new guy, 93 apv, 3.1

[lurker]

Personally, I would skip it. In my experience, aftermarkets will leak soon, if not right away, and pulling a roof panel can be a HUGE pain in the ass, more trouble than it's worth. Again, my opinion/experience.

well, at my age i find i want less and less to do with leakage and pains in the a$$, especially the huge ones. thanks

[lurker]

durnit. outside passenger door handle doesn't work. had it fixed a month ago, worked fine for a couple of weeks, now broken again. probably just a broken clip, but again, so soon? inside handle works fine. guess i need to pull the door skin and see what's going on in there. anything special i need to look for?

[turbokinetic]

durnit. outside passenger door handle doesn't work. had it fixed a month ago, worked fine for a couple of weeks, now broken again. probably just a broken clip, but again, so soon? inside handle works fine. guess i need to pull the door skin and see what's going on in there. anything special i need to look for?

Probably just a clip, or the linkage rod needs a spacer or adjustment to it. The door should release when the handle is less than 3/4 of the way up. If the handle has to be ALL THE WAY UP before the door releases, the rod needs to be adjusted, or have spacer added.

That is a scarey story about the tire flying across the interstate!!! You're lucky that wasn't much worse than it was!
Sincerely,
David

[lurker]

That is a scarey story about the tire flying across the interstate!!! You're lucky that wasn't much worse than it was!
Sincerely,
David

yeah, i was a little freaked out by it. i give credit to the tupperware bodywork that it wasn't worse.

[lurker]

yesterday i saw a light slate bluish u-body in the parking lot at wally world, olds silhouette, looked to be in good shape. not so rare as i'd thought, apparently.

just up the road from me is the Repo Depot, where they auction off used cars. they are a mixed bag, some junkers and some nice. yesterday on my way past i did a double take, u-body van in the lot, same approximate age as mine, same color, lumina apv se. unlike mine it has the roof rack, so i didn't barge in and accuse them of stealing mine. i may just go up to the auction on april 27 to see what it sells for.

[lurker]

the gas tank and guage on this thing is peculiar. i've never seen anything quite as sensitive to accelleration and angle as the APV. the only thing i've had that's comparable was my fiero, which has a long skinny tank, with the fuel pickup at the rear. going downhill, all the gas rushes to the front, starving the engine, but at least you're coasting until you level out and the fuel rushes back to the back.

with the APV, depending on whether i'm accellerating, decellerating, going up or down hill, i appear to have/not have up to a quarter of a tank. it's kind of confusing.

i mention this because i was driving around in a hilly area of north TN, and had in excess of 5 gallons by mileage calculation and guage., started up a steep hill, and it dies. nearest gas station was about a mile away at the top of the hill. so i trudged up the hill to buy a gas can and walk back with some gas, but they had no cans to sell. luckily there was an empty antifreeze jug in the trash, which i illegally filled with gas, walked back down the hill, borrowed a funnel and it fired right up and drove up the hill without a problem, where i bought some more gas. worst of all, lady lurker gave me that "i told you so" look, even though she hadn't actually said anything as we drove by the gas station 5 miles back, an hour earlier.

[occupant]

I had that issue with the blue '89 Century I got on eBay for $250 out of Erie PA. I ran out of gas between Powell and Worthington OH and had to walk to get some. Going downhill it showed a quarter tank of fuel. Level ground just under the quarter mark. Going up a slight hill on 315 along the Olentangy it said, that's enough of that, and promptly died. Even though I coasted over the next hill crest, it wouldn't restart while coasting down or at the bottom of the next hill. BP wasn't far ahead of course and I got there and back using a coolant bottle in the trunk. I picked up a 99 cent bottle of HEET just in case there was some condensed water left in that bottle. One gallon, not enough. Went back, two didn't do it. Third gallon was good enough, got to the station, filled up, got lucky it didn't leak at the seam or something. Continued on to Texas.

I never let it drop below a quarter tank ever again and would fill up at the halfway mark for the next 8000 miles until the apartment complex towed it away for lack of current tags.

[lemons bob]

I had that issue with the blue '89 Century I got on eBay for $250 out of Erie PA. I ran out of gas between Powell and Worthington OH and had to walk to get some. Going downhill it showed a quarter tank of fuel. Level ground just under the quarter mark. Going up a slight hill on 315 along the Olentangy it said, that's enough of that, and promptly died. Even though I coasted over the next hill crest, it wouldn't restart while coasting down or at the bottom of the next hill. BP wasn't far ahead of course and I got there and back using a coolant bottle in the trunk. I picked up a 99 cent bottle of HEET just in case there was some condensed water left in that bottle. One gallon, not enough. Went back, two didn't do it. Third gallon was good enough, got to the station, filled up, got lucky it didn't leak at the seam or something. Continued on to Texas.

I never let it drop below a quarter tank ever again and would fill up at the halfway mark for the next 8000 miles until the apartment complex towed it away for lack of current tags.

That is odd, cause my 89 Ciera has been emptied to past empty and didn't run out. I wonder was it the original tank or did someone replace it. On the stock the pickup is in the middle of the back of the tank. There is also some pretty serious baffles back there so even hard left or right turns should leave some gas in the middle.

[lurker]

my apv runs well, so not much to talk about, except minor stuff. spent about $800 (ouch!) getting the a/c fixed, new compressor, drier, flush 'n' fill, check for leaks. runs about 50*.
front passenger door opens from inside, not from outside. the latch has a plunger which floats in a hole in a flange, and if everything goes wrong, it pops free. i've fixed it twice, and have to do it again. "we need a more permanent solution to our problem".
sliding side door has the opposite problem, opens from the outside, not from the inside. haven't figured out how to get the inner skin off yet.
hit the outside passenger mirror on a fencepost, glued it back in with jbweld, broke it again.

all minor annoyances.

[lurker]

immediate problem is this: trying to change LF brake pads, but i'm having trouble determining what the caliper bolt head looks like. i've tried every hex and torx bit in my spotty collection and nothing fits. anyone know?

i've got a grindy squeak in my left front wheel, and the brake pads are used up, so i've got the rim off and am looking at changing pads and rotor. while i'm in there i want to look at the wheel bearings. my local parts store doesn't sell just the bearings so it looks like i need to replace the hub assembly. $89, on top of $21 for the 34 mm hub nut socket. ouch.

[occupant]

I used a 3/8" hex/Allen socket on my Ciera calipers. I've also been told a T-50 or T-55 Torx socket will work. May also be 10mm if they went metric on the vans. I don't know for sure I just tried several until one fit without wobbling much.

[lurker]

you are correct, sir! 3/8ths" hex. between 8 and 10 mm. caliper appears seized, may just replace the whole thing, see if the noise goes away.

[lurker]

all done. new pads, driver side rotor, 2 reman calipers. ~$120, plus a couple of new toys(tools).