1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Anniversary

The Sunday after the Saturday I brought the car home it would not start. I discovered this at about 7:30 at night and needed to get to work in the morning so after jumper cables and determining that the batery was not the problem I knew exactly where to look. The positive battery terminal. Well sure enough they were green enough under the "detailed" red plastic insulation to get their own zip code. Upon removeing stud to clean the two cables I found the large donut or spacer was not there but instead a lock washers and some cobbled up square washer. Then sliding the red insulation back I found the cable at the crimp was so green it was also stiff down 2 inchs below the crimp under the black cable insulation. I cleaned them up and put the donut from my 86 LeSabre in there and all was fine for now. The flat connection ends were pitted, even one hole, and the burrs that are on them for good bite into the lead battery were gone.

Now this is why the car was scheduled to go in for work - the shifter and the battery cables. I told them exactly all of the above and that I wanted new cables and be glad they didnt have to come and tow it like would have been with nearly anyone else. I also told them "I wanted my donut back it was mine and belonged in my 1986 150,000 mile LeSabre that still did not have green ends" Well dont you know the "tech" took it off and couldnt see a problem :lol: It was so stiff and pitted I couldnt believe my ears. I also said thats because I cleaned it and it would come back and bite me in the ass within a year.

Then between the call to get the appointment and the time I dropped it off it began to act funny after slowing down and then trying to resume speed, like no matter how much gas you gave it until nearly floored. This is what was determined to be a tranny problem. Well they had to fix that and while I feel bad for them I did pay a premium for a 72,000 mile 5 year old car - 8000 plus my now believed to be the best car ever - Regal.

So this morning the car was to be picked up but I called to see if they changed the cable and NO. They are now changing the cable :angry: but are still sticking to the "typical ware" excuse for the shifter that I feel is damaged inside the column somewhere.

There has been a very bad air over this car and transaction. I drove it a total of one week so far and that was with all these problems. To top it all off I expect the infomous L36 issues within 20,000 miles.

I MISS MY REGAL

The only thing I had to do when I bought my current was replace this part that was not connecting with the automatic transmission. Because I have digital gauges, my car tells me to the detail what is wrong. It was saome electronic part they use in Cadillac Devilles that lets the transmission know what you are shifting. I know on my first Ninety Eight I had a rebuilt transmission when I bought that car. I did not notice it until I bought the car. That car had a lot of problems with it. My dealer spent quite a bit of time repairing things with my first Ninety Eight that were wrong with the car. I do not miss that car, but it served its purpose. When I say I repaired a lot of things on that car, I am not kidding.

I replaced the computer on the 1994 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight and a host of other things. I remember when that happened to me coming home from work. They asked me how did that car make it all the way across town to the dealership. The car should have died and stall, but it did not. It affected the air conditioning, and all the gauges. I replaced the struts(1100.00) and on and on and on.

This Ninety Eight I have now is like night and day compared to the other one. A huge difference. I knew what to look for too. It also helped my when I bought it, my friend drove it from Iowa to Texas for me too.