1998 Buick LeSabre Reviews - Page 2 of 6

Plastic intake manifold cracked on the highway at 50 miles per hour and flooded the engine with coolant. The engine seized before I could get onto the shoulder of the road. $1500 repair.

Two power window regulators needed replacing - $400 each.

Engine belt tensioner seized while driving on the highway, and left the car without power steering or power brakes. $500.

The whole dash rattles in numerous places.

Transmission started banging into gear about 10,000 miles ago. The tranny shop says that it's slipping and the computer compensates for that by hard shifting it. He says I better save up $2500 to replace it because its only a matter of time.

The seats are terrible, with lumps and bumps in awkward locations.

I'm 55 years old and have owned many cars, but this thing is without a doubt, the worst car I have owned. I bought it from a retired fire chief who babied it. I baby it with mostly highway driving and I religiously maintain it, but it falls apart as you drive it down the road. It's so unreliable I won't let my wife drive it out of town. She drives my Mercury Grand Marquis, which is the most reliable car I've ever owned.

My brake lines broke.

The heat only blows on the passenger side.

The front tie end rods needed to be replaced.

I had to replace my previous vehicle quickly and didn't have a lot of cash. Typical of my image of Buick, the car was owned by an older gentleman who purchased it new in 1997. The car was clean and fully loaded (everything works).

My impression of Buick has greatly changed. The car has held up very well over the past 3 years I've had it. When the economy improves, I'll consider another one.

The fan on the air conditioner and heater starts to squeak after a few minutes when the fan is on high.

Also, the air comes out of the floor, vents, and windshield all the same time, something is wrong and it won't go to one area when selected.

A front end alignment and new struts are needed, but is normal for a car with so many miles.

This car is perfect on a long trip or just a quick trip to town.

The engine has been through almost 200,000 miles and still runs like new.

It is reliable, I have had no serious problems with it since I purchased it a year ago.

My mother's 1998 Buick LeSabre just blew the intake manifold with 64,000 miles. I'm getting quotes to replace the mass airflow sensor too.

The problem began with the car hesitating, then it died. I'm glad it happened while I was driving it, and not my 81 year old mother.

Intake manifold melted (aka plenum) as with the other comments. My engine did not blow up, and the problem actually showed up already in 2002 (bought used in 2001) - 1998 LeSabre. But in 2002 or thereabouts, when car was stopping dead on me on I-75 between Toledo and Detroit, the dealers apparently had not yet been notified of the problem. They couldn't find anything wrong (I have all my paperwork from that time plus all the repair receipts). They would drive it brief distances and nothing happened. It was when it was driven for an hour or more that either the engine light would come on or it would stop. I discovered if I waited for about 20 minutes or so, I could get it started again.

Most of my anger is, as with all others, that GM put plastic near the engine when an eighth grade idiot would not to do that. And that they apparently did not notify their dealers about the problem (which had to be appearing all over the place by 1999). In 2004 when my plastic plenum melted, it was a Belle Tire employee who told me what the problem was.

My mechanic and other mechanics in this area (Lucas Co. Ohio) were getting these GM plastic plenum cars in for repairs at the rate of 4 to 6 per week per mechanic. They all told us to save our paperwork. I held off contacting GM for various reasons - for one thing, they know very well how much this has cost customers, as well as how dangerous it is. My car stopped dead on I-75 at least 3 times. Well, so far, no recall, and now the dealership where I bought it in 2001 was recently honest enough to say the plenum replacements being done in 2004 are also plastic, so they will not last a long time either.

So GM will be hearing from me. I'm a legal secretary - what you have to do is be persistent. Don't take the first 15 "no's". Individually might be the best way to approach them, but with all the evidence posted here - I believe persistence will pay off. They have no right to do this to people. Lemon doesn't describe adequately what owners of these pieces of junk now own.

My mechanic says my engine is still good, however. And he only charged me $800 for everything (spark plugs & starter also had to be replaced, as others have posted), but GM has to step up to the plate on this - too many years and car models are involved, not to mention people's lives put in danger.