170 K on the engine

[Bluthunder]

I just bought a 91 Les with 170K on the engine. I runs really strong and quiet. How long with proper maintenance should these things run? There will be few road miles, most town. Is it better to use Mobile 1 or an oil that is for high milage cars?

[avatar307]

I just started using high milage oil, transmission fluid, and coolant in my 95 LeSabre with the same number of miles. Who knows if it's better, but hell, it couldn't hurt. It's just got some extra additives in it that clean and lubricate that I likely would of added anyway. It's only about $2/gal more expensive.

Though I'm considering starting to use full synthetic oil this next time... just cause... no real reason. I'll have to research all that though.

There are people in this forum that own 1986 LeSabres with 250,000 miles on them. Still running with minimal repairs. Most of those cars are just starting to need more intensive troubleshooting and repairs now, after 15-20 years and 250+k miles.

Currently, I've begun some extended maintenance work on my 1995 LeSabre, due to it's age and the number of miles. A lot of it is preventative maintenance, and mostly just because I enjoy it.

-Replaced spark plugs.
They had over 125k on them, no filiment left, and a .075 gap (.060 is correct). Engine never misfired, stalled, or hesitated. Didn't know until I had them out.

-Replaced the air filter
They don't often need replaced, only cleaned every 15k miles or so. I had driven the car without a fender, so the filter was pretty well torn up. Plus, it had a lot of miles on it.

-Replaced the fuel filter
Hadn't been done in at least 50+k miles, so I changed it. Recommended interval is roughly as often as the air filter is changed.

-Replaced the transmission pan gasket and filter. Recommended maintence interval is... ever 30k miles for the fluid and filter for cars built prior to 1995. I doubt anyone does it that often. I had a erratic transmission fluid leak, which was corrected with the new gasket.
***Be sure to only tighten the pan bolt to the recommended torque specifications, or the gasket WILL continue leaking.

-Replaced the coolant thermostat, flushed the radiator, changed the engine coolant.
Coolant is supposed to be flushed and replaced every 2 years or 30k miles I believe. I had at least 150k miles on the coolant, so I changed it and replaced the thermostat at the same time.

-Replaced the water pump and gasket.
Major reason for replacement is because I believed it was the source of my coolant leak, supplimented by the fact that it had enough miles on it to justify replacing it.

-Replaced the plastic coolant bypass fitting in the intake manifold.
Source of my coolant leak. Requires removing the alternator to access it. Apparently they break all the time causing a very erratic and hard to find coolant leak. AutoZone also doesn't have the part or the associated hose listed, but they carry them. The bypass hose is the smaller hose the runs from the top of water pump into the intake manifold, the fitting on the manifold is plastic. Being plastic, when it breaks, it's a bitch to remove the other half. You might want to replace it before it breaks.

And that's all the maintenance I've done to my Buick. Most of it routine, most of it preventative, and all of it in the last 15,000 miles.

Only other problems I can remember are a bad fuel pump, a bad igntion coil, and temperature sensor tha caused the cruise control to die when the A/c was turned on. The former two occured before 50k miles, the latter occured around 100k miles.

Right now, I'm considering replacing my O2 sensors to see if I can get a little better gas mileage. Replacing the spark plugs with ones gapped correctly gained me 3-5 MPG. So...

[tman]

Like Avatar said, minimal maintenence is required to keep these things running, some of the things he replaceds weren't really necessary at the time(water pump) but if he's got the time and money, more power to you.

I've seen the good ole 3800 reach 300000 easily, and one or two with 750000 or so.

[Mechanic_of_URL]

I have found that Castrol GTX has worked very well for me in the past. I once had to rebuild a 350ci v8 that had been run on the stuff for 362,000+ miles, and there wasn't any buildup anywhere in the motor. It looked like a motor that had only been run for about 30k miles, with the exception of the metal flakes in the oil pan from one of the bearings. Since then, that is the oil I have used, and have never seen goop in the oil pan.

"Be sure to only tighten the pan bolt to the recommended torque specifications, or the gasket WILL continue leaking."
That, or you will strip the aluminum on the tranny.

[tman]

I forgot to add this: I've always used regualr old havoline 10W-30 in all of my 3800's. I do alot of the preventative work as you do, so my engine always performs at it's best. I'm sure synthetic is better for it, but if regular works okay for me, i say dont mess with it.

[Cro]

I owned a 1990 lesabre for a while. got it at around 170k too and ran it hard past 200k. Never had big problems. I did have some isses with the theromostat. Also i had some issues with the car stalling for a while, but that went away. The biggest problem was running into the back of an suv. That was the last of the lesabre. It wasnt worth fixing, even though it ran fine after the accident.

