1995 Aurora; New Member

[aldg]

Hi group:

I've owned a 1968 Corvette from that year to 1985 and I owned three Cadillac Cimarrons from 1987 to present; so I thought I was due for a change in cars.

I started looking at the first generation Olds Auroras and just two weeks ago, I purchased an inexpensive 1995 Oldsmibile Aurora with about 152,000 miles from a seller in Vancouver, WA. The only option the car has is the electric sunroof.

Before I purchased the car, I met with several owners of the car here in my home town of Grants Pass, OR. From these discussions and from additional research on the Internet, I came to the conclusion that buying this car was certainly not a sure thing from a reliability standpoint. In fact I found that this car seems to create a "love/hate" relationship with its owners.

Even after I paid to have the local Mr Goodwrench to inspect the car (they said the car was in good condition and all systems worked), as I drove the car home, I noticed the following problems: air conditioning didn't blow out cool air; the cruise control didn't set the car's speed even thou the "cruise" light came on; and the horn didn't work.

What a way to start a love affair with a new "used" car.

At home, I found the horn fuse was missing and by adding refrigerant to the air conditioning, cool air started coming out of the vents. I still am researching the cruise control system and I'm hoping that the servo doesn't need replacing....costs $347.66 at my local GM dealer.

Before I bought the car, I took some digital still photos which you can see at the URL:

webpages.charter.net/aldg/Aldgs%20photos/Olds%20Aurora%20Vancouver%20WA/

I hope to learn from this forum and also contribute my experiences so that others can learn from my learnings. That's what the Internet's all about!

Regards,
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, OR
[e-mail]

[Marc]

Welcome!

[JimW]

Whites right!

Welcome to ACNA, good way to start off the new love affair..haha, how much was the car if i may ask?

Oh and notice the 2nd gen V6 Aurora in the background ?

[erw38]

Jim, how do you know it's a V6?

Welcome Al! I need to add some refrigerant to my A/C(hopefully today) since it's only blowing lukewarm air. It could be because of the Texas heat too

Hopefully you will get your car fixed soon and have a lot of fun driving her.

[JimW]

The rims are a dead giveaway...4.0L have 17" rims (IIRC) those are like Dan's 16's

[Letitroll98]

Welcome aldg. Yes, you hit the nail on the head, love hate. We almost all knew the car has some reliability issues, but just couldn't get out of the hand and went all in with the purchase anyway. We love them driving them and hate the repair problems. We alternate between I can't wait to sell this POS; and man, I love this car. If you can get the issues sorted out it is truly a wonderful car to drive.

[betonthis1]

I kind of stumbled into ownership of this car. A friend of my wife had one and had starting problems with the car. well her husband is in the military and was being shipped out so she didnt want the car anymore. well she still owed $2500 left in payments so she asked if i wanted it and all i needed to do was just keep up with the payments and its mine.

so i drove it and fell in love with it. didnt even realize it was a luxory car but i got it cleaned and fixed a couple things and man do i love it more. upgraded my sound system, tinted the windows. about to get it painted and then rims.

[oldsauroraman1]

Congratulations and welcome Al! It's a great car, enjoy it!

[scottydl]

aldg, based on your previous car ownerships, an Aurora was the next logical step! A cousin to the Aurora of course, and Aurora40 is a Corvette lover & owner like yourself. Welcome!

[aldg]

Hi group:

Thanks for your nice comments.

I was asked what I paid for my 1995 Olds Aurora with only one factory option, the electric sunroof...it may have been a steel at $1,500 but it comes with lots of issues:

1. Air condition condenser leaking;

2. Cruise control doesn't engage;

3. Heater doesn't blow warm or hot air;

4. Windshield washers don't operate;

5. Some external cosmetic areas - paint scratches, etc;

6. No air bags as the car was in a front end accident (no Salvage on the title) and its repair were done without replacing the air bags and related components which probably would have added $3,000 to the total repair cost;

7. Two (2) of the tires are not that great because the last owner apparently didn't rotate the tires during the last 20,000 miles put on the car.

So when you think about it knowing that the Kelly Blue Book and Edmond's values for an eleven (11) year car with 152,000 miles (transmission rebuilt about 25,000 miles ago) is fairly low, I probably didn't get that good a deal?

Only time will tell!.

I will say that the car does drive and handle very well. It certainly compliments my other family cars....1985 Cadillac Cimarron (140,000 miles) which I use for commuting to work and my wife's 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix (53,000 miles).

I hope to both contribute to and learn from the Aurora Club of North America's forum and learn about ways to improve my 1995 Olds Aurora.

By the way, I purchased the factory service manuals for the 1995 Olds Aurora and if you need any info my these books, please contact me and I'll try to assist you.

[macadamiaman]

Ouch, those are big problems, especially number six (6).

At least the transmission and probably engine will last you a good long while, and that's really what counts in the long run. You also noticed it's missing a center cap right? Those are cheap on ebay.

What do you do for a living? Do you write intrusction manuals or laws or something?

Anyway it's a brilliant car, have fun with it. You could also find out who owned it when it crashed, and sue them or whoever fixed it, or something. Fixing a car and not putting the airbags back in and not reporting it to Insurance or whatever, is probably against the law... Though to sue you need to present damages, so go crash into a pole first

[Mr. Javi]

Welcome to the club and good luck with your new Aurora.
Vaya Con Dios.......................

[TheLoveThatNeverDies]

Actually, the air bags shouldn't be too big of a problem. I see Aurora air bags for sale on eBay all the time. Typically, they sell for around 100-200 bucks for the set.

-Shawn

[betonthis1]

lol, i just purchased an airbag off ebay for $9. all i wanted were the right stereo remote buttons, dont need the bag. so if you have a tan interior then its yours if you want to pay the shipping?

[aldg]

Hi macadamiaman, Javi, TheLoveThatNeverDies and betonthis1:

The previous owner of the 1995 Olds Aurora I bought advised me almost immediately that the car didn't have air bags.

I accepted the car under this arrangement; in fact my wife was pleased the driver's side bag was missing because when she drives the car, she moves the driver's seat all the way forward.....these car's are not designed for women (or men for that matter) who have short legs.

Here are some interesting points:

1. I contacted our Oregon DMV before I bought the car to see if I would have any problems registering this out of state car. Results: I was advised that when they look at an out of state car, they verify the VIN number only and don't check (or seem to care) about the air bag system.

2. I contacted my auto insurance company, Geico, before I bought the car and wondered if I'd have an problem obtaining regular coverage on this vehicle when the air bag system isn't in place. Results: Again, I was told that they don't query this point and that they'd only make a note in my file that the car lacks the air bag system. Also, NO affect on insurance rates.

3. One of my friends has suggested that the car is in violation of the Federal laws when it is repaired without replacing the air bag system. He went on to suggest that the repair shop in Portland where the work was done could be in violation of Federal laws for doing sub-standard work on a vehicle.

4. This out of state car came from Washington state and did not have an Salvage comment on the previous pink slip. As such, when I registered the car in Oregon, no comments were put on the Oregon copy of my pink slip relating to Salvage or lack of an air bag system.

I've acquired the GM factory manuals on my Aurora and when I have time, I'll do some research on what it will take to get the air bags running again perhaps using purchases on eBay, etc. to acquire the required air bag parts and other related components.

I've also bought 4 center caps on eBay to replace the missing center cap on the front passenger side. I'll keep one as a spare and try to sell the other two center caps....perhaps here at this forum.

Have a nice week and please keep up the interesting comments.