Anyone with past 1988 Centruy Ltd experience?

[cork1958]

I recently bought a 1988 Century Limited 2.8L for a winter beater. Don't know what it is, but I really like this car.

Car has been owned by a little old lady for the last several years who took very good care of it. It's been a Michigan car all it's life, so obviously has been through a few salt baths, but it's not even close to rusted out. Has 134,000 miles on it now.

Car runs absolutely perfectly and I about freaked out the first time I figured my mpg's compared to a 4 cylinder Mercury Topaz I had and my 4 cylinder Ford Ranger. Not that it gets THAT much better, but just the fact it got better kind of boggled me!!

Anyway,
Anyone here ever owned the same model and can tell me anything about it's dependability or what issues they are known to have? I found a couple sites that had some reviews of it and quite a few of those told about how hard it is to kill this car.

Thank you

[bozr]

Got one for free several years ago and gave it to a friend's son.
Only a couple things after 100k miles.

#1 thing to do, Change the trans filter now. (not flush)

Oil pump cap o-ring where the distributor used to live (at the rear of the engine) can develop an oil leak.
Cracked radiator end cap at the transmission line connection.

[cork1958]

Originally Posted by bozr

Got one for free several years ago and gave it to a friend's son.
Only a couple things after 100k miles.

#1 thing to do, Change the trans filter now. (not flush)

Oil pump cap o-ring where the distributor used to live (at the rear of the engine) can develop an oil leak.
Cracked radiator end cap at the transmission line connection.

Changed tranny fluid and filter 2 days after I got it as I know that's something that a lot of people don't take care of. Fluid didn't look or smell bad though.

Just installed new radiator and lines as radiator was pretty shot.

No oil leaks or any other leaks as of now. Didn't have any to begin with though.

Thanks for the info.

[richtazz]

I had an 88 Celebrity, mechanically identical to your car. It had 240k on it when I sold it (I bought with just over 100k) to a friend for a beater, and it finally went to the big used parts lot after she was hit head on by a Ford F-150. It had 425k on it at that point, still barely used a 1/2 qt of oil between changes, and still got better than 28mpg on the highway. It was the most dependable car I ever owned. The only things I ever did to it were regular maintenance and an alternator, and I believe she put a starter on it shortly after I sold it to her.

[cork1958]

Originally Posted by richtazz

I had an 88 Celebrity, mechanically identical to your car. It had 240k on it when I sold it (I bought with just over 100k) to a friend for a beater, and it finally went to the big used parts lot after she was hit head on by a Ford F-150. It had 425k on it at that point, still barely used a 1/2 qt of oil between changes, and still got better than 28mpg on the highway. It was the most dependable car I ever owned. The only things I ever did to it were regular maintenance and an alternator, and I believe she put a starter on it shortly after I sold it to her.

425k?!!

Mine isn't close that, so hope it has a life time of mileage left for me then, as for some reason I REALLY like this car.

Just did my second oil change on it and guy said it was about 3/4 qt low. Don't know if I believe that though because sheet says they only put 4 qts in it and I don't know of many cars that only take 4 qts with an oil and filter change? Don't know anyone who wouldn't chage oil filter at that time, but........Seems like when I checked it shortly after that first oil change, it wasn't quite up to the full line also. "Reminder to self, check it now after this change!"

Last calculation on gas mileage I got 28.9mpg!! NOT all highway miles either.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!!

[MagicRat]

The Century is one of GM's "A"-body cars (and includes the Chevy Celebrity, Olds Cutlass Ciera and Pontiac 6000)

They were just about the best thing GM made in the '80's, a nice size, not too big or small) fairly roomy, decent handling, solid structure and very reliable. I always thought these cars had slightly better interiors, dashboards, quality, fit-and-finish, ventilation etc than competing Fords, Chryslers and the Japanese imports from the 80's (in the same price range) .

I liked the Buicks because they had a traditional luxury interior, but unless you had the handling package, they were a bit soft and floppy.

The A-body cars did not do any one thing very well, but they had no real deficiencies either. Decent, reliable, economical transportation. My dad had an '84 Ciera, great car. Other friends have owned Cieras and 6000's and drove them for many years with no trouble at all.

[cork1958]

My first wife had one of those 6000's and it was one of the biggest piece of craps I ever had the displeasure of driving. It had been in an accident before she got it and never was right after that though.

Definitely glad to be hearing good things from anyone about these Buicks. I remember as a real young kid, Buicks were all my Grandpa ever owned. He usually bought a new one every 3 or 4 years though so never really wore one out.

How do you know if the vehicle has the handling package on it, if you don't know? I think mine feels a bit soft and floppy, but as far as cars are concerned, I more used to smaller 4 cylinder ones.

Thanks again

[richtazz]

just FYI, the oil capacity on your car is 4.5 quarts using the short PF47 (or equiv) oil filter, and 4.75 qts if you use the long PF52 (or equiv) filter so you were correct, they didn't put enough oil in it.