95+ SC Riviera reliability

[88tc]

A friend of mine is looking for a 95 or newer Riviera with the SC 3.8. We've both driven them and think they are very nice cars. However, reliability is a concern. He's been told that the supercharger and transmission are around $3000 EACH to replace, and that it is fairly common to have problems with one or the other past 80-100k.

Is there any truth to these being so trouble-prone and expensive? Or are these guys just spewing BS because it's forced induction? I'm wondering because I've had people tell me to get rid of my turbo Thunderbird because of the "very rare" turbocharger that is supposedly $3000 to replace (there's that number again!). Funny how they are available in junkyards for $20-40.

 

[T-Keith]

Taken care of and not modified your looking at a 300k engine. Easy. (keep in mind there were two different engines(95 and 96 and up) and two different trannies(95-96 and 97 and up) The tranny again should be good for 200k unless you have a 96 with the old tranny and new engine. Get an auxilary tranny cooler and change the fluid and it should be good. The supercharger is not 3000, and is rebuildable.

hope this clears up some myths. There's alot of Hot air out there,

 

[86WH1TType]

Originally posted by T-Keith
Taken care of and not modified your looking at a 300k engine. Easy. (keep in mind there were two different engines(95 and 96 and up) and two different trannies(95-96 and 97 and up) The tranny again should be good for 200k unless you have a 96 with the old tranny and new engine.

I thought that all Rivs had the Series II Engine or is there something else different? Would you suggest staying away from the 95 and 96? They are in my price range. Thanks.

 

[87regal]

Riv's had the series I in 95 (220hp)...they got the series II (240hp) in 96... a year earlier than the Regal/GTP, also I believe the pontiac ssei and the olds lss had the series II in 96 as well, but not totally sure about that.

 

[terryk]

For all SC engines:

Series 1 205 HP 92/93 4T60E
Series 1 225 HP 94/95 4T60E
Series II 240 HP 96 4T60E
Series II 240 97+ 4T65E

If taken car of, engine and trans will last 200k+. Blower are only good for 100k. Blowers are around $1300. Trans around $1200. Engines around $1800. GM remans not including labor.

 

[88tc]

Thanks very much for the info! What usually causes the blowers to crap out, anyway? It seems strange to me that two gear-driven rotors would cause trouble after 100k miles. Especially considering that it's not putting out an extreme amount of boost in this application. Turbochargers have to put up with hot exhaust gas and spinning at 150k+ rpm, yet they often last much longer. At any rate, it sounds like this is a good strong drivetrain overall.

 

[terryk]

There is a rubber coupler in the nose drive that wears out and you get slop. At first, it sounds like rocks rolling around in the blower when it's cold. Eventually, the sounds doesn't go away. Left like that long enough you can get rotor lock although you'd have to be nearly deaf to not hear it.

New nose drives are available from Magnusen Products for around $400.

 

[Das Regal GS]

You can buy a reman blower for $550 or a new for $750 from www.casperselectronics.com or from www.southfloridapulleyhq.com you can get a reman for $525 w/ shipping or $895 minus shipping for a new one.

EDIT: And those prices are for the whole blower not just the snout.

 

[terryk]

Ah, the prices are coming down. It's about time. For a long time only Magnusen was rebuiding them.