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Sedans Buick LeSabre Buick LeSabre Starting/Stalling Problems
168 messages, Last post on Nov 29, 2009 at 1:45 PM
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Replying to: stephen987 (Apr 05, 2009 1:38 pm)
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Replying to: folderqueen (Apr 05, 2009 1:58 pm) From what you post it sounds like you are not smelling the coolant smell inside the car coming from the heater blower air stream. The windshield is NOT clouding up when you drive the car with water vapor coming from the heater core seeping inside the car. So that's not happening. The coolant smell, based on what I believe you mean, is outside the car coming from the engine compartment after the car is shut off. When you drive the car, the temperature of the coolan increases and eventually builds up pressure in the cooling system. The radiator cap controls that pressure amount. The extra pressure enables the car to run higher than 212 deg. F. for cooling purposes. If you are smelling coolant after the car is shut off, that probably means a seep while the car is still pressurized. The high pressure relaxes after 10-15 minutes and the seep under the hood would stop. Do you see any coolant on the ground under the motor after the car has been driven, warmed up thoroughly, and then shut off? A water pump sometimes seeps when it's failing. There is a small plastic pipe about 3 inches long that turns 90 deg sideways that comes out of the side of the metal intake manifold above the water pump that sometimes can seep around either end. There is a possibility of a seep in the radiator or one of the rubber hoses, especially at the ends where they are clamped on. Sometmes the clamp is bad, sometimes, the hose. A worse case is that there might be a seepage inside the plastic upper intake manifold on top of the motor (after you take off the gray beauty cover). The replacement upper costs about $100 for the part. You don't say how many miles are on the car. If the DExcool antifreeze has never been changed, that might make a manifold leak more likely. What you need to watch is coolant level. When the car has cooled about 30 minutes or so, use a towel to remove the radiator cap and check coolant level inside the radiator. Fill it there, if needed. Keep the reservoir up to a mark for cold or where it is and mark it with a pencil when the car is cold so you can compare a few days later when the car is cold again if the car has used coolant. Always check inside the radiator to be sure it stays full. Take a flashlight and look all around the motor on the end where the serpentine belt is and the radiator and hoses for leaks. Let me know what you find.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Apr 05, 2009 2:36 pm)
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Replying to: folderqueen (Apr 05, 2009 2:52 pm) The MAF sensor can cause strange symptoms. Often they show at idle and people remove the connector and start the motor and if it runs better, then the MAF may be to blame. The two fine wires can be cleaned with spray cleaners inside the MAF after removing it with two screws that are torx heads if I recall. I would check the Fuel Pressure REgulator on the front of top of the motor with small rubber vacuum hoses going to it about the starting. A few of those go bad and leak gasoline into the vacuum hose. So pulling off the vacuum hose and finding liquid gasoline inside is a bad sign that it has failed. The rough runniing and bad starting also can be the fuel pump in the tank has worn and lost pressure. That can lead to bad running, stalls, and restarts after a few miinutes. Some strange symptoms that are like other things as well. The fuel pump is accessed through a plate on the floor of the trunk behind the rear seat. It is not an easy job and requires skill and knowledge. The earlier fuel pumps had to be dropped under the car to get the out of the tank. At 130,000 you might be ready fora fuel pump. Rumor has it that if a car is run low on fuel often it wears the fuel pump and heats it up; neighbor had a 95 MonteCarlo go at 65,000 miles because he always ran it low as a second car that had been his dad's. Did anyone have the car connected to a scanner at an Advance Auto Parts of Autozone to see what codes it read? Don't buy parts based on that. Those are hints? The window regulators from a supplier for 00 and 01 were poorly made and fail often at a connection of wire to plastic slider. They are available repaired on the internet or Ebay where you send it in and in a few days they return it. You have to be able to take off the door panel to get it out of the door. They hold the glass up with something while the part's out.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Apr 05, 2009 3:31 pm)
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Replying to: folderqueen (Apr 06, 2009 6:56 pm) Did you have bubbling into the reservoir from the hot exhaust gases being pushed into the coolant and escaping through the reservoir? Did they check in the radiator neck with a hydrocarbon sensor like used for emissions testing to verify exhaust gases were present in the coolant? A blown head gasket on a 3800 is _extremely_ rare, unlike many other cars. What is more common is for the intake manifold gaskets to leak or the upper plastic portion to break down where the hot egr gases go through and allow coolant to leak into the air intake that goes to the cylinders. That coolant being sucked in may be causing a miss, depending on how much is sucked in. Check the oil on the dipstick to see if it's milky looking. If so that's coolant getting into the oil through the lower gasket under the bottom intake which is metal. Again have a shop that knows 3800s check. I can lead you to many forums about the Bonnevilles, LeSabres, and other cars and blown head gasket is an extremely rare find. At worst have a dealer check the problem. You may have to pay to diagnose, but you don't have to have it fixed there.
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Dude, check the year on the car. And ditch the personal attacks. |
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Replying to: luvmytoyz (Mar 24, 2009 4:55 pm) I think you're on the wrong tact here. Do you mean transmissions like in Hondas? I can give you the link to the Odyssey discussion specifically on transmission failures. Or the Accords? Or Civics? Maybe we could talk about brakes wearing out early and often on the rears of same brand. Or the shifting and vibration problems with the 6,4,3 VCM Accords. Some of them are bad. They have to use a radio sound to try to cancel out the noise. I don't have that problem in my 3800 in my full-sized Buicks. or talk about the Camry with the transmission software and design problem of their 2007 transmission in their V6s. They designed the shift controls inadequately and finally compensated by varying the software. The 4-cyl also had problems of some kind. People are still asking about the patch for the programming. Then there are the rattles. This is supposed to be the car that is the example for the US cars in a few people's minds. But there have been problems through Lexus, Avalon, and Camry with transmission and engine adaptation. Do some searches here on Edmunds. I believe brake wear at low mileage has also been meantioned. It pays to read the threads for the cars set out as examples--usually they aren't. One difference is that they have had more money to throw at problems out of profits than GM has had because of GM's high labor and management costs. That has hurt GM attempting to leave behind problematic 80s and 90s vehicles. |
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