[redly1]

the powertrain in my 91 lesabre will outlast the body
it's got 109k, runs well and doesn't leak any fluids.

BUT, when I went to jack it up to change the brake pads, the lip where the car meets the jack bent and pushed up into the body. Pathetic. I swear every white 90-91 Lesabre in town (amazingly in a town of 7500 there are at least 4) is a total rust bucket.

[avatar307]

I'm sure synthetic is better for it, but if regular works okay for me, i say dont mess with it.

Synthetic is more expensive, something like twice as much. But, synthetic also does not break down near as fast as regular oil. Thus, it should last at least twice as long. That's the only reason I've been considering switching to synthetic, because in theory it should cost me the same amount.

That, or you will strip the aluminum on the tranny.

Manufactuer torque specs for the 4T60-E oil pan is 20Nm/13ft.lbs. (I not going to look it up to make sure that's exactly right.) My point is, that's barely any torque, which is why it's worth mentioning.

I wouldn't expect there to be a serious danger of stripping the aluminium threads until you reach 50Nm/32ft.lbs. or so. The rubber gasket should be seriously deformed, pushed out from under the pan edge, by 35Nm. Hopefully most people would stop tightening the bolts by that point. LOL

[beeaatch]

just recently purchased a 96 lesabre with 172k myself.car also runs strong and is a pleasure to drive and gets great mileage on the highway,im running the synthetic because i believe the benifits far outway the use of rock or dinosoar oil(non synthetic).one concern with synthetic oil is higher mileage engines tend to have oil leaks and if you convert to synthetic oil it tends to leak more because of the flow characteristics of synthetic oil.on the flip side synthetic oil tends to make seals more pliable and expand for better oil control in additon to allowing the piston rings to seal better.you decide,if you're looking for longevity out of the car id say run the synthetic.

[redly1]

I'll have to second the "synthetic makes older cars leak more". Hell, I had a 99 Camry w/ ~95k that didn't leak a drop until I put synthetic in it.
I was driving it hard (~80mph nonstop for 500 mile trips twice a week), so I figured I needed the extra protection. Man did that get expensive

[tman]

I must have a special engine then, I've 148000 miles, never leaked, doesn't burn any oil, starts quicker than some new cars on cold mornings, and when I change the oil, it isn't black, but the same amber color it was when I poured it in.

[redly1]

tman..
sounds like a keeper!
just curious, do you do alot of highway driving? I don't think I've ever had a car (new or used) that didn't have dark oil at the 3000 mile interval.
Cheers!

[buickmastermind]

"I wouldn't expect there to be a serious danger of stripping the aluminium threads until you reach 50Nm/32ft.lbs. or so."

Actually, that's what I though...until I tried putting them at 25ft/lbs (recommended was 20ft/lbs in my book, and I didn't want to take any chances). They strip around 23ft/lbs on mine, so I would imagine that it is the same for others as well.

Havoline, Castrol, and Texaco oils are the only oils I will even consider putting in my car. They are all Texas oils.

My car would start up as soon as I turn the key, but the battery, brand new, won't hold more than 11 volts. Three batteries in a row all have shown the same symptomes, and I think its about time to get a new altenator.

[avatar307]

"Havoline, Castrol, and Texaco oils are the only oils I will even consider putting in my car. They are all Texas oils."

Dude... I live in Texas... and that right there is more than enough reason NOT to use any product from those manufactuers. The PR statement they use to promote tourism in Texas is "Texas - It's like a whole other country." -- That statement has more truth than I ever imagined.

As far as synthetic making old gaskets leak more... Well, I was going to replace my oil pan gasket next time I change my oil anyway. I'm tired of the pain being all greesy... but I'd be doing it more just for the entertainment. So perhaps it would be a good time to try out synthetic too. I'm all about envrionmentalism after all...

When I was BSing with my brother about running synthetic, he advised that I should buy an extra quart or two when I move to sythetic. Because when switching, the car will either burn some oil for a while or all the old gaskets will absorb the oil... or something.

[tman]

I actually wind up changing my oil around 2000 miles because I CANT afford another car. I rarely get it on the highway, I usually drive it to school and back, but they're long roads, with no cop patrols on them, and a limit of 55. I usually crank it to about 60-65, so you could consider it highway, when it's really not.

I change the filter EVERY time too, what intervals does everyone else do, out of curiousity?