Hello from Mobile, Al
 

Hi,
Name is Brandon. I am a mechanic on just about anything. I drive a 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V normally but I just got this 96 Olds Ciera for a beater. Thing needs some work but I hope to find some good info here. It has that crappy v6 that I hate to work on, but oh well, it's what I have.

Hopefully I will be of some use for anyone here. Please, let me know what to look out for and what common problems are.

-Brandon

Welcome Brandon to OF! I used to live just north of Montgomery AL.

I take it has the 3100? Lower intake manifold gaskets is about the only thing I can think of that is a known problem.

Whats the matter with the v6? I like mine, very easy to work on.
Welcome by the way.

I guess I'm just used to 4 bangers and the likes. I've owned 2 of these, a 3.1 and this one, and both headgaskets failed on both vehicles. This one has just been a major thorn in my side with the dexcool eating the lead in the new copper radiator and now it needs to be replaced again. I didn't know anything about the dexcool eating lead beforehand and after doing some research on it, well I will be swapping it out with some regular coolant here soon and doing another radiator swap.

Yeah the dexcool sucks. Eats gaskets and turns to sludge.