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2000 LeSabre rough initial acceleration (new to AF)


Jaud17
02-04-2004, 10:19 AM
Can anyone help me out? I just traded in a 95 LeSabre for a 2000 LeSabre Custom. I really like the car but I am already wondering if I made a bad decision......

The new car seems to have a pulsing tendency to it. When in idle, it's subtle, but it's almost enough to make me naucious. If I push on the gas slightly while in park, the pulsing gets rougher, not to where it feels violent to the car but it is very obvious. After putting it into gear the pulsing/vibration gets less noticeable, but is still there. When I accelerate slowly, the vibration gets bad again, but once I am at 15-20 mph it subsides. After the initial acceleration, the car rides perfect. It does this at every stoplight, with the engine warm or cold.

I am not a mechanic by any means but could this be a problem, or is it normal of the newer 3.8?

The history on the car, it was originally a rental (possibly driven harder than normal?) It has 50,000 miles.

tman
02-04-2004, 02:35 PM
Change your spark plugs and wires, I think this, because of the intermittant times that it occurs, only when rpms change, not when they stay consant.

xjoeharperx
02-04-2004, 02:40 PM
The rear bank spark plug wires are known to short out beacuse of the heat of the exhaust..make sure when you replace the wires to use the protective boots that are on the original wires..

Jaud17
02-04-2004, 04:33 PM
Thank you both for the advice. I just bought the car from a GM dealer 2 days ago - I would hope this would have been caught by them. The dealer told me "that's just the way it is, nothing is wrong, but you can take it to your mechanic and see what they think." (thanks, jerk)
Would this be a problem that a diagnostics check would find? (bad plug wires) or how do I know if the wires are bad + the car only has 50,000 miles, plug wires wouldn't normally be bad already would they?

As far as the times when this occurs, it does it when in idle at a steady 7-800 RPM's, if I push the gas and hold it steady below 2000 RPM's, it will do it constantly only more severe. When I'm driving, I can almost avoid the vibration by accelerating faster.

Also - this might be related, compared to my previous LeSabre (95) - this 2000 seems to start rougher. My first Lesabre was very smooth on start-up, this new one, I can really feel the engine turning on in a sort of jerk, doesn't hesitate, just rough.

Anymore ideas? or do these just confirm what you both were thinking? - thanks a lot

xjoeharperx
02-04-2004, 05:18 PM
Myself as well as tman have seen this numerous times with this car...Change out those wires and plugs, 95% of the time thats the problem... 50k miles sitting in traffic is a lot different than 50k miles going down the interstate...cars dont come with hour meters..

tman
02-05-2004, 06:20 AM
true that man!!!

50000 miles is a lot to put on a set of wires, especially when you think of ow many times a charge has been sent to a spark plug during its life. Its amazing they last as long as they do!!!

Jaud17
02-05-2004, 10:15 AM
awesome - thanks guys

By the way, how come I can get a better diagnosis and freindlier troubleshooting help with perfect strangers than from a dealer who is supposed to be taking care of me? :)

I'm going to take the car back and have him run a diagnostics or at least have the wires and plugs checked. (I don't have a garage to do it myself - in the midwest getting hit pretty hard with todays snow storm also, ick)

Thanks again

xjoeharperx
02-05-2004, 03:41 PM
Were not after your money

ottoracefan
02-05-2004, 09:00 PM
I'll chime in to echo what the others told you. I recently bought a '98 with 56k miles. It had symptoms exactly like yours. I changed the plugs and wires...............now it's smoooooothhhhhh!!!!!

:biggrin:

tman
02-06-2004, 06:20 AM
Were not after your money


SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!!!!! :) :)

I'll gladly accept donations :iceslolan

Jaud17
02-06-2004, 08:10 AM
lol

awesome, will be gettin it taken care of, thanks everyone

xjoeharperx
02-06-2004, 09:34 AM
So what you are saying is that the check is in the mail right???

Jaud17
02-06-2004, 10:08 AM
you betcha, one of them rubber ones that tend to bounce a lot, hehe

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