Pontiac Fiero handles like a truck. Can anything be done about it?

Texases, My Memory Is Good (It’s Just Really Short :wink: )

I went and looked in the original Owner’s Manual and it did actually say 3 quarts !

The only things I remember about the 2.5L was the fires leadind to the recall and I think it was because not enough oil reserve, people running them out and over-heatiing them or breaking connectiong rods, and engine fires, etcetera.

I remember something about taking the old iron duke engine and casting the block thinner to save weight ? (money ?) and that caused some of the problem (with broke rods ?).

These engines also had a problem breaking one head bolt in particular, too, I think (on a corner I believe).

My engine never had a problem. I guess one has to check the oil once in awhile.

CSA

VDCD, I Don’t Know Why The Dipstick Tube And Dipstick Were Replaced, But I Remember That The New Stick Was Longer, Snakier, And On The Other Side. Maybe They Did Change The oil Pan. I Don’t Know.

They did increase the specified oil capacity, but there was no new engine installed in my car.

CSA

I believe the engine in the Fiero also had a higher compression ratio and this can lead to a bit more engine heat.

From some of the grumbling I heard from the Pontiac guys those cooling tubes underneath the car also had a tendency to get squashed due to carelessness when raising the car on a lift or with a floor jack.
This would create air pockets and in some cases cut the coolant flow almost entirely off.

OK4450, There Is A Stainless Pipe On Each Side Underneath, Rear To Front, For Coolant. Somebody Can Crush The Plastic Rockers If They Jack It Wrong, Too.

The entire outer body is plastic. There’s metal under most of it and I remember reading that with plastic skin panels removed a “drivable” steel chassis remains. I also remember that such precision (for Detroit Iron) was used in the design that body panels have round bolt holes (instead of the traditional elongated ones) and fit correctly without the need for wiggle room.

The Fiero Factory Service Manual (too lazy to go back out to car) lists the 2.5L-four compression as 9.0:1.

CSA

How many quarts does the 2.5l take now?

I was a Service Manager of a Pontiac /Cadillac dealership when these cars hit the road. I attribute all my hair loss to the Fiero and 4-6-8 Cadillac. Most complaints on the Fiero side was the ride quality. Most people who bought them never had the pleasure of driving a British car.[ I was also a former manager of a British Leyland dealership, so I couldn’t relate to the Fiero owners.] What you got is a sports car. The ride is what it is, unless the suspension is totally shot. Don’t go by mileage on the car, upgrade the suspension if need be.My son bought a Fiero a few years ago, and it brought back alot of memories. I did refuse to change out the clutch for him.No thanks.You did buy a car to hold on to,in my opinion.

realistically, you have 2 examples of a more-than 370,000 model run of cars. Your experience with the trouble free cars (and really, it’s very logical to infer that had the dealership not put “enough shiny foil covering things that it looked like an experiment from the NASA lab” you would have had problems with the 84) is statistically insignificant.

It’s great that you’re happy with your Fieros, but they are known to be troublesome cars, especially in the early years.

The engine and tranny (the 5-speed was Italian made) are mounted on a cradle that must be removed for any major work…You unbolt it and lift the body up off it…Same engine cradle that was used in the Citation…To purge all the air out of the cooling system, you raised the front of the car about 30 degrees so all the air would migrate up to the radiator, which, then, you climbed up a ladder to check/fill…

The only one worth considering today is the 1988 V6 GT model, which are very rare and hard to find…

The precision drill work resulted from drilling all of the body mount holes at the same time, in the same jig. The design had body mount pads that were about an inch square. The drill rig could hit anywhere inside that pad. This meant that the mount points (pads) have to be built within plus or minus 1/2 inch accuracy - not a problem at the time. By using a single jig to drill the holes, the relative distances between any two holes never changed, even though two different cars might have their body panels mounted as much as an inch off, between them.

There’s a lot of bald-headed mechanics with blood pressure going through the roof and a personality hovering around homicidal maniac status. :slight_smile:

When I worked for this one multi-line dealer we shared a common parts department (different building). I remember walking in one day for parts and saw the older (and bald-headed) driveability guy cursing the Fieros to the heavens.
He had one in the stall and 2 nudged in next to and behind that one and still had a handful out in the parking lot to look at.
He was getting up in years and retired not too long afterwards. My feeling is that the Fieros were the last straw.

Ok4450, We had a customer that brought his Fiero back several times for a coolant leak. Sure enough, it was dripping green fluid. This is of course back in the day when all coolant was green.The mechanic pressure checked everything and could not find a coolant leak. The owner came back repeatedly complaining of a coolant leak.At that point I was ready to give the mechanic his walking papers.I called the factory rep and discussed the problem. I told him the only coolant leak I saw was around the timing cover,and that was it. How was coolant coming out of the timing cover? Thats not coolant he replied. Thats green break-in oil.That oil should have been changed before the car was shipped. Change the oil and kiss that Fiero good-bye. We did. Problem solved. Apparently that oil was as thin as 3 in 1 oil.

That’s pretty interesting. I had never heard that, but then again I had enough headaches with Subarus that Fieros were the last thing on my mind.
Using sewing machine oil on a car engine, huh? :slight_smile:
The closest I ever became to becoming a GM dealer tech was when someone called me once and offered me a job at the Buick house.

Of all the GM products, Buick was the only one that made sense to me.The oil re-set light was a button in the glove box. Engines were easier to work on.The Buick division still had car guys in the think tank. I switched to BMW’s. Granted,they are much more complex today as all cars are now, but a water pump is just a matter of removing the belt , fan and four bolts. No brackets etc…Straight six tune-ups are a breeze.I hope they never go FWD, but I hear rumors they might .I guess they eat lunch with the Mini guys.

I think that Buick builds some pretty nice vehicles and I kind of like the newer ones (LaCrosse, etc.). A lot.
Like Cadillac over the years, they’ve finally gotten away from that Slabsides appearance although I’m not enamored of the Cadillac CTS, or RoboCaddy as I call it.

My oldest son has a couple of vehicles and his '96 Camaro uses the Buick 3.8. That’s a fantastic engine and right around the 240k miles mark while performing some basic maintenance including spark plugs I ran a compression check on it.
All 6 cylinders right at 190 PSI even at that mileage. It wasn’t any better the day it rolled off the assembly line.

I guess we are getting way off thread, but people have stuffed 3.8 supercharged motors in Fieros. The 3.8 is without a doubt a motor that will be remembered as bullet-proof . Next to the SBC, this motor has carried GM.

Your actually going to want it stiff, you make it soft and it won’t handle corners good and you’ll feel like it is dipping to one side too much.