service Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 1993 s Owner's Guide

Sewice & Appeurunce Care
220
Gasolines for Cleaner Air
Your use of gasoline with detergent
additives will help prevent deposits
from forming in your engine and fuel
system. That helps Beep your engine in
tune and your emission control system
working properly. It’s good for your
vehicle, and you’ll be doing your part
for cleaner air.
Many gasolines are now blended with
materials called oxygenates. General
Motors recommends that you use
gasolines with these blending materials,
such as MTBE and ethanol. By doing
so, you can help clean the air, especially
in those parts of the country that have
high carbon monoxide levels. In
addition, some gasoline suppliers are
now producing reformulated gasolines.
These gasolines are specially designed
to reduce vehicle emissions. General
Motors recommends that you use
reformulated gasoline. By doing
so, you
can help clean the air, especially in
those parts of the country that have
high ozone levels.
You should ask your service station
operators
if their gasolines contain
detergents and oxygenates, and
if they
have been reformulated to reduce
vehicle emissions.
Fuels in Foreign Countries
If you plan on driving in another
country outside the
U.S. or Canada,
unleaded fuel may be hard to find.
Do not use leaded gasoline. If you use
even one tankful, your emission
controls won’t work well or
at all. With
continuous use, spark plugs can get
fouled, the exhaust system can corrode,
and your engine oil can deteriorate
quickly. Your vehicle’s oxygen sensor
will be damaged. All of that means
costly repairs that wouldn’t be covered
by your warranty.

Service & Appearance Care
222
Filling Your Tank (CONT.) 1 . Checking Things Under the
I
Hood Release
To open the hood, first pull the handle
inside the vehicle.

Service & Appearance Care
Air Cleaner
Refer to the Maintenance Schedule to
determine when to replace the air filter
and the
PCV filter.
See the
Index under Scheduled
Maintenance Services.
Operating the engine with
the air cleaner off can cause
you or others to be burned. The air
cleaner not only cleans the air, it
stops flame if the engine backfires.
If it isn’t there, and the engine
backfires, you could be burned.
Don’t drive with it
off, and be
careful working
on the engine with
the air cleaner off.
To Check or Replace:
1. Remove the four screws
the cover. and
pull off
I

238
Service & Appearance Care
Windshield Washer Fluid (CONT.)
Brake Master Cylinder
Your brake master cylinder is here. It is
filled with DOT-3 brake fluid.
Your vehicle is equipped with either Standard Power Brakes or the Anti-
Lock Brake System.
There are only two reasons why the
brake fluid level in your master cylinder
might go down. The first
is that the
brake fluid goes down to an acceptable
level during normal brake lining wear.
When new linings are put in, the fluid
level goes back up. The other
reason is that fluid is leaking
out of the brake system. If it is, you
should have your brake system fixed, since a leak means that sooner or later
your brakes won’t work well, or won’t
work at all.
So, it isn’t a good idea to “top off’ your
brake fluid. Adding brake fluid won’t correct a leak. If you add fluid when
your linings are worn, then you’ll have
too much fluid when you get new brake
linings. You should add (or remove)
brake fluid, as necessary, only when
work is done on the brake hydraulic
system.

Service & Appearance Care
Bulb Replacement
240
Baffery
Every new Oldsmobile has a Delco
Freedom@ battery. You never have to
add water to one of these. When it’s
time for a new battery,,+we recommend a
Delco Freedom@ battery. Get one that
has the catalog number shown on the
original battery’s label.
Jump Starting
For jump starting instructions, see the
Index under lump Starting.
Vehicle Storage
If you’re not going to drive your vehicle
for
25 days or more, take off the black
negative
(-) cable from the battery. This
will help keep your battery
from
running down. In
this section you’ll find directions for
changing the light bulbs in some of the
lights on your Oldsmobile. You’ll also
find directions for adjusting the
alignment of the mini-quad headlights,
if you have this type.
Be sure to read the directions before
you begin to replace or adjust any lights
See the
Index under Replacement
Bulbs to find the type of bulb you need
to use.
Batteries have acid that can
burn you and gas that can
explode. You can be badly hurt
if
you aren’t careful. See the Index
under Jump Starting for tips on
working around a battery without
getting hurt.
Contact your deakr to
learn how to
prepare your vehicle for .longer storage
periods.
Halogen Bulbs ~~

Service & Appearance Care
246
To Replace a Headlight (CONT.)
To check the aim, the vehicle should be
properly prepared as follows:
The vehicle must have all four tires on
a perfectly level surface.
The vehicle should not have any
snow, ice or mud attached to it.
There should not be any cargo or
loading of vehicle, except it should
have a full tank
of gas and one person
or
160 pounds (75 kg) on the driver's
seat.
Tires should be properly inflated.
The horizontal indicator should read
0 (zero). If
your vehicle is damaged in
an
accident and the headlight aim seems to
be affected, see your Oldsmobile dealer.
Headlights on damaged vehicles may
require recalibration of the horizontal
aim by your Oldsmobile dealer.
Headlight Replacement
(4-DOOR MODELS)
See the Index under Replacement
Bulbs to check the type of bulb to use.
To Replace a Bulb:
1. Turn the L-shaped bulb assembly
counterclockwise
*I6 turn until the
flanges align with the slots in the
retainer ring. You may need to twist
it back and forth slightly to loosen it.

