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Buick Lucerne Vibration Problems

226 messages,  Last post on Oct 13, 2012 at 12:10 PM

You are in the Buick Lucerne Forum.

What is this discussion about? Buick Lucerne, Tires, Wheels, Steering, Sedan

Messages Page 23 of 24

#212 of 226 Re: Lucerne CXL vibration [rgd3] by gsabens

Oct 26, 2009 (8:41 pm)

Replying to: rgd3 (Oct 26, 2009 12:14 pm)
In my case the problem was the left inner CV joint and I was told that the joint itself wasn't available, that the whole assembly was the only way to go. The price for the assembly was $120 with $100 labor. Don't expect that at the dealer. I told the service writer at the dealer that I was sure of my diagnosis but he would only agree to check for vibrations, which was a repeat of what they had already done. At that point I decided to go elsewhere and was happily surprised with the estimate.

#213 of 226 Re: Lucerne CXL vibration [gsabens] by imidazol97

Oct 27, 2009 (5:06 am)

Replying to: gsabens (Oct 26, 2009 8:19 pm)
>I used a floor jack
 
Thank you. I feel safer for you.
 
I still would hassle the dealership about a refund of cost.

#214 of 226 Satisfactory resolution by gsabens

Nov 13, 2009 (12:37 pm)

I went to my local Buick dealer (Not where I bought my 06) with the invoice for the work I had done at the independent shop and. what do you know ! I'm assured that I will receive a check for the full amount in the next few days. Good for GM !!

#215 of 226 Re: Buick Lucerne Vibration [joeduxbury] by bill5983

Mar 03, 2010 (6:28 am)

Replying to: joeduxbury (Apr 03, 2007 9:42 am)
Hi,
I have the same problem with my Lucerne, what size are the rubber washers, did you use one on each bolt, and did you put them on to the plate that the brake and gas pedal are mounted on? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill

#216 of 226 Re: Vibration [rgd3] by jbrich67

May 26, 2010 (8:40 am)

Replying to: rgd3 (Oct 26, 2009 8:39 am)
Sorry I didn't see this sooner-- I don't visit the forum much anymore since we got rid of our lemon. I'll go ahead and answer your question -- maybe it will help someone else.
If you are having vibration and clunking problems with your Lucerne and no one seems to be able to fix it -- get rid of it! We had ours to the dealer 10 times for those problems, we had about 4 sets of tires, replaced half shaft in the steering, numerous tire rotations, road force balancing, etc. Also unrelated-- the driver's door handle fell off, the stereo blew up and the mechanism that controls the driver's seat and the driver's mirror went bad. This was over a period of 23 months -- we tried to work with the dealer to resolve and we tried to work with a GM troubleshooter to resolve but got nowhere and used lemon law as a last resort.
 
The most important thing to do is take the car in to the dealer immediately when you notice the problem and make sure it is well documented - particularly mileage because they will charge you for usage even if you win. We were outside of the statute of limitations when our case got to hearing BUT because the problem started with low miles, our usage fee was nominal (we had over 40,000 on it by the time we got to hearing). If you are over a certain amount of miles when you start your case, they'll throw it out. Keep all documentation of any visits to the dealership and make sure they write on them what they did and the service bulletin # if they used one. I also made a spreadsheet with the date, reason for service, how long they had the car, what they did, and mileage each time it went in. This proved to be very helpful when it came time for hearing preparation. We hired an attorney but went through the BBB arbitration process (I think GM requires that). The attorney did a lot of the contact work with the BBB but you can definitely do this yourself. It is actually set up to be used by the consumer. Basically, the case is opened up online, you send in all of your documentation when they ask you to and then they decide if you have a case. If you do, they set up hearing at their office (we went downtown Pittsburgh because that's where I work). Our attorney was there, a volunteer arbiter from the BBB, and a GM rep was on conference call. I spoke for my husband and I because I was the most involved with the ordeal. The GM rep stated her case, I stated mine. The arbiter asked questions of both of us and then the GM rep was allowed to ask me a couple of questions. The arbiter has the option to drive the vehicle -- he did in our case. When we got back, we called the GM rep back and had closing comments. It took almost two weeks for the arbiter to make a decision but he ruled in our favor and GM had to reimburse us for the full amount that we paid for the vehicle. We did not get attorney fees because the BBB feels that an attorney is not necessary to use their system. It is not necessary if you are well prepared on your own-- in our case, I could have done it myself-- our attorney was more hinderance than help most of the time.
 
