2001 Buick Century from North America - Comments

I own a 2001 Buick Century. Today I replaced the forth window regulator/motor. Now both front doors and rear doors have been replaced. The cost for the part was $500 and the labor cost was $161. I do not have the skills to do this myself.

The service people showed me the little plastic pulley wheel that failed, and said they could not replace the plastic wheel, but that I needed a new regulator/motor. The cable that raises the window goes through the plastic wheel. I asked if this replacement regulator/motor was from GM and they said yes, but had no answer as to whether this new part has the same problem as the old part.

The failure was not from usage, but from poor product design and usage of inferior materials. I have resisted for a long time, but like many others, I will move to the more reliable foreign car manufacturers and not purchase from GM again.

Do you own a Buick Century or LeSabre? I was not aware that the window regulator issue was a problem on other Buick models besides the LeSabre. By the way, the imports have their problems too with far less comfort and style than a Buick. I would advise not buying into the theory that Toyota and Honda are the be all to end all, you might be very disappointed.

2001 Buick Century, 66K miles: had window regular replaced on driver's side by aftermarket person (approx $225), guaranteed 1 yr P & L; before the year over, replaced again, within few months needed #3, the repair person was kind enough to refund money since it was not worth his while to keep fixing; went to Buick dealer cost $500, has 1 yr P&L; within a month the passenger front window regulator broke, went to local repair shop for $250 with same 1 yr P&L--why spend at the dealer for same guarantee. Within few months rear passenger regulator went--the hell with it--got window up, jammed some rubber sheeting to keep it from slipping down, covered the button --not going to waste time & $--rarely open windows in SW Florida. Now how bout the ac control knobs--I am on #3 at 20/each--the interesting thing is that the knob is rarely moved from MAX. How about the ashtray--need to use outlet for cell charger--pull out charger, and whole sliding ashtray compartment comes out and is almost impossible to slide back on the slots.

Shall we talk about the engine work because of a coolant leak-had to replace manifold intake gasket, manifold set, o rings, etc. I got this car from my dad before he died--he truly loved Buicks--luckily he is dead as he would have died if he had to pay out all this money.

The fact that the same window regulator failed 3 times within a year means it was either abused or not correctly installed. How does the first one last several years and then decide to fail every few months? I won't argue that these regulators are shoddy, but to replace so many in a short time is very unusual even for this unit. The fact that you have broken multiple AC knobs also astounds me. I have driven several late model Centuries with this set-up and they seem hard to break unless you try to break them. I personally own a Buick with over 130,000 miles and I have had none of these failures that you report. I can understand why your father loved Buicks, what I can't understand is why your car breaks all the time.

I own a Buick Century 2001, and reading the comments about this car others wrote is shocking. I strongly disagree. I love the Buick Century; I own one and have very few problems and it's 7 years old. The ONLY thing that just recently stopped working was the gas gauge. Other than that, no more problems; it's very reliable, a nice ride and goes very fast. I take extremely good care of my car and I have no complaints about it.

Have always had GM vehicles, but this 2001 Buick Custom has me a little disgusted. I have replaced both front wheel bearings, one back bearing, both front springs, all brake shoes and rotors, sending unit for the gas tank is not working, ABS brake light is on, so no ABS braking, which also makes the traction control non function, and to top it all off it has such a loud knock that is either a wristpin knock or lifter knock that I am embarrassed to start it with people around.

Bought it with 80,000 kms, and has only 160,000 now. It's just too much maintenance.

I own a 2001 Buick Century with 104,000kms. (64,000 miles) which I purchased new. Three times in the last nine months the "Service Vehicle Soon", "ABS" AND "Trac Off" lights have come on and the engine has lost power. The last time the temperature light also came on and the gauge needle was over as far to the H as it would go and after a bit of time it became very erratic bouncing back and forth between normal and high. It eventually settled in the normal range and all during this period the engine was never overheated.

It has been checked out by the dealership, where it is regularly serviced, on the computer, both in the shop and during road testing and no reason can be found to cause this.

If you have had a similar problem would you please comment as I will check this site daily.

Thank you.