2000 Buick Regal LS from North America - Comments

Faulty/jittery fuel guage. Known fault and I bought it knowing the condition. Could use new wiper blades.

Apart that, nothing yet. Fingers crossed.

I picked this up for $2500 CAD with a fresh inspection from a local gent who was getting a new Lucerne. The car is in perfect shape. I spent 2 hours looking over it. Everything works.

The chap had it from brand new and has obviously cared for it. Waxoyl is in every nook and cranny. Brake lines look like brand new. Brand new disc rotors and pads all round. What a steal.

I bought the Buick after being amazed by how much folk want for their 2000 Corollas, Civics etc. If you are careful you can pick up one of these cars for an absolute song. I expect this one to last a long time. The GM 3.8L and Buick brand have good reputations according to JD Power.

Http://www.jdpower.com/autos/Buick/Regal/2001/Sedan/ratings.

I'm even getting good mileage on the big V6. 33L of fuel just got me 450km on mostly highway. That's 7.3L per 100km at a steady 95kmh - dead on the EPA estimate form when it was built. That's around 38 miles per imperial gallon and around 32 miles per US gallon. Amazing what cruise and a laid-back driving style can do with this solid car.

As a comparison, the EPA reckons a 2007 Corolla gets 6.4L/100km highway. So not bad at all.

More developments when they come in but for now: Fingers crossed.

OK. I've had the car for about 6 weeks and so far so good.

When I got it I got the oil and ATF changed plus alignment, wheel balancing and new wipers and the car is rewarding me with hassle-free 200km per day commutes on the highway at 7.3l per 100km.

That's all for now. Feeling pretty good about the decision to buy the car.

Had the popular GM windshield-wiper-on-the-wing-mirror gremlin yesterday after foolishly engaging the wipers when snow was on the windscreen.

Result: arm worked its way loose from the spindle.

Fix: 1/2 turn on the spindle retainer nut with a 1/2" socket. Took all of five minutes.

Car still loyally taking its medicine every day up the freeway. No other issues.

March 9 2009.

The Regal continues to serve me well.

Hasn't missed a beat all winter except for one day when the old ABS/Service/Traction lights came on. It only did that once and I think it had something to do with a pothole.

Other than oil changes the car is doing well. Must have put 20,000km on it since I bought it. No dramas. Very pleased with the car.

Car still performing well except for a recent tendency to stall a couple of minutes after startup from cold. Appears to happen most at low speeds, perhaps under braking or steering.

The stall (or sometimes near-stall) are characterised by all the dashlights coming on for a second then all going off again. Am researching and will report back.

Otherwise the car continues to work well. Changed the indicator lamps on the front last weekend. Literally took one minute per side. Clip, clip, flip, twiddle, pull to get the old bulb out and the reverse procedure to put it back again. Wonderful design.

I got to the bottom of the mystery stall, recorded here so future owners can find it.

After a few stall, the pattern that emerged was that of turn signals triggering the fault, intermittently, and more often when cold. A neighbours OBD2 scanner found no faults. Research suggested crank sensors, coils, fuel sensors, MAF sensors, body control modules etc. Research also suggested some owners spending much money chasing problems around the system. However after much googling, the consensus appeared to build around ignition switch issues. (note - NOT the ignition LOCK where the key goes in, but an electrical component that turns in concert with the lock).

It turns out that ignition switch internals are apt to carbon up over time due under normal usage, aided and abetted by temperature changes, humidity and all the other fun things cars have to tolerate.

Over time, this buildup causes unclean connections and arcing. The arcing causes a spike that trips out the cars computer causing a stall.

The stall on my car was due to indicators, although any switching such as lights, brakes, horn etc could theoretically cause it. If the stall is transient, it may leave a couple of car components in an odd state, such as

the ABS/Traction lights I reported earlier.

Anyway, I took off the old switch, took it apart and cleaned the contacts with abrasive and all appears to be good. Guidance is available here:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2181625_switch-buick-regalpontiac-grand-prix.html

And here:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-tech/1951626-c5-ignition-switch-repair.html

My Regal equipment was not exactly as in the articles but close enough.

There were three main problems with the fix.

The first is getting at and having drivers for the male TORX screws, which GM has chosen to fit to this model.

The second is how the switch comes apart. There are internal springs that waste no time coming loose when you crack open the housing. Watch out for bits that might fall some way from the work area.

The third was putting the switch back together. I couldn't get the main spring in properly, meaning the ignition doesn't now return to "run" from "start" without me doing it by hand. Inconvenient for now. At least the car doesn't stall.

I hear stories about this be $300-400 if done by a dealer.

A new switch is about $80 plus an hour to change out IF you have access to the screwdrivers.

A used switch is about $30, but who knows its condition?

My fix cost nothing, but took three hours.

Owners are advised to take the course of action that suits them best. It is a pity GM choose such odd fasteners (and such expensive switches - the earlier models are $15) otherwise this would have been cheap and easy to do.

Owners that are not mechanically minded should take the car to the shop.

Above fix confirmed. No more stalling.

Brakes failed on this vehicle today.

Appears to be a leak from engine compartment area, possibly under the master cylinder. Will report back with findings. This is the first time the car has let me down in a year.

While looking at the brake issue, I did note that the transmission fluid is still good after a year and there are still no oil or coolant leaks.

Other than the brakes, the car is doing a good job, even with the high mileage I give it.

UPDATE:

Well I got under the car and found a corroded brake pipe which surprised me because the underneath of this thing is under a sea of waxoyl.

Turns out the rear offside brake pipe gets routed through the rear suspension crossmember/subframe assembly. This explains why the waxoyl didnt get on it enough. The pipe let go in _exactly_ the place where there was no protection on it.

So $50 in parts from NAPA later and its all back on and working. Bleeding was trivial because the failure was at the back and I crimped it off to prevent the master and ABS module drying out. I just bled at the wheel.

So not a biggy. But if you are checking a Regal out shine a flashlight into that crossmember and assess the condition of the brake pipe. Its more or less impossible to replace. I had to make an alternative route for the new part.