Project Regal LS (1998)

[GMTruckGuy74]

Well, not so much a full-blown project as it is more like "getting ready to sell" project

My step-son Antonio purchased a 1998 Buick Regal LS Sedan in September of 2011, his first car, with cash he saved from working a part-time job. He did this practically with just six or seven months of saving up! He worked the drive-thru of our local Boston Market and watched each car as it came through. He saw a maroon colored W-body Buick Regal one day and told me he really liked how the car looked. Our search brought us to my selling Buick-GMC dealership that had the '98 advertised for the Labor Day weekend sale.

Fast forward to this week. Antonio graduated from high school last June and in July was at the USMC recruiter's office. He shipped out to Basic Training (Parris Island, SC) this past Monday. Originally we were going to keep his car around for when he graduates in April and comes home for 10 days. But seeing as how he'll ship back out for another two & a half months of training, then deployment to a base (East or West coasts or overseas), there is no financial sense to keep his car around (plus the money sitting in his savings account earning interest would be better). After I knockout some repairs I will try Craigslist.

The car currently has 131,344 miles (I have to look back to see how many were on it when he bought it). It has been making a wierd noise from under the hood the past month, getting louder as time moved on. Tuesday I cleaned out the remenants of garbage he left behind and decided to start it up and look under the hood. A noise similar to what a toy car friction motor (10x louder!) came from the alternator:

Is this a sign that it has gone bad? I don't want to spend a lot to replace it, so I may go the shade tree mechanic route here and find a junkyard part (there's a supposedly good auto parts yard not far from me called Tilghman's Auto Parts - I've heard he has good prices on things like this).

No picture, but when we bought the car the driver's seat bottom cushion was "lacking". Of course with him driving it the past year (he's a very fit and healthy kid) the seat cushion and leather covering deteriorated fast (no picture, sorry). There's an auto upholstery repair shop next town over and took it for an estimate. Apparently the wire frame is broken (noticed it sitting toward the rear floor!) and needs replacement along with vinyl since the car is older and leather would be too expensive. Cost for this repair = $175 (going in on Tuesday).

Passenger side front window goes down but gets stuck half-way; likely will sell without repair and inform the purchaser of this fact. Anyone with information about this fix otherwise?

Need to find a new rearview mirror. It's the auto-dimming kind but was damaged when we bought the car (the dimming liquid spilled into the mirror and it was always funky; mirror fell off the windshield about 3-4 months ago). Once I find a cheap replacement (auto parts yard or eBay), I'll get a window repair kit and glue it back on.

Plastic "wood" trim for around the shifter; this was loose when he bought it and one of his friends goofed around with it and it shattered into 4-5 pieces:

Will look at auto parts yard for this; eBay has not been helpful.

The consule storage lid has been qwirky; noticed the other day the screws are loose so I'll tighten to see if that fixes it. Otherwise I've found one on eBay and I'll check the auto parts yard:

He has the upgraded factory CD/Cassette player radio. He bought one of those conversion tapes to hook up to his iPod and cell phone. The EJECT button does not want to spit out the cassette tape. Any recommendations to get this to work?

Here's the real kicker.... and I'm clueless about this repair. About 5-6 months ago he told me there was a problem with the shifter button. Apparently the plastic inside broke and the spring & button became airborne! The white plunger broken but it still operates the shifter. This is something I don't know how involved it will be to repair but needs to be in order to sell:

The interior will benefit from a really good cleaning too. I don't plan to go all crazy like I do with my Envoy & the wife's G6, but will work some magic after the seat repair is done. The exterior is not bad, some paint scrapes and minor dings. However, a girl he pissed off at his job last spring left some key scratches on the driver's side. The car is red and the scratches are lite and "white", leading me to believe they may be in the clearcoat. Do you think an exterior detail job by a professional detailer would resolve this issue? There are several places that offer this service even in the winter.

It's a 15 year old car that I think will make another new driver a decent first car. He bought new Michelin tires in December '11 that are in great shape, at least 2-3 oil changes, and had the head gasket/intake manifold replaced with a tune-up at the end of summer (along with a new resonator installed in early summer), so it has quite a few new parts. Of course it has some good options too:

Hopefully I can get a good amount to put away in his account for the future.

Edited January 11, 2013 by GMTruckGuy74

[Drew Dowdell]

If you're sure the source of the sound is the alternator, then it would probably be the bearings that have gone bad. Yes you'll need to replace it. By the looks of the location, it will be a very easy job to do.

