Sold Howdy, Cowboys! *New Pictures, see Page 8!*

[Eddie Honda]

Dang those crusty rocker panels!

[Six-cylinder]

I really like your Park Avenue but when Mrs Cyl worked in the US 1997-98 I fell in Love with the new Riviera and would still like one today.

[brownnova]

That really is an awesome buy! Everything about it is 100% win!!

[midnite]

all i can see when i look at the car is this.

[Lukas]

Yesterday, I started cleaning the Buick on the inside and by doing that, I discovered a hole in the trunk-carpet. That made me a bit nervous.

Mostly because the hole was melted into the carpet. Not cut into it. And why would a carpet melt in a car-boot? 

 

Bingo, because someone with absolutely no commitment tried to weld some rust-spots without any effort. I dismantled the boot-trim and 

discovered the horrors... 

 

 

Marked red, you can see the little rust-hole behind the right back strut. What did they do? They did not cut the rust out and welded new metal in. 

They welded two (!) different plates of metal on it without cutting it out.   And after that, they did not apply primer or something like that. All the waxoyl

you can see there was applied by me for my peace of mind. There is road-muck inside the boot under the boot-carpet too, but I don´t want to know

where this is coming from. 

 

And I found a complete transcription from all the services done to the car since 2002. Hidden behind the glove-box.   In March 2011, the owner

wrote "front axle welded".    I really don´t want to know what they welded exactly and if the same welding-expert that did the right rear strut did this too. 

 

And with all the other things (rust around the back window, rusted-through a-pillar on the left, rusted through right sill, cracked right fender, rusty boot-floor)

that will have to be done to keep it on the road, I would say I know how the Buicks future looks like. 

 

I´ll drive and enjoy it until the first expensive thing goes wrong and then, I will be doing this with it:

 

My wife already approved: The Buick will become her raised flower bed. I´ll take the front and back seats for the living room, the engine and transmission

will get sold, all the fluids drained and my wife will grow flowers and tomatos and salad in it during summer.  And I am not joking! 

 

My son (4 month old tomorrow) will have the coolest garden-birthday-parties! 

 

And until then, I´ll drive it as much as I can. No matter if the roads are full of salt and muck. I´ll enjoy it as long as it runs fine. 

[worldofceri]

Much as I'd like to see the Buick kept on the road, I'd also very much like to see a Buick-based garden planter.

[billyboy406v6]

Have these even got a front axle ? Pics requested for further debate !

[D Spares & Tyres]

Wuss

 

It's just a bit of rust.....

[Lukas]

Yeah, and it´s nothing major or really critical. 

 

But the car has a lot of bad points (bad paint, rust, cracked wing aso) and it´s almost worthless, even here in Austria. I am a Pajero-man, so I will

not spend more money on the Buick as necessary. It´s just a cheap toy to have fun with. I will not try to keep this Park Avenue alive for ensuing ages.

This may be possible with a nicer example in better condition. This one for example: http://www.automobile-riekmann.at/verkauf/buick_park_avenue_1994_grau.htm

But not with mine. 

 

As long as it drives well, is reliable and does not let me down, it will stay on the road. But in that moment when the first expensive thing goes wrong,

it will become a garden planter. 

 

 

 

Have these even got a front axle ? Pics requested for further debate !

 

It does not have a front axle, but it´s got a front subframe. Which is very rustprone. And it´s got subframe-mounting-points that are critical if they are rusty.

I looked at them and tried to investigate where the welding was done, but could not see anything without a hydraulic lifting ramp. Because all the plastic

under the engine has to be removed to look at the subframe. But from what I am able to see under the car, the front subframe and even the mounting-points

do not look like they were severely rusty. Of course I sprayed waxoyl on everything. 

 

I will have to get it on a ramp and investigate further. Maybe in January. 

 

Today, I cruised around in it and except the very bad headlights, it´s a very cool car. 

[D Spares & Tyres]

No idea how to value that so not sure if worth fixing it

 

I could not put soil upon that dashboard though

[Lukas]

Today, I looked at the price-list and the car-.catalog of 1996. All cars officially sold in Austria this year. 

 

The Park Avenue was for sale at 699.000 Schilling. That would be ~ 50.000 Euro. In 1996! So it was a very expensive

and exclusive car. 

 

But compared to the other cars that were available back then, I don´t know why you would buy a Park Avenue for so

much money. A Volvo 960/S90 could be had for ~ 500.000 Schilling for example

 

If you compare the build quality, the quality of the materials used, the longevity or the rust-protection, it´s a no-brainer

really where it´s better to spend this huge amount of money. 

