Am I going to kill my car (or myself)?

[phewop118]

I've found recently that I am in the habit of flooring my 01 intrigue several times a day. When I go to pass someone on the highway, I push it all the way in and hold it. When I want to accelerate quickly into traffic from a stop, I turn off traction control and floor it. Sometimes i get a lot of spin, but fast acceleration. Usually, I will hold it well into 2nd gear (meaning a 64xx rpm shift). Sometimes for the hell of it from a standstill when I am turning I'll floor it and spin spin spin tires, a few times it will spin until it shifts into 2nd gear. Also, when I want to accelerate and I'm going between 10mph and 35mph, i will floor it to go into 1st and accelerate.

Am I killing my transmission with my horrible driving habits? Or are only the prolonged spins bad? I do want my tranny and engine to last a while (I have only 67,500 miles on my car now and I wanna at least hit 140k miles). Anyone think the tranny can handle this abuse for another 80,000 miles? I do change my tranny fluid every 50k miles and coolant as well at that time. Also change my oil every 6k miles w/mobil 1 extended life (15k miles rated) synthetic. Gimme your thoughts. Thanks.

[panzer dragoon]

I think the downshifts to first are gonna ruin your tranny. You need a TH350 or TH400, TF727 for that type of abuse. Maybe a swap to a 4T60. How bad do you really want to rebuild the Intrigue engine (if possible) and tranny? The Intrigue also has a fair amount of weight to push around compared to smaller cars.

Stay with 2nd gear and using the revs of the 3.5L = I wouldn't do much more than that. Replacing brake pads are cheaper than engine and tranny rebuilds also.

I would go with a GM ram-rod engine (not OHC) and iron block for serious abuse. Something older ~$500 and has the 3.4L 4T60 etc. Then lose as much weight as possible. The Intrigue is more of a performance cruiser.

[GTP Dad]

Your driving habits are not conducive to long engine or transmission life, especially the transmission. The abuse you are giving it will eventually cause something to break and you will have to rebuild or replace it. Unfortunately, the automatic transmission is often the weak link in the drivetrain and it will often let you down. If you expect it to last another 80K miles I suggest you either get your foot out of the gas or purchase a backup tranny, you are probably going to need one!

[akanrg]

I suggest you change your driving habits before you kill someone else!

[LittleHoov]

my personal opnion is that the engine can handle it, but the transmission cannot. I know were all guilty of such things from time to time, but to do it every single day? Its not good.

I know spinning the tires through the gear is especially harsh, but honestly im going to raise a slight BS flag on that remark anyway, unless (a) youre doing this in wet weather, or (b) you have the crappiest tires known to man...I say this because Im familiar with the 3.5, and I know that it lacks low-end torque and wont spin the tires very well, especially since were front wheel drive.

Also the one-wheel wonders that you would typically get while flooring it and turning are hard on the differential especially.

The 4T65-E transmission in your car is actually not even rated to handle the amount of power your car puts out in stock form....let that soak in for a second.

Not too mention you having to be getting some horrible gas mileage driving like that all the time.

[phewop118]

This seems to be a habit I've picked up within the last few weeks. I'm not saying I floor it everytime I push the gas, but at least 10-20 times/day. However, maybe this bad thing has come upon me because I don't drive very much anymore. I'm off at college and only use my car 2-3 times per week (whereas in summer i drove alot and tried to conserve gas a little).

And no the spinning tires through 1st gear is not bs. I also have good tire with only 10k miles on them (goodyear assurance tripletreds) and it was not wet out. It happened by making a 110 or so degree left turn where I started out going about 15mph and then floored it into the turn. I was also turning into an uphill grade and into a sideways slant towards the right on the road. The front tires lost almost all grip, as I understeered a lot and had to turn the wheel really fast and far to keep from going off the road. I came out of the wheelspin at about 40mph (actual speed, not just the speed of the tires spinning), and then it shifted to 2nd. I will never do this again, as I know that kills lots of car parts (and ppl). I could def. smell rubber burning. Which reminds me of another time I did that same thing, but on flat ground with my old tires and actually had good control of the car. Lots of fun.

So I will try to fix my habits. Maybe put a carchip or something in my car to help keep me from pushing too hard. I always feel the need to floor it when I'm going 70 to pass someone. Then I wait until it shifts into 3rd (like 90) and then back off the gas. I know what you guys are saying is true - that the tranny is a weakspot.

Something I would really like to do is do a tranny swap, not to a 4T60, but to a 4T80 from the Seville, Deville, Bonneville, or Auroa V8. Though I don't know if it can match up to the 3.5 . Then, I'll have to go the full route and put a northstar under the hood, just like the Intrigue OSV concept in 2001. I wish my car looked that good!! Check it out. http://www.autoworld.com/apps/news/FullStory.asp?id=341

more pix: http://www.itenuscars.com/oldsmobileintrigueosv.htm

[panzer dragoon]

You seem to have the most problems with your Intrigue as it is phewop118. -Why push your luck?


Get your car ready for winter and hope it makes it thru.

[phewop118]

I don't have too many probs with my car (at least none that i've brought on). Only a bad wheel bearing, a sometimes faulty (therefore considered bad) pressure control solenoid in my transmission, and now, but only once, a questionable security problem. Well, I also have the common alternator prob where my headlights dim a little at night, but it only happens every once and a while. I really don't think i have many probs, just things that are common "maintainence" on an intrigue. Forgot about the a/c too.