As some of you already know I'm in the market for a GTP. I found a 2002 40th Anniversary Edition for $8500 out the door. It looks amazing in all of the pictures and it is a one-owner vehicle, and they've had the car since it came out in 2002. I ran a carfax on it and it has never been in an accident.
It has extremely low miles for the year, 28,379.
It had been taken into the dealership December 30th of 08 and the following was done to it:

Blower motor resistor replaced
Engine oil system flushed
Front wheel bearing/hub replaced
Tires rotated and balanced
Intake manifold gasket replaced
Battery cable replaced
Induction system serviced
Oil and filter changed chassis lubricated
Ignition switch replaced

My question is, is it weird for a car with such low mileage to already have the intake manifold gasket replaced? My mom, sister, dad, and uncle all thought that it was. I thought I'd get a 5th opinion from you guys.

I am serious about the car but since I am in Michigan and the car is in Virginia, I can't test drive it till I make a decision, in which of course I'd back out of in the case it didn't feel right when I drove it. I would be driving to Virginia to see the car.

Well, LIM gaskets go all the time, you have to face it with these cars, it wasnt the owners fault BTW

Im gonna go ahead and blame Dex-Cool on that one.

You should flush it and use the green stuff if the owners already not.... but hmm the is very low mileage, Thats awesome.

Go for it.

Im sure someone will come here and talk about Dex Crap too

It isn't odd. Be happy that they have already done it.

I'm more curious as to what this means "Engine oil system flushed".

x2

so my parents want me to invest in a new model of the GTP like a 2004 0r 2005...but I really like the 97-03 body style much more. Is there any real difference other than its newer and a different body style?

Eh, not really.

There are a few small changes to the motor and some different things done with the transmission through the computer. Other than that, it's just a new body.

But that car looks like a really good deal. $8500 is a lot of money but so is a new car. And with so few miles you really can't go wrong.

putting green antifreeze is the WORST thing you can do. No matter how bad you may think dexcool is, mixing dexcool with a conventional coolant produces corrosive chemicals that will damage your engine.

unless you take the radiator all the way out and completely drain the block, you will most definitely leave some of the dexcool in the cooling system which will mix and that is much more likely to cause damage than just dealing with the dexcool.

the best thing to do is avoid exposing the dexcool to air and extreme heat(like engine overheating from air bubbles) as this is what causes it to clump... keep your engine topped off with dexcool and keep air bubbles out and you wont have any problems.

What good would taking the radiator out do? Are you going to pressure wash it? :rolleyes: Do you realize how many people flush their coolant system and switch to the green stuff? Where are you getting any of this information from?

Taking the radiator out to drain it completely - the drain plug leaves a couple pints in the cells.

As for the corrosive mixture, mixing organic coolant with silicate based coolant (even in small amounts) makes the organic components break down and gunk which clogs stuff up which leads to overheating which further gunks up the engine. google it.

NEWER dexcool engines (like 04+) shouldn't have the same problem with mixing coolants.


http://autorepair.about.com/cs/coolingsystem/l/aa052601c.htm

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/posts/cooling/110128-dex-cool/698444-post11.html


http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/gm_dexcool.html


http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic406907.htm


http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/antifreeze-angst/9055/page1/


http://cadillacforum.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2204.html

http://www.ermca.com/forum/printthread.php?t=1202&pp=40

http://www.a-body.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13

$8500 for a car with 28000 sounds like a good deal to me, especially being the 40th. I really like those cars. Most of that stuff sounds like just maintanance stuff. It is weird that it happened already, but it could be preventative. Maybe the guy was really into the car and decided to take super good care of it?

I also LOVE the 97-03 body style so much more that the 04+. It just looks so much better IMO.

Everyone knows not to mix then, like i said, flush the entire system, then put green in.

never said mix

I know a few people who leave the drain plug out and let the coolant drain out then put water in the reservoir and run that through while letting it drain and keep putting more water as it drains.

Once the water gets clean they let it drain completely add the green stuff run it through while letting it drain for a little and then cap it and fill let run and fill.

Wow, I'm jealous, 28k? Geez, my 40th has 3.5 times that much. lol

There are like 2 links in there that say that anything remains in the system after a flush. The rest of them are full of retards who say things like "I switched my Ford to dexcool", and sing praise to dexcool, two of them were guys who put dexcool in with green stuff or vice-versa. I understand what you are trying, but it will be fine if you flush the system with water and then switch to the green stuff. Thousands of people have done it without an issue.

where do you get your thousands number from?

a giant number of the people on this board who have switched from dexcool have had engine problems and may or may not be related to switching coolant.