 

A friend of mine got a 1995 Volvo 960 2.5 24V some weeks ago. Compared to the Buick, the Volvo is built like a tank.

The Buick rattles and squeeks on bad roads. There is a lot of cheap plastics used in the interieur, the build quality is 

not so good over all and if you look behind all the bling jewellery around it, you will see cheap engineering everywhere. 

 

So you must have been a huge fan of americano-shite back then to spend so much money on a car that depreciated faster

than anything else, even in Austria. Because from the sensible point of view, with this amount of money your could have

bought a lot better cars for less money. Ok, not that well-equipped as standard maybe, but with better quality all around.

 

The first owner of mine was the boss of a company that sold and rented forklifts. So I guess he got it as his company car

to attract attention and stand out of the crowd. And of course he did not buy it. He leased it. 

[Junkman]

I paid about 225,000 Schilling for my 1993 in 1996, still a lot of money. In Belgium, it had cost about 500,000 Schilling new. The price in Germany was 73,000 Marks,

about 510,000 Schilling. In Belgium, a new 960 cost about 560,000 Schilling at the time, so there goes. Obviously a heavy import tax was levied onto US chod in Austria,

wheras there was none whatsoever on Swedish EFTA tat.

I couldn't really fault the Buick on quality nor engineering, and wouldn't be seen dead in an OVLOV, what only Scots and teachers drive, to begin with.

For me, it would be the Buick every time.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Flower bed ? Noooooo ! When you want rid, just put an ad on here and one of us is bound to turn up at your doorstep with a handful of euro notes and Junkman in tow !

[djimbob]

That is a beauty, the interior is amazeballs as the kids would say if they saw it, you should preserve it in a home office type environment, dashboard et al, like being in your own little Starship enterprise, well played Sir

[eddyramrod]

Flower bed ? Noooooo ! When you want rid, just put an ad on here and eddyramrod is bound to turn up at your doorstep with a handful of euro notes and Junkman in tow !

EFA

[danthecapriman]

I can't believe what I'm hearing! Don't chop it up, it's still too good for that.

It's only a bit of rust and welding. If you can't weld to fix it maybe this is a good opportunity to learn a new skill and save a really nice car.

[Lukas]

Today has been an eventful day. 

 

I drove the Buick to a friends workshop to see in what condition it really is. The car stood a few days in the snow 

and when I drove it, everything was fine. After ~ 30km, the "ABS"- light and the "Traction Control OFF"-light came on. 

 

It may have something to do with the week it was abandoned on the drive in the snow and salt. Maybe an ABS-sensor

on it´s way out. I kept on going.

 

Then, there came this mountain saddle I had to drive over. All was fine, the 3.8 litre V6 pulled like a train but suddenly,

the "Check Engine"-light came on. 

 

 

So there was "Washer Fluid low", "Check Engine", "ABS" and "Traction OFF". Oh what a feeling...   That´s exactly how

it started with my infamous Volvo S80 back in the days... 

 

But as the ParkAve does not have a CAN-Bus, it brought me to the workshop without letting me down. 

 

After restarting the engine, the "ABS" and "Traction OFF" was gone  , but the "Check Engine" remained. So he checked with the

OBD-scanner and there was one fault. It said "Transmission Component Slipping".   What ever that means. He is a Subaru-specialist,

so did not know what it was too. He cleared the fault and the "Check Engine"-light was gone. 

 

We checked the undercarriage and there were the first good news. The right sill and both a-pillars are rusted trough, but that´s an

easy fix. Not a lot to weld, he is confident it can be done easily. We undersealed the car and touched up the waxoyl so the salt

is not eating it too fast. 

 

On my drive home, I drove off without any lights on the dashboard. After ~ 10 km, the "ABS" and "Traction OFF" came on again. 

So no ABS and no traction control, but I can live without it too. So not a real problem. 

 

It was a nice and relaxing drive and of course I had to drive over the mountin saddle again. And ~ 100 metres before the crest, I almost

made it, the "Check Engine"-light came on again.   So the car hates mountains. The light never came on when driving in town or on the 

Autobahn or in the flat country. 

 

But no matter what, I was in the mood to take a picture on the crest:

 

 

Not much snow as you can see. There should be at least half a metre more. 

