Well the time has come to say goodbye to my bonne. While I love this car, money has become a MAJOR factor with it. The trans is giving out, second gear clutches are fried and the valve body is clogged or something, all the guy (whom I trust as far as transmissions go) is that the valve body needs work. The intake manifold is leaking coolant on the outside and probably on the inside too but the oil is clear and no signs of contamination with coolant. Two of the injectors are leaking and one is barely working at all. The brakes need pads all the way around and needs the right disk as it is warped. The body isnt in the greatest condition after two major accidents. Basicly it has the front of a 93, the middle is the original 92, and has the back of a 95. It needs struts all the way around. Basicly the car is dead. Im lookin for another bonneville but all Ive found so far down here in deep south Texas is a 94 SE in similar condition, a 2000 SE in good condition, and a 2001 SE in great condition. I would go for either of the 2K+ in a heart beat but money is a bit of a factor. What Im really lookin for is a 96-99 SSE or SLE but there arent any for sale down here. Im gonna keep lookin for what I can find but it looks like I may end up a Ford lover as there is a 91 Mustang for sale that my boss has a lot of spare parts for that he will give to me if I want em. There is also a 94 Thunderbird that is in just about perfect condition and my friends parents will let me have it for next to nothing..or so they say.

The only real question that I have for yall is this: How would yall rate a 2000+ Bonne compared to a 92-99 Bonne? And are the tires the same size? The tires on mine have about 1500 miles on them. And Id like to keep them if at all posible.

A sad day for me indeed...


Sam

the 2000+ SLE and SSEi have 17" rims usually.



the SE models have 16s.....


whats your zip code, I can try pulling up some cars you may have missed.

Hi Hans. Thanks for the clarification on the rim size, I love these cars but I really dont know much about em. Im more of a computer nerd.

The zip code where Im at is 78504, but most of the dealership and stuff are in 78501. Its the same city about 5 miles between zips. Id have to go with a dealership for now as Ive only got about 1000 bucks to spend on a down payment and my parents are gonna co-sign for me on the payment thingy. In the morning Im gonna go up to Kingsville to help a friend bring down some of his stuff from the dorms for the holiday break then Im gonna go out car shopping for the rest of the day. Honestly for right now Im just looking to see whats out there and see what I can affoard. The next few weeks should be really good to me as far as paychecks go so I may have as much as 3000 to play with for a down payment.

Im off to a party for a few hours, so Ill check back with yall then to see your opinions on things.

Sam

not usually, ALWAYS, atleast with original equipment

exactly....


I saw an sle the other day with 16" steelies though, probably snow tires.




As far as finding bonnevilles in your part of the state, your screwed Corpus Cristi is where they are at it looks like.

If it has the Ford 3.8 RUN away as fast as you can. They are nightmares.

Run away from the WHOLE CAR.

I have a friend with a 93 and it has less miles than mine and completely falling apart! The door hinges are bad causing to so you literally have to LIFT the passenger door from the outside to get it to closed. On top of that, the wheel bearings just seem to KEEP going bad, the head gaskets are bad on the engine, not including a few more other problems he has told me about. All he does is complain about it. If you are the kinda person that can't deal with a problematic car, ok, maybe get rid of the bonne, but upgrade as far as reliablity, DON'T DOWN-GRADE!

As far as being back on topic, as far as rating a 2000+ bonne I would say that they definitely are not the greatest if you don't want anything to go wrong. They have a few problems with things like sensors failing and a few body leaks, but other than that, they're a good car. I would recommend sticking with a late 90s Bonne instead, not only to save money, but as far as I know, they have a few less common problems.

I hope that helps.

Oh god stay away from that thunderchicken...

My friend has had i believe 5 YES 5.They were all super coupes. And he
has done 6 head gasket jobs. I was there when his last one went.We were on the Berlin turnpike when he saw his main competition. A mark VIII. 4 seconds in and Bang! Tons of coolant steaming out of the back. Now he only has one. A blue one completely destroy....i mean gutted. He has a long list of mods for it. In fact the only thing he hasn't done is blueprint it. No matter how fast it goes it will never be worth it. Spent more time in park than even running. Frickin' Ford. He use to say Ford was the end all and be all, until i told him what the Germans could do. Now he has a BMW, and never looked back.

Yes i tried to tell him to get a bonnie, but i guess he just doesn't like GM either. Some people just ain't right ya know?

Rubix

Thanks for yalls comments. As far as the whole ford thing goes, I kinda agree with yall about how they fall apart. My dad has a 92 Topaz (not quite ford but in the same devision) and its always having problems. I really really really really want another bonneville but like Hans saw last night, there is next to nothing down here cept for 3 se 94, 00, and 01. I was gonna go to kingsville this morning with a friend to move some stuff down and we could have made a quick stop in corpus as its only about 20 minutes north, but those plans got cancelled. After the hangover dies out and the coffee sinks in, Im gonna go out car scouting for a while and see if there are some smaller car lots here in Mcallen and Edinburg that may have a 92-99 bonneville that is in good condition. Its great living down here as the cost of living is dirt cheap, but its hard to find nice stuff most of the time. What Im hoping is that one of the smaller car lots has a 96-99 SSE or SLE in good condition for a fair price or something I can work off in payments.

Ive been reading the techinfo stuff about the intake problems for the S2 and I know now what to look for with the exception of the bearings. If the intake went out and the oil has been contaminated by coolant and the oil wasnt taken out fast enough, what are the symtoms of rusted or worn bearings?

Again, thanks for yalls comments. This forum really is the greatest.

Sam

On that Thunderbird if its a v6, then yes you can have a lot of problems. If its a 4.6 its not as bad as long as its been taken care of just like everything else. I had a 95 Cougar with the 4.6 in it and the car was in GREAT condition. The only problems I had were mainly 94-95 specific which included valves seals wearing and the torque converters like to start shuddering. It was a fairly quick car for its size and handled extremely well(IRS in the back). I put 3.73 gears in it and it was a beast after that. But anywho........good luck.....my PA is having problems to....felt like you did and wanted to get rid of it but I'll tough it out as long as it doesnt get any worse