Another new member with a 2000 Century

[Alou]

On our 2003 Century, Code 0440 was fixed with a new fuel tank pressure sensor, accessed by removing the back seat back and folding back the carpet - easier than 'recommended' access through the trunk... Search around (Google) for the part as prices varied widely.

2003 Buick Century Fuel Pressure Regulator at AM Autoparts

Buy now at AM-AutoParts! Always Free Shipping. Find auto Fuel Pressure Regulator for 2003 Buick Century. Order by 4 P.M. EST and your order ships same day.

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You've done an amazing restoration!

 

[Count67]

On our 2003 Century, Code 0440 was fixed with a new fuel tank pressure sensor, accessed by removing the back seat back and folding back the carpet - easier than 'recommended' access through the trunk... Search around (Google) for the part as prices varied widely.

2003 Buick Century Fuel Pressure Regulator at AM Autoparts

Buy now at AM-AutoParts! Always Free Shipping. Find auto Fuel Pressure Regulator for 2003 Buick Century. Order by 4 P.M. EST and your order ships same day.

www.am-autoparts.com

You've done an amazing restoration!

I agree it’s a great restoration. It’s a bit funny as growing up in the 80’s and graduating from high school in 85 a 20 year old car would be a 65 or anything 72 or older would be so cool! So are the 1990-2000s the new cool cars? If so what ones?? 😂

 

[Waiex191]

When my kid and I rebuilt my '99 Saturn back in 2017, many asked me "why are you rebuilding a Saturn? Why not something cool like a Camaro or Mustang?" My reasons were simple:
1) It's a lot cheaper
2) When it's done, the kid can drive it. It is now his daily driver and he has put about 25,000 miles on the car he rebuilt.
3) It's actually a much better car than the 60's and 70's cars. Reliable, fuel efficient, and drives really well.

I would not call what I did a real restoration, I've just held off some of the rust issues for now. If my younger kid had the interest, or really didn't want to part with the car, it would be fun to take it all apart and rebuild it. Not as much fun as the Saturn. This Buick is not as easy to work on. But it is roomy, comfortable, drives great, and also gets decent gas mileage.

Thanks for the positive comments. The car is done and back in the garage. I checked out the trailer plug on a neighbor's trailer.

 

[Waiex191]

We just got back from our epic 3000 mile trip. The Buick was good. About 30 MPG on the way down, as low as 15 on the hills while towing the boat. We kept it in third, it was not happy in overdrive. We also shifted manually, because otherwise it would shift early (like normal, for fuel economy) and then downshift again.

 

[Count67]

We just got back from our epic 3000 mile trip. The Buick was good. About 30 MPG on the way down, as low as 15 on the hills while towing the boat. We kept it in third, it was not happy in overdrive. We also shifted manually, because otherwise it would shift early (like normal, for fuel economy) and then downshift again.
View attachment 27921

Excellent! Glad all went well and your hard work with your sons all paid off!

 

[Zeroboostbuick]

That's awesome !

30 mpg towing a boat with that 3.1 motor is phenomenal.

It's amazing how much you guys done to this car and best part is the knowledge learned will last a lifetime !

 

[Waiex191]

That's awesome !

30 mpg towing a boat with that 3.1 motor is phenomenal.

It's amazing how much you guys done to this car and best part is the knowledge learned will last a lifetime !

Just for clarification - 30 mpg no boat, 15-18 with boat. Our truck does 11-13 so for 3000 miles that was significant fuel savings. Thanks guys for the positive comments!

 

[Alou]

And additional problem we had the the 2003 Century: front turn signal (right side) didn't blink. After buying new (dual element - long life) bulbs, it still didn't. Disassembled the socket to 'lift' the contact for the turn element. Wired (.020 SS safety wire) back together because glue wouldn't hold the tension. Time consuming, but with patience...

 

[Waiex191]

The $200 Century is still trucking. We just changed the oil and the front rotors/pads last week. Also we did the prndl resistor fix. Whacking the dash had ceased working. Replacing the resistors was pretty easy. 190,000 ish miles.

 

[Waiex191]

Also, here's the Buick doing some tow duty on our second catamaran. Plus some sailing.

When we did the front brakes we also rotated the tires. Good to have a rust free trailer hitch & bumper to jack up the back end.

 

[Count67]

The $200 Century is still trucking. We just changed the oil and the front rotors/pads last week. Also we did the prndl resistor fix. Whacking the dash had ceased working. Replacing the resistors was pretty easy. 190,000 ish miles.

Glad to hear the good news! I just bought the Fel Pro lower manifold gasket kit for mine. It has proved to be a good car and was great to have this past winter with 100' of snow in Binghamton NY. These go good in the snow especially with snow tires on them.

I will do the gaskets soon as they are just starting to leak coolant in the lower valley section on the lower manifold.

 

[Latka]

Such an epic story! I'm up past my bedtime reading the entire thread. (The airplane project is still sort of a cliff hanger, though.)
Last July I bought a 2000 Century Custom with 85000 miles. Mechanic found contaminated coolant and I spent over $700 to replace the coolant and rubber hoses. He wanted to proceed to the lower intake manifold, but I had no more money to put into it.
It's been a year now and the coolant looks dirty again, but the engine oil looks fine.
My question is, would it be beneficial to go ahead and change the coolant again, until I can afford to replace the intake gasket?

 

[Waiex191]

Such an epic story! I'm up past my bedtime reading the entire thread. (The airplane project is still sort of a cliff hanger, though.)
Last July I bought a 2000 Century Custom with 85000 miles. Mechanic found contaminated coolant and I spent over $700 to replace the coolant and rubber hoses. He wanted to proceed to the lower intake manifold, but I had no more money to put into it.
It's been a year now and the coolant looks dirty again, but the engine oil looks fine.
My question is, would it be beneficial to go ahead and change the coolant again, until I can afford to replace the intake gasket?

Wow, that seems expensive. If it is not leaking coolant, or blowing white smoke out the exhaust, I would not do the lower intake gasket yet. Also I would not rush to change the coolant, it will just get dirty again in my opinion. Change it in 5 years but find a more reasonable mechanic! For $700 he should have done the lower intake gasket. Changing hoses and coolant is pretty easy.

The airplane is getting there. Video of the first taxi test from last night: