My 3rd Car, a FREE 1990 Olds Cutlass Supreme

CorvairGeek said:

They are called 'belly leakers' on V5s. This wasn't as much of an issue when they were painted, but became a big issue when left bare and the aluminum corrodes. The can be resealed, but I'm not sure that I would, and it would need a new double lip shaft seal while you are there.
Unlike the miserable R4 with its Scotch Yoke, noise making design, the V5 is a fine compressor. You can still get replacements that work.

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Spot on.

I've saved a lot of junk, but never once have I saved a V5 to repair on a rainy day. The replacements normally work great and it always seemed pointless to save a leaking one.

Went ahead and ordered a new compressor. $151 and a one year warranty contingent on the o-tube and accumulator replacement, which I already did. I’m hoping it does well, but I’ll save this compressor. I wonder how hard it would be to replace the R4’s in my other vehicles with this. I like the way the guts work in this one rather than the R4, the engine load is nothing compared to the R4, and it would be an interesting alternative to the Sanden conversion. I also ordered new struts because the rear ones creak really bad and don’t want to make contact in precarious conditions, and the fronts both puked their guts out. Everyrhing’s puking on this car. Hopefully nothing else comes up because I would like to just drive it till the wheels fall off and not think about it.

Man, that's what I call perseverance! No way I could ever tackle something like that. Hats off to you!

Hope it doesn't continue to be one problem after another. I don't recall those cars being paragons of reliability, even at 60K miles or less.

MikeB said:

Man, that's what I call perseverance! No way I could ever tackle something like that. Hats off to you!

Hope it doesn't continue to be one problem after another. I don't recall those cars being paragons of reliability, even at 60K miles or less.

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Thank you. And I hope not. It runs like a top now, no problems. I’ve heard the same about their reliability, which is good. You go to Edmunds and read their reviews, and they’re pretty outstanding. It survived that 15 year dormancy very well, too.

80s GM gets the reputation for being inferior in quality to the Japanese equivalents, but it seems like a far cry from what would happen a few years later with just poor quality in general. There are some minor fit and finish issues, but it’s not that much less than a truck, B/G/F Body, or Vette that GM always put more care into IMO. An untrained eye probably wouldn’t even notice the lacking points. It’s a “beater,” but my idea of beater is not something that looks like it just crawled out of a sketchy part of town.

Parking brake indicator switch is AC Delco 01264464. I cleaned the old one, and it’s still no good. That was tricky to find, and it’s not in any store, but I’m not even worried with it. I unplugged it, and if I can’t tell that my e-brake is engaged within two seconds of moving, my license should be voided.

So the front struts are really easy to chance. They slide out the top of the towers. I’ve only seen them where you have to unbolt them, compress the spring, and insert the cartridge. My only thing is that it looks like they sit in a pool of oil rather than being a sealed unit. I’ve got oil leaking down the sides of the housing, but does that not mean that the struts are busted? Is there a seal on those that goes out, or do you have to service them on occasion? I know far less about FWD, but this must not be very common because I couldn’t find any info on it besides this video.

Yep.

I thought the struts

*I DON'T KNOW*

but I thought the struts were either Gas OR Oil filled. Isn't the oil intended to be on the INSIDE?
Factory units were oil filled but I wager an aftermarket strut is likely gas filled.

Is this a trick question?
LoL!

Just like the video shows. Remove the old core and pop in the new sealed units. One thing the design people kinds got right!! All under the hood ,if the alignment was good it's still ok.

It's nice to have beater to drive around when need-be and lend to family when the fly in town lol

Rusty Nail said:

Yep.

I thought the struts

*I DON'T KNOW*

but I thought the struts were either Gas OR Oil filled. Isn't the oil intended to be on the INSIDE?
Factory units were oil filled but I wager an aftermarket strut is likely gas filled.

Is this a trick question?
LoL!

Click to expand...

idahovette said:

Just like the video shows. Remove the old core and pop in the new sealed units. One thing the design people kinds got right!! All under the hood ,if the alignment was good it's still ok.

Click to expand...

The strut housing is definitely different than what you normally see. There are a couple bushings and stuff under the lid there than make me suspect that it’s leaking oil, not because the struts themselves are bad, but because there’s some dry rotted rubber going on. I’d gladly replace bushings and refill with oil and save the new struts, but the back is gonna have to get them.

TerryRH said:

It's nice to have beater to drive around when need-be and lend to family when the fly in town lol

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Agreed. I offered it to a cousin when she comes to visit, but it looks like I’m gonna have to take it with me. I love my Caprice too much to keep exposing it to tight streets, traffic jams, and shorty urban drivers.

Update:

I’ve addressed all the issues I had with the car. I’ve been driving the mess out of it with a few areas of concern:

1. It’s developed a load chirp in the serp belt. A/C on only. My fear is that the compressor is going to blow up, but I’ve turned it by hand, and it feels perfectly fine. It’s under warranty for another 10+ months so it’s not the end of the world, but I don’t feel like fooling with that stupid thing. The belt looks kinda worn out for only a couple thousand miles. I sprung for what I thought was a good one (a Continental quiet-groove thingy), but I may have to order a Gates and see what happens there.

2. Gas vapor smell. It leaks gas if I overfill it, but I’m too scared to overfill it again and try to see where it’s coming from. The streaks make it look like the filler hose, but I’m not sure. I’ve also wondered about the evap system. The canister is upside down in the rear quarter panel area, but I plan to make sure the purge line is clear, the canister isn’t plugged, and put a new filter on it.

3. I replaced all four struts, and I very well may have botched it due to my own ignorance. The rears came with a bolt to retain these dampeners that the whole rear suspension rides on. I assumed that the rigidity of the dampeners and the burden of flex being elsewhere would make it fine to leave the bolts in, and the instructions I had did not call to remove them. I’ll post a picture, but I don’t know if I should go find these brackets, repair everything, and pull the bolts this time or leave it alone since it can move now, and the bolt is still keeping it in place. Obviously no point in welding it because it’ll just snap again. @CorvairGeek



It’s a tough, old car at the end of the day, but my interest in going much further with it is limited because I have other thing that’s I want to do.

Looks like you need brackets, but I'm pretty ignorant of the 'W' car rear suspension. I believe the rear strut design was unique to them.

I got a set brackets and dampeners from PAP if the worst happens, but nothing’s moved from that position so I’m gonna move on for now. I also found my fuel leak. It’s coming from the fuel filler vent hose, just leaking whenever it’s all the way full. Canister is clear, and I’m gonna out a new filter on it.

My only problem at this point is with my serpentine belt. The belt has chewed itself from a six ribbed belt to a five ribbed belt with belt dust smeared all over everything so there’s not a clear cut forensic analysis to be done in terms of ballistics. The PS pulley wobbles and wobbles the belt dangerously close to the alternator bracket, but I thought it was clearing. I guess it was just licking the edge there enough to slowly gnaw at the belt. It chirps with the A/C on now, but I think that it’s just a max load manifestation of the problem because the air works fine. I moved the belt over, and even though the dust is scattered, the pattern at the alt. bracket appears indicative of a problem. The weird thing is the belt wasn’t riding towards the front. I moved it there just now to see if it helps, but I’m gonna have to get a new one anyway.

Something definitely looks likes it’s way out of alignment

When a belt loses an end rib like that, its almost a guarantee that the belt is riding a pulley and shifted one rib over. Are you positive that the belt is running properly on the crank pulley or AC pulley? And I'm sure I'm not seeing it correctly in the picture, but that alternator pulley isn't a 5-rib, is it?