I bought myself a birthday present today and brought a silver blue L200 mid level car home today. Clean paper and a pretty clean unmolested car with aluminum wheels. $200 I couldn’t pass it up, no rust out here. A little mold on the rear seat but those clean up pretty well here. I remove the upholstery and pressure wash everything and let it dry. I will put a battery charger on it and see what I have. I was told they replaced the fuel pump but it still has a problem, it has been sitting a year or so. Someone at work has known the previous owners since high school so I am not overly worried.

8/4 and I am now 63.

Tore into the silver blue car over the weekend. Finally got a hot battery in it to see what I had. Cranked fast but would not start, had some compression. A compression check told the tale, all low and not even none over 100. Off came the valve cover and this car is a victim of Pennzoil with infrequent changes. Nothing personal if any of you runs Pennzoil.
It works fine if you change it when it gets dirty. The top chain guide had no plastic left on it. I did find it sitting in the sludge, the cams were out of time but the chain had not broken. The cams and followers look perfect, no wear at all. I pulled the front cover and removed the chain and gears. I ran a leakdown test since I could turn both cams with a 24mm wrench. A couple lifters were pumped up but some gentle persuasion with a hammer and punch showed no bent valves. Win! The head does not have to come off. I ordered $400 of timing, gaskets, water pump, tune up and filters from Rock Auto. I do have a 5% discount code good through October if anyone needs it. Might get back to it on Labor Day weekend. We are going to meet halfway to return the Olds to my oldest daughter, it is ready to go. I bought a front motor mount from Rock Auto for just under $30 delivered, Napa wanted $120.

I usually run Pennzoil in my Ecotec but I also try and change it when it gets dirty, or 3-4K miles... given that my driving style has the engine off for about 2/3 of miles driven, the oil still appears to have life left when I drain, even if I go over a little on the mileage... YMMV though...

Just change the oil when it starts to change color. If you let it get black the solids start to settle out and everything gets covered with black slime. I’ll post a picture.

Usually when I drain it’s almost black, with a hint of amber that can be seen through light... I don’t ever re all it coming out coal black though...

All the parts arrived last week so yesterday was Saturn day after a morning dump run. I had removed the main chain so I could do a leakdown a couple weeks ago.
I have the car in the shop on the hoist and for an old man this is the only way to go. I removed the balance shaft chain, guides and tensioner. I then replaced the water pump, on this car the water pump is driven by the balance shaft chain. Next I installed the new balance shaft chain and associated parts. Next was the main chain and guides. The cam bolts are torque to yield one time only use. The Cloyes factory replacement kits come with all necessary pieces. Once I had everyting in time I cranked it over to clear the cylinders. I had used atf as part of my wet and dry leakdown test a couple weeks ago. I checked compression and all were over the 250 maximum on my Snap-on gage. Good enough! I finished assembly changed the oil filter and 5 quarts of new oil. Dexcool in the radiator, new AC sparkplugs. It started on the third revolution, boy did it smoke! Got high fans and a check engine light in about 5 minutes running. It had a hard lean code, the data said I had a dead front o2 sensor. The rear sensor said it was way rich so I took it for a 10 mile ride. This morning after some research I installed a used downstream 3.0 o2 sensor. I quick bulb refresh and I went on a 15 mile ride. I will transfer and register the car on Tuesday and start driving it. It needs a good scrubbing inside and out, sway bar links and some new wipers.
I need to pull some maintenance on my stick shift car so this is a perfect time. I got a new fuel pump from Bones a couple years back and my car has started to smell like gas when stopped. So I will drop the exhaust and the tank to replace the unit. I have also ordered adjustable lower rear control arms and they will be here on the 9th. With the adjustable lower arms I will be able to pull some of the camber out of the rear end. I cut one complete coil off the rear springs and half the bump stop. The car came down to almost level and I really like the look. I am going to leave the front stock height and get the car aligned.
We ran all the way to Tri-cities to drop off the Oldsmobile last Monday, 640 miles round trip.