are all 91 Lesabres rust buckets??

[redly1]

I've got a white 91 Lesabre. The thing is almost not road worth despite only having 110k miles and an awesome drivetrain. The problem...RUST.

I jacked the car up the other day to fix a flat tire. I used the jack from the trunk, and made sure to put it in the correct place on the underside of the car. Well, the car had other ideas, as the lip buckled in. In fact, the entire area around it sunk up into the floor of the car.

Anyway, I finally gor the tire off, only to notice that the A-arm (I think that's what it's called) has rust holes in it. This can't be good, especially if I hit a large bump going 60MPH.

Most of the paint on the car is nice and shiny like it's been taken care of, but around the wheel wells, surface rust bubbles are turning to holes.

Funny thing is, I've noticed 4 or 5 other Lesabre's with the same tailight style, and they are all rusted to hell.

Such a shame.. What do you suppose the engine and tranny are worth??
/rant over

[tman]

Rusting depends on the area. As you should know, if you're in the north, with a lot of snow, you'll see rust under most cars.

Lesabres are no more prone to rust than any other make of car. I wouldn't drive your car. It's too unsafe in the condition it's in. you could replace the rusty pieces, but it's a big task, and would involve completely disassembling the car, not very cost effective.

[tman]

Rusting depends on the area. As you should know, if you're in the north, with a lot of snow, you'll see rust under most cars.

Lesabres are no more prone to rust than any other make of car. I wouldn't drive your car. It's too unsafe in the condition it's in. you could replace the rusty pieces, but it's a big task, and would involve completely disassembling the car, not very cost effective. You wouldn't even be able to replace some parts. The car is too far gone imo.

[redly1]

Yeah, it's a NE Iowa SE Minnesota Car...it's seen it's share of salt.

[lesab92]

We own a '92 Lesabre that has been rusting from the inside out since 2002. The rocker panels on the right side are already thru. The left is starting to go the same way. We purchased this Lesabre limited from the original owner back in July of '99. She had kept it in the garage and so have we until this year. Doesn't seem to make much difference anymore. Yeah this is the rust belt, and the city uses a lot of salt on the street, but the rusting on an otherwise very clean car is ridiculous. I've seen hundreds of these early Lesabres and park Avenues with gapping holes in the rocker panels and also stainless trim rusting through. Stainless! And have I mentioned brakes! We have replaced the master cyl, front brakes hoses 2x, caliper 2x, rotors 3x and still this car goes thru pads like crazy. The front wire wheel covers get so dirty that even the car wash guys look the other way when I pull in. Now the service engine light is going on and off intermittently. Sometimes at a stoplight, the enigne kills. Sometimes when you hit the gas, the engine bucks once. All this from a babied and well maintained car with 95K original miles. What a joke! maybe we can just sit in the driveway and listen to the radio. What a crime that GM can get away with producing garbage like this that sells for huge dollars when you first buy it. I have complained to the dealership and to GM when the rust first started appearing. I also complained when the master cylinder went out on my wife. Luckily she was just parking when her foot hit the floor. I won't buy another GM car, not after this bushel of lemons.

[gbeeley]

Originally Posted by lesab92

We have replaced the master cyl, front brakes hoses 2x, caliper 2x, rotors 3x and still this car goes thru pads like crazy.

The guy I got my '91 from indicated that the brake pads had been an issue for him, too. When it did it to me, I found out that a caliper was sticking on the pins. Thoroughly cleaning and re-greasing the pins (w/ replacement $10 each calipers from Autozone) has fixed the problem and it hasn't come back for 55k miles. There is a special grease made specifically for the pins on brake calipers.

[HeadlessHorseman]

Originally Posted by redly1

I've got a white 91 Lesabre. The thing is almost not road worth despite only having 110k miles and an awesome drivetrain. The problem...RUST... Such a shame...

We bought a white 1991 LeSabre for our daughter as a High School Graduation present two years ago. It was an Ohio car for the first 49,000 miles and a Connecticut car since then. Now with 63,000 miles on it, it still rides like a dream and looks great.

The only rust I've noticed is a bit on the fuel line (I noticed this when I changed the fuel filter - WHO's brilliant idea was it to put it in the rocker panel underneath the car, for crying out loud?). There is also a bit of rust on the door edges near the rocker panels on both sides of the car... no big deal.

So I guess what I'm saying is there is at least one 1991 LeSabre still on the road that has somehow dodged the rust bucket bullet. Sorry to hear about your problems. I don't know if repair costs are high for the front-end work you describe, but it might be worth it. Our old LeSabres certainly can be nice, dependable cars.

[gbeeley]

Originally Posted by HeadlessHorseman

... at least one 1991 LeSabre still on the road that has somehow dodged the rust bucket bullet.

My '91 was only up north for part of its life, but it has 214k miles on it now and has had (mostly) only minor rust problems. I had to replace the battery tray and use a fair bit of fiberglass to repair the surrounding area, and I've had to do some other mostly-cosmetic rust repairs where trim (or rocks thrown from the road) eventually rubbed through the paint and allowed water/etc. to get in and start rusting.

I have the fuel line rust problem too. My mechanic told me to brush a light coat of oil on it to help slow down the rusting.

