1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International

Well, it seems that this page is suddenly a memorial. On December 5, 2000 the Olds went bang. We're still waiting for the offical announcement of death from our trusted mechanic, but the tell-tale train of oil and antifreeze pretty much means "Game Over." What a drag. I guess I really do have to face up to the fact that this was a temporary car that had a leaky head gasket to begin with. That's the reason we got the car in the first place.

I would like to thank it for the year and a half of relatively trouble-free service it gave us and would also like to thank it for breaking down across the street from the place my wife was driving to. It was darn cold out that day and my wife did get a bit of a frost burn waiting for the tow truck, but at least she didn't have far to walk to get warm. When we do get the final word, we'll be donating the vehicle to charity. There's still lots of good parts left on it including 4 new tires, a decent battery, a brand-new front motor mount and lots of other good things. Heck, the air conditioning still works.

Yet another gift, this one by my mom by way of my Grandma Violet. Grandma died and mom bought the car from the estate. This car really scoots and it's kinda funny to think of Grandma Violet zapping along behind the wheel while the motor vibes and howls beneath the hood.

It has the Quad 4 engine in it and I’m a big fan of this particular engine.

The Quad4 in the engine bay of our Calais

However, it’s shiniest feature is its greatest downfall. The head gasket is going away and this is a somewhat common malady in these motors. It doesn’t matter. The head gasket is why we got it and the motor is why we’re going to keep it. This car reminds me of a motorcycle the way the engine runs. It doesn’t have a lot of power down low in the rev range, but man, does it get up and boogie in the higher parts of the rev range. Killer horsepower hit, great instrumentation, power everything, the International Package, I bet this is what European sports sedans feel like to drive. It presently also needs a motor mount, front struts and a good wash, but it’s still the apple of my eye.

Technical Updates

It's good when things go right. The wobbly steering wheel is fixed and the people who fixed it get great, big HUUUUGE props in my book. Manning's Service on Como Avenue SE in Minneapolis. (612) 331-4388. These guys are great. They somehow have managed to stay open in a neighborhood that's full of college students with crappy cars and no money. The steering job, all labor, came in at $5.00 less than the original quote. What a deal. I consider it my great fortune to know of 2 excellent car shops in the Twin Cities. I'd send my sister to either one.

Well, it's been a long time since we've had to do much of anything to the car, but that changed this week. Apparently the steering columns on these cars with tilt-steering can loosen up a bit and that's exactly what ours did this week. The steering wheel went from being solidly mounted to being somewhat wiggly-mounted in the space of a couple of days. The mechanic said that this is a rather common thing for this sort of car and the fix is about $80.00. I'm going to take them up on it because the article I read on some other fellow's website said that this is a fairly time-consuming job and that without the proper tools, it's a nightmare. Good enough for me. I've been inside steering columns before--I did the shift tube on a column-shifted '76 Comet--and I can't think of a better place not to be. There's tons of little sharp edges, lots of cramped spaces, tons of plastic spacers and dinguses to lose and to top it all off, this is a GM car with Torx headed screws. To HELL with that. No, I'm just going to pay for the convenience of dropping off the car in the morning and picking it up in the afternoon, fixed. I know these guys will do a good job and that's money in the bank to me.

Oh, we also had some tire trouble this week. The car has had pretty poor tires on it since we got it and one of them finally gave up. We put on a set of Kumho P215/80 R14's on it (yes, that's the right size...) and wouldn't you know, the thing rides MUCH smoother now. I guess one really ought to balance the tires once in a while, eh?

After a shortish road trip the other night, it became perfectly clear that the front brake job on the Calais had to happen immediately if not sooner. The brakes were spongy, making a grinding sound, and were pretty scary. We only went down to New Prague, but through the rush-hour hell traffic jams and some expressway driving, it was clear that the brakes needed help, pronto.

Help was delivered in the form of Brake Equipment Warehouse and their early Saturday hours. I got "loaded" calipers (calipers with pads pre-installed), rotors and hoses. I've done enough brake jobs to know that this is the equipment that needs to be changed when the history of the vehicle is not known. When the service history isn't known, for me, it's much better to swap everything out instead of fussing around with calipers that may or may not have seized on one side.

I think I'm the first one to have changed the brakes on this car because everything was so darned clean. From the tear-down it was obvious that everything I bought was going to be needed. The hoses had hair-line cracks in the casing up by the connector, the rotors were completely roached, and the calipers were both at least partially seized. This was evidenced by the fact that the outside pads on both wheels still had a fair bit of material on them, but the inside pads on both wheels were down to the metal. The rotors were in passable shape on the outsides, but the insides were totally grooved up and pitted. The swept area on the inside passenger side was down to about half the area of the disc. It wasn't the worst I've seen, but it was pretty ugly.

