Was does a 208k mile 3800 look like?

[myfirstbonnie]

While home I needed to look at the old 95 again. Megan was complaining of power loss and fuel smell. I noticed the white coil and asked about it. Her friend found a bad coil. I unplugged the plug wire and it was still dead with no spark. So, she has been running on 4 cylinders for a couple months.

I checked the coil again and it checked fine with a meter. This morning I stopped at the local JY and got an ICM and 3 coils for $50 (they only sell them as a "coil pack" and would not sell the ICM alone).

Put the ICM in and pulled the plug wire again and the spark is back. Took it for a test drive and it burns the tires again.

I bought the car with 129k on it and by 140k I had the LIM and UIM issue fixed before they leaked. She took the car to Ohio and it now has 208K on it and running good yet.

The clear coat is shot along with the struts and a wheel bearing, but nothing I couldn't handle if I was around more.

[Madcarpenter]

Wow, 208k, in the Rust Belt ? That engine compartment looks as clean as the one in my wife's Oregon garaged '95 with 112,000 miles. (She's gonna have to drive that car for a loooooooong time...)


Why are the valve covers black? Did you wrinkle paint them?

[myfirstbonnie]

The car was an Oregon car until 2009 when my daughter took it to Ohio.

[Saturn Simon]

An exceptionally clean engine bay. Much cleaner than mine, that's for sure. And mine is only just nudging 100,000 miles.

[Madcarpenter]

The car was an Oregon car until 2009 when my daughter took it to Ohio.

Does the clear coat on all '95's always fail? Ours is dark green, but so far no clear coat fade. The orig. owner garaged it, but it sleeps outdoors in front of our house now...Does UV make the clear peel?


I never take for granted how lucky we are that we now live in a corner of the country that doesn't salt the roads in winter. Growing up in NY state many years ago, we always had to deal with the premature death of our cars because of rust. Once they could no longer pass the NYS safety inspection, they became parts-mobiles...

I remember having to rivet and silicone a sheetmetal floor patch into my wife's old VW Beetle to keep the weather from sloshing into the cabin! She used to get a kick out of scaring her mother by peeling back the three layers of floor mats and revealing the pavement passing beneath the car as she was driving !

[vogie01]

Very clean!!! Mine looks very similar with a little dirt. I really like the black valve covers. The stock gray ones don't look right.

[myfirstbonnie]

Those are the stock covers. Willwren painted them for me with the wrinkle coat while I was doing the LIM job in his garage.

[1oldman]

Looks fantastic! Some really beautiful work. - BC

[myfirstbonnie]

Still no rust, but yes the clear coat is shot: