Scottys Riv Problem Thread update 8/13

i already called and left a message for the guy to hopefully correct this.

"I screwed up your alignment and didn't catch it" = I am totally unqualified for my job.

lol thats the dif between a service advisor and a mechanic.

Or a Mechanic and a Technician.
Huge difference.

Rickw wrote:

Or a Mechanic and a Technician.
Huge difference.

Or a 20-year-old and a 40-year-old...

"Age, talent and cunning will always overcome youth, health and skill"

lol all i know is im a customer...and i want my car to be back to good. lol

Yeah it's from the subframe being out. They didn't line it up right when they reinstalled. I did this job myself and it wasn't that easy to line back up, but it wasn't that hard either... Don't let them realign the front end until they center the subframe where it belongs.

i have an appointment for next week to have them fix it. yea its not the greatest for the car to have it off like that but i dont drive much and im reallly not gona be drivin much if i dont go to st lucie for the fla hangout.

If it's out enough that you can feel it, your tires may be bald in a few hundred miles.

i dont even plan on drivin 100 miles

ok..i went for a lil drive...6 miles to and 6 miles back from the park...on the way..everything was a-ok. get about 1 mile a way and i notice a squeak..not loud..but could hear it..only happened when accelerating. it got louder as i got really close..car sat for about 2 hours..i leave and its still squeakin loud..again..only when accelerating. so i pulled into a parkin lot and called my dad..he said it may or may not be sumthin they did when installin the tranny. i hate callin him for car help cuz wit all the problems i have had wit it i usually get this reponse from my mom...
"ur sure throwin a lot of money into this car, me and ur father think u should get a new one"(i havent put any mod money into it..everything has been just bad luck..heres my list that i can remember..

hit a curb messed up a rim bad ($75)
got hit in a parkin lot from the front by a jeep(not my fault)
got hit from behind by a civic(not my fault)
got cut off and they scraped my bumper(no action)
trunk leaked and the solanoid broke($65)
on going oil leaked that last about 6 months(total cost around at least $350)
water pump--and like 2 other things(my dad got it covered under warranty as a favor. $400.00)
i hit a wall cuz the car didnt grab the road($320)
got hit and run in a parkin lot(no action)
transmission(so far $560)
brakes rotors pads inspectionx2($450)
oil changes prolly round to ($250)
in all i spent about $2600 in close to 3 years on those stuff so excluding insurance and gas...im really startin to get fed up with this..what do u guys think? i love my car...but is it time to part ways?

xxsupergman25xx wrote:

trunk leaked and the solanoid broke($65)
on going oil leaked that last about 6 months(total cost around at least $350)
water pump--and like 2 other things(my dad got it covered under warranty as a favor. $400.00)
transmission(so far $560)

(correction below in bold)
Scott, above I've omitted the things that either were not the car's fault, or are regular wear items...

I've had the trunk-leak problem, and gone through double water pumps and steering pumps. Pretty much (one would expect) that once these defects are taken care of that should be it for a while... I don't know about the tranny: what does "so far" mean? You obviously couldn't have had a rebuild for that much, so is it "performance mods"?

We all decide how much we will spend based on our love for the machine... If yours in good shape, then my vote is to stay the course. My Rivi has been the best (albeit newest) car that I've ever had.

i've put all kinds of money into my riv (both in mods and repair). i dont expect to get the money back on a sale (not that i would ever sell it). i keep replacing stuff b/c i know a WP here, and a timing chain dampener there is much less than the cost of a replacement car, and i've been lucky enough to be able to fix every problem i've run into since owning the car without taking it to a shop (besides alignments and tires).
i cant say whether you should or shouldnt keep your car, but know w/e car you replace the riv with will have its own set of problems.
my advice would be to keep the riv and start leaning how to fix the things wrong with it on your own (with our help). or sell the 95' and get a 96+ riv that has more available parts and tech support

Quote :

in all i spent about $2600 in close to 3 years on those stuff so excluding insurance and gas...im really startin to get fed up with this..what do u guys think? i love my car...but is it time to part ways?

That sounds like a lot, but it's not considering how much you'd spend on a new car. People try and use repair bills as a reason to get a new car ALL THE TIME. But the truth is, it's almost ALWAYS a smarter and less expensive choice to keep the older car. Think of it this way - most of what you've spent on your Riviera (oil, brakes, all of those accidents) - you'd also spend on any new car as well. And there's this little fact that new car buyers always seem to forget: $200-400 EVERY month for car payment. So no matter what, that's what you'll be forking over, you'll have spent $3000 in just a few months, and then you'll do it again, and again, for about 5 years. You can get a warranty, but you already have a warranty on the Riv. Doesn't get any sweeter than that.

To put in perspective, I had to rebuild my transmission in late 2007. Cost me $2100 out of pocket. I really didn't want to spend that money, but the car was paid off, so I considered it. My fiance's parents were saying, "You need a new car, that one won't last." Her dad was sure the head gasket was next. But I kept the Riv, and just the other day I sat down and did some simple math. Since I did that repair, I've had no other major issues, and I've put 32,000 miles on the car since. That means every mile I drive costs me about 6 1/2 ¢.

