Buick LeSabre 1993 hard to go

I just replaced the egr valve to fix the emision problem which it did, but it continues to have hard time going. I press on the gas pedal hard and it seems like sometimes I have to press it all the way to the floor in order to make it going. Also, the security light stays on.

With Buicks seems like there is always smething wrong and ussually the same kinds of problems from what I hear from others on this forum. When I read other posts here I have experience the same kind of problems with my Buick at one time or another, very frustrated! For example, the heater blows cool on the drivers side and hot of the pasanagers side, the air conditioning blows only on the defrost vents.

I have made a promise that when I get rid of this Buick not to buy another one ever!! or any GM car for that matter :mad:. I have a friend who bought a 2008 Buick regal and just recently spent $2,200 in one repair. Not sure what the problem was, he just told me about the expense.

You have a 93 Buick with issues( getting close to 20 years old ) and this will keep you from buying another? Hope you have seen the new buicks lately...........

And 2200 huh.. I had a complete engine R&R done at a pontiac dealer for $1800 that included the engine all of the fluids and gaskets...... Your friend got bent over....


Loss of power can be one of many issues..... Need to check fuel pressure, Exhaust back pressure, as well as the state of tune the car is in...


The reason the AC is stuck on the dash vents is due to a Vacuum leak at the firewall....

The hot on one side and cold on the other is due to a bad air mix actuator on the side thats blowing hot...


The security Light staying on means there is an issue with the PASS Key II system....

And you friend has a 2008... Unless it had a million miles on it I would think it would still be under GM factory Warranty...

Hola -
Jrs3800 is right on the money. You will find the same stories from people from every brand. With a 17 or 18 year old car like yours, you should be thankful it still runs. As any car gets old, stuff wears out. Look at the other posts from Buick owners and you'll see a trend - the LeSabres and Park Avenues as well as any other GM car made with the 3800 are very reliabile. Why else do we brag about 150,000 - 200,000 - 250,000 miles? Because these cars have gotten much bettter over the years. Think about it before throwing a brand under the bus.
Smitty's Buick

i have a 92 buick with 187000 on it i had issues withh heater system fuel pump brakes trotle position sensor crank sensor but we learned to work on it and work through all the troubles and i would go out and buy another buick to with cars getting up in age your going to have troubles think of it would you like a monthly payment of 400+ or would you like one every now and then when something go" s wrong when i put money in my buick i think of it as making a car payment once and a blue moon my car i have owned it since 35000 mile and im going to drive it till it dies

I appreciate all comments although I appreciate it more when they help me solve the problems on my Buick. What all you don't understand is that I have owned this Buick since 1999, which means it was 6 years old when we bought it with 50k and now it still has only 133k. But from the first week we bought it it has given us one problem after another and yes, I use the logic of yes it's better to spend $200 here $300 there a few times a year instead of having a new car payment evey months. I know how that is, we don't ever carry any debts and we like it this way. But the agravation of always smething going wrong it's really frustrating. And, if you take it to the Dealer for repair they rip you off as well.

As a matter of contrast, in 2000 we bought a new minivan, which I am not going to say the make, but it's not GM, this minivan will be 11 years old this coming October and we have put 148k, and as of today, there has been nothing major done to it other than regular maintance (breaks, tires, coolant, oil, etc.) and my reaction is next time we get a car it will be this make not GM. Sorry I am not brand loyal for the sake of being loyal. I like to get my money's worth when I buy something, whatever it is and this has not been our experience with this Buick. I am glad others have had better experiences with Buicks.

Another point about my friedns car, just because a car is only a few years old it does not mean all parts are covered by the warranty. Someone said that it should have been covered by GM, well a GM dealer was actually the one that charged the $2,200 for fixing it. And, if he was ripped of,well it was by a dealer that represent the GM brand.

I simply stated " Unless the car had a million miles on it ".... Most of the later GM cars like the 08, had a 100,000 powertrain...

What I am curious about is what failed on the car and was replaced as well as the mileage the was on the car... a $2200 repair for a 2 year old car is nuts... I am a GM fan, always have been and always will be... But that does not mean I recommend GM to everyone as everyone has different needs...

I have seen people praise Nissan... I have worked on quite a few, and am here to tell you it can become a very nasty nightmare, especially for the owner... Great cars until they break.... and like any other manufacturer they have some good and some bad... One example for you... a neighbor bought a Nissan Sentra... Was driving it down the highway( A1A here in FL ) and the motor locked up solid... Before this happened nissan told her there was nothing wrong with the car... she disagreed... The next day the motor locked... This turned into a drawn out battle with nissan, but in the end the engine was pulled and torn down inspection... The cause of the failure was a crank that had a hair line fracture from the factory... The engine was replaced by nissan...

Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai( Kia ), Ford, Dodge........ They all have their fair share of issues... Each one different from the other...


I have seen GM's run 200k with no issues... I have seen some that were lemons off the showroom floor... I have seen a few hondas that were lemons... Every manufacturer has its share of issues...

Worked On a Honda van not too long ago, it was taken to the dealer 3 times for alignment issues... They could not figure out why they could not align it.... The blamed the owners for being very abusive to the van... Low mileage, and looked like new... we looked over the van and saw the way the driver inner tire was wearing... We told the owner we wanted to replace the front struts and check the ball joints and control arms... Owner ok'd it... we tore the passenger side apart first and found it to be in decent shape... We went to the passenger side the found that the strut mount bearing was in bad shape, once the coil spring was removed the ball bearing from the bearing plate rolled out... I would consider this a wear item, but with the low miles on it and the fact that they could not keep tires on it and could never get the alignment right I see this as more of a factory defect that got worse over time... we went ahead and replace both strut mounts complete... with new struts... The alignment was reset and the owner had no further issues...

One more... Old Boss bought a new van... Chrysler Town and country... Burned a lot of oil from day one... Chrysler never got this figured out... 2 quarts in 1000 miles is a lot in my eyes... But they always claimed nothing was wrong... This was a lemon from day one... He ditched it for a new one and has had no issues at all with the new one... The other was also bought new...

All I am trying to say is that nothing is perfect... My buddy had an 06 Pontiac GP... 3800 V6... Really nice car... Its had no issues at all in 70,000 miles and has only had oil changes... He also has an 08 Immpy SS, to date GM has replaced the passenger front seat... Last time I drove it he had 50,000 on it and it still runs like a top...

I stated a few items for you to look over on your car... They are the most common causes for the issues you are having...

If you have any more questions I will be glad to try and answer them...

I wish you and your friend the best

Great info jrs3800!! I worked for Oldsmobile from 1990 to 1999. Said to see a 100 year old franchise just go away (I always thought the Intirgue was the car that would save them but by that time it was to late) Any how your problem obviously could be many things at that age or a combination of things. One thing that fits your issue to a tee is the Catalytic converter possibly being plugged. I would start there, how does the exhaust feel coming out the tail pipe??

jrs3800, Point well taken. It seems like you have had experience with a lot of different makes and I understand yout point. I thought this quote from Bill Gates was appropriaet for this discussion and in some way it addresses my take on GM. :smile:

“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG."- Bill Gates

“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG."- Bill Gates

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash……..Twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.