11th Jan 2008, 14:23

Funny. I just decided to check out this post today and I see somebody had an issue with an Oldsmobile.

When my CAT died on the 98 I limped it to dads under full power going under 40mph!

Sounds like you have a bad coil or module (underneath the coil). If one is bad the car will run like crap and while its running like crap and not burning fuel, it is dumping gas into the catalytic converter and that results in a HOT CAT. They can get red hot, we got my friends Cavalier to do that one rainy day a decade ago.

Not too sure what could melt when the exhaust gets red hot, maybe it was burning some plastic that was near the exhaust, like litter.

Check the CAT and see if it got red hot and warped.

I guess you have already started to spend money on it, but beware. I started to spend lots of money on my Oldsmobile. One thing after another and I wished I would have gotten off of it long before I sank much more than I spent on it.

6th Sep 2008, 15:25

I just got a Oldsmobile 98 Regency Brougham for my first car. it is 18 years old, 100,000 miles, and in the best condition imaginable. I couldn't ask for anything better.

10th Mar 2009, 00:14

I just purchased a 1990 Oldsmobile 98 this past week. My grandma owned the car for the past 11 years and it has been extremely loyal to her. The only issue it has now is that the transmission doesn't always want to shift into reverse, and at her age she couldn't afford to deal with those little things. At 204,000 miles, it's no spring chicken, but for $300 I'm sure I can get some more life out of it yet. After all, the GM 3800 is almost indestructible.

29th Apr 2009, 21:57

I am the owner of a 1992 Ninety-Eight Regency Elite for 3 years now, beautiful big white car with grey velvet interior... really beautiful, but that car has bene a pain in the @@@ for a few months.

First, my headlights stopped working (I am always on high beams now).

Second, every time I give a little juice, my transmission doesn't seem to know which gear to take, only toggling between 3rd and 4th.

Finally, my trunk doesn't close completely (this Olds model has a mechanism that closes the trunk, and it's broken).

Oh yeah, I forgot, today an error message appeared : ECM DATA LINK PROB 54...and I cannot find any answers about that on the web, and I found your review by searching for that problem.

10th Mar 2010, 22:15

This is quite an inspiring story, Mike! It sucks you in like a good book - I can almost see you beating the crap out of it in a parking lot!

There's actually a beige '90 98 Regency Brougham with 38,000 actual miles for sale about a mile away from my house, and this review really makes me want to go check it out!

21st Dec 2010, 17:51

Okay, so I'm checking out the reviews for the car a little late, since I bought my '90 98 Regency Brougham about 6 months ago... Anyhow, I bought if from a friend's mom; she had parked it about 3 years ago when she bought a new Stratus. I took it to the shop to get it fixed up and running (new battery, fluids, tires, etc.). Been driving it ever since, mostly no problems. However, there are a few issues, and if anybody knows what could be the problem, please comment...

Ever since I got it back from the shop, there has been a problem with the ABS sensor. Stopping the car isn't hard, it's just like stopping a really old car that doesn't have ABS. The guy at the shop said the "filter" in the module is bad and would cost $20 if he could find one, but he can't. The whole module is about $600 :( Now, in addition to the already "stiff" brakes, about 2 weeks ago it became very, very difficult to push the brake pedal in. I pretty much have to stand on the pedal to slow down! But I've gotten used to it, since I can't afford maintenance at the moment...

Next, the car has a weird habit of dying while at a low idle, for instance when I first start the car or when I stop at an intersection. It always starts right back up again, but I can't figure out why it's doing that...

The turn-signal handle on the steering column. It won't stay engaged for left turns, and for right turns it won't come disengaged automatically; after completing a right turn, you must move it back to neutral yourself.

The speedometer, for whatever reason, will work for weeks at a time, then inexplicably not work for a week, then work for a few days, then not work for a month, etc. etc...

Even right after I change my oil, the screen tells me I need to change my oil immediately...

For about the past 4 months, when I make a sharp turn, I hear a weird noise coming from the tires. Hard to explain, but this is what it reminds me of: when you're a kid, and you have a bike, and you attach playing cards to the spokes, then get going really fast. That's the noise I'm talking about.

When it's cold outside and I run the heater, it takes a little bit to kick on. Funny thing is, when it does kick on, the engine dies right away. I have to pull over and restart it, then it runs normal.

But other than all that, awesome car...

15th Feb 2012, 11:40

The 3800 a Chevy? Chevy never made any V6 this good, and 3800's are not a POS... they're Buicks, started out way back in '62. My 229 made it 554,000 miles with a 4 bbl before the lifters caved, and mom and dad's '93 98 has 345,000 miles and counting, with very little work other than wear and tear stuff.

The 200r4 was best if you kept it out of overdrive at speeds under 45, and can be rebuilt with better parts nowadays.

20th Jan 2014, 23:23

I have the same problem with my 1990 Olds Regency Brougham. At this point my mechanic has looked all over for the ECM that controls the speedometer, etc. (dashboard computer). If you know a source for these please comment again. Unfortunately it sounds like even if he manages to find one that works (he has tried a couple out that were also broken) it may not really solve the problem. Driving around without a speedometer is not something that I can really do in my area of the country, with major highway driving and police who are very active in stopping and ticketing. I would love to hear from you if you have had any positive results since your last post. Thanks.