1993 LeSabre Info.

I've been researching the 1993 LeSabres because I may be picking one up. From what Ive read, it seems like this car has a slightly below average engine and overall reliabality. Can anyone give me anymore important information about this particular car? Does it have any major defects (ie fords 3.8L head gasket problem) or is it prone to any major problems? also, are repair cost generally high for this car?

thanks all

Tons and tons of these cars were made so repair costs, especially if you do them yourself, will be fairly low...especially with junkyard parts so numerous.

The 3800 engine is considered one of the best FWD engines ever made-- it is fuel efficient (~28HWY), runs forever (300k-350k miles if taken care of), and is comparatively easy to work on due to engine bay space.

The biggest flaw to these engines are the plastic intake plenums. I don't know what year GM started putting them on the 3800s, but if that car has an OEM one you might as well replace it with a beffier and better-built aftermarket one before the stock one starts to leak.

Performancewise, they are limited to a FWD drivetrain....but they have gotten better and better over time. My series one VinC gets 165HP stock, but each vin after goes up a few HP's.

Otherwise, these engines have had most of the bugs worked out of them. The FWD version debuted in '86, but the original plans were drawn up in the late 60's (I think) and then sold to Jeep before GM bought them back in the 80's.

I'm probably a bit biased since I've only owned one car that wasn't a GM powered by a 3800 (86 crown vic station wagon powered by a 5.0...that was a fun car :) ). Either way, I have owned 4 3800-powered cars and have worked on a couple others and I don't have any complaints :)

hey thanks Alibi. you actually answered a question i forgot to mention in my initial post. i was wondering how reliable the fwd tranny is. it seems like your a pretty big fan of this powertrain. i always keep my cars pretty well maintained. after my experience with a ford thunderbird 3.8, i decided to do a little research before i buy. thanks again.

I think the pre-93 trans weren't designed for a lot of load, hence the lack of engine power. I believe it was 92 or 93 GM swapped to a better trans and maybe to series II, don't know for sure though. Also with the new trans they changed the comptuer to a PCM (powertrain control module) from the former ECM (engine control module, it didn't monitor the trans).

Yeah...people (especially my Mother) think I'm nuts for working and relying so much on my older car...but I'm convinced that the older GM cars are better built than anything they have built in the last 10 or so years (except the '99 series 2 supercharged @~300hp). That and on my old cars I can pull parts for dirt cheap at junk yards and I know what has been fixed and what hasn't been.

I've been researching the 1993 LeSabres because I may be picking one up. From what Ive read, it seems like this car has a slightly below average engine and overall reliabality. Can anyone give me anymore important information about this particular car? Does it have any major defects (ie fords 3.8L head gasket problem) or is it prone to any major problems? also, are repair cost generally high for this car?

thanks all

I owned a 93. Traded at 150K miles. My wife made me trade it. The motor has a plastic upper intake manifold but it's a different design than the ones with the hot EGR tube going through the manifold. I believe that ones that had problemswere started in 1996 or 1997.

The engine does have a short tube that is plastic that screws into the side of the metal lower intake manifold. These carried water to the heater I believe. But they are known to crack and leak with age. They are replaced with a metal tube that should have been there originally instead of plastic.

The transmission is the 4T60. I'm not sure if it's 4T60E for electronic, or not. Mine was doing fine. I had changed the fluid a couple of times in its life.

I owned a 93. Traded at 150K miles. My wife made me trade it. The motor has a plastic upper intake manifold but it's a different design than the ones with the hot EGR tube going through the manifold. I believe that ones that had problemswere started in 1996 or 1997.

Yes, that is the issue I was talking about... so I guess he dodged the bullet on the manifold by a couple years or so. I haven't heard of the plastic hose breaking though. That may be a good part to change as soon as you (original poster) gets the car as preventative maintenaince...as well as all the other standard tune-up stuff (pcv valve, plugs (AC Delco only!), wires (no cheapies), filters, O2 sensor, etc.).

Speaking of the Ford 3.8....I have a mechanic friend who has three dead T-birds in his back lot with 3.8's. He said he could rebuild one of them with all the parts available to him, but he says he hates the 3.8 so much that he would never want to get another one out on the road even if he could. So you aren't alone on your hatred :)

Pros-
1)GREAT engine
2)Transmission shifts butter smooth
3)Classy interior
4)Comfortable, quiet ride

Cons-(insignificant for the most part:)
1)Lots of electrical gadgets means higher chance for problems
2)Steering wheel horn buttons is of low quality (Almost every 91-93 Buick uses the same steering wheel with horn buttons that fall off or hang by 2 pieces of what appears to be nylon string)
3)The cupholders are flimsy