 

After I got home, all lights on but no problems thankfully, I checked and the Fault-Code "Transmission Component Slipping"

seems to be very popular with GM-cars in the US. Some say it´s an expensive repair because the torque converter has to get

changed and the transmission overhauled, others say it´s not a real problem: "Just drive it as long as you dont have problems

while driving it.". Hmmm... 

 

I´ve just bought an OBD-scanner so I am able to clear the fault code by myself. Let´s see if the "Check Engine" comes on when

driving on normal roads too now or just on mountain roads. 

 

Lukas

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I love this picture, I know it's the wrong sort of 90's GMmobile, but it looks as if Paulie Walnuts and Chris Moltisanti are just about to get a Russian out of the boot.

[Lukas]

For extra-shite-points, here you can see it parked in front of my friends workshop. 

I bet you all love* the two TATA Indica Vista and the Aixam Crossline next too it. 

 

[danthecapriman]

Is it worth changing transmission oil and filter? Certainly can't do any harm either way.

 

Still a bloody nice looking car though.

[Lukas]

The oil and filter has been changed at 191.000km. Now it has 215.000 so I think there is no need too. 

 

Will try to figure out what "Transmission Component Slipping" really means and what may cause that. 

I am just curious why this only happened after quite a long incline. 

[danthecapriman]

Probably nothing wrong with oil then. Maybe it's just the snow/ice on road and the long incline making the transmission work hard and get hot.

I'd only be worrying if it did it all the time on flat roads etc.

[Bren]

Lumas I hope your luck improves and the buick does not become an artificial reef.

[Bren]

I mean Lukas - don't type and hold a baby at the same time.

[mercrocker]

Its still a lovely car.....I find this quite useful for those pesky warning lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, my car has two warning lights and no gauges.   It hasn't gone bang yet and I never worry......

 

 

 

[For Fiats Sake]

Sod the yank tank I want to no moar about the TaTa la Vista Baby!

[Rocket88]

Check engine might be ecu confused by high altitude, running a bit lean?

[Asimo]

Presumably the transmission has lockup to bypass the torque converter whilst cruising? Maybe the lockup clutch is slipping a bit on the long uphill? Try putting the transmission in 3 or hold or whatever the mode is called, to prevent the change into top gear on those long uphills.

[Lukas]

My girl is visiting her parents this weekend and I took the chance to occupy the garage and give the interieur a good clean. 

 

After a lot of hoovering, wiping and polishing, the interieur looks like that now:

 

 

It´s such a nice place to be. I am in love with the interieur once more. 

 

And see what I found while cleaning the armrest:

 

 

I phoned the guy I bought the car from and asked him why there are so many british coins in it. He told me last year,

he was visiting England and Ireland with the car on holiday. 7000km without any problems. 

 

It seems I´m not that lucky... 

 

Because after the interieur, I thought I´d check the oil-level. All fine. But when I looked at the coolant, I discovered a completely

empty reservoir.  I opened the radiator: Empty.  Now I know the reason why the car always smokes white, even when warm. 

 

 

I thought that´s because of the cold weather. No, it´s because it´s burning it!    No coffee-coloured goo on the fillter-cap though,

so I´ll look and see how fast the water disappears. 

 

Have a picture from the engine without it´s plastic cover, just because I took one:

 

 

At the moment, there are more black clouds on the Buicks horizon than ever before. When I bought it, it ran perfect, no warning

lights, it seemed there is nothing wrong with it. Now, after only 500km, the coolant disappeared and the transmission may have a 

problem. The faulty ABS-sensor is not a big thing compared to new head-gaskets and a transmission overhaul in the worst case. 

 

I have very ambivalent feelings when I think of the Buick.

 

I love the looks I get from pedestrians who do not know what car it is. I love the very relaxing drive it offers. I love the interieur with

it´s super-comfy seats, the great dashboard and the fantastic driving position. I love the colour-combination, the little details like

the emblems, the hood-ornament and all the tinsel on and inside the car. 

 

But I hate the electronics with all it´s sensors and warning lights. I hate the sword of Damocles hanging over me with the "Transmission

Component Slipping"-fault and the disappearing coolant. I hate the thought about spending thousands of Euros on the car just to 

keep it moving. Because it´s almost worthless. 

 

Oh how boring the world and my life would be as the "owner" of a bank-financed new Mazda3. 

[For Fiats Sake]

I suspect the other half has sabotaged the coolant hoping for that raised flower bed.

 

I'm much the same when it comes to checking levels, I hardly ever check anything, I'm surprised there wasn't a low coolant warning light, had one on the SD1 that came on stuck in traffic and pissed its water everywhere, car lived on though.