1996 Buick Skylark Custom from North America - Comments

At 45,000 miles it needed 4 new tires, and again at 75,000.

Also since 45,000 miles, the ABS light has been on. I had to take it in 3 times, while the car was still under the warranty, but they could not diagnose the problem. I had to pay for the diagnosis every time they had to find a problem. However I got cut some slack because it was under the warranty.

The ABS light has been on now for 5 years, but I just ignore it because nobody can fix it. I got some ideas from other posts from different websites, but I'm not doing anything about it because it is not under warranty anymore.

At 55,000 miles the air conditioning needed to be fixed while it was still under warranty. So I took it back to the dealer, and they told me it was a leak so they fixed it, and then added freon, and then the next summer it stopped working again, but this time they wanted $200 just to check the problem, so I never fixed it, and now I have no A/C.

Also at 55,000 miles, the left lower and upper ball joints were bad, and had to be fixed right away, but thanks to the warranty I saved $700.

At 60,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold. The real part from GM cost over $1,000. So I decided to take it to a regular mechanic, who did not fix it right. He had to fix it again at 65,000, and the last time at 70,000. I guess it is fine now, because I had to fix it every 5,000 the last 2 times, but now I've gone over 15,000 miles and had no other problems with it.

Now at 85,000 there is a problem with the head gasket, and the service engine light is on. I took it to the dealer, who charged me $100 plus tax to diagnose, and told me they needed more time to look at this. If the head gasket is bad, they said it would cost $1400 to fix, and I would have to pay $100 to diagnose the engine light. They did diagnose the engine light, so I had to pay the $100, and this engine problem will cost me $1600 to repair. The result came up as the Mass air flow sensor, and it also needs a major tune up, along with the head gasket. They came to a conclusion and strongly advised to have a new engine put in.

The engine has also been running very loud since 55,000, and when I told the mechanic that, he said this is why the head gasket is now bad. Now the mechanics blamed the engine problems on me because I ignored one problem that lead to other problems.

I also had many problems with the alternator. I had to replace it every year. I had the car for 5 years, so I went through 5 alternators.

There are so many problems on this low mileage car, most of which is on the engine. I'm sick and tired of spending money I do not have on these constant repairs. Since I've had this car, I've spent more time at the dealership than with my family thanks to this car.

This car is so disgraceful. The mileage is not high, and it's not that old, and already it needs a new engine. I always spent a lot of money to have this car taking care of, and I have always done on the oil changes on time.

I went ahead and just bought myself another reliable Toyota, but as for this car, I'm just going to sell it the way it is, if anybody will buy it, or maybe I will just junk it. I do not want to pay to have a new engine in this car, where it will continue to have other problems afterwards.

I will never buy another GM ever again.

You are correct about GM. Before about 1995 they had some of the most reliable and durable cars made - and these, if you can still find them, are incredible used car values. However nearly everything they made after 1995 is junk due to 'modernization' such as plastic intake manifolds, overhead cams, etc.

Overhead cams are "modernization"? LOL - that design has been around since at least the mid-1960's, if not earlier!