Hello from southern Ontario, Canada

Hi all,
This site was recommended to be by Jayoldschool and I'm happy to be here.
I don't own any Wagons currently but I hope to change that soon.
I've been a big buick fan all my life. My first car was a Buick Electra Park ave and I was smitten with the brand ever since. I've owned other buicks since then but currently I have a 68 Buick Wildcat 'vert, an 85 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, and a 2000 Dodge dakota 4 door (daily driver). I always like the Roadmaster Wagons and have decided it's time to own one. I'm in the process of looking for a OBDII equipped example which leaves me with just the 96 if I'm not mistaken.
How does the on board diagnostic system of the pre OBDII versions of the wagon compare to the OBDII system? If they are just as informative then I may have just expanded my available year considerations.
I'm not looking for showroom or anything (but if the price is right I won't complain  ), just something with a solid drive train and good under-body.
I like to swing my own wrenches and currently I'm finishing grad school doing research for GMs Tech Center. I've got 2 kids and a wife who is just as excited about getting the wagon as I am (she'll probably drive it as much as I will).

94-95 are OBD1 and 96 is OBD2. The OBD2 cars have a non-std crankshaft position sensor that allows specific cylinder misfire diagnosis. The scanning/tuning software/hardware is a bit more expensive for OBD2. Folks used to retrofit OBD2 cars to OBD1 for tuning purposes but that isn't really relevant anymore.

I wouldn't pass up an OBD1 car if it's in good shape for the price solely on the basis that it's OBD1.

Welcome. Good luck in your search.

welcome! where abouts in ontario?

like jason said, i wouldn't rule out an obd1 car. i think obd1 cars have less strict emission testing in ontario too!

OBDII cars just get a scanner hookup, so if the computer is happy, the testers are happy. But the pre 96 cars require a tail pipe sniffer and dyno to do the test and that set up is very inconsistent from shop to shop.

I'm in the Kitchener Waterloo area but I'm probably moving to the Oshawa area soon for work stuff.

No more dyno for the 94/5 cars! Two speed idle test only! Just did my 94 a couple of months ago. If no CEL, and everything works, it will pass no problem. Also, 96s don't get the plug in, they still get the two speed idle test. 98 up get the plug in. I went through all this last fall.

That's good to hear. My buddy had his 94 Fleetwood at the shop a year or two ago and he caught the kid who was about to start the dyno test getting his car set up on the dyno with the FRONT wheels on the rollers. That would not have ended well.

Hey welcome to the forum just move to Alabama the only vehicle check they have here is the one you write for your plates..... Jeff

Cars here are exempt of the emission testing if they were made in 87 or earlier, which is a big reason for why my Caddy is an 85. But I've heard they are considering doing away with the system.

Do you like the color orange?

lol, interesting question...
If you are referring to the ORANGE RMW for sale in ORANGEville Ontario, then yeah, I like the look. My wife would be a little harder to sell on it though. I'm always a little leery of a re-paint here in the salt belt of Canada because I don't know if there was a rust problem that brought about the need for a re-paint.

j2rossit wrote:

lol,  interesting question...
If you are referring to the ORANGE RMW for sale in ORANGEville Ontario,  then yeah, I like the look.  My wife would be a little harder to sell on it though.  I'm always a little leery of a re-paint here in the salt belt of Canada because I don't know if there was a rust problem that brought about the need for a re-paint.

I know the owner pretty good,. and every body on this forum knows the body man,.

The owner wouldn't have spent the money to paint a rust bucket,...and the car is pretty much bone stock otherwise,..the need for the repaint was the owner's dislike of the crappy light blue paint, with the clearcoat faded,.

It's good to hear that the re-paint wasn't a $600 Maaco attempt at selling the car for more money. The car is worth the consideration but it is at the upper end of my price range.

I personally drove that car to the painter. It was straight, and in better condition than the white wagon on the other thread.

Yeah, I'm not going to do that White wagon. After travel or shipping expenses it would be up at the same price range.

j2rossit wrote:

Yeah, I'm not going to do that White wagon.   After travel or shipping expenses it would be up at the same price range.

By the time you buy any decent wagon,. it'll be in that price range,..and as jay said,. mechanical is the easy part,.

I got lucky, I got my deposit in and bus ticket in hand for this southern gem. 92 with ~140k on it. It's got the towing package but no hitch. The shocks and springs were redone in the back in anticipation of it being used to haul the guy's trailer, but in the end he couldn't convince the wife to keep 4 cars. Brakes have all been redone and the it's good strong runner. I had a good friend of mine down in Atlanta take a look at the car and he gave me two huge thumbs up on it. He's a car guy too so he checked everything. It'll need the lower molding trim, I might have a lead on some, but I don't know for sure.
I got the car for $2000 and the bus ticket down there, excise tax on the AC, and fuel back will put me back another $500.

Make sure you learn the rules for bringing the car across. The ORIGINAL title has to be at the US border three business days before you cross. Then, you have the US side inspect the car, and they stamp the export when you cross. Canada customs will want that export stamp. There are other things to know as well, give it a quick google.

Is the deal already done for the 92?

