Fun with Oldsmobile

[CJFusco]

I was driving to my parents' house for dinner tonight, and noticed that the belt squeal that I always get in the rain was gone... suddenly I realized that my power steering was gone too. Next, the ABS light, battery light and airbag light came on. I knew that my accessory belt wasn't being driven; seeing as I was only a couple miles from my parents' house, and it was cold and raining, I decided to see if I could limp the car there...

Well, I almost didn't make it. At the intersection about a mile from their house, the headlights started to dim and the dash lights went out. When the lights turned green, the windshield wipers stopped working. Obviously, my alternator was failing. As I was pulling into my parents' condo complex, the needles of every guage dropped. The engine cut out just as I was rolling into the garage.

Sure enough, the idle pulley had seized and failed. Thank god it wasn't anything serious - I had just put new tires on the car, and I really didn't like the idea of trying to make it through the winter with just a 951! The repair was quick, cheap and easy (the local autoparts store had the pulley in stock), but I couldn't believe the condition of the old pulley (pic doesn't do it justice - the interior ring is basically melted over by the surrounding plastic):

[bell]

what year olds? you know it's the original pulley

[CJFusco]

1997 Olds Cutlass, 3.1 liter V6. The replacement pulley is much higher-quality... it's actually made of METAL!

[lm6y]

You mean someone else has one of these and openly admits it?

I can't get my S/O out of it. She absolutely LOVES that car. Replaced the engine two years ago, Transmission last weekend, several alternators, two sets of lower intake manifold gaskets, door handles, etc.

And I thought Porsches were expensive.............

[CJFusco]

Yeah I own one and admit it, and don't understand why your S/O loves the car. It is a completely characterless car lacking any driving dynamics whatsoever. The only plus points I can think of are 1) it is comfortable, and 2) it handles bad weather well.

I own the Olds because when I was looking for a beater/winter car, my aunt was willing to sell the Olds to me for a song. She loved the car, and now I am stuck because I feel like I can't sell it in order to buy, say, a used Golf. Oh well, I will just drive the Olds until it dies for good.

[Tim Walsh]

I had one for two years, it served me well enough. It did leave me stranded once with a blown coolant drain plug and ran like crap afterwards. You can say this about GM, they run like crap, but they run like crap for a long time.

[MichiganMat]

Plastic pulleys are all too common. My LR came stock with two, both are prone to failing which will immediately overheat the engine and blow the head gaskets.

[Chocaholic]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Plastic pulleys are all too common. My LR came stock with two, both are prone to failing which will immediately overheat the engine and blow the head gaskets.

Probably saved GM $4 in production cost though....very shrewd.