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Oldsmobile Alero

3012 messages,  Last post on May 28, 2012 at 5:28 AM

You are in the Oldsmobile Alero Forum.

What is this discussion about? Oldsmobile Alero, Sedan

Messages Page 100 of 302

#983 of 3012 Buying an Alero by jpelder

Nov 21, 2001 (6:27 pm)

Is anyone else out there having trouble getting an Alero? I want to order one to get just what I want, and my 3 dealers refused to take my order because they are closing out Oldsmobile on Jan 1. Another dealer said he needs to find out what his allocation is, before he can special order one for me. I will need the car by January, and since it takes several weeks for an ordered vehicle, I am concerned that I won't have one in time!
 
By the way, I also heard that 2002 is the last year for the v-6 alero. I was hoping they would mate the 5 speed with the 3.4 for vrooooom! Rats!

#984 of 3012 tschen01 by mlm4

Nov 22, 2001 (11:08 am)

A lot of people are associating depreciation with the pending demise of the Oldsmobile brand, although I have yet to see any evidence that this has been (or will be) a factor. In fact, because the Alero is relatively popular, the loss of this model may drive up values of used ones (this is what happened when Isuzu changed the Trooper from a modestly priced truck into an expensive "luxury" SUV in the early '90s). The Alero is a good car (by GM standards), and we love our '01 GL2. We have a water leak in the front passenger footwell when the car is subjected to a typical Florida deluge (but otherwise it doesn't leak enough to be detectable). I found a GM TechNote article that indicates this could be caused by an improperly installed water dam under the hood (I posted the link on this board a few months ago). The dealer had to order a part and then ordered the wrong one, so the car has to go back for a third time -- hopefully it will be a charm, but they don't seem to know what they are doing.

#985 of 3012 tschen01 by evandro

Nov 22, 2001 (5:03 pm)

It's almost impossible to predict the depreciation. Yes, Olds will shut down and it doesn't help, but, the Alero is a very good car that's fairly popular. So many factors...
 
I've had an Alero V6 for 3 years and have had no problems with it. Yes, a leak developed in mine too, but it was fixed in an hour by the dealer.
 
About the 3.4 V6, yes, it had a lubrication problem in cylinders 5 and 6, but it's been fixed a while ago by reworking the lubrication channels and using tougher piston rings.
 
Then again, there are fewer and fewer Olds dealers these days... :^(

#986 of 3012 2001 Alero Paint Code by chevynut

Nov 23, 2001 (8:08 am)

Where do I find the paint code on my wife's 2001 Oldsmobile Alero GX. When I find it how do I read it?

#987 of 3012 helloooo by adriano

Nov 24, 2001 (3:45 am)

hello from France
Here in France Oldsmobile Alero is called Chevrolet Alero because nobody know oldsmobile, you have just 2 versions 2.4l and 3.4v6 sedan and is sold just in GLS version with automatic or manual transmision, the 2.4l cost about 147000francs (22000 dollars), i think is expensive because here at the same price you can buy a Mercedes or BMW, from 1999 till 2001 just 450 Alero was sold, people are afraid to buy Chevrolet because the spare parts are expensives and difficult to find,and many people and newspapers say that american car are bad quality, you ve just 20 garages that sold Chevrolet in France, the engines are too big for french people (2.4-3.4)because here the gasoline is really very expensive about 1 dollar for 1 liter(in USA is about 0.30 cents for 1 liter), the 60% cars solds in France are diesel and people that buy gasoline cars the maximum power is 1.5l-1.6l. i buy Alero and for the moment i am happy just i am afraid about rotors, the problems is that here you should buy GM spare parts because you can not find aftermarket parts for this type of car!!

#988 of 3012 Paint Codes by mlm4

Nov 24, 2001 (8:08 am)

The paint codes can be found on the Service Parts Identification Label which is on the underside of the spare tire cover in the trunk. The paint code is just below the long block of three-digit codes which are the RPO codes for the car, and I think is a five-digit code beginning with a "W". This is the code the dealer will need to match the touch-up paint.

#989 of 3012 adriano by mlm4

Nov 24, 2001 (8:16 am)

Bonjour. I agree with you about why GM cars are not popular in France: they are expensive, difficult to find service for, and the engines are too big (and no diesel offered). German cars like Mercedes and BMW are offered in Europe with smaller engines and fewer features than in the U.S., therefore they are less expensive and competitive with cars like the Alero. On my most recent visit to Paris I only saw a few Jeep Cherokees, Chrysler minivans and Chevrolet pickup trucks, but not many. I did not see any Aleros. Enjoy your car!

#990 of 3012 Adriano by evandro

Nov 24, 2001 (9:42 am)

No offense, but French cars were very unsuccessful in this market due to terrible reliability. As a matter of fact, premium European cars, such as BMW, MB, etc, are the only surviving European cars in this market. Not because they are more reliable than domestic ones, which they are not, but because some people oblige to pay more for some snob appeal... ;^)

#991 of 3012 evandro by dindak

Nov 26, 2001 (6:43 am)

Very true, European cars as a whole are 2nd to last in reliability, just in front of the Korean cars. Co-workers with BMWs are in the shop with big bills all the time. They are very nice cars, just not close to Japanese or even American quality.

#992 of 3012 Front end noise - Not the Brakes! by alerogrrl

Nov 26, 2001 (6:56 am)

I have a 1999 Alero GLS. By and large I have had no problems with the car except for a persistent and very annoying problem. As the car is driven, there is a rubbing noise coming from the front end. It is not the brakes because the noise occurs whether or not the brakes are being used. Plus the noise slows when the car slows, and speeds up when the car speeds up. We tried all the usual remedies, including rotating the tires and having the rotors turned, and when that did not work, having new brakes put on. The noise kept coming back, but the dealer kept telling me there was nothing wrong with the car! I finally told them to stop insulting me and to keep the car until it was fixed. (Surprise, that did the trick!)
 
The dealer ended up calling Oldsmobile, and when they described the problem, Olds said they knew what was wrong. Would you believe that the problem was solved by removing and cleaning the rims????? I was skeptical too but it worked -- for a while. The noise came back in 2 weeks, and again they removed and cleaned the rims. This time it only worked for a couple of days before the noise came back. The dealer referenced a technical service bulletin that Olds was preparing to release, but hasn't yet.
 
My question is this: Has anyone else experienced this problem, and if so, do you know how to fix it permanently? I do not want to take my car to the dealer every 2 weeks for as long as I own it. Any ideas/suggestions are welcome!
 
Thank you.

Messages Page 100 of 302

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