Next, a 1991 Olds Cutless Supreme, 3.1 V6. We bought it used with 38K miles on it in Pittsburgh (1993). I immediately put in Slick 50 with the first oil change and regularly afterwards (Like once a year or so). In the summer of 1997, my (now Ex) wife took it to the store in Raleigh, and somehow sprung a leak in the lower radiator hose. On the way home from Raleigh, the engine temp light comes on. She thought "it needed more air flow", so she took the back roads, flying at 70+mph the 15 or so miles to get home.

It made it home, barely. Stopped in the driveway and had a horrible smell, sputtering, etc. Boy was I upset. After cooling down, the engine would turn over (spin) fine, but would not start. We talked to people and everyone said that the engine was dead and to expect $1500-2500 to replace it or re-build it. A friend came over and said, well let'* take the heads off and have a look-see. We did, and he asked when we got the new engine. We didn't, it had over 130K on it. He said that I was mistaken and it couldn't be that old. It must have been rebuilt or replaced. I said no, and told him we'd had it since 38K miles, etc. He showed me these really fine hash marks on the cylinder walls. Said that it was the original honing marks from when it was made and that they never looked that good when an engine had over 50K miles on it, let alone 130K. He also knows how me and the wife drove. Smile Long story short, the heads were warped, and after getting them planed at the local Car-Quest Machine Shop, and replacing ALL the rubber on the upper part of the engine, it ran better and faster than before. Had to replace a cam position sensor, water temp sensor, and some other random stuff. But it still ran great! he was amazed.