New guy here, 88 Buick Electra Estate Wagon

hmm i might just sell the carb then and use the money from that on the car then. yeah i'm going to be driving this wagon daily. i found 2 dealers that actually have brand new original hoses for my car but i think i'm going to try and use another hose before i go ordering a $30 hose. just dropped the new thermostat and thermostat gasket in it but waiting on radiator to fill before i start it up to see if i fixed the leaking issue and hopefully it will stop it from going through an entire gallon of water in less then 10 mins. i know this car will require work, i mean i bought it for $400. but at this point and time i just want it to run right so i can drive it daily. where can i find one of these Buick manuals you speak of?

 

that would be awesome, i have the owners manual that came with it and it is in perfect condition and i already read over the entire manual a good 5 times.

 

I've combined a few scans to create one big image.

I also included the LeSabre options list, because I can't find the rear air deflector in the Electra option list.

5,191 and 5,901 are the production totals


1988 BUICK ESTATE WAGONS



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< Click thumbnails

 

Ok first welcome to the forum. Second if you have to do the water pump have fun. Sorry to say but it sucks. Disconnect battery. You will need to take off the fan. Take out the radiator(good piece of mind so it doesn't get hurt) Then the A/C pump taken off and set to the side(leave the hoses connected. Remove A/C brackets. Remove Altenator and brackets. Remove Power steering pump with bracket attacted. BTW to loosen the power steering pulley you must line up one of the holes on the pulley so you can stick a socket thru it to loosen the bolt. And you might as well take off the water neck as the hose going from it to the water pump makes it hard to do if you don't take it off. Besides you can then replace that gasket and the thermostat while you are at it. After all this you can get at the water pump. Now as to gas mileage a good tune up will do wonders trust me. My other Custom Cruiser is getting over 20 mpg on the highway. We got 17-18 under mixed driving conditions.

 

ok i took some pics after work but i couldn't get inside pics cause i had a brain fart and locked the keys in the car. but when i figure out how to get this slim jim to work on these doors i'll have interior pics for ya guys. now i remind you i only paid $400 for this car.

 

Not bad at all. Nice find.

I don't believe that anybody has ever made LED taillights for the wagons. You could check with Dakota Digital (the company that makes digital dash kits), as they have LED taillight kits for various cars. If they have some for the Caprice wagon (1977-1990), they should fit on yours, as well. They have digital dash kits for Caprice's, but I don't know that they have LED taillights for them.

I highly recommend against just replacing the standard light bulbs with LED bulbs in your stock taillights. The amount of light they put off is horribly insufficient and you'll likely get rear-ended. The LED kits that Dakota (and probably other companies) make are designed to put off sufficient light to allow others to see your car well.

 

i wasn't going to replace the stock bulbs with LED's, i was just wondering if anyone has seen the Euro style Led tail lights anywhere. but yeah now i need to find the wrench to take the hubcaps off of it. i found out who ever put the new thermostat in it before i bought actually had that lil bracket to the left of it under the thermostat causing it to leak horribly. so i just went ahead an put a new thermostat in it and new seal. then i went to Menards and bought an aluminum ducting tube that is used for stoves and 2 3in hose clamps and put it on and it works perfect. haven't got to start it yet due to keys bein locked in the car still.

 

Ordinarily, you would find the key for the hubcaps in the glovebox, but many times they get lost and you have to break the caps off the wheels. If it isn't in the glovebox, I would check in the spare tire compartment and the little storage compartment in the rear of the car...also under the seats, just in case. Hopefully, it will be there somewhere.

 

yeah i checked the entire car for it and didn't find it, but mine has every option available except for a astroroof, and the fancy mags.

 

Nice wagon, our shades of wood are year different but I have a feeling it's the same paint. Great score, how about some interiour shots?






Looks like the trim around the wood and the Buick bar on the tailgate a bit different also.

I think your going to like it, we sure like ours. The 307 Olds is'nt a power house by any means but I have no complaints.


Here is sound sound advise for keeping your wood grain...

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9444



EDIT....OOPS, I don't know why my pic turned up so HUGE!

 

k so is it normal for it to have a slow start or should me fixing the leak on the thermostat and replacing the air intake hose and replacing some filters and plugs fix that. like it's not an incredibly slow start but i noticed it drives better in Drive other then Over Drive

 

So, where are your cornering lights ?



(Shown on a Caprice in the photo below)

 

No cornering lites in the sales pics..?




A bit strange these sales adds don't have them, Eriks info states they were a $60 option

 

Yup, they were optional.