My Buick history..........

1998 Lesabre Custom, twilight blue metallic, 64,000 miles.
Bought it last May with 55,000 miles on it. Price was $6000 got it for $5500 which seemed a bit high but the car was owned by some old folks, always garaged and in excellent shape in and out with everything working and paint in showroom condition. Even came with a compass on the dash. 😛
Of course a week after I bought it I had the dreaded upper intake/coolant problem ($900 repair).
Then we had a shuddering when taking off from a stop to fast (about half throttle or more). They replaced lower ball joints and links and did a front end alignment ($450) and that didn't solve the problem and created a new one (not happy, felt like I threw away $450). We don't normally take off fast so it does it rarely and I can live with that. But now it makes a clunking sound once and a while on the drivers side front mostly when turning or hitting a bump. They tell me it needs all new bushings up front now but have to wait till I have some extra cash for that so will just deal with it till then.
Then we had a gas line leak. ($100)
Other than that I've opened up the headlight housings to clean the whitish/hazy film from the inside, now they look like new.
Added some window vent visors. ($90.00)
Center console cup holder. ($10)
I just put new headlight bulbs (Sylvania Xtra Vision $25) and wipers (RainX Latitudes $36). Both a big improvement over stock.

Overall we love the car, it rides nice gets good gas mileage and keeps the miles off our 07 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. And now we don't have to use the Jeep in foul weather and it stays nice and clean in the garage only to be used on nice days, the main reason I bought the Buick. I drive a company van daily so the Buick is mainly the wifes daily driver. She likes it cuz I let her smoke in it but says its a Memere and Pepere (french for grandma and grandpa) car.

Hoping to get a couple 100,000 more miles out of it so it can pay for itself.
I will keep you all posted over the next 20 years.

😀





Previous Buick owned:
87 Buick Grand National 87-2001
Paid $17,600 new
Sold with 35,000 miles for $13,500

nice find! like every used car there will be a few problems here and there, but hey still better than a hefty car payment, at least thats how i look at it. My wife drives the new one and i too drive a cargo van for work and its a treat for me to drive my 95 lesabre!

98 TWILIGHT BLUE METALLIC said:

Other than that I've opened up the headlight housings to clean the whitish/hazy film from the inside, now they look like new.

Click to expand...

Can you tell me more about how you got the headlight housings cracked open? I've been tempted to try that but I am afraid of cracking the housing or the front.

98 TWILIGHT BLUE METALLIC said:

Then we had a shuddering when taking off from a stop to fast (about half throttle or more). They replaced lower ball joints and links and did a front end alignment ($450) and that didn't solve the problem and created a new one (not happy, felt like I threw away $450). We don't normally take off fast so it does it rarely and I can live with that. But now it makes a clunking sound once and a while on the drivers side front mostly when turning or hitting a bump. They tell me it needs all new bushings up front now but

Click to expand...

Is there a chance you have a motor mount or transmission mount worn or broken causing the movement giving a clunking and allowing a movement repeatedly taht you feel as a shudder?

The bushings on the sway bar links wear out and the rod in the middle also may break causing noises when one wheel moves and the sway bar is resisting movement. About $7 each side at Autozone for replacement links with new bushings.

The bushings on the sway bar where it's held to the "frame" may also be worn.

imidazol97 said:

Can you tell me more about how you got the headlight housings cracked open? I've been tempted to try that but I am afraid of cracking the housing or the front.

Click to expand...

I removed the 2 bolts on the sides of the housings near the radiator then pulled that same side out just enough to disconnect all the bulbs.Then the housings can be wiggled/slid out towards the sides of the car not the front. The blinker side of the housing is on pins and just slides out that way, towards the blinker. Be careful not to scratch the paint on your bumper when pulling the housing out. Now your headlight housing should be free and in your hands.
Now there are a few metal clips that help hold the front and back of the housings together. These just slide off with a little help from a screwdriver. Put them aside to reuse later.
The housings have some sort of sealant between the front and back sections applied at the factory. I went all the way around very carefully with a screwdriver or stiff putty knife about every inch or so and pried apart till the sealant cracked. Once I got the housing opened up I scraped off any loose sealant to clean the edges a little.
I then used Meguiars PlastX clear plastic cleaner and polish ($6-7 at Autozone) to clean the inside of the lenses.



