They had a full digital dash? What am I missing here?

Identical dash to yours. Trade the voltmeter for a boost gauge. He'* talking about the systems monitor/DIC/Compass.

Ah. Well what changed as far as those go?

The only thing that I would add is to check the rear wheel well area for holes/leaks. A friend just traded in her '93 SSE for a 2000 SSEi. It was likely the best car she had ever owned. Very few problems, other than that leak into the trunk.

Nothing. Basically unchanged from 92-99, but differences between the SE, SLE and SSE/SSEi of each year.

Actually I think the _color_ of those displays changed sometime after 1993. Mine are green fluorescent; I think the later ones changed to red, to match the backlighting. I don't know what year that happened (anyone?). (It'* easy to see the red displays in a GP, since they're mounted so high up on the dash that you can see them from the outside.)

I like the green color better because it makes them stand out more from the surrounding red; it makes them look more like actual display monitors at night. Definitely adds to the Wow factor for anyone seeing the interior at night for the first time.

Mine doesn't have a leak in the trunk (ask me about my '82 Cutlass Supreme sometime ), but it does have some rust problems over the center of the rear wheel openings. Some bad pinch weld seams started rusting from the inside out, on both sides of the car. Don't how much that'* going to cost me to get it fixed right. I want to fix it sometime because it'* really the only rusty area on the whole car, and it ain't getting any better, either.

I would look infront of the rear wheels for rust. Also, open the rear door and at the bottom corner look for rust there as well. With the drivers and passenger doors open, look from outside the door between the door and fender to see how much dirt and stuff it built up there. Reach under the fender trim piece on the front fenders and see if you can feel any rust.

Those are the main places I have seen these cars rust. Since the fenders are plastic, and the ground efects are plastic, they tend to trap dirt and rust without it being visible. There was a 93 SSEi that looked nice in the junk yard that I went to pull the fender off. When I finally got it off, the whole corner under it at the bottom was rusted out. a good 3" diameter hole. Checked the other side and the rears of it and same thing.

Those are the only things I can suggest to check as they are the hardest to repair.

Didn't get the car today because he wouldn't take a check..blah...just my luck...

Here'* what was up with the car..

145k miles
ghetto gold wheels (fronts were pretty damn caked with brake dust, back just appeared to be dirty..)
ssei emblem missing from trunk lid

passenger corner lamp had a chunk of plastic or whatever missing but still looked fine to the untrained eye

tested the moonroof, it seemed to work perfectly

windows were tinted pretty dark, only one small area on passenger (small triangular) window had some bubbling and cut marks

inside was real dirty, but i recondition cars everyday at my job so it wouldn't be that hard to clean up

originial ssei floormats

needs one plastic molding piece from drivers door

hood latch was broken or gone or something, had to use pliers to pull the wire to pop the hood (my friend has a 93 and also has to do this so I didn't really see it as a big deal as hopefully it can be fixed)

console door was broken as with every damn bonneville (those of you that haven't broken one, you're lucky, and you should save up your money because it'll probably happen someday)

Didn't see any rust didn't check the wheel wells as good as I should have..

Started it up and it seemed to run fine, drove it around the block, revved it up, all sounded well, it sounded a little louder under the hood but that may just because I'm not used to hearing the supercharger? Also the exhaust was pretty loud but I thought it sounded pretty nice..didn't bother to ask if he had exhaust put on or maybe there was just a hole or something, who knows...

I sat in the car at first and just put the car into all the gears...when being put into reverse, the car seemed to want to jump and get the hell out of the driveway or something haha..

The traction control button was black and wouldn't push down, the other buttons were all grey and worked fine, don't know why this was? any clues? (only care because I had to turn trac. control off 2 winters ago to get my car unstuck in the snow so that it would spin both tires instead of only one, so this might be important seeing as how this would be a winter driver)

The paint had chips all throughout and the front bumper has many and it had been keyed in the back quarter...figure I could buy a new bumper and I have a buddy who could paint the whole car for pretty cheap probably..which, by the way, the car was a husker red, not the metallic color, more scarlet..

The leather all looked fine with no tears, just dirty again..


That'* all I can really think of..I didn't get a chance to pull the codes, but since I didn't get the car it doesn't matter..I'm hoping to go back tomorrow and pay with cash, so any help with any of the above or any comments would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks a lot for all the help,
Chris

Well, neither would I. Come to think of it, neither would you, right? He should have at least accepted a deposit by check, though, until you got back over there with a cashier'* check or whatever.

Rotate the tires. Eventually the (current) front ones will come clean after a few washings, because when they're on the back wheels, they won't get any worse.

I'm missing a piece of the black border on mine, too. Always wondered how the heck it managed to get broken off.

You can probably snag one from the junqueyarde, too...

They're not expensive, but you should probably order one while you still can. I have a spare sitting on the shelf. The one in my car is broken, but the lid still stays closed so I haven't bothered to swap the new one in.

Yeah, that'* a nasty one, because it comes from the inside out, so by the time you see it, it'* too late. Sort of like the front fenders on Jaguars...

I don't think so; I don't hear mine all that much. Take a look straight down, behind the engine, and see what the exhaust manifold to exhaust pipe coupling looks like. You should see spring-loaded bolts and no obvious discoloration from leaks.

Take a quick look at the in-line connection just forward of the passenger'* side rear wheel. That'* where mine rotted out from years of road splash.

Wonky motor mount, maybe?

Yeah: You don't have Traction Control.

Cool. The side bolsters weren't torn, either? That'* nice.

Any warning lights at all? Anything showing in the DIC?

You probably have Keyless Entry on that car (if you find AU0 in the option codes on the sticker in the trunk, you _definitely_ do, if you don't find an AU0, you probably do anyway); if so, does the owner have the remote transmitters? (Maximum of two)