Grandson needs help with Aurora

[Sher]

Hi, I am looking for advice, as noticed there are lots of Aurora owners on here. My 16 year old grandson purchased a 95 aurora about 3 months ago for $2500(He lives in Brownsburg, In),all his money, being assured it was owned my this young mans grandmother(you know the story, too bad he didn't). Anyway he loved, probably still does this car, but hasn't run right from the beginning. They have done some work on it, but his parents don't have much patience with it, took it to an olds dealer who said its worth $2000-would probably cost that much to fix it right!!! They don't do the work. Yet they say we can drive it the 15 miles to the other garage. So tomorrow my husband and I will move it to someone who will tell our daughter if they will fix it or who to sell it to(as salvage). Such a shame the way the car looks, sunroof and all. Anyway does anyone have any advice or idea on what he might be able to recover moneywise on the car. And suggestions of where to try in Indy?? Thanks for your help, he is just sick about the car, he had such great hopes.

[Retro-D]

Originally Posted by Sher

Hi, I am looking for advice, as noticed there are lots of Aurora owners on here. My 16 year old grandson purchased a 95 aurora about 3 months ago for $2500(He lives in Brownsburg, In),all his money, being assured it was owned my this young mans grandmother(you know the story, too bad he didn't). Anyway he loved, probably still does this car, but hasn't run right from the beginning. They have done some work on it, but his parents don't have much patience with it, took it to an olds dealer who said its worth $2000-would probably cost that much to fix it right!!! They don't do the work. Yet they say we can drive it the 15 miles to the other garage. So tomorrow my husband and I will move it to someone who will tell our daughter if they will fix it or who to sell it to(as salvage). Such a shame the way the car looks, sunroof and all. Anyway does anyone have any advice or idea on what he might be able to recover moneywise on the car. And suggestions of where to try in Indy?? Thanks for your help, he is just sick about the car, he had such great hopes.

Sounds like this car will be too much of a financial burden for a 16-year-old. Place an ad on ebay and honestly list the known faults. Someone mechanically inclined will be interested and you will rid yourself of the burden, a win-win situation! Don't feel to bad, many of us on this board bought our Aurora's when they were worth well over $10,000 only to see the resale value plummet in recent years, thanks GM!!

[zebrastud57]

what all is wrong with it. if you place it on ebay tell me what the item number is.

[Sweet William]

List the problem in some detail here. Maybe the group can give you some input about what to look for. I own two 95's, one for 4 years and the other for about a year. The list of repairs done on Blue(the one I've had for 4yrs) is pretty short. The other the air conditioner compressor was bad on when I bought it. They both have over 120k on the odometer and are a pleasure to drive.
These cars were very costly and not thought of as performance cars whent they came out. Most were bought by "more mature" people. If you can get it sqaured away it should be a good, safe car for a teen to drive. More so with a throttle limiter!

[Sher]

Originally Posted by Sweet William

List the problem in some detail here. Maybe the group can give you some input about what to look for. I own two 95's, one for 4 years and the other for about a year. The list of repairs done on Blue(the one I've had for 4yrs) is pretty short. The other the air conditioner compressor was bad on when I bought it. They both have over 120k on the odometer and are a pleasure to drive.
These cars were very costly and not thought of as performance cars whent they came out. Most were bought by "more mature" people. If you can get it sqaured away it should be a good, safe car for a teen to drive. More so with a throttle limiter!

Hi all, and thanks for your replies. I don't know all the details yet, my husband is going to find out more tomorrow, (we are still trying to keep his mom from taking it to the salvage yard because she feels it was a ripoff), seems like the man who sold it to him had a fire under the hood and did some damage to the wiring harness. So they are saying that should be replaced, although since Michael and my husband drove it 20 miles yesterday, he thought it was funny it should run that well when it needed replaces. The other problem is an oil leak, but don't know which gasket he said needed replaced and some vacuum hoses. Someone said they weren't sure about the air conditioner but that is so unimportant to himHAHA, if it moves hes happy. I know the gas mileage is not good. After having read several of these posts that other peoples cars had, I kept seeing the fuel pressure regulator and O2 sensors, but bet they would laugh if "Grandma" said check that!! And maybe I can at least get his Mom to let me put it on Ebay if they won't fix it. Michael wants to try with some help to do it himself. He loves to work on it, but is not skilled enough to do the job himself. We did get him a manual on Ebay, which is very good, but not like you real mechanics.............Appreciate if you would keep helping.

