Just thought I would add my $.02 about Penzoil...

Several years ago, I had an '87 Pontiac 6000, 3.1 engine. Bought it new... In general, it was a good enough car... not great, but good. I was using Penzoil 10w30, changing oil every 3000 miles.

Along about 70k miles, I started noticing traces of oil on the air filter. Hmmm, where was that coming from? I changed the air filter frequently... kept getting worse. I checked the PCV valve... ooops, very oily. I finally pulled the front valve cover. Much to my disgust... everything under there was completely sludged up. So much sludge that, the oil return in the head down to the block was partially blocked, and oil was pooling on top of the head. It took a complete top end rebuild to clean up the sludge.... and I still had doubts about the short block. I had to ditch that car, while I could..

My advise... NEVER use Penzoil. I have used Castrol ever since... no problems.

-Roger

mileage, etc
 

Thanks jr's3800
I'll try that, and probably switch oils. Except I don't do it myself, so I'll have to figure out how to get them to put in a different type. Would I have to clean out anything in the engine before switching from Penzoil to Havoline or Castrol? Also, you said something about swithcing off a negative cable...and turning off the theftlock. You reminded me of a problem I've been having: I enabled the theftlock maybe 10 months ago, and I know the code. But I actually tried to turn it off a couple months ago, and it wouldn't work. I followed the directions in the manual EXACTLY, but when I press 1 and 4 together, it's supposed to allow you to turn it off, but it never has worked! Do you have any idea what to do about that?? I know that question doesn't belong here, but you just reminded me of it and I didn't want to forget it this time. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll change the O2 sensor too. A couple other people have actually told me to do that. They're not expensive, right, including labor??

radio
 

With these theftlock radios, if you lose power but know the code, the radio will still work once you get power back, right? Is there something about them where it won't work if you don't know the code? Anyway, I'm going to post a new topic in Mech. and see what others think about these radios. I tried to enter the code to disable it but I'm supposed to hold down 1 and 4 together until --- appears, then press the code, but --- NEVER APPEARS!! I tried it on my friend's 94SE to see if I could disable his, and --- appeared in 5 seconds. I waited one minute for mine and it didn't work. I guess it's not too big a deal. Thanks. Later 8)

The theftlock is used to deter people form stealing your radio. The way it works is that once the power sourse has been disconnected form the radio, the radio will not work until the code is entered in. A thief presumably won't know your code, so the radio is worthless to him (unless he sells it to some schmuck who isn't familiar with theftlock).

A power disconnect can occure whenever the radio is unpluged or the battery is disconnected. It may also occur if the battery is fully discharged. It is therefore very important to know before hand whether your theftlock is functioning properly before any work on your car is performed that requires the battery to be disconnected. It won't be any fun if you can't get your radio to accept your code!

Good luck.

Ok, so since I just picked up my Bonnie 2 weeks ago, I haven't yet had to change the oil (obviously) since the shop did all that for me. They've got Valvoline 10W30 running in there, but I will most likely be switching to synthetic (Mobil 1) once it's due at 47,500....so do I really need to flush out the engine if I switch to synthetic? I'm pretty religious about my 3,000 mile oil changes.
Keep in mind I have no idea what they put in for oil previously....

Since you don't know how the car was driven/taken care of by the previous owner, and since you are changing to another brand, I would recommend the flush. Once you do the flush and make the change to the oil you will be using in all future changes, you should not have to worry about flushing the engine again. What you are doing in flushing the engine this next oil change is "erasing" as much damaging sludge caused by possible misstreatment and oil mixing as you can. This will "wash" away a little more of the past owners filth, much like when the car is detailed at the dealer before a sale--or when one removes the back seat, trunk carpet, floor mats, etc to clean out any filth/change/papers/etc that was missed by the detailers (I have done this and found the remains of whole bowls of cerial that was spilled in the back seat by children, paperclips, fig newtons, straws, french fries, cancelled checks, money, etc, etc.) Unlike these visible traces of prior ownership, the engine has invisible traces. What you are doing is safeguarding against the unknown.

How much $$$ should an engine flush run? I can't imagine TOO much.
Thanks for the tip, BTW 8)

Do yourself a favor and do your own flush. You should be able to purchase the flush product for less than $5 (haven't done one for a while so price may be off slightly). Follow the directions on the can. It should read something like:

Remove Oil filler cap
Add *Gunk, STP, whatever brand name you have* to engine crankcase (through the Oil filler hole
Replace oil filler cap
Start and run engine for five minutes (Time may vary)
Shut off engine
Drain Oil
Replace Oil filter
Replace oil drain plug
Add five quarts of oil to crankcase (through oil filler hole)
start car and check for leaks.

If you go to a quick lube place, they will probably charge you $25-$35 plus and oil change. A lot of people are getting away from changing their own oil. But you will save yourself a lot of money over the course of a year if you do your own.

I hope this helped out.

I recommend Valvoline Max Life 5W-30 if you have high mileage and a K&N oil filter. Use those on my 1989 and expect to get a long life outta that motor. 169k right now

My Pontiac service manager recommend Mobile 1 Syntec so that's what I use.