Greetings from Cordova, Illinois!

I just recently found this forum, thank you for welcoming me and for providing a place for wagon lovers to gather and share knowledge and camaraderie!  I have a 1996 Roadmaster Collectors Edition.  It was a one owner car from Florida I acquired 2 years ago with 88,000 miles.  I am up to 91,000 now.  It does not get driven often, mostly on vacations or to tow my collection of vintage aluminum boats to the river.  When I bought it the suspension was completely terrible, so I added in-spring airbags, threw the stock air shocks away and put on Bilstein shocks all around.  It still clunked and rattled up front so I replaced all of the front end components and bushings, now it rides like new again.  I replaced the water pump on the advice of my neighbor (retired Buick mechanic) and everything has been great until recently.  Last fall I took it in for detailing and when I picked it up it had a noticeable miss or vibration under acceleration.  The car was parked through winter and because of the plague I did not take it out until Memorial Day as I have been working from home and have no place to go.  I was driving to my son's house and as I was slowing to pull into his driveway the car started to knock and vibrate terribly.  I pulled over and called AAA to have the car hauled home.  I finally got around to checking it out Saturday morning.  I had my wife start the engine while I looked under the hood and I noticed that the balancer pulley was wobbling, problem found!  I pulled it in the garage and tore into it, actually pretty quickly because I already had the water pump off before so I was only about an hour before I got the balancer off.  When pulling the water pump I took off the air pump, and when I removed it it rattled like it was filled with gravel.  When I shook it rust and chunks of debris came out, so that is going to the rubbish bin along with those pipes and hoses.  While I was in there I decided to swap the optispark, the plugs and wires, oil seals, and basically anything I can get to while I'm in there.  Now I am stalled at the parts ordering stage of the game, rabbit holes galore!  I am on the fence about eliminating the Optispark altogether, but the alternatives are just about what I would consider to be too expensive to replace a component that lasted 90,000 miles.  The spark plug wires look like a horrible job to change, there will be blood.  I think my fan clutch is seized, it barely turns by hand, so instead of replacing it I'm going to put in another electric fan and free up some room.  I saw that if add an electric fan and ditch the air pump then I need to get my PCM reflashed.  Any other unnecessary junk in there I should get rid of or replace with better stuff?  I think I'm going with Taylor Thundervolt wires, NGK Iridium pulgs, a new optispark and Felpro gaskets and seals for the timing cover.  When I told my neighbor i was going to change the plugs and wires he said he would help me pull the engine because it would be more enjoyable than swapping them in place, that made me nervous.  Also, I noticed that the steering damper is leaking fluid from the rod end.  I can't find any info on where to get a replacement.  I think mine is original, but it is hard to find anything out on a steering damper but my car has the NV7 build code for variable effort steering and I don't know if this is a necessary part.  I want this car to run well for another 90,000 miles but it is so hard to get started ordering parts and deciding where to go next.  I'd like it running again before August so I can head off somewhere but I want to make sure I do my due diligence and get the best parts before I get back on the road again!  I want my woodie back.

great looking car!
welcome to the forums.

I am in the process of doing the ignition tune up myself.

Instead of replacing the optispark, just replace the cap and rotor... lots of horror stories of bad 'new' opti units.

Welcome aboard Madscientist!  Glad you found us, there is lots of knowledge, info and helpful members here.

I have had at least one wagon since 1997; a 94 and 95 RMW's and a 94 Caprice wagon.  I may be the first to tell you, but I don't think I'll be the last; the OPTI is blamed for a lot of issues, but seldom is.  I don't think I'd jump in and replace that.

I also have a 94 and 96 Cadillac Fleetwood's.  I just bought a steering damper for one of them, it is the same the the RMW.  So that's all you have to do.

Here is the write up for swapping the mechanical to electric fan.  I used this and it was flawless.

http://www.grail-ss.com/MechanicalFanReplacement.htm

One other comment, and I mean it in a good way; you need to break you post into several paragraphs, as it was very hard to read.

Tom

Great looking Roady, welcome to the Forum.

I realize now after looking at my post how difficult it was too read. I am new to the forum world and posting is new to me, I've only just browsed forums and never joined one before, but the people on here seem cool and non-combative so I'm glad to be here.

Thanks for the advice, particularly on the fan delete and locating a source for the damper, I've got one on the way now.

Unfortunately the optispark will have to be replaced. I was going to just change the cap and rotor but when I took it off to service the timing cover seals, the bearing feels sticky and doesn't turn freely, and I'm not comfortable with leaving that in there. I did take out the Mitsubishi optical sensor though as a spare part. I'll just have to roll the bones with getting a new optispark and hope for a good one.

Thanks again!

We're glad we could help. One thing good about the forum, is that no matter what problems you are having, someone else has had them before.

Tom

Don't be afraid of the optispark. It's just a distributor with an added optical sensor. Piece of cake. Put the sensor inside the new one, loctite the rotor, install a new 4-pin harness (cheap on Ebay, or included with the red Chinese $50 distributors that are actually pretty solid), and you're done.

On pulling the engine - I did this with a '96; benefits:
1. yes, plugs and wires were very easy. Passenger side wires are almost impossible without removing the accessory bracket.
2. Sleeved the front and rear of the crankshaft with sleeves and tools from Rock Auto. They all wear. No more oil leaks.  This takes 10 minutes tops.
3. Resealed the timing cover and oil pan gaskets.
4. Removed all the exhaust manifold bolts, had the manifolds planed flat, then reinstalled with new hardware. If you have any broken bolts and can't find a mobile machinist or welder, having the motor out makes retrieving broken bolts very easy.

Honestly it wasn't that hard, but was more time consuming.  And you'll want to "fix" a lot of other things "while you're in there."  But it really wasn't bad.

BTW - the anti-corrosion coating on these cars was minimal and spotty at best. Be very careful with it.

Welcome!

welcome aboard clean looking wagon!