From May of 2000 till November of 2002, I had a 1991 silver Lumina (made by Chevrolet). It was a cool car......


This is the Lumina with my friend Ma Yue in the driver's seat.

I got it from my piano teacher and her brother. It had been her father's car, but he died (he was in his nineties, but not that that is old), and they wanted to sell it to someone they knew. And my mother wanted me to have it. I had a blue Plymouth Reliant (pretty nice little car). So in May 2000 my mother payed my piano teacher $3500 for it. It had about 44,000 miles on it. I drove it home a few days later.

It was a quite fast and comfortable car, and if in good maintainence, had as good fuel mileage as very many cars after it was made, including smaller ones. Also, the speakers namely the back ones, were good; I had added a subwoofer, but I almost didn't have to.

I had learned quite a bit about cars while having this car. Take notice, fellow Lumina people, there might be some things you can learn about your car....

Heating System This started in Fall of 2001 when I had to get my heater fixed. When the mechanic said $350 to fix the heater core I decided not to have them fix it, and research the problem myself. At that point, I didn't even know what the heater core was (It is a mini radiator that is stuck into the passenger compartment of a car (kind of deep under dashboard), so it can give heat to the passengers). I got "Auto Repair for Dummies" for $20 (it is a good book, I think I need "Auto repair for not so dummies" now). I looked online also. And I examined under the hood of the car, and found that the metal part of the heater outlet line (the one that goes under the coolant overflow container) was just about to leak. I thought I was just clearing away some dirt but then it started to get moist, and then green coolant was leaking onto my driveway... This wasn't the heater problem (although if I didn't notice, and it started to leak, it would have killed the engine...), but in fixing it with a length of heater hose for $3, I found that the heater core was fine (I got water to go through it with a garden hose). So that mechanic would have put in a whole new heater core and I would have paid for it when it wasn't necessary. The thermostat was working and the radiator hoses were getting hot so I used my looogic to figure out that there must have been some coolant blockage either where the coolant comes out of the engine to go to the heater or maybe even somewhere in the engine where coolant is flowing. I was able to explain this whole story to Preakness Chevrolet helping them find what had to be done, and they found it was a blocked quick disconnect fitting where the coolant comes out of the engine to go to the heater. They charged about $100 to replace it. By now (Sept 2002), I know where that part is and would have been able to check it and unclog it, find another one at the junk yard or whatever...

Front Fender In spring 2002 I stopped short and hit the bumper of someone's Ford Explorer. I agreed to pay for their damage (about $250), which was a bit of scratched paint on the metal bumper and a groove in the plastic piece which comes out over the bumper. My front left fender was dented and that same corner light was broken. I got the fender from the junkyard for $40 and the light new for $30 an did it in a day.
frontfender after crash

Power Steering Pump The power steering pump started to leak around the pulley. I got another one at the junk yard and replaced it and it seemed ok. But by fall (I had replaced it in summer), it started to whine and moan especially when it was cold. I went on the internet and looked around and found that the noise was most likely caused by air in the power steering system and it had to be bled. At work my boss helped me bleed the system. Then it started moaning again, but this was because it was leaking and sucking in air again. So, on Halloween I bought a rebuilt pump and installed it. Good. (The pulley removal and installation kit the store loaned me was key.)

Fuel Injection and Fuel Economy At some point the fuel mileage started to go from 22 or so "city" miles per gallon (mpg) to about 14 or so. I am not sure why this happened, but I think that some fuel injector cleaner that I added damaged the oxygen sensor and/or the oxygen sensor was old (This was at about 88,000 miles and I have heard it should be changed at 100,000 miles. I changed the spark plugs and cables and a week later I changed the oxygen sensor. That night on a highway trip with my girlfriend, it got 31 mpg. Cooooooool....
(In changing the back row of spark plugs and the oxygen sensor, which is stuck into the exhaust just behind the engine, I parked my car so it was facing down the slpoe of my driveway, I unlbolted the two holders in front of the engine and the engine rocked forward. And then when I was finished, I got in in the car and rolled forward in Neutral onto the street where it was level and the engine just rocked back into place and I could put the engine holders back on.)

In November 2002, someone with a van hit me from behind when I was waiting to make a left turn. The car was deemed totaled by the insurance agency but I wanted to try to save the car.
In NJ though, if a car is deemed totaled, by NJ law it becomes property of the insurance company, and the owner of the car is paid the market value of that time. The insurance company can sell it back to the owner, but doesn't have to. Because the unibody (cars since the 80s or so (I think) don't have frames anymore, the whole body is one stuctural piece called a unibody) was damaged, the insurance company did not want to sell it back to me. It might be better, since there were likely problems I would have encountered later on, like alignment problems.
rear after crash
right rear side after crash
So, I looked for a new car. My mother had a 1995 Lumina, the next generation of Lumina; that was one of the reasons I got a 1999 Lumina.



Any comments, please e-mail me: spettro@angelfire.com or IM me: Motta26