Mechanical repairs:
Car had a P0410 DTC for Secondary Air Injection Reaction Pump system.
-Pump was dead. Replaced pump. Drilled a 1/4” hole in the bottom of the rubber shield to allow any water intrusion to drain away.
-Pump was missing the intake filter screen. Replaced with one from a salvage yard.
-Performed TSB #04-06-04-037: repositioned intake hose to prevent sucking in water.
-Relay to Secondary Air Injection Reaction pump was dead. Replaced relay.
-30 amp fuse in fuse block had melted the fuse block around that fuse. Replaced fuse block with one from salvage yard, and installed new fuse.
-Replaced the Secondary Air exhaust manifold check valve because it was the only part left of the Secondary Air circuit, and why not?
Car had a P1404 DTC for EGR closed position performance.
-Replaced with an EGR from a salvage yard. Problem continued to occur.
-Replaced with a new EGR. Problem continued to occur.
-Took car to dealer and had TSB #01-06-04-018A performed: Reprogram PCM with new calibration tables for EGR valve. Problem has no longer occurred.
Car had a Traction Control light on, and Magnasteer was obviously not working.
-Replaced the EBCM with one from a salvage yard. Magnasteer restored, Traction Control light out.
Fuel lines were leaking at connectors to fuel rails.
-Replaced all fuel lines and fuel filter all the way back to the tank with new.
Upper intake was leaking oil around the gasket.
-Replaced upper intake and gasket with new.
Water Pump was leaking.
-Replaced water pump with new. Replaced coolant bypass elbows with new aluminum elbows.
Oil pan was leaking. Transmission pan was leaking. Drivetrain was making a chirping noise.
-Dropped the oil pan, inspected lower engine. (It looked great.) Installed new oil pan gasket, reinstalled oil pan, changed oil and filter.
-Replaced harmonic balancer.
-Dropped subframe. Inspected torque converter. Found torque converter was wrong model (The neighbor I sold the car to had a transmission rebuild shortly after I sold it to her.)
-Replaced torque converter with correct new converter.
-Replaced lower control arms with new arms.
-Changed transmission fluid, filter, & gasket.
-Replaced lower engine mount and transmission mount with new.
Car’s original struts were completely shot.
-Replaced all struts and springs with a gently used (5000 miles) set from a ClubGP member with Vogtland springs and KYB AGX adjustable struts.
-Replaced front and rear sway bar end links with new Moog end link kits.
-Installed front and rear shock-tower bars sourced from salvage yard from a Monte Carlo and a Buick Century, using Don Rome brackets.
Car’s tires were shot.
-Replaced with Goodyear Triple-Treds and an alignment.
Air filter was dirty and housing clamp clips were missing.
-Replaced air filter with new, replaced clamp clips with clips sourced from salvage yard.
Interior & Exterior repairs:
-Had the rear window tint re-done.
Car had passenger floor water leak.
-Verified weatherstrip had fallen into blower housing. Replaced weatherstrip, but also installed new deflector part #15794785, and installed cabin air filter because why not?
Driver’s door weatherstrip was torn.
-Replaced with weatherstrip sourced from salvage yard.
Passenger sideview mirror mount was broken.
-Replaced sideview mirror assembly with one sourced from salvage yard.
Driver’s seat support mesh was shattered.
-Sourced a good-condition passenger seat from salvage yard, cannibalized it for the support mesh and foam seat cushion and rebuilt the driver’s seat.
Trunk lift struts were shot.
-Replaced with new.
Wiper blades were shot.
-Replaced with new Bosch 22A and 22B blades.
Driver’s A-pillar plastic trim was broken.
-Replaced with trim sourced from salvage yard.
Driver’s sun visor w/electric lit mirror had badly torn fabric.
-Replaced with one sourced from eBay.
Interior carpet was torn.
-Replaced with a carpet sourced from a salvage yard & given a good power wash.
Center console cupholder module was broken.
-Replaced with module sourced from salvage yard.
Shifter had torn boot.
-Replaced shifter assembly with one sourced from salvage yard.
Blower fan knob broke.
-Replaced with new sourced from eBay.
Rear spoiler had problems. It had one or two mounting bolts that broke off inside it and rattled around whenever I opened or closed the trunk lid.
-Removed spoiler, cut a hole around 2” in diameter in the underside of it with a hole-saw and fished out the broken parts and vacuumed out the crud that was rattling around inside it. Re-mounted the spoiler with new bolts to replace the broken ones, and added nylon spacers to allow a slight space beneath the spoiler so debris can be washed away.
OEM OnStar antenna was broken.
-I could have just removed the whole thing, but I like to keep the look original even though the analog OnStar service is obsolete, so I sourced a used antenna from eBay and replaced it, just because.
All of the door interior trim panels had broken nylon barbed fasteners and cracked trim strips along the top by the window.
-I restored each trim panel with new nylon fasteners and replaced the broken trim strips with Trim Gard #22L-01 edge trim.
One of the headlights had a cracked plastic mounting bracket.
-I repaired it with epoxy and reinstalled.
Rear deck trim padding was rotted.
-Replaced with new foam padding.
And of course on top of all of that, I cleaned the heck out of *everything*. I had the entire interior out of the car and cleaned everything. I used magic-erasers and leather restoring gel on all the leather interior surfaces.
I have a couple lingering problems I’m shooting down.
-Lots of plastic rattles inside. Center console & steering wheel buttons are particularly noisy.
-One of the pulleys in the engine is screeching after driving for around a half hour. I think it’s the water pump I recently had replaced. Next week it will be replaced again under warranty, but I may have the tensioner assembly replaced at the same time just to rule out future age-related problems from it, and a new belt.
-The rear door driver-side door lock is not working with the remote or the buttons inside the car. But then it briefly did work today with both the remote and the buttons, so I’ll have to troubleshoot the wiring. I just hate taking the door trim panels off, because each time some of the nylon fasteners get all torn up.
-When I had the front door trim panels off, I replaced the factory Bose speakers with aftermarket Infinity’s, but everyone knows aftermarket speakers sound quiet with the factory amp because of the extreme low impedance of the OEM Bose speakers. I have plans to tap the wires to the Bose amp and hook up an aftermarket amp. I won’t start that project until I get the last engine issues ironed out.
-Once everything is done, I’ll think about paint. The replacement passenger sideview mirror housing is painted black rather than blue, and the rear bumper and spoiler need painting, and frankly the whole car could use a refresh on paint. I haven’t decided if I’ll do some paint work myself or just have a shop respray the entire car.
Other than the pulley squealing, the car is running and driving great. The AGX struts are a touch stiff, so I might dial them down. The Triple-Treds and the shock tower bars and new lower control arms and sway bar endlinks and motor mounts have everything nice and tight. The car handles like it’s on rails. With almost 208,000 miles, it's in really good shape now, and makes a nice spare car for us. If it doesn't get wrecked in the next five years, my eldest son will get to drive it. It's a decent project car for now.