So that's less than $.07 per mile to operate my Riv. Want to know how much you'd pay for a new car? Double that at least. Do you want to be paying TWICE the money just so you can drive a "new car"? It's okay to buy a new car, just understand it's a want, not a need. If I ever buy a new car, it'll be spending for fun, not because I can't afford to keep driving a used one.

[quote="AA"]

Quote :

If I ever buy a new car, it'll be spending for fun, not because I can't afford to keep driving a used one.

ditto. i'll still keep the riv (unless resale of them skyrockets) and get my fun car (s).

Financially it makes sense to keep what you have. The initial investment to get something newer does not eliminate the fact that it, too, will have wear and tear items after a few years. The $26000 you might spend on a "New car" will take a reaaaaaly long time to add up to if you just keep maintaining this car. You can't consider it an investment to repair your current ride, but maintenance. You'll never get the maintenance money back out of it in resale value, it just comes with the territory - with ANY CAR.

Take the money you would put into a new car payment, and start setting it aside in a separate bank account. Have the bank auto-transfer the money for you. Then if you need major repairs you can draw from that account, and when it has $20000 in it, you can buy yourself a new car having earned your own interest instead of paying the bank interest on a loan. Worst case scenario, something drastic happens to your car, you've got yourself a little savings to make a hefty down payment on that new car and chop your payments by a big chunk.

thanks guys...def makes it seem like much better sense to just keep it...

i would keep it also. just seen on craigs list there a guy selling a 95 3800 supercharged series 1 for $500 out of a wrecked 95 riv.

hey guyes..its me again...now this MAY or MAY NOT be a big deal.....i havent driven my car in a few days so i cant remember...but i started my car about an hour ago...
needle on gas gauge was just a little over the halway mark. drove about 100ft and the needle now was a little under the halfway mark. drive about 4 miles and gradually the needle made its way around the 1/4 mark. i pulled in to a parking lot got out...(it was raining) i didnt smell any gas. opened the hood and still nothing. went up and down just a little on the way home and stayed on the 1/4. so im gonna keep an eye on it. but im a little nervous.. i know the Rivs gauge does fluxuate. but its has never done it this bad before.

xxsupergman25xx wrote:

hey guyes..its me again...now this MAY or MAY NOT be a big deal.....i havent driven my car in a few days so i cant remember...but i started my car about an hour ago...
needle on gas gauge was just a little over the halway mark. drove about 100ft and the needle now was a little under the halfway mark. drive about 4 miles and gradually the needle made its way around the 1/4 mark. i pulled in to a parking lot got out...(it was raining) i didnt smell any gas. opened the hood and still nothing. went up and down just a little on the way home and stayed on the 1/4. so im gonna keep an eye on it. but im a little nervous.. i know the Rivs gauge does fluxuate. but its has never done it this bad before.

Well with the way mine goes (and most others i know), the needle basically starts dropping like a rock after about a half tank. So if it says there's a quarter tank left it may only be a gallon or two tops. I wouldn't worry about it unless you just filled up, but even then it would most likely be some sort of gauge error rather than a gas leak.

ive seen the drop quickly before...but nothing this fast before. even with WOT when it was at that point right after half empty.

likely just the gauge misreading. fill the tank up to be certain and reset the odo. the 95 and 96's have 19.6gal tank and mine will have about 3 gals left when the light comes on.

im prayin thats not what it is.....would an error in the cam (i think it was) cause this?

Hey, that's just the kinda' fuel consumption you gotta' expect with a big American coupe!

But seriously, GM built a whole bunch of these sending units with too much slack in the arm. If you're not having any noise or other fuel pump problems, don't let some shyster sell you a whole pump & sending unit assembly. Search the site here for fuel gauge or fuel sender and you'll find writeups that explain the whole fuel pump access procedure (through the trunk, very simple tools.) You can buy a sending unit alone for $50-100, or you can try to fix it the way I did mine...

The bushing that holds the sending arm on is too loose, but it's so tough that you can't even use a vise & a hammer to squish it down and remove the play between the brushes and the resistor board (what used to be the windings...).

However, after you detach the sender from the main pump assembly, you can then unsnap the resistor board from the rest of the sender unit, and that gives you just enough clearance to bend the brushes back toward where the board was. This gives them more tension against the resistor board when you snap it back in, and the ability to "shock absorb" the play in the bushing...

I put everything back together and it has worked perfectly for nearly 4 years and cost nothing.

Safety note:
Now, no one here has blown themselves up yet (at least, we've had no reports from the next of kin ) However, since I don't know what the locking ring on the top of the gas tank is made of, I wouldn't bang on it with anything ferrous, 'cuz one spark can ruin your whole day... Brass or bronze or plastic hammers and drifts/punches are best. If you have to use a steel tool you should wrap some duct tape around it.

Now the check engine light is on constantly. put exactly 5 gallons in and the gauge responded like normal. (went to halfway) lol i drove about 6 miles conservatively. and it looks like 1 gallon is gone. im drivin somwhere tonight which is like 8 miles away.

i called the guy who took care of my tranny at aamco. im takin it in monday first thing.