My parents just bought a 2010 CXL (much to my chagrin) but we'll see if it's any better than our 2006.
 
Good luck to anyone who opts to go lemon law -- it can be done! I'll be glad to give further advice if anyone needs it.

#217 of 226 Re: Lucerne vibration [mpk5] by edub708

Aug 28, 2010 (9:08 am)

Replying to: mpk5 (Feb 23, 2007 2:40 pm)
Do you have the address of Buick in Detroit and name of the person with whom you spoke? Was your car a V6 or V8. I have a V8.
 
Does anyone know the TSB for bad engine mounts? I have seen a few posts regarding mis-designed engine mounts, but I cannot find a TSB about this. Dealer
said they cannot find it either.

#218 of 226 Re: vibration 06 cxl [lucerneowner] by edub708

Aug 28, 2010 (9:10 am)

Replying to: lucerneowner (Jul 25, 2009 4:12 am)
Do you know the TSB for the bad engine mounts? I know you have a V6, but I wonder if it will apply to a V8 as well.

#219 of 226 Re: Lucerne CXL vibration [edub708] by edub708

Aug 28, 2010 (9:20 am)

Replying to: edub708 (Oct 25, 2009 9:42 pm)
well the dealer did find that I had 2 bad wheel bearing hub assemblies and 2 bad axles. This did help my vibration tremendously. However, I still have vibration on
acceleration. The dealer did find that my engine mount "strap" was wrong and they adjusted that, but I still feel the vibration, maybe even more so now. I am not even
sure why there is a "strap" on this car. Seems the mounts should auto-align the engine/xmission without some adjustable part. Well that's another top in itelf.....
 
Can bad engine/xmission mounts cause the axles and bearings to go bad? I would think so since the flex would stress the axles and thus the bearings, but just trying to get another opinion. It seems very strange that 2 hub bearings and axles all go bad within 40K miles. I really think the mounts are bad. I assume this "strap" was incorrect since day 1 since I never had any work done on it until it was recently adjusted which leads to my next question.........if the "strap" was incorrect and my engine/xmission was flexing to much, can this wear out the dampening of the engine mount rubber? I would think so, but again I want another opinion. I think the dealer is checking the mounts and if they don't see a tear or leak, they assume the mount is good? Besides a visual tear or leak, how else can an engine/xmission mount be tested? I think maybe the dampening of the mounts is shot especially since the "strap" was not correct.
 
Thanks!!!

#220 of 226 Re: vibration 06 cxl [edub708] by lucerneowner

Aug 31, 2010 (7:39 am)

Replying to: edub708 (Aug 28, 2010 9:10 am)
Not sure about the V8. I don't know the TSB for the bad engine mount (only 1 allegedly bad, the other good). My dealer finally came up with the REAL solution (limiting engine block rotation under acceleration), as described previously. That fix apparently kept the exhaust system from hitting the frame as I accelerated, otherwise passing engine vibration to the chassis and largely by-passing the vibration isolation feature of the engine mounts (i.e., rendering any engine mount problem moot). Still, I appreciated their replacing the defective engine mount, as it might have become the NEXT problem after the primary fix (tightening the engine block motion-limiting strap one notch).

#221 of 226 Brake calipers rattle by oldguy8

Sep 25, 2010 (12:31 pm)

My brake calipers on rear wheels rattle on road surfaces that have narrow joints, I figured this out by littley stepping on brake then rattle stops, anyone else have this problem

Messages Page 23 of 24

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