FAQ: High Mile Club - Wear/Repair Reports

AA wrote:

I see two with over 250K, but none over 275k!

I'm bound and determined to get mine there and over. She's giving me grey hair and I'm pouring the old cash into her right now, but I'm determined! My last buick had 330,000 miles on it when it threw a rod. I'm determined to make this Riviera last until at least then. I've got a habit of buying a car and not getting rid of it until something extremely major happens. Until then anything that goes wrong with it I fix. I then know exactly what I have into a car instead of buying something blindly and having to go through all the same stuff again.

Right now it's got 65,900 on it. I bought it with 62,155 on it. Some old guy owned it, died and it sat for awhile. I'm now paying for that. I drive it daily, and I commute 100 miles round trip to college during the week. If I'm not commuting, at college or at work I'm driving just for the fun, so the mileage racks up quickly. Only Synthetic Mobil One has been used every 3000 miles even under the previous owner.

Replaced so far:

1.) fuel line
2.) wheel bearing hubs
3.) AC compressor clutch
4.) Horn
5.) Shocks and Struts
6.) So much more in time I'm sure...

beautiful! the riv is a great highway car. so comfortable. she covers miles so effortlessly

[quote="woggy"]It looks as though no one has over 250k on their riv so far.]

I have put over 247,000 miles on my 95.

238,200 so far and still running good...
i know water pump has been replaced. ive done a few maintenance things to it but nothin too major. I must admit, I'm getting to be a lot more cautious about running it hard.

GMFreak8 wrote:

[Right now it's got 65,900 on it. I bought it with 62,155 on it. Some old guy owned it, died and it sat for awhile. I'm now paying for that. I drive it daily, and I commute 100 miles round trip to college during the week. If I'm not commuting, at college or at work I'm driving just for the fun, so the mileage racks up quickly. Only Synthetic Mobil One has been used every 3000 miles even under the previous owner.

Do you mind me asking what you paid for it.
You found a nice 98 with LOW miles. A lot left in her.
I did the same thing, found a one owner car with 70K miles.
All the previous owner did was regular maintenance stuff like oil changes, belts and some other small things. I then had to do some of the bigger ticket items after getting it and driving for a while I realized it needed suspension all the way around so i bought all new everything. Brakes, replaced with expensive rotors and such, did an upgrade. Had the trans. flushed and started having tranny problems not long after that, ended up having the trans completely rebuild around 80K miles just so I wouldn't have problems later and I did it while I had the money. Then the 100K miles stuff started to go, A/c compressor, Alternator, Level ride compressor, corroded brake and fuel lines, belts, pulleys, etc, etc.
What if I bought it with more miles, would these things have already been done?? i don't know, but at least I know what i have now and never planned to get rid of the car so i didn't mind sinking money into it And doing some Mod's along the way. But I don't regret buying the car in Dec 2006 for $4500.00.
Felt like i had done some good negotiating after talking the seller down. In hindsight i think he knew what the car needed and about how much it would cost.
In your case you didn't have an opportunity to talk to the original owner as he was 6ft under by then.

Rickw wrote:

Do you mind me asking what you paid for it.
You found a nice 98 with LOW miles. A lot left in her.
I did the same thing, found a one owner car with 70K miles.
All the previous owner did was regular maintenance stuff like oil changes, belts and some other small things. I then had to do some of the bigger ticket items after getting it and driving for a while I realized it needed suspension all the way around so i bought all new everything. Brakes, replaced with expensive rotors and such, did an upgrade. Had the trans. flushed and started having tranny problems not long after that, ended up having the trans completely rebuild around 80K miles just so I wouldn't have problems later and I did it while I had the money. Then the 100K miles stuff started to go, A/c compressor, Alternator, Level ride compressor, corroded brake and fuel lines, belts, pulleys, etc, etc.
What if I bought it with more miles, would these things have already been done?? i don't know, but at least I know what i have now and never planned to get rid of the car so i didn't mind sinking money into it And doing some Mod's along the way. But I don't regret buying the car in Dec 2006 for $4500.00.
Felt like i had done some good negotiating after talking the seller down. In hindsight i think he knew what the car needed and about how much it would cost.
In your case you didn't have an opportunity to talk to the original owner as he was 6ft under by then.

