon and do not buy GM then! :iceslolan

Well Said, Sell Your Lemon And Leave

I notice the 95 seems to get slammed the most. I've had a 97 for two years and it hasn't cost a cent in maintenance. It has 93k miles I have never had a problem with it (except now the antenna doesn't go down).....There is no way I would replace it with a Ford blahhhhhh

same here I have the 97 but I made sure I got the one with no recalls (before the fuel rails) and I've spent general maintenance costs on it thats it. its got 181k

Glad to hear it Silver, mine didn't have any recalls either. I hope mine is maintenance-free when it hits 181k!

I have a 95 aurora and I bought it from a realitive she swore it was the money pit and now I feel like tom hanks all I want to do is have this nightmare over with but like many others im in debt up to my ass with repair costs the latest is I stopped to get gas went into the station to pay when i returned to my car I noticed it was smoking terribly out the tail pipes and missing It smokes so bad that I was pulled over by the guys in blue. I did some investigating and found that my number 1 and 7 cylinders were fouled out with excess fuel. when the car is turned off fuel actually drips from the tail pipes. If anyone has any advice other than driving it off of the cliff please help me This car should have never left the assembly line....

FIGURE Lower Control Valve Body Assembly(c)

(http://service.gm.com/servlets/BlobShtml?ShtmlFile=35035&pubid=42&evc=sm#oth1-35035)
http://service.gm.com/engif/000/000/015/15554.gif
http://service.gm.com/tif.gif (http://service.gm.com/servlets/RetrieveTif?pic=15554)
(308)Retainer Clip (3)(308)Retainer Clip (3)(308)Retainer Clip (3)(901)Return Spring(902)Retaining Ring(903)Lower Control Valve Body(904)Spring Retainer(905)Ball Check Capsule(906)2-3 Shift Valve Spring(907)2-3 Shift Valve C(908)2-3 Shift Valve D(909)1-2 and 2-3 Shift Solenoid(909)1-2 and 2-3 Shift Solenoid(911)3-4 Shift Valve Spring(912)3-4 Shift Valve(914)Bore Plug(915)Manual Link and Clip Assembly(916)Manual Valve(917)Solenoid Screen Assembly(918)1-2 Shift Valve Spring(919)1-2 Shift Valve A(920)1-2 Shift Valve B(921)Reverse Orifice Bypass Valve(922)Reverse Orifice Bypass Valve Spring(923)Coiled Spring Flag Pin(924)Forward Orifice Bypass Valve(925)Forward Orifice Bypass Valve Spring(926)Coiled Spring Flag Pin(928)Low/Reverse Servo Piston(929)Low/Reverse Servo Seal (Small)(930)Low/Reverse Servo Seal (Large)(931)Low/Reverse Servo Apply Pin(932)Retaining Ring(933)Servo Cushion Spring Washer(934)Servo Cushion Spring(979)Ball (0.375 Diameter)(980)Low/Reverse Cushion Sleeve Document ID# 35035

cut your losses and sell it now...................i went through the same thing.......everythime i had to spend 500- 1000, i swore it would be the last time... but i really loved the car........I wish i had gotten rid of it before i dumped more and more money in it...................you will put a tom in it, and it will still be worth nothing..........sorry

Let me confirm the wisdom of the advice given to you before, sell the pile of junk and cut your losses. All you have spent before is, in business parlance, sunk costs.

Let me take the opportunity to address the comment above by Stealthyufo. My friend, it is because of blind loyalty such as yours that GM was able to get away with producing crap like the Aurora for years. I don't know about you, but like many desparate others on this forum who are seeking hope or relief from the nightmare that is the Aurora, I work hard for my money. For GM to have the audacity to produce and sell this mechanical money pit, is no less than a crime. You might be lucky and get one of the few that weren’t lemons. Congratulations. However, looking at this forum, you are in the minority. I challenge you to look at any other forum on this site and find another car that has the number of complaints as a ratio to the number of cars sold. I haven’t found one near that of the Aurora.

Let me also tell you why am I concerned about GM's declining market share? It is because the fortunes of GM are closely linked to our economy. If, we had all called GM to task more vigorously for poor design and lousy quality years ago, they might be more competitive with foreign manufactures today.

You say there is no room for haters on this forum? I submit there is! I hate what GM has done the poor working stiff who bought this GM crap and got screwed. I hate that I can't have enough confidence in GM to include their many fine looking, great performing but unreliable automobiles in my list of possible purchase choices. Most of all, I hate that there are apathetic consumers like you who through your overindulgent attitude unknowingly encourage GM to continue on the primrose path to becoming a second rate car manufacturer. I hate that mostly because the fortunes of GM are closely tied to that of our entire economy. As for me, I am going to be a tough consumer who demands quality and will penalize those manufacturers who don't deliver. Sometimes, tough love is the only thing that works. Look at the facts friend and call a spade a spade and junk, junk. Sometimes, American manufacturers make mistakes as do countries. Overlooking these mistakes only encourages them to continue. If we allow that, we deserve the consequences.

