I have a 2000 Lesabre that makes a noise in the rear when going over bumps.. cracks in pavement. It sounds like something loose maybe in suspension?? It reminds me of losing a clip on brake pads..It have been in various shops. I have had estimates from 350-2200 to fix it. But everyone says They never heard this before and might need to keep replacing parts to fix it. I dont think it is the brakes as I have stepped on them and the noise is still there. I was wondering if it could be the emergency brake since I believe that is a drum in the rotor?? When it is on a lift they cant duplicate the noise..Any thoughts I would appreciate..

I have a 2000 Lesabre that makes a noise in the rear when going over bumps.. cracks in pavement. It sounds like something loose maybe in suspension?? It reminds me of losing a clip on brake pads..It have been in various shops. I have had estimates from 350-2200 to fix it. But everyone says They never heard this before and might need to keep replacing parts to fix it. I dont think it is the brakes as I have stepped on them and the noise is still there. I was wondering if it could be the emergency brake since I believe that is a drum in the rotor?? When it is on a lift they cant duplicate the noise..Any thoughts I would appreciate..

Can you duplicate the noise by putting your weight on the back of the car to bounce it up and down?

Is it somethiing inside the trunk? The jack and equipment under/on the little spare wheel?

It could be the shock absorber mounts. That would give a solid-sounding thud effect.

It could be the bolts holding down the line for the emergency brake on top of the arm that holds the rear wheels in place. The emergency brake just uses the piston of the caliper and mechanically pushes on it; there is no drum.

I have removed the spare and jack that is not it. I have tried bouncing the car up and down and can't duplicate it. It sounds or feel like something with the shocks. As soon as the car starts moving you can here it. Perhaps it is a shock mount. It dosen't seem to effect the drive as far as alignment.

My dad and I both have "02's and he had a hell of a time when he had rear shocks replaced. The bolts that hold the shock to the lower arm were hitting the boot on the shock and making a noise. You say you can't hear this when you bounce the car up and down though ???? I replaced mine and changed those cheap pieces of crap with some real bolts/lock washers/nuts. My car also makes a wierd noise when you take off. Like a creeking old rocker, I can't figure it out and I'm not about to start changing parts at those prices. I now just turn the radio up and they seem to have gone away. Good luck.

Rob

First of all, the emergency brake on this car is NOT a drum inside the rotor. The rear emergency/park brake system makes use of the main caliper itself. The hydraulic main caliper is mechanically activated by the emergency brake cable. There is no seperate emergency brake drum like you would see on a Ford Crown Vic.

This is a good point to remember if you ever try to replace rear pads because you need a special tool to rotate and retract the piston on the rear calipers for this car. If you try to force the calipers to retract with a C-Clamp or something you will destroy the caliper.

I would strongly recommend that you take a close look at the sway bar end links and bushings. Buick uses plastic end link spacers from the factory and they tend to crack and break loose which will cause the sway bar to clunk around like crazy. Generic Polyurethane end link kits from autozone work really well as replacements and cost less than 40 bucks.

Other than that you'll want to inspect the rear toe adjustment links which look like typical tie rods welded to long steel arms. The adjustment links are purely there to adjust the rear toe setting. The ball and socket joint itself can wear out where it attaches to the knuckle or the hinge bushing can wear out where it connects to the rear subframe.

Give the exhaust system a good shake, make sure you aren't hearing something from the exhaust hangers.

Check the rubber spring insulators to look for deterioration and splitting.

Also inspect the upper shock mounts inside the trunk compartment.

Finally, make sure that your air suspension is working properly, if the air suspension is malfunctioning for any reason the car may be riding way too low. The shocks themselves have air cushions which adjust the ride height. If you put a heavy load in the trunk you should hear the air pump kick on when you first start the car, it should operate for a short time and then cut out after the ride height has reached an appropriate level. As far as I know, automatic level control was standard on both LeSabre Custom and LeSabre Limited starting in 2000. From 1992 to 1999 only LeSabres with the Gran Touring package came with air struts.

It really shouldn't be hard to narrow down a noise concern from the rear of this car. I've never had a clunk or squeak in the rear that I couldn't immediatley identify and solve. Front end noises get tricky because of the number of components involved. Fortunately this car has a really simple rear end.

When you say you've had this to various shopes and they couldn't identify the problem. That really surprises me because this car has a really simple configuration for its rear suspension. If you can't narrow down the problem yourself I'd strongly recommend taking it up to a dealer. They should get it solved pretty quickly. Any mechanic who knows the LeSabre well will probably pinpoint the problem almost immediately.