1998 Buick LeSabre Custom from North America - Comments

Count me in as well. 99 LeSabre with 73,450 miles.. stopped at the store... everything stopped. rest is 1K worth of stories...

Sounds like the same problem on TWO Lesabre's my sons own -- 1997 and 1999. Coolant disappears rather quickly, white smoke in the exhaust, and the 1999 doesn't start. When the 1997 was in the shop the mechanic could see that the intake manifold was definately leaking, so I told him I would put BARS LEAK in and it seemed to help with only a hint of white smoke still visable in the exhaust. The 1999 is in even worst shape. It wouldn't start and now believe it is a cracked head gasket (probably from the plastic gasket). After we got it running again by changing plugs, oil, and putting in BARS LEAK the car got very hot idling and probably destroyed the catayltic converter and starter (mounted right by the converter) from all the heat.

Well now, I guess I can join the party. I just got my wife's 1999 LeSabre out of the shop yesterday. We bought it new, and have maintained it according to the book. It only has 66,500 miles on it. Never had a problem until this. Same problem! She took it out a few days ago and commented when she returned that it was running rough. I took a spin around the block and noticed it also, but because it was due for a tune-up, didn't get alarmed. It didn't appear to be over heating and the fluid levels seemed OK. Less than an hour later, she went out and it wouldn't start. Locked up! Had it towed to shop, and they did the tune-up and got it started, but discovered that we had an expected blown head gasket. Bottom line: It was the upper and intake manifold gasket, etc. so not quite as bad as expected. Three days and $1350.00 later (including tune-up, replacement belts and oil/lube/filter maintenance) we're back on the road again; hopefully for another 100K miles.

Say Hello to a fellow club member... Inherited my father in laws 1998 Buick Lesbre Limited with 95K miles.

A couple of days ago, at 103K miles, had the engine temp light come on in the driveway as I returned from a highway trip. A quick glance at the gage confirmed that the glowing little idiot light was right - it was indeed nudging the red line. Let it cool down and checked the coolant, it was about 5 inches below the filler neck. Ran out and bought a bottle of flush and a gallon of coolant, figuring "it was time to change it anyway".

That was two days ago. Yesterday, the engine started bogging down and blew a good shot of white smoke out the back. I was trying to attribute this to the fact that it was raining out and my hope was that something had gotten damp, causing a misfire.

That takes us to today. Drove the car to work this morning (15 miles one way) and had the yellow check engine light come on about half way home. No smoke or hesitation this time but figured I'd better look around some more. You guessed it - the coolant level was back down to about 5 inches below the filler neck. No damage yet, but after reading everyone's input on this forum the future is clear. Next search will be to try and find a good fix for this intake problem. For now, the Buick sits.

My dad purchased a 98 Buick Le Sabre with 98,000 miles on it. Within a month he started losing coolant and had white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. The engine quit running and the starter went out. After talking to the dealer he was informed the plastic plenum on the 3800 motor were prone to go bad. He was able to use Bars stop leak and has driven another 2000 miles with no further problem. So far so good. If anyone wants to try this before making a major repair make sure to follow all instructions on stop leak bottle to the letter. Change plugs and oil and give it a shot. Hope this helps.

Simply adding Barrs Leak is asking for trouble. The upper intake plenum must be replaced with the newer design plenum. I just did this on my 98 Le Sabre. It takes about 4.5 hours for someone with good mechanical skills. You must torque the plenum bolts down to the proper torque specifications with a torque wrench. ***Very Important Note***: If your vehicle has the automatic climate control A/C heater controls, you MUST turn the HVAC system off before beginning the plenum replacement or you will cause damage to the A/C heater control system.

Well I am a new member as well, filled it up with coolant, and let it sit for 2 hours, came out to crank it up and vapor lock. Towed the car to the shop, starter teeth were worn down and the cup was cracked off, front three plugs fouled, they were full of coolant!

Our 98 LeSabre has a stalling issue. So does our 94 Olds 88. At a light or just driving through a parking lot.

The only thing I have heard so far is that the oil pressure module could be bad (or just very low oil pressure), and the engine shuts down electronically.

any other ideas.

js.

EGR valve is probably clogged up. Possible need to clean the pintle inside. Or it could be caused by a weak coil. Which happened in my case and the side effect was that it clogged the EGR valve up.

Same thing recently happened to our 1998 Buick Century.

Drove it just a few miles when out of nowhere the check engine light came on. Stopped, shut it off, waited 30 minutes and checked the coolant, and sure enough it was low.

I added some more, and it fired right up with no problem, drove it home and about a tenth of a mile from my home, the light came back on and it started heating up quickly.

Got it into the driveway, the fans were working so I shut it off.

After cooling I checked the coolant and yet again it was indeed low again.

It has been parked since, I did purchase the thermo gasket ($150.00+) but I have not used it as I'm fearing that it may lock up before the system gets flushed, thus further damage such as vapor lock etc.

I think this was a test of which would be better effective, some Buicks used the plastic which failed, while others the head gasket cover was a different metal than the engine, causing an acidic reaction which destroys the gasket, causing the coolant to leak into the engine.

Neither one of the types are workable or fair.

There should have been a re-call long ago, and all the head gasket covers replaced with aluminum covers.