By the way, I own two American Cars, Fords. Both have been excellent vehicles. I will always try to give American Manufacturers the benefit of the doubt. But the Aurora has all but erased my faith in GM and it will be a long time before it regains my trust, that is if the company is still around.

Hey everybody. Well first of all i want to start stating that this seems to be a very touchy subject and can get hostile pretty quick as u can see. but why dont everyone think on this The 1995 Aurora was tha first of it's generation and it should have been expected to have problem since obviously the big G (gm) was trying something new. So it only gets better as they go along. As for a lemon i think that is an overstatement. I mean it jus depends on your financial ability. The Aurora is an luxury car and was expected to be bought by people with money (think about that). But we have been fourtunate enough to get one and some of us cherish it and other hate it (the haters) but who cares cause hate it or love it it's a great car when it's not running and an even greater car when it is jus like any other car. I'm 21 years old and this was my first car and personally i love this car and i fear the first time i get into a wreck or something i i'll go crazy. So i guess it all depends on what u can handle when it come to whether or not u want to keep this car!

A sidenote.....like papasmith I want to drive an american car. I was going to buy a deville, but since it shares so much with the aurora.I was scared. I bought a Town car instead. I dont like it as much as the deville, and it certainly isnt anything like the Aurora...........but it has been a solid dependable car.......... I would probably buy another one .

While I certainly sympathize with anyone who's run into trouble with a used vehicle of any make, it can safely be said that the Aurora in general was certainly no lemon! Its major known issues are essentially problems inherent in the Cadillac Northstar system and certainly not unique to the Aurora. As a prior poster stated, Auroras are luxury cars, so they're not cheap to own or maintain. That being said, there are few American cars with the Aurora's combination of value, power, luxury, and style. The car has such powerful appeal, even those who run into trouble, fight hard to hold onto them! That says a lot. For anyone contemplating buying an Aurora I would counsel the following:

With any used car the most important thing is to select a good one. Inheriting another's headache puts one instantly in the hole financially, regardless of the make.

Due to the complex nature of the Aurora, it's best to seek help when certain types of problems arise. All dealers and technicians aren't created equal! If you're having trouble with your Aurora, a technician truly skilled in GM and Northstar systems, is a must! This car can't be properly diagnosed or fixed by fakers. Leaving your Aurora in the hands of "part-changers" and "jacklegs" is a sure road to disaster.

With a good selection of car to start with, and a skilled technician to support you when problems arise, there's no reason owning an Aurora can't be an enjoyable experience.

the aurora does have its probs. everyone should get the service manual to be able to repair or at least refer to it before payin for repairs. any car is not perfect. people think a car is like a rechargable flashlight. plug it in over night and it will function and work every time. the aurora is a luxury sport sedan. it does have its challenges, gota look at it with a different outlook. when it does run right it is a great feeling, especially after one puts their own hands on it, changing oil, spark plugs, radiator, upgrading tires, brakes, etc. very rewarding besides just paying someone to do everything. i bought my 1995 black on black autobahn aurora from a surgeon in portland for $3000 dollars, he bought it brand new for $35,000 dollars. (he just bought a $100,000 benz). it was neglected tho he still cared a lot about it, it was his first car out of med school. i look at the car as a hobby, a unique ride which is rewarding to own for several reasons, even if it does die, it can still look cool parked in your drive way (until you can fix it) as you can always get a mini-van. get a crappy older one (dodge caravan) drive it to do errands, etc. then get back in the aurora and you will know why you have one. get a service manual and a copy of "the art of happiness" - from the dalai lama.

I loved my Aurora as much, if not more , than anyone else.... But the fact is, they are a nightmare to keep running. Any experianced mechanic will tell you they have some of the worst mait records of any american car......

its still a machine. humans tend to put so much if not too much emotion into everything, instead of being neutral and solving problems they get mad at the machine(s) mistaking it for a pet dog, cat or kid who wont obey and then throw trantrums instead of finding solutions. since this car is not made any more, best to talk shop and find solutions, upgrades to weak designs, etc. get a service manual, have a second car or cars, get a AAA membership. if this car was made so "perfect" and everyone had one, it wouldn't be as fun to have a unique car. ask all the honda civic, minivan and pick-up truck atomotons.