Hello All
 

My 96 Intrepid just bit the dust, and if all goes to plan, tomorrow I'll be the proud owner of a 2003 Bonneville SE. I don't want to get too excited in case it falls through, but hopefully it'll work out. I was hoping to find out what I should be aware of in terms of common issues with this vehicle. Manifold gaskets, transmission problems are a couple things I've heard. As a novice when it comes to mechanical stuff, what should I be watching out for? And are there any cheap preventative measures I can take? Thanks for any help. I'm hoping to be around here for a while.:thumbup2

Oh, and here's the beauty I'm hoping to buy.

welcome to the forum!! nice ride! the lower intake mainfold gaskets and upper intake manifold gaskets like to go on these the lowers can bereplaced with the new design aluminum ones. a quick way to tell is to look all around the top of the enginge for pooled coolant. the most common tranny problem is the TCC solenoid. and should be looked at as soon as failure is detected. i lost my tranny partly cause of it.

again welcome to the site!!

Welcome to the forums! We've got a list of common problems on 2000-2005 Bonnevilles that should pique your interest. If you think you have these problems, don't hesitate to ask.

Excellent, thank you. I figured there had to be a thread like that around here somewhere. I've heard the 3.8L is an excellent engine, one of the best American made ones available. Any truth to that?

bullet proof til ya put to much power to it:w3

Hi Matt;

Welcome to the Bonneville Forum!

Agreed, in my opinion. 156,000 miles later, I've had one failed manifold and a cold-ticking lifter or two.

Welcome to the crew. 3.8's are great I hope you the deal happens for you.

Sorry to hear about your car Matt. Your going to love that Bonneville if it all works out though! Take lots of pictures if you can and let us see the ride your looking at. There are a lot of great members here that will help you determine if your getting a good deal on the car.

Welcome to the forum Matt.

Congrats and welcome to the forum!! When you get your new ride, we are gonna want to see some more pics!!!

Welcome to the site. Hope all goes well with the car.

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately I have to work tonight, and might not have time to get a deal finished. Could be a couple days until I can get my hands on it. I spotted another Bonne at another dealer that's an 01, but it has 25k less miles. Both are listed for about $5000. In the meantime, here are a couple more pictures of the first one I looked at.

I like what I'm seeing so far. Keep us up to date on the hunt!

What trim level is the 01? If you can swing a SSEi, it will be a much nicer car. But they generally have a $1000 higher price tag.

The 01 is an SE or SLE, can't remember which. Haven't looked closely at it yet. I'm stopping there tomorrow. 83k miles. I'm starting to lean toward that one if it looks good in person. I know I can get financing there, whereas I'm not sure about the other dealer yet. The 01 is burgundy, which I don't mind. I just think the black looks really slick. But I'm not going to let the color dictate which one I get, lol.

Welcome to the BonnevilleForum Matthew. I hope you end up with one of them. Wont be any more made, grab one while you can. Keep us posted!

Well, after a long struggle to get financing, I was finally approved...only to find out both Bonnevilles I looked at had been sold. So that sucks. I decided to get a 2000 Grand Prix GT with the same 3.8L engine, so at least I have that going for me. :)