14th Mar 2008, 03:39

1998 Intrigue, current mileage 166,000. All wheel bearings replaced, driver's side twice. Trans rebuilt, idler pulley assembly replaced. Had the dimming lights and blower motor fan loosing power, had the battery and alternator checked with nothing found wrong. I suspect that the alternator is bad. Now it won't start and no interior lights. I think its ready for the scrap heap.

23rd Apr 2008, 12:07

I have a 1998 Intrigue with an intermittent problem where the car starts and runs fine for weeks at a time, and then I go out to start the car and there’s no power. When it happens, there is apparently just enough juice in the system to allow me to open the door locks with the remote, but when the key is inserted in the ignition-- nothing. No radio, no lights, no buzzers, no remote door locks, nothing. Not even the click of the ignition to indicate that there is even a battery in the car.

This happened once, and I had to have the car towed to the mechanic in the evening, being unable to even get it started by jump starting it as I was able to do the previous time. Of course, the next morning, when the mechanic went out to check it out, it started right up. He found nothing wrong with the battery or alternator, and detected no shorts.

Then it happened again about a month later. This time the tow truck driver did get it started with a jump start, and told me just from looking at the battery that the battery needed to be replaced. Another month went by with a new battery, and it happened again. Sometimes this happened when going out to the car after it sat all night, but then, like the last time, it ran fine until I parked in the driveway around noon, and it wouldn’t start two hours later.

I’m getting ready to sell the car and if it’s too expensive to fix, I would like to give prospective buyers an honest assessment of the the problem and the solution.

One poster stated, “Alternator problem is the built-in voltage regulator. Buy an after-market Bosch unit and it should go away.”

Is that the entire alternator or just the voltage regulator that should be replaced? If this is the problem, wouldn't it have been detected by the mechanic who checked the alternator? And is that the fix for this problem? Thanks.

21st May 2008, 18:23

Have a 2000 Intrigue, and when we turn the left blinker on the car dies sometimes, and sometimes the right blinker makes the car hesitate. Any suggestions?

5th Jun 2008, 18:05

98 Intrigue that just stopped after going 50 feet. The ignition switch is locked in the off position and will not turn. Mechanic just told me a new switch is $380.00 installed. HEEEEELLLLPPPPPPPP!!!

15th Jun 2008, 01:28

2000 Olds Intrigue, if your engine begins racing at high rpms, a mechanic will tell you to replace the throttle body for a few hundred dollars. The problem is really a two dollar gasket on the throttle body. Also took advice from other postings and went with synthetic oil, seems to have cleared up the disappearing oil. Will know for sure after a longer drive.

6th Aug 2008, 15:24

My 99 intrigue is in the shop now. Cruise control quit. New switch didn't fix it. I had the flashing lights problem all last winter. In warm weather it doesn't happen, and the lights stay on when in manual mode.

Rear defrost and cruise control quit working, and toggling rear defrost when headlights were on automatic turned them on and off.

Alternator was replaced 5 years ago. Olds dealer fixed a stalling and lights off and dimming problem by repairing 4 corroded grounding straps under the hood.

New mechanic is looking into the new problem, which I suspect began when I had a power steering hose leak that corrupted the grounds. Sometimes the climate control, heat and A/C quit entirely. Very bad in winter!

Other problems with 150K miles include new window operating switch, driver's side, service engine light going on at the same spot on my commute every day, and going off at lower altitude, and occasional rough shifting.

The motor burns oil, about a quart every 1500 miles, but no white smoke noticeable in back.

Motor runs great, and the car is tight and quiet. Any ideas on how to run down grounding issues?

27th Aug 2008, 23:37

I have had my 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue for about 8 months now, and when I first saw the car I loved it.

Everything was perfect with it until about 1 month later, my car overflowed. After that had happened I took it back to the guy that sold it to me; he told me all that needed to be done was a 50 cent o-ring on the radiator, so he fixed it.

After that my car ran fine for about 6 months, then it started to overheat and my coolant that was orange was now a dark brown chunky color almost like oil. So I tried to take it back to the guy (Tony) that I had bought it from and he had went out of business <lucky me>. So I was on my own.

I took my car to Valvoline to have my radiator flushed to see if this would fix the problem. No, it still overheated. Then it started to overflow again. I took my car to my dad who works on cars a lot. He then told me like everyone else did that I needed to replace the thermostat, which he would do for me.

Well he kept my car for about a week; it wasn't the thermostat. So he went to the next possible thing, which was the water pump - replaced it. It wasn't the waterpump.

By this time we are thinking okay it is the radiator, so he replaced the radiator; once again the problem still continued.

We then realized there could be air in the system, so we got the air out of the system; surprisingly this still did not work.

By this time we were very confused. We checked the overflow tank for any sign of holes or cracks that could be making this build pressure so much. No holes or cracks. Confused yet??

We figured out we could not do much more to the car, and that we should take it to a shop. They told me that I had 3 things wrong with my car; there was a hole in the overflow, and my radiator cap didn't have enough pressure and my cross over pipe was leaking, so I told them replace the overflow and the radiator cap. They kept my car for the weekend until the new overflow got to the shop.

Well when I called to ask about the status of my car that Monday morning, I was told that my car was very interesting, just to come pick it up. Well when I arrived at the shop, the guy I talked to showed me my car and he didn't even replace the overflow. He told me I just needed to scoot up my hose clamp, which he did, and replace my radiator cap. Well I was happy thinking this would work.

So I stopped at a gas station to fill up on gas, and saw that the idiots put the wrong coolant in my car. You would think they would know what kind to put in being mechanics. I called them and they tried to blame me. Sick of that shop.

I just went on with my car, and it ran fine for 2 days, then I pulled in my driveway and it overflowed again. But it never overheated.

I am just confused on this whole car. If you have any suggestions, please email me @ kimsimpson4@aol.com. I would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading about my car and hope you can help me...