2000 Olds Alero....will it hold in its old age?
So I have a 2000 Old alero coupe 4 cyl 2.2 engine – anyone have or had one of these cars. So far ive had not one single problem with it and ive had it about 3 years now knock on wood….but it had 84K on it now and im getting worried now that its gettin near its american car life expectancy that it may start to give alot of problems. Any suggestions tips etc.
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If you don’t beat the shit out of it, you can expect it to last quite a bit longer. It’s already out of its lemon period; if nothing has fallen off it by now, it will probably hold up. 84,000 miles is not a lot of miles these days, although there are some things you’ll need to be thinking about – CV boots, the timing belt, transmission fluid, etc. If you have the owner’s manual for your car, you can look up the service intervals for these items. It’s important to do the scheduled maintenance on your vehicle even long after the warranty period. The cost of letting these things go until they become problems is prohibitive; a busted timing belt often means a new engine.
There is really no difference in life expectancy between U.S. cars and imports, where individual vehicles are concerned. Taken as a whole, you’re going to have more Chevy Cavaliers being junked after 100,000 miles than Honda Civics. However, you can get a good Cavalier and you can get a bad Civic. You just have more consistent quality control among many imports, which is why they’re perceived to hold up longer. What happens is that more of them hold up longer, but if you look around, you’ll see quite a few U.S. nameplate cars built in the 1980s that are still holding up beautifully. They were probably built on a good day, and their original owners took care of them. How a car is treated in its first 3 or 4 years has a lot to do with how long it will hold up afterwards.
Once you past the 100,000 mark more than likely, you have a winner.
My experiemce is that if you maintain the engine and change oil frequently American cars made after 1995 can be very reliable. In addition, I have had a 92 mercury Sable with over 200,000 miles on it and when sold was still running strong. I had a 1996 Plymouth Voyager with close to 200,000 and also sold running strong. The key is OIL, OIL, OIL- use Synthetic oil and pay the exra cost. Maintain all parts and inspect frequently any little problems before they get bigger-change the water pump, belts, radiator etc. Avoid changing the transmission at all costs before exhausting the possibilty of additives and seal replacement.
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