Service & Appearance Care
254
Tire Inspection and Rotation
To make your tires last longer, have
them inspected and rotated at the
mileages recommended in the
Maintenance Schedule. See the
Index
under Scheduled Maintenance
Services.
Use this rotation pattern. After
the tires have been rotated, adjust
the front and rear inflation pressure as
shown on the Tire-Loading Information
label. Make certain that all wheel nuts
are properly tightened. See the
Index
under Wheel Nut Torque.
A
Rust or dirt on a wheel, or on
the parts to which it is
fastened, can make the wheel nuts
become loose after a time. The
wheel could come
off and cause an
accident. When you change a
wheel, remove any rust or dirt from
places where the wheel attaches to
the vehicle. In an emergency, you
can use a cloth or a paper towel to
do this; but be sure to use a scraper
or wire brush later, if you need to,
to get all the rust or dirt
off. (See
the
Index under Changing a Flat
Tire. 1

Sewice & Appearance Care
256
1 Uniform Tire Quality
Grading
The following information relates to the
system developed by the United States
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration which grades tires by
treadwear, traction and temperature
performance. (This applies only to
vehicles sold in the United States.)
Treadwear
The treadwear grade is a comparative
rating based on the wear rate of the tire
when tested under controlled
conditions on a specified government
test course. For example, a tire graded
150 would wear one and a half (1%)
times as well on the government course
as a tire graded
100. The relative
performance of tires depends upon the actual
conditions
of their use, however,
and may depart significantly from the
norm due to variations
in driving habits,
service practices and dif€erences in road
characteristics and climate.
Traction-A, B, C
The traction grades, from highest to
lowest are:
A, B, and C. They represent
the tire’s ability to stop on wet
pavement as measured under controlled
conditions on specified government test
surfaces
of asphalt and concrete. A tire
marked
C may have poor traction
performance.
Warning: The traction grade assigned
to this tire is based on braking (straight-
ahead) traction tests and does not
include cornering (turning) traction.
Temperature-A, B, C
The temperature grades are A (the
highest),
B, and C, representing the
tire’s resistance to the generation of
heat and its ability to dissipate heat
when tested under controlled
conditions on a specified indoor
laboratory test wheel. Sustained high
temperature can cause the material of
the tire to degenerate and reduce tire
life, and excessive temperature can lead
to sudden tire failure. The grade
C
corresponds to a level of performance
which all passenger car tires must meet
under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard No.
109. Grades B and A
represent higher levels of performance
on the laboratory test wheel than the
minimum required by law.

Service & Appearance Care
I
I
260
Cleaning the Inside of Your
Oldsmobile
Use a vacuum cleaner often to get rid of
dust and loose dirt. Wipe vinyl with a
clean, damp cloth.
Your Oldsmobile dealer has two
GM
cleaners-a solvent-type spot lifter and
a foam-type powdered cleaner. They
will clean normal spots and stains very
well.
Here are some cleaning tips:
Always read the instructions on the
Clean up stains as soon as you can-
cleaner label.
before they set.
Use a clean cloth or sponge, and
change to a clean area often. A
soft
brush may be used if stains are
stubborn.
Use solvent-type cleaners in a well-
ventilated area only. If you use them,
don’t saturate the stained area.
If a ring forms after spot cleaning,
clean the entire area immediately
or it
will set.
Using Foam-Type Cleaner on
Fabric
Vacuum and brush the area to remove
Always clean a whole trim panel or
any
loose dirt.
section. Mask surrounding trim along
stitch
or welt lines.
Mix Multi-Purpose Powdered Cleaner
following the directions on the
container label.
Use suds only and apply with a clean
sponge.

Service & Appearance Care
268
Fiberglass Springs Chemical Paint Spotting
Some weather
and atmospheric
conditions can create a chemical fallout.
Airborne pollutants can fall upon and
attack painted surfaces on your vehicle.
This damage can take two forms:
blotchy, ringlet-shaped discolorations,
and small irregular dark spots etched
into the paint surface.
Although
no defect in the paint job
causes this, Oldsmobile will repair, at
no charge to the owner, the surfaces of
new vehicles damaged by this fallout
condition within 12 months or 12,000
miles
(20 000 km) of purchase,
whichever comes first.
Vehicle Identification Number
0
This is the legal identifier for your
Oldsmobile.
It appears on a plate in the
front corner of the instrument panel, on
the driver’s side. You can see it if you
look through the windshield from
outside your vehicle. The
VIN also
appears on the Vehicle Certification and
Service
Parts labels and the certificates
of title and registration.