[Sweet William]

Oil leaks are a natural thing with this motor. If it is not leaking enough to notice puddles in the driveway I wouldn't worry about that.
The fire is another story. The car has a recall on it right now for the fuel rail. The rail is what carries the fuel to the injectors. It is possible that was the cause of the fire. Seems like if that was so that the fire would have been very big. Have him remove the plastic cover from the top of the motor. The new fuel rail is stainless steel and the old one is black plastic. Did the dealer mention this to you?
If the air conditioner pump goes out, you can always just put a shorter belt on to bypass it. I am driving one of mine like this right now. Not going to spend the money on it for a Michigan Winter! Maybe it just needs a charge and it would last a season.
These cars do have a lot of amps running thru the system and are pretty sensitive to electrical problems. Fortunately it's not an issue very often (other than coils and plug wires)under the hood.
Sounds like someone needs to spend some time just looking around at what's going on under the hood.
If it seemed to run good for the drive, I would put some miles on it see what comes up.

[rodtice]

Be advised not everybody here is a "real" mechanic. Myself included. I have alot of mechanical experience and relay my experiences.

Also be advised of the adage about these older luxury cars that can be bought cheap. BUT!!! if you have to fix it you pay the prices of the original MSRP luxury price $$$$. In the Aurora's case $37,000 MSRP

If I couldn't fix, I wouldn't own an Aurora, I'd go broke if something broke. I just replace my own radiator for $200, dealer $400+labor.

Encourage your grandson to keep the car and kudo's for buying the manual. If he has the will/patience and support he will learn skills that will serve him well his whole life.

[Sher]

Originally Posted by rodtice

Be advised not everybody here is a "real" mechanic. Myself included. I have alot of mechanical experience and relay my experiences.

Also be advised of the adage about these older luxury cars that can be bought cheap. BUT!!! if you have to fix it you pay the prices of the original MSRP luxury price $$$$. In the Aurora's case $37,000 MSRP

If I couldn't fix, I wouldn't own an Aurora, I'd go broke if something broke. I just replace my own radiator for $200, dealer $400+labor.

Encourage your grandson to keep the car and kudo's for buying the manual. If he has the will/patience and support he will learn skills that will serve him well his whole life.

We will certainly encourage him to keep it, whether his Mom allows it or not remains to be seen. We agree on the life skills, he works with my husband in his shop now, trouble is its a woodshop, so won't help with this...... Thank you for your reply and also to SweetWilliam, lots of good info there. I am printing out all the replies to save and use. Angels all around you, Sherry

[Retro-D]

Originally Posted by Sher

We will certainly encourage him to keep it, whether his Mom allows it or not remains to be seen. We agree on the life skills, he works with my husband in his shop now, trouble is its a woodshop, so won't help with this...... Thank you for your reply and also to SweetWilliam, lots of good info there. I am printing out all the replies to save and use. Angels all around you, Sherry

If the Aurora doesn’t work out due to its complexity and expensive replacement parts consider a V6 Camaro. The V6 Camaro is relatively simple mechanically with a very durable engine, parts are plentiful new and used and the cars have a large support group on the web. A great ‘hands on’ car for the younger driver. I own both cars so I have experience working on each. I hope things work out with your grandsons Aurora and it can be deemed reliable, they are an awesome vehicle when working properly.

[Sher]

Originally Posted by Retro-D

If the Aurora doesn’t work out due to its complexity and expensive replacement parts consider a V6 Camaro. The V6 Camaro is relatively simple mechanically with a very durable engine, parts are plentiful new and used and the cars have a large support group on the web. A great ‘hands on’ car for the younger driver. I own both cars so I have experience working on each. I hope things work out with your grandsons Aurora and it can be deemed reliable, they are an awesome vehicle when working properly.

Well Thank you, once again a great tip, will hope his car works out, if not this is certainly nice to know and I know the Camaro would appeal to him, heck it would appeal to me if I wasn't a minivan-Truck to pull RV person.....Sherry

[not_mine]

Originally Posted by Retro-D

If the Aurora doesn’t work out due to its complexity and expensive replacement parts consider a V6 Camaro. The V6 Camaro is relatively simple mechanically with a very durable engine, parts are plentiful new and used and the cars have a large support group on the web. A great ‘hands on’ car for the younger driver. I own both cars so I have experience working on each. I hope things work out with your grandsons Aurora and it can be deemed reliable, they are an awesome vehicle when working properly.

The olds or anything with a northstar motor can get very expensive and not any joe can work on them!

Tell him To get a S-10 pickup! I love mine! I've had it for over six years and 175,xxx miles! Ran strong withthe 4.3 v6 and very dependable! You can find a good one for under $8000 with low miles.