I'm deciding whether or not to buy a 305 RS as a daily driver. I currently have a Mazda Protege, 4-cylinder, auto, and really miss my thirdgens. I had a tbi car years ago and it was fairly reliable, and then two tpi cars that needed new parts every week. How many of you daily drive your RS's? What are common problems you all experience?

 

I used to drive my Camaro with the TBI 305 with no problems. The car was a dog, but I didn't have any reliability issues. If you want it to be reliable, just don't beat on it, do routine maintenance, and I'm sure you'll do just fine.

 

Im actually considering the same thing. getting another tbi 305 unmodified car to daily drive. i'd have no qualms with doing that. tbi engines are reliable as hell. 305 with 2.73's can pull close to 27-28 mpg too.

 

I drive mine to work and just about wherever else I need to go. Gets good mpg and very reliable.

 

What was wrong with your TPI? Mine has been nothing but reliable....

 

tbi are great daily drivers. there very reliable, more reliable than TPI honestly, but my tpi has been reliable, and was daily driving my tpi for a few years without troubles. just routine maintenance

 

Injectors, fouling plugs, EGR, running rich, started burning oil, leaking oil out of pan seal. Issue after issue! And 95,000 pampered miles on the clock.

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Our 89 has 200k miles on it, still going, driven daily, for a couple decades in AK, not completely trouble free, but mostly just routine maintenance items, course its showing some wear now, but I'd say they're reliable. Problem is finding one that hasn't been beat on or neglected.

 

Mine started out as a $500.00 fixer upper and after replacing every wearable item that could be bolted to the engine it turned out to be very reliable.Ive done all the bolt on upgrades along the way(intake/exhaust/changing the rear end ratio/posi,etc.)Its even fun to drive.

 

And at least 20years..... Rubber seals get hard over time regardless of milage, if i didnt have to i personally wouldnt daily drive anything over 10 years old....No matter how well you maintain things time is a big factor on some things deteriorating...

 

Only problems Ive had with mine are the ones I caused.

 

My '89 305 TBI has been my daily driver for the last 9 months. I've had to replace the idler arm, heater control valve, alternator, and battery. Along with routine maintenance, there have been no major problems. I just went on a 150 excursion this past weekend in 106 degree weather. AC plays heck trying to keep up but no issues.

 

been daily driving mine for 12 years now. of course i have rebuilt most the stuff on it. any car can break down at any time, any mechanical part can fail at any time. and the junk they put out now i dont trust. haha

 

been daily driving my gta from 2006 to 2011... but now its not my daily driver anymore.. i have a truck now so i have big plans for this gta...

 

I daily drive my 305 tbi 5 speed in my car. 138k on this beast and its never broken down on me (except for when my vats needed to be bypassed) even used to drive it in snow. Ive been putting more mileage driving back and forth to my college and home this summer. 200 miles extra a week and its doing very well.

 

Been daily driving mine for 14 years. Had 86,xxx when I bought it, now has 211,xxx. I drive anywhere and everywhere and never been stranded except for when the tranny went out about 12 years ago. Just routine maintenance and normal driving. LO3's are one of the most reliable motors IMO.

 

Got my 88 Sport Coupe with an LO3 in the summer of 1988. I drove it almost daily to high school, college, professional school and a few years for work. Up until the spring of 2003 when I purchased a new car. I've never had any issues with it. 140,000 miles on it now. I've since converted it to a RamJet but it was running just fine before. Sometimes I regret changing it because it ran so well.

 

mine hits the streets daily pretty much.. if you know what city im talking bout i go from sweetwater to chrome by kendall drive.. all the time. thats with the esc acting up. just dont really jump on the throttle. but no probs.

 

I have a 92 Firebird 305 that i bought a year ago. Its my only source of transportation. I bought it with 142k on it and it just past 160k. I have never had any issues with it and personally think its a great engine

 

I put almost 40k on my 92 RS and the worse repair was a trans rebuild at 232k followed by replacing the stock radiator in the 3 years it was my DD.

 

I daily drove mine from 04 when i bought it to 07, a few issues here and there. Now that i only drive it once or twice a month at most it seems i'm always finding a new issue. It needs to be drivin more just wish i had the time.

 

180k miles on my 92 rs. It'll take me anywhere. My car has never been babied but has always been well maintained. 28mpg. I've never driven it in the snow but my cousin I bought it from said it's completely helpless in any amount of snow.

 

Your cousin is right. I've had many Camaros over the years and of the ones I had to drive in bad weather, none of them drove very well in snow. These days the Camaro goes into the garage for the winter but will come out as my daily driver for the other 3 seasons!

 

I had a 99 camaro 3.8L auto for a DD and I feared no weather with that. I got too many tickets and couldn't afford the insurance so I traded a buddy for a bunch of cash and an 88 TA 305 tpi auto. That TA was a burnout machine and was helpless in snow. Fortunately my boss at the time was a TA fan so he understood on snow days. Always wondered why the 3rd gens were so helpless in the snow while that 4th gen did so well in snow.

 

The LO3 is so simple, 90% of vacuum lines are at the throttle body with the exception of
the lines going to cruise control,air conditioning control, and MAP sensor . If anything it's the cooling system that you should keep an eye . I blew a head gasket just because my heater control valve cracked and spewed all of my coolant out and i thought it would be ok to drive for a few blocks.