Now, I'm no fan of GM for a number of reasons: side post batteries, Torx headed screws, Jesus screws (screws in places where you look at them, scratch your head and think, "Jesus, how am I ever going to get a wrench on that...?"), conspiring to take Minneapolis' street railway away... the list goes on. Anyway, I will have to say this: This was an easy job. The rotors on this car can be removed without having to mess with the wheel bearings, and the only crazy torx screws I had to deal with were ones I already had a bit for. That bit was acquired for a different brake job on someone else's GM car.

Anyway, I pulled the old junk off and put the new stuff on and it really was no big deal. From the time I started moving cars off the garage's apron to the time I finished the project was only about 3 and a half hours-only two of which were spent working on the Calais. There was only one head-scratcher. Inexplicably, the loaded calipers I bought didn't come with a new banjo bolt to attach the brake hose to the caliper, and one of the calipers came with Torx screws and the other came with Allen screws. Odd.

It's good to have this one done, and the weather couldn't have been better.

Anyway, the alternator, which took me about an hour and a half to remove, was installed and operating thanks to the new tools in about 25 minutes. The air ratchet saved me the pleasure of spinning the two hard-to-reach screws 1/16 of a turn for the whole length of the screw. I really hate that kind of thing. I'm still all burned up at GM for putting a 10mm, 14mm, and 15mm screw on the same component and I'm still seething at the "Jesus bolt" location of the bottom bolt. Guys, get a grip on your engineering, department, would ya?

As for the wattage on the alternator, who knows what it was. The alternator I took out, either didn't have manufacturer's markings on it, or it was an aftermarket piece. I bought the 100W alternator. The car has AC, so it probably had the 100W alternator installed.

6/6/00
We were on our way to a wedding Saturday night, but the Calais had other plans. It lobbed its alternator and fortunately, I noticed it before we got out onto the freeway. We spun it around and took the bird. I reconn'ed the job and although the upper mount is super easy to get at, the lower mount is a Jesus bolt--a bolt you look at and wonder, "Jesus, how am I ever going to get a wrench on that?" Alternators run between $88.00 and $92.00 at the parts store. I just have to tell them which one I have in wattage and bring in the core. I'll keep the page posted...

5/25/00
We're back from the road trip and the Calais performed beautifully. On the way down we stopped several times and although I obsessively checked the oil for level and smell, it was always clean and oily. On the way back we did about 325 miles without stopping and the car never burped through it all. In Chicago, sometimes it was a little hitchy off the line, but that is my only complaint with the engine. We used the air conditioning all the way down and back and made extensive use of the cruise control. Both worked flawlessly and were much appreciated.

I think the list of things to fix may now include the brakes. There isn't much power to them and they are starting to make odd noises. There's also a little pulsing at the pedal. The front struts are definitely hosed as well are the springs. I could see a complete strut swap and brake job happening sooner rather than later with this car. Even though it may barf it's head gasket at any moment, it is still the nicest and most pleasant car we have to road trip in. This makes it worth improving if only just to keep it a pleasant ride.

5/17/00
Time to work on the Calais. We're going to be taking a long road trip soon and so a few things maintenance items needed to be taken care of. The Calais was due for an oil change, and I've never even checked the air filter in the year I've owned it. It also was in desperate need of a front motor mount as the old one gave up a long time ago. All these things and several minor issues were addressed today. The motor mount went very smoothly--better than I expected it to go. The oil change also went relatively smoothly except the oil filter was quite stuck. After flailing on it for a while it finally spun and I didn't even have to get out the screwdriver. I do have a nice bruise on the inside of my right arm, though.

I went to John's Auto Parts before I started the night's fun to pickup a couple of fiddly little things that the car needed or were missing. I came up to their desk with a handful of plastic gewgaws and the guy just said "They're Yours." How cool is that? Granted, a coolant overflow tank cap and a glove compartment lanyard aren't big ticket items in any case, but he could have charged me a buck or three for them and I would have gladly paid. Thanks, fella!

The new fiddly bits and the air filter went in OK and the Calais is back on the road. It's really nice to not have to hit the accelerator slowly, wait for the bump, and then accelerate. No, it's crisp and sharp and it reminds me how cool fuel injection really can be.