After cleaning I applied some white bathroom caulking (clear would be better but I had only white available at the time) all the way around the outer edges of the housings and worked them back together. Make sure to seal them good so no water or road grit gets in there. Check for a good seal all the way around. Reapply the metal clips, hook the bulbs back up and bolt the housings back in.
Took me about 1.5 hours and they look just like new. Hope this helps.

imidazol97 said:

Is there a chance you have a motor mount or transmission mount worn or broken causing the movement giving a clunking and allowing a movement repeatedly taht you feel as a shudder?

The bushings on the sway bar links wear out and the rod in the middle also may break causing noises when one wheel moves and the sway bar is resisting movement. About $7 each side at Autozone for replacement links with new bushings.

The bushings on the sway bar where it's held to the "frame" may also be worn.

Click to expand...

They checked the motor mounts and said they were fine. The sway bar links and their bushings were also replaced along with lower ball joints. The sway bar bushings where its held to the frame were NOT replaced. They said these should be replaced along with all other bushings up front. They put a crowbar by the swaybar and pried a bit to show me some play where the swaybar goes through the bushings. They also said the bushings are a little dry rotted from the car sitting alot and not getting used much by the previous owner (they used it once a week and made a couple small trips).
So when I save up some extra cash I will most likely have the sway bar bushings replaced and then see what happens and go from there.

I was also thinking the shocks may need to be replaced with 64,000 miles now, and maybe that is part of the problem. Any thoughts on that?

Ok, finally got rid of the clunking noise.
Brought the car in to have the brakes done at a local muffler and brake place and they figured out what the problem was. Apparently when the previous shop installed the new swaybar links and lower ball joints they forgot to tighten the bolts on the drivers side lower ball joint. Been driving around like this for 8 months and its been driving us crazy. So they tightened it up and all is good again.
Brakes, only the front pads and rotors needed to be replaced everything in the back looked pretty new they said. Cost.......$224.00

Nice to have the car back to creampuff status again. 😀

Sounds like a real nice car. I bought my 95 PA last summer. Similar situation, it came out of rural Iowa and had no rust and only 75k miles. I've already put 16k miles on and it has not given me any problems so far. The 95 doesn't use the Dexcool so maybe that's why I haven't had the intake gasket thing yet. Glad you are back to enjoying your car again!

In July of 2009 I bought a 99 Lesabre from a family friend. White with 25,000 original miles and it has been an awesome ride. This was a find indeed.

98 TWILIGHT BLUE METALLIC said:

I will keep you all posted over the next 20 years.

😀

Click to expand...

lol

Good buy!

66,600 miles..........starter replaced. $262.00 installed.

AAA told me it was the battery which I didn't believe and wanted to sell me one for $100.00+. I had it towed to my cousins garage and they found the starter had failed.

8-27-11
75,630 miles, tires rotated, rear drums resurfaced, adjusted and cleaned


1-31-12
78,051 miles, serpentine belt replaced, tensioner pulley replaced

5-19-12.....woke up to find a puddle of brake fluid by the passenger rear wheel

79,969 miles, rear wheel cylinders and bleed

98 TWILIGHT BLUE METALLIC said:

5-19-12.....woke up to find a puddle of brake fluid by the passenger rear wheel

79,969 miles, rear wheel cylinders and bleed

Click to expand...

Has the brake fluid ever been changed? I try to do it every three years on my vehicles. I've gone 150K+ miles on the original brake calipers and wheel cylinders with regular fluid changes.

redmondjp said:

Has the brake fluid ever been changed? I try to do it every three years on my vehicles. I've gone 150K+ miles on the original brake calipers and wheel cylinders with regular fluid changes.

Click to expand...

Not by me.

8-27-2012..............81,675 miles
front bearings replaced l & r side $320.00
transmission serviced $100.00

11-4-12.....82,400 miles......Added Alumaseal to stop coolant leak.
http://www.buickforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28587


11-19-12.........82,562 miles

4 new tires...Bridgestone Insignia SE200-SP

$485.OO.....Town Fair Tire......... includes alignment and computer balance.

where did you get your center console cup holders?

I think I got it at Autozone. Its just a plastic piece that screws into the floor.