Anyone getting sick of their damn cars?!?!?

Ok im a little bit of a pissed Bonneville owner... Ive had this damn car for a year and babied it. I got it with 179000 and now has 196000. Ive replaced the following

Power steering cooler
Power steering pump
Alternator (twice)
WHOLE rear brake system (drums, cylinders, breaks, everything...)
Front Bearings
L&R Balljoint
L CV joint
Transmission (unknown mileage)
Engine (unknown if replaced)
Acc (Serpentine) belt
Fuel Filter
All Oilchanges at 2500 miles
Oil Sensors
MAF sensor
Crank Sensor
Tuneup (whole tuneup) Twice
Water Pump (wow that was a bitch)
Paintjob
had FE alignment
Rear Struts & Air compressor
Lock Key Cylinder

Ok well lets put it this way.... ive gone broke... Im making $10hr at work doing pain in the ass work and paying 5k a trimester ($15000 a year) for college... Im just getting a little tired of this crap. I just want to see what everyone TRUTHFULLY thinks about their Bonneville because up until today it has been my life/my baby. Let me explain the sudden change... Im hearing a noise that is vibrating the car a little bit and I dont know what the hell it is, and I also have a leak, dont know if its for the system wire I wired in or the weatherstripping... I dont have a garage so frankly I dont have the space or the time let alone the MONEY to fix this crap.... let me know

Signed

Pissed 94 Bonny SSE 3.8L V6

O sorry I forgot to mention the fact that I have this program to help me out with my car and I got the reading on what my car was rated...

4/9 for Whole Car reliability
4/9 for Engine Reliability
High Cost for repair (duh any Bonneville owner could have told me that)
and 19 Miles a gallon city driving

now that sucks!!! I really like the Bonneville and was really wanting another one but now with all this I dont know why I would want another Bonneville!!! Theyre just so damn nice and comfortable!

Well, sorry to hear you've had so many problems with yours....I have a 92 SSEi with about 130k miles, and do have problems with it, but they are all fairly minor. If you do buy another car, considering your situation, I'd say get something....anything....with low miles. 179k miles are a lot for any type of car, and you have to expect to be putting some money into it for repairs.

yea I know but theres got to be a limit. My old car (a geo metro) topped off with 280k on it, the only thing I ever had to replace on that car was the clutch. I had 2 give it to a junkyard because I got hit pretty hard in that car, got rear ended and went under another car in front of me.... The car stll ran like a champ the day I got rid of it!!! THe tranny AND motor were original on that car... I mean c'mon I figured that cars would last a little bit longer than 200,000, or is that just a way for dealers to get more money...

Your situation sounds to be in the minority. I have generally only heard good things on the longevity and reliability of this platform. The 3800 engine is as bulletproof as they come. The tranny is close behind. I think regular maintanence is key. With 179k on it and who knows how many owners, I think the maintanance is a big question mark. I know people who lease cars and never change the oil at all. What do they care, the car is under warranty while they have it and they know they won't have it over 36000 miles.

Sorry to hear about your problems. Maybe its time to throw in the towel and get a different car with less miles. I think I would have by now.

Keith

We have a 1992 SSE. We love it. We have had a few problems, but considering the mileage we put on vehicles, we are pleased.

My husband does delivers for a living. So we can rack up 5000 miles a month on a vehicle, we learned early on in buying used cars, it wasn't so much the mileage onthe cars, but the maintance it had. If you can't be sure of the care prior to you buying the car, don't buy a car with that many miles on it.

i would have to agree with pntcbonnesse , my 1992 se sucks noodles, I have never owned a car with so many problems, really quite sad, although most bonnevilles, from what I hear are extremely reliable, evidentally we got stuck with lemons. I'd still love to have a new GXP though, who wouldn't?

yea well overall the car seemed to be in decent mechanical shape... the body was crap and I redid it, the interior was crap so I redid that... she is a real beauty and all. One thing when I looked at the motor and the mechanics were that the engine looked decently clean, ran clean and everything else... I dont know though

1992 was the worst of the H-Bodies. EGRless caused high heat in the motor which killed stuff.

The transmission was also the first of its type, electonic so there were bugs there.

These cars do go 400,000+ miles (on orginal drivetrain) though if taken care of.

If they are abused they die just as quick as any other car regardless of brand or country it was made.

I have owned 4 3800 powered cars and all of them have been extremely cheap to take care of an run. The only problem I have had with them is transmissions going out which is very common past 150,000 miles or so.

Alternators, Belts, Fuel Filters, Water pumps, Brakes, and Sensors are ALL NORMAL items to be replaced on any car at given intervals. Everything else you mentioned that failed, usually occours because of abuse. For example brake drums last nearly forever if you dont let them get hot and change your shoes often enough.

O the drum had to be replaced because before I had the car the drum was already...o crap I forgot the word drilled or something so anyways when I blew the break cylinders they couldnt drill the drum more than it was already so yea they got replaced... wasnt expensive

im the third owner of my 1990 SSE and the only problems ive had with it are a really stiff brake pedal and the mass airflow sensor and this car has 170556mi on it and still runs good has a little bit of a lifter noise but thats no big deal, my jeep has done the same since i bought it.

sry to hear that youre having so many problems, get rid of it and get a 90-91 imo they look better and seem more reliable 4/5 reliability rating

O man I couldnt get rid of my bonny, Ive already put too much work in to it as it is, I also like this H body better than the older ones haha, I love he technology too, I couldnt let it go. I was just bitching to see if anyone was goin thru what I was :-)

We have a '96 Bonny SSE, and we like it fine. the only things that bug me with this car are 1)the car is hard to get into and out of: 2) Everytime we drive it for less than 20 minutes, turn it off, go into a store or restaurant, store, whatever, the g-darn thing wont start. We are constantly being stranded at various places all over town. Then, just as mysteriously, 10-30 minutes later, it will start just fine. That makes it a thermal problem. I caught my last shop cheating me on parts and labor so I switched. This shop knows WHY I changed and they seem to be doing good work for us. They tell me they cant fix this problem until it finally fails. I can only figure it to be between the Crankshaft sensor or the ignition system... Any ideas on that one?

hmm well I do have a couple of questions, a) when the car doesnt start is the security light on and steady? b) when you are finally able to start the car is the security light blinking c) does the starter engage? d) if the starter engages does the engine sound like its actually going to start???
The reason is because a) if the security light is on and steady and the starter is NOT engaging chances are its the Ignition Lock Cylinder which costs about 35 dollars and the cost of getting new keys, the reason for that is because the two wires that the lock cylinders use for the resistor on the keys is sooo small that each time you turn those little ass wires move so much until they break and cauz the security like to go off and you not to be able to start your car unless your lucky. b) if the starter DOES engage but the engine doesnt start that could be the ICM, the coils, the ECM and a couple other things. I did have both problems with my car and the crank sensor fixed the second problem. If you have any more questions and or the symptoms are different from what I listed please let me know, if not and you try either one and it fixes it please let me know as well. Thanks and done hesitate to ask more questions, my AIM is pntcbonnesse and my yahoo is mark_gross54. Good luck