The end of an era.

[luke_dubs]

It is official. My Bonneville is no longer in my possession.


It has been a fun ride, but I saw the writing on the wall before (I think) it was going to become a money pit. Hopefully her parts come to good use at the junkyard I left her at.

[haro1225]

So what happened to it that made it go to a junkyard?

[dougtoth]

108,000 is not a lot of miles on these cars.
Did the salt in our great rustbelt Midwest get to it?

[CMNTMXR57]

I was gonna say, 108k is just finishing the break-in period on a 3800...

[harofreak00]

I would have loved to give you scrap price for this car, fixed it up and made an easy $2-3k. I think you gave up way to easy.

$10 says the salvage yard will do the repairs and flip it.

[ddalder]

My guess is that there looks to be a rust issue, along with the smaller, easier to fix items...
I probably wouldn't be inclined to put a lot into this either. Too bad really. It's low mileage and at first glance seems to be in decent condition.
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 52188.html

[luke_dubs]

The shop will be lucky if they get $500 for the car.

The car ran great; it is just that the car's rust was starting to get bad under the car. The rust by the gas filler cap was starting to get VERY bad.

Uh there was a gas leak at the fuel filter (my shop claimed that they might break the fuel line if they tried to replace it), the headliner was starting to sag quite a bit, there was a coolant leak from the LIM (leaking onto the exterior of the engine block), a misfire on cylinder 3 developed after it sat for a bit (which would be fixed with a replaced ignition coil), there was a small squeak that made noise only once in a while - on the driver's front wheel (I think it had to do with suspension), the transmission seemed to be having issues (hard shifting at times, probably solenoid related), and the sunroof wasn't sitting properly, letting water in - no matter what I did to try to get the sunroof to sit flush like it is supposed to. I ended up duct taping the sunroof shut so I didn't have to worry about leaks.

If there wasn't a fuel leak, I'd still own the car and use it as a winter beater. I don't think my car would be worth a ton - even if the issues above were fixed (which would cost over $1,000 easily) because of the rust and other cosmetics - such as the front passenger fender being dented in by an 18 year old me, trying to slide around a corner with snow covering the parking lot, scratches everywhere, the taped up sunroof, etc.

108,500 miles isn't much, but many things weren't changed on the car because of mileage (spark plugs/wires, ignition coil, fuel filter, LIM gasket, brake fluid, motor mounts).

Sorry for the long and detailed post; I should've paid better attention to my post.

[ddalder]

A lot of that stuff is DIY with a little guidance from forum members and some tools. Even the fuel leak, although not something you may want to tackle, has workarounds in the event something happens when it's taken apart.

The deal breaker for me would have been all the rust. Based on you pictures and descriptions, I wouldn't put money into it. But, that's me. Some would and there's nothing wrong with that either as long as realistic expectations are maintained about what someone will get out of it.

[harofreak00]

Your laundry list of problems is something that I deal with on EVERY car that comes through the shop.

[Namrepus28]

Your laundry list of problems is something that I deal with on EVERY car that comes through the shop.

I was going to say, aside from the headliner I think I've either dealt with, or am dealing with every one of those issues and more.

The again, I like to suffer. Enjoy the new car!

[dalder]

I sympathize with the OP here. If cars are a hobby or an occupation, that's one thing. This isn't where everyone is at or wants to be. I've done a lot of things to my car, but I'd draw the line at extensive rust repairs as well.

[2000Silverbullet]

Well if you listen to the Democrats, we will all be forced to drive EV's in just a few years.
Anyone still driving gas engine vehicles will be forced to pay HUGE insurance costs...... but fuel will be dirt cheap!

[luke_dubs]

I'm sure I could've fixed many of the issues with help from the forum, as I've done in the past. But I feel that if I fixed all the problems with the car (not including rust), I'm sure something else would've popped up that was more serious, such as the fuel lines actually rusting out. They were on that track. Many suspension components would've probably failed too - especially the rear shocks. They still worked, but the rust was starting to get bad.

The rust is the main reason I got rid of my car when I did. It was spreading pretty fast up near the front of the car. Also, due to my two jobs, both keeping me occupied quite a bit, I don't have a ton of time to be working on the Bonnie.

[CMNTMXR57]

Rust... LOL! You should see our old van. It loses weight daily.

[1oldman]

Well if you listen to the Democrats, we will all be forced to drive EV's in just a few years.
Anyone still driving gas engine vehicles will be forced to pay HUGE insurance costs...... but fuel will be dirt cheap!

Did you know even putin/Russia joined the Paris Climate Accord?
That should tell you something about how serious the situation is. I am old enough that odds are I will be dead before the earth is almost unlivable if we continue to pollute at the rate we are. Fossil fuel only makes the oil companies richer, the earth dirtier. New energy technology will create lots of jobs, hopefully good paying jobs. - jmho - BC

[MonzaRacer]

Well if you listen to the Democrats, we will all be forced to drive EV's in just a few years.
Anyone still driving gas engine vehicles will be forced to pay HUGE insurance costs...... but fuel will be dirt cheap!

Did you know even putin/Russia joined the Paris Climate Accord?
That should tell you something about how serious the situation is. I am old enough that odds are I will be dead before the earth is almost unlivable if we continue to pollute at the rate we are. Fossil fuel only makes the oil companies richer, the earth dirtier. New energy technology will create lots of jobs, hopefully good paying jobs. - jmho - BC

You do understand that global climate change is a giant hoax and is only being pushed to try to control free countries. https://youtu.be/TjlmFr4FMvI, https://youtu.be/BQHhDxRuTkI, https://youtu.be/S-nsU_DaIZE.
Other than me disagreeing with the "millions of years" which are pushed by evolution believers, I personally believe in God. But that beside the fact of the actual truth of the carbon/carbon dioxide use.
If you get CO2 too low the earth DIES cause plants die. Also so since the satellite info proving that the Earth is greener than in past since checking for green on the surface. Also the big lie about the ozone layer as we know it never was being harmed (unless we destroy the salt oceans completely) the "holes" are normal. Ozones biggest creator is salty ocean waters reacting with iron rich Earth's crust. It's second producer is lightning in upper atmosphere. Also listen to the guy talk about liquid fuel produced from coal.
God gave us what we need. It's here we just have to properly use it.
There is a company trying to get started to start "mining" plastics stuck in ocean whirlpools, said to be multibillion dollar industry plan and most people fail to understand that all plastics can be separated, and recycled for specific uses.

[petersmith]

What happened to your Bonneville?
It's condition is looking fine in the picture then why left it to a junkyard?

[Sirius]

This thread is almost a year old. I doubt anyone knows where this car is now if it's not still in the junkyard.

[luke_dubs]

I don't know what happened to her after I sent it to the junkyard. From what I remember, the fuel filter was leaking gas, the sunroof no longer sealed out water so I had to duct tape the sunroof shut. The rust on the undercarriage was getting bad and was the main reason why I got rid of it.

There were some engine issues that I could've solved (misfire, coolant leak), but the car still drove really nicely. The transmission was starting to have some issues but I was able to drive it in a way that the shifts were smooth.

I've been wondering if the place still has it but I doubt it, unless the owner decided to keep it for himself. I've also been tempted to go back and try to reclaim her for myself, as I now occasionally want a winter beater so my Regal doesn't get exposed to the elements.

The pictures make her look good, but some cosmetic issues existed too. The paint was really good for the most part.