I paid the same $4500 for it. I've pretty much gotten or am going to get everything taken care of within the next few weeks hopefully. I know the car has low miles so I know I'm going to need a few bigger ticket items down the road. But like you and I both said, at least we know what we have into it. This guy was older that owned it before, so I doubt he really put anything into it besides regular maintenance and with 65,000 I doubt he thought it necessary.

I replaced a corroded gas line already, but the brake lines seem to have a lot left to them (I know I'm gonna end up doing it sooner or later, I've never owned a Buick where I haven't had to). The AC compressor is being replaced this week, the suspension will be complete this week, wheel bearings will be all new once again this week too, The parasitic drain will be fixed too, along with the horn issue. I already did the brakes and rotors (the guy replaced the brake pads, but rotors were original), replaced a bunch of trim pieces that were bothering me, and got the hood repainted due to the famous paint peel.

Major things I know I'm gonna have to do in the future involve a waterpump, the intake manifold gasket, alternator, supercharger, probably the transmission will need some sort of work I'm sure. I think as of right now though a fluid and filter change would do it the best good. It seems to hesitate going into overdrive under light throttle. You can feel it go in and the RPMs will go down, go back up momentarily and then go back down. It's almost as though it can't decide if it wants to go in or stay out of overdrive. Of course my last Buick did that from mile 187,000 to when it threw a rod at 330,000 miles so who knows. Kinda funny, the transmission in this Buick behaves EXACTLY like my last Buick's transmission. Yet my last one was all mechanically controlled, and this one is pretty much all electronic.

I figure this $4500 car has already ended up costing me around $6000, but you know what? I know what I have into it, I know I'm going to be driving it for a long long time to come, and it's a car I've always wanted. So yeah, it probably wasn't the best deal out there, but it was available, and I definitely wanted it. Honestly the thing that worries me the most is the body. Our winters are harsh. My last Buick was from Florida and in four years went from looking almost brand new to looking like something that sat in a salty brine for three years. I'm a huge 3.8 fan, and have confidence that it'll go the distance with some work here and there. Actually I've only ever owned Buicks and they've all had the 3.8. I don't know what I'm going to do when it gets hard to find 3.8 buicks.

11680 to be exact...
I prurchase my Riviera last year and it had only 4500 miles.

Hey Kyle - you mention the issue with New York's passion for road salt in teh winter.

You can greatly delay the rusting if, each time the temp goes above freezing this winter, you take the car to a self-serve car wash and rinse off the underside with the high pressure hose. The wheel wells, the rockers, behind the bumpers. If they are clean then change the sprayer over to 'wax' and spray the wax the same places you rinsed off. Wash it off too if you have time and $$ change, and be sure to hse the high pressure sprayer to flush the dirt out from behind the trim and from the cavities in the fender at the front and rear of the wheel openings that collect dust and dirt.

Albertj

eumilea wrote:

11680 to be exact...
I prurchase my Riviera last year and it had only 4500 miles.

Hey, this is the high mile club thread!

eumilea wrote:

11680 to be exact...
I prurchase my Riviera last year and it had only 4500 miles.

Rub it in why don't ya!


Just turned over 90k , bought with 74k about 2 years ago. Only gripe is that i live so close to work that i don't get to drive it to its potential very often.

First lamp of gauge cluster burned out tonight (left side of speedo) at 193,785 miles. Otherwise everything's fine.

214,000 km on the Black Pearl and still running strong. Just got an electrical gremlin right now with my stereo I am trying to find.