Alternators on Amazon.com

[Drew Dowdell]

You can replace the shift nob. look closely at the front face (the part facing the radio) about 80% of the way towards the bottom of just the knob part. There will be a 1/4 inch long horizontal metal clip. You pull that out with a tiny flat head and the entire knob will come off. Replace with a new knob in the same manner.

[Camino LS6]

With Drew on this one.

Although the alternator should be a quick and easy repair, the serpentine belt can be a challenge. You have to devise a tool extension of sorts to gain the necessary leverage for moving the tensioner away from the belt so it can be removed. I use a length of pipe which fits snugly over the end of a ratchet for this.

Also, I wouldn't recommend using a junkyard alternator - it will be worn too.

Everything else sounds like a junkyard scrounge.

[Drew Dowdell]

the serpentine belt tool can be borrowed from Advanced Auto or Auto Zone typically.

[Camino LS6]

Either way, you WILL need it.

[GMTruckGuy74]

UPDATE 3/4/13....

- Driver's seat frame broke fully by the time he left, causing the foam pad to disintergrate and the leather rip. Local Auto Upholstrey shop was consulted - too much $$$ for new leather but pleather (aka new vinyl) was in his range. This was the first repair done:

- Auto Salvage Yard was no good for me, as they had only one Buick Regal there (2001) that has been picked apart already. Needed the plastic "wood" trim for around the shifter, but apparently it's part of the entire console top. The salvage yard had the piece, broken at one end, covered in some sort of hardened grime, that was missing several of it's tabs on the back. Asked the parts counter guy "how much?"... which puzzled him! He said "but it's broken!" and I replied that it was still better than what I had (nothing). He mulled it over than decided it wasn't even worth the effort to enter the sale into the computer for a $1, so he gave it to me FREE - score! Took it home, soaked it in Simple Green, used Goo Gone for some hard-to-clean spots, scrubbed it clean again, and then glued the one broken end. Some crazy glue applied to the console and Viola! this job is done:

- Ordered a very good condition inside rear view mirror from eBay; fixed the windshield mount with a repair kit from Advanced Auto, reattached the wiring and installed the new-er mirror:

- Fixed the small area of the headliner that was peeling away from the roof in the center rear of the back window with spray adhesive:

- Per Oldsmoboi's information, searched eBay for a replacement knob and found one at a very decent price (not perfect but much better than what was there):

-Finally, washed the exterior, rims and tires for some shots for the eventual Craigslist ad (my stepson last washed the car maybe late summer!):

Three things left to do before I can put it on Craigslist:

1. Replace the alternator (purchased a remanufactured unit from Advanced Auto Parts, engineer from my fire station has offered to install it Saturday afternoon since his dad was a Marine)

2. Get the exterior detailed to remove some key scratches a former flame of my stepson's put into the driver's side doors and rear quarter panel; maybe engine steam cleaned (if needed)

3. Vacuum and clean-up the interior to make it more presentable

Some issues that won't be addressed: front passenger power window (motor?) starting to go as window will get stuck half-way; console lid needs to be replaced but previous owner overtightened the screws and unable to get them loose (watching an eBay autcion for a console lid, just in case I make headway here), miscellanous other little issues with a 15-year old car that don't prohibit it from being a good, local daily driver for someone else, and I wanted to replace the headlights as the seams have loosened and cloudiness as formed on the inside (since he's not keeping it no sense in spending additional $$$ with no garuantee of ROI).

He's graduating Marine Basic Training on April 5th, so I may hold onto the car until he comes home so he can at least use the car with the fixes I've done to enjoy it one last time (he goes to Combat Training in mid-April).

[GMTruckGuy74]

The remanufactured alternator was installed last Saturday, and this is the quietest I've ever heard this car! It rides very quiet now and is what I expect of being an older-designed Buick. Now that the weather has turned warmer during the daytime (mid-50s), I will take advantage of it soon to vacumm and clean up the interior a bit. Other than that, an exterior detail/wax/polish is next on the list. Since I'm planning to keep the car until he comes home from Basic Training (April 5), I will hold off on the detail job until the weekend before we head to South Carolina and park it in the garage so he's surprised at how great it looks.

[Drew Dowdell]

Alternator may have been giving you warning signs for a while then.