2001 LeSabre Sluggish Performance

Dear all, I just brought home a 2001 LeSabre. It's a very smooth running, quiet car. Autocheck revealed no major issues.

The thing is, it seems to have less get-up off the line than my 1993 Olds Royale. They both have the 3800 engine. My Olds has 165k and the Buick has 85k.

What could cause an engine to loose performance but still let it run smooth?

Thanks,

Phil

Welcome to AF. Degree of acceleration is dependent on weight, gearing and engine tune, all of which were different in these 2 cars. Scan it and look for any pending codes, if no misfire and mileage is average, no cel on, that's about it.

The 93 was a Series I engine, after 95 there was a redesign with the Series II, which is quite a different engine internally. Although CID was the same the connecting rods were 1in. shorter, and the crankshaft was redesigned.

In addition to the fine comments above, and if both engines & drive ratios are in equal and in good tune, you will feel better performance “off the line”, with the Series 1 engine than with the Series 11 engine. If you will notice (below), the Series 11 has only 5 more ft lbs of torque than the Series 1, however, it comes to max torque at a higher rpm. Low rpm torque is what moves weight quicker. Basically, the Series 1 has a longer stroke engine than the Series 11 and that long stroke is what gives more torque at lower rpm. After 25-30 mph, the Series 11 should start showing its HP & torque and overtake the Series 1.:grinyes:

The Series 1 V6 engine was rated at 170 hp and torque @ 225 ft lbs at 3200 rpm.

The Series II V6 engine is rated at 205 horsepower at 5200 rpm and 230 ft lbs of torque at 4000 rpm.

Dear all, I just brought home a 2001 LeSabre. It's a very smooth running, quiet car. Autocheck revealed no major issues.

The thing is, it seems to have less get-up off the line than my 1993 Olds Royale. They both have the 3800 engine. My Olds has 165k and the Buick has 85k.

What could cause an engine to loose performance but still let it run smooth?

Thanks,

Phil

Phil

Have you checked the sparkplugs? They may be getting worn at 85,000 miles. You "could" be experiencing an acceleration miss. What MPG are you getting? You should be getting close to 30mpg on the road.

Regards

Dan

Thanks everyone for the series i vs series ii education! :)

Phil