The Riv just turned 240K

I am the second owner and bought it with 74K on it 11 years ago. Car has the original motor and tranny. Other than maintenace items like brakes and belts. I have replaced the pulleys, supercharger coupler, water pump, radiator, struts and shocks, driver side window and door lock switch and fuel pump. Items that need attention are the mirrors that don't work, the climate control unit with burned out bulbs and the stereo which stopped playing cds and tapes awhile ago ( using FM transmitter at the moment ) She still looks and drives like new and will keep her as long as possible!

^^^^^I'll assume kilometers.

Yes!

Hit the 200,000 mile mark this afternoon.


Kinda cool watching it. Cheap thrill.

Went over 242,000 two weeks ago. Still going strong.

Had to get a bolt pulled out of a tire. When the service tech asked the mileage he could not believe it. Said the year (1999) helped explain the mileage but he could not believe how good it looked.

Well, my current reading is ~170k miles. I'm assuming this is since my father bought it and then turned it over to me.

Only problem so far is that now the battery seems to be going on me. I probably am going to have to get it replaced, which is no issue except for the fact that they have to take apart the back seat to install it. Once the battery charger gets her up & running, she runs just fine. But I'm also assuming that it is the same battery from 1995, which means it had a hell of a run and probably is reaching it's time.

I did just get new brakes installed on her though! Gonna take some time to get used to.

Hi Florence. That's a lot of miles! The batteries do last a long time in these cars, mainly because it's mounted inside. Taking apart the back seat really isn't too bad. It only takes a little bit longer than changing a battery under the hood. Good news is, the replacement battery should also last a long time, as it's protected from the outside.

Be sure to get a sealed battery (like Optima Red Top), or a conventional battery with a vent tube that can be routed through the bottom of the floor. There's an existing tube with your stock battery that can be used. Best of luck.

I have 60K on my motor but the car has 162,000. And I have some issues right now hopefully I can figure it out!

AA wrote:

Hi Florence. That's a lot of miles! The batteries do last a long time in these cars, mainly because it's mounted inside. Taking apart the back seat really isn't too bad. It only takes a little bit longer than changing a battery under the hood. Good news is, the replacement battery should also last a long time, as it's protected from the outside.

Be sure to get a sealed battery (like Optima Red Top), or a conventional battery with a vent tube that can be routed through the bottom of the floor. There's an existing tube with your stock battery that can be used. Best of luck.

Thanks for your help! I'll definitely use your advice.

I just hit 170,000 miles the other day. had to change driver side wheel bearing, ball joint, and a few pulleys, but its still running strong

florence_x wrote:

Well, my current reading is ~170k miles. I'm assuming this is since my father bought it and then turned it over to me.

Only problem so far is that now the battery seems to be going on me. I probably am going to have to get it replaced, which is no issue except for the fact that they have to take apart the back seat to install it. Once the battery charger gets her up & running, she runs just fine. But I'm also assuming that it is the same battery from 1995, which means it had a hell of a run and probably is reaching it's time.

I did just get new brakes installed on her though! Gonna take some time to get used to.

As mentioned before, get Optima sealed battery or a vented replacement - here are helpful details

- 'exact replacement' batteries are available at GM dealers, bigger WalMarts, most AutoZones, and from people who sell Enterprise batteries.
- be sure to get the Group 79 replacement - you *need* the high-rated battery because the Riv uses a lot of battery power when it is *off*. And you need the vent gizmo on the battery that puts the fumes through the grommet on the floor - if you do not, the acid fumes will destroy the floor *very* quickly. If for some reason you need a new vent tubing set they are still available thru GM dealers and they are not that pricey. Part number is molded into the old one. If the new battery is smaller than the old don't wig out, just get the matching vent tubing.



Albertj

Good to hear everything's running strong, Robert! to many more miles!

To everyone who's moving up in mileage, if you've broken into a new mileage bracket in the poll (at top), please cancel your vote and resubmit your new reading. Thx!

245,000+

Haven't broken into the quarter million bracket but getting closer. I do not travel 1000 miles a week but am working in Central New York. I am afraid the salt will wear the car out faster than the miles.

Recently had to have the passenger heated seat switch replaced and the windshield washer fluid tube reconnected to the pump.