Yeah, I've done this before. Although when you cross at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge, they just require you to e-mail them the VIN 72 hours in advance, and then show up with the original title and bill of sale with the car. You don't have to provide any documents ahead of time. And yeah, the deal is done. I'm also using this as a great excuse to make it down to my buddy's place for a visit. He's got a sweet 56 Coupe Deville that I'll be sure to take for a test drive.

Quite a leap of faith driving a new to you used car back from atlanta,.
I would think a greyhound bus ride all the way there will be quite an interesting journey too,.
Definitely a lot of effort,.....
I wish you well,....

Interesting how many guys have to have approval from their wives for the color/make/style,. of the vehicle they are going to buy,..

Shame you didn't invest 1/2 a day to go look at the orange car,. it,s been oiled all its life and had you asked jarrod, roadyman 1993 on this forum,. he would have told you how solid the car is.
Unless it was for a daily driver,. i wouldn't buy an eastern rust belt car and then invest the money in it i have,..the car is priced below my cost with the stock wheels,.

I admire your determination and enthusiasm invested in getting a wagon,.
All the best to you with your new wagon,.  I prefer LT1 cars my self,.

Nick

Yeah, I appreciate your vouching for the car, but when I said it was at the upper end of my price range, I was saying with seriousness. After e-test and safety inspection, assuming it needs absolutely nothing, I'm skeptical if I could afford it. And since it's not exactly what I want (I wanted a woody with original rims) I was hesitant on it. Besides, we all know the cars are awesome, so we know what they are worth. I was looking for someone selling one who didn't realize what they had.
The 92 has been checked out thoroughly and is in good shape mechanically. I'm just as happy with the L05 as the LT1 since I don't care about performance, it's reliability I want.

And the final insight to what some wife situations can be: having the 92 checked out by my buddy, agreeing to buy it, and arranging a 3 day trip down to get it once the deal was confirmed was easier than convincing the wife to let me leave on a 1/2 day trip on a car we may or may not buy. Got to love skewed logic. But the colour was the hardest thing to convince her on bar none (I did show her the orange one and she didn't like it). Since this will mostly be her car, she's got a lot of clout there.

when are you leaving?

I didn't realize it was going to be her car.

j2rossit wrote:

Yeah,  I've done this before.  Although when you cross at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge,  they just require you to e-mail them the VIN 72 hours in advance, and then show up with the original title and bill of sale with the car. You don't have to provide any documents ahead of time.

Not sure when the last time you bought a car from the USA was, but all the crossings that I know of that used to allow what you are describing have ceased to recently. It would be very wise of you to call them directly IOT confirm if you haven't already.

I'm about to graduate and most likely will be starting a job in Oshawa. We wont be selling the house for a few months so I'll be in oshawa with the truck during the week and she'll stay here with the Buick (she's a stay at home wife and the Buick will be much better for her and the kids than the truck). Once the move to Oshawa has been made, we'll probably decommission the truck (on it's last legs right now) and turn the Buick into the family car.  Since I usually ride my bike to work year round, she'll be using the car during the week.

I'm leaving on Monday and I'll arrive there Tuesday.  My buddy has already picked up:
Delco plugs, Delco wires, cap, rotor, PCV valve, Oil pressure switch, air filter, fuel filter, and oil/filter for our tune up.  There's a small leak on the passenger side valve cover so he picked up a fresh gasket as well.  We're going to do the complete tune up including checking the timing Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and I'll leave to comeback on Wednesday.

jasonlachapelle wrote:

j2rossit wrote:

Yeah,  I've done this before.  Although when you cross at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge,  they just require you to e-mail them the VIN 72 hours in advance, and then show up with the original title and bill of sale with the car. You don't have to provide any documents ahead of time.

Not sure when the last time you bought a car from the USA was, but all the crossings that I know of that used to allow what you are describing have ceased to recently.  It would be very wise of you to call them directly IOT confirm if you haven't already.

I called them up on Thursday and that's what they told me. I was expecting to do more as well based on what the websites say, but the customs guy assured me that I just needed to e-mail them the VIN.

Got the 92 wagon finally up here. When we picked it up we did a bunch of work on it down in Georgia before I made the drive back:
Spark plugs, cap, rotor, wires, fuel filter, PCV, valve, Oil pressure sender, oil, oil filter, air filter, greased the grease points, repaired the heat shield that protects the gas tank from the exhaust, replaced most of the vacuum lines. I had to replace the EGR vacuum solenoid since the old one was brittle and broke where the vacuum lines attach.
I've still got to replace the O2 sensor and I think some of the vacuum passages in the throttle body are clogged so I'll see about cleaning those up.
She ran well and got ~23 mpg.
There are a couple things I need to do, fix the horn, 1 power window, and the wipers only work on continuous sweeping, mist, and washer settings, not on the intermittent.
I can't believe how clean the car is underneath. I was taking bolts off with my fingers, even those bolts that are held with the little sheet metal clips. Taking the fuel filter clamp bolt off was the easiest thing I've ever taken off of a frame. The pictures I posted didn't do the car justice, any rusty looking area is really just covered in Georgia red clay since the seller lives in the country. This car should last a very long time with proper oiling and maintenance.