However, in my opinion GM should have sealed up a lot of the sheetmetal seams better - it seems that sometimes the rust problems start at spot welds that could have been protected better. I've seen it done *much* better elsewhere. IMO unprotected spot welds are a rust problem waiting to happen (protecting the space in between the two pieces of metal is the trick).

[redly1]

well, considering I only paid $650 for it, I guess I'm not really out much

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by tman2093

Rusting depends on the area. As you should know, if you're in the north, with a lot of snow, you'll see rust under most cars.

Lesabres are no more prone to rust than any other make of car. I wouldn't drive your car. It's too unsafe in the condition it's in. you could replace the rusty pieces, but it's a big task, and would involve completely disassembling the car, not very cost effective.

I agree with tman. In my area we use a lot of salt and no particular make or model is exempt from decay caused by environmental factors. It sickens me to drive out of my area and see the condition of similar cars in other areas to be much better. A lot has to do with the extensive use of recycled materials used in the production of newer vehicles as well as poor quality control issues at the factory. On a smaller scale, how a vehicle is maintained after it leaves the dealer's lot has some bearing on how the vehicle will hold up. I own two 1990 Lesabres. One was purchased brand new and has a little over 42000 miles on it. While looking at this vehicle last Fall, I noticed rust on the underside of the car in varying degrees, and actual holes in the inner wheel wells in the front of the car. There was also mild surface rust along door bottoms and around one wheel opening. The other car I just purchased last December, has 154,000 miles on it. The car is in excellent condition bodywise, and is very clean. The underside even looks as though it has some of the original factory paint still on it. This car spent all of it's life in Conn. only about 375 miles away. Looking at both of these cars is like night and day.

[spinne1]

Down here in Tennessee rust is almost unheard of...unless your paint starts to go, then the metal will rust when it gets exposed to the elements. But as far as normal exposure..nope. I have two 92 Lesabres. One was a Minnesota and Wisconsin car (champagne color) for the first 9 years of its life, then was a Tennessee car after that. The car has signigicant rust in the engine compartment on the side and is showing some rust along the bottom panel below the door. Thankfully it seems to have been brought south before it was too late. It still largely looks good. My other Lesabre however has been in Tennessee it's whole life. It has NO rust whatsoever. The bottom is not all rusty either. The lack of salt on the roads seems to be the main reason that the cars here are so well preserved. The only issue you have here is significant sunshine which can fade the interior, crack the interior plastic, and eventually break down the paint. Still, our paint is still okay on our Tennessee Lesabre (maroon).

I think GM is not to blame for the rust, but the conditions of living in the north. I grew up in Michigan and owned a Chrysler (rust bucket), a Chevy (rust bucket), and a Toyota (rust bucket) while I lived there. I also drove a few VWs for a time (all bad rust buckets), and a Datsun (rust bucket). Almost ALL cars with significant age up there were dealing with rust issues, unless the owner was anal retentive about thorough washings. The only thing they could do better is not put crucial parts under the car. Here, they ARE to blame for stupid engineering (my Toyota's fuel filter was located under the hood, and was made of plastic--no chance of rust!).

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by spinne1

Down here in Tennessee rust is almost unheard of...unless your paint starts to go, then the metal will rust when it gets exposed to the elements. But as far as normal exposure..nope. I have two 92 Lesabres. One was a Minnesota and Wisconsin car (champagne color) for the first 9 years of its life, then was a Tennessee car after that. The car has signigicant rust in the engine compartment on the side and is showing some rust along the bottom panel below the door. Thankfully it seems to have been brought south before it was too late. It still largely looks good. My other Lesabre however has been in Tennessee it's whole life. It has NO rust whatsoever. The bottom is not all rusty either. The lack of salt on the roads seems to be the main reason that the cars here are so well preserved. The only issue you have here is significant sunshine which can fade the interior, crack the interior plastic, and eventually break down the paint. Still, our paint is still okay on our Tennessee Lesabre (maroon).

I think GM is not to blame for the rust, but the conditions of living in the north. I grew up in Michigan and owned a Chrysler (rust bucket), a Chevy (rust bucket), and a Toyota (rust bucket) while I lived there. I also drove a few VWs for a time (all bad rust buckets), and a Datsun (rust bucket). Almost ALL cars with significant age up there were dealing with rust issues, unless the owner was anal retentive about thorough washings. The only thing they could do better is not put crucial parts under the car. Here, they ARE to blame for stupid engineering (my Toyota's fuel filter was located under the hood, and was made of plastic--no chance of rust!).

Up here in NY and other states that use salt on the roads, we have a two word solution to prevent rust in our good vehicles; WINTER RAT. Many people who have nice cars or want to keep their car like new garage them for the winter months and buy a cheap car to drive in the winter. These cars are usually under $1000 and may last a couple of winters. You can always tell when winter is approaching , as the classified ads fill up with cheap cars for sale labeled as "winter rats." I remember talking to an auto dismantler a few years back and he was telling me that he takes a flatbed full of engines from up here and drives south and sells them, and then takes the money and buys cars from down there and brings them back north. He said the engines outlast the bodies on the cars up here while the bodies outlast the engines down south.

[bacon]

Hello, Up here in Toronto Canada they use salt and lots of it. I have a 92 Lesabre with 310,00 KM that's about 185,000 miles. No rust. At one time our cars rusted very bad. We now have rustproofing that will completely stop rust. The best is a once a year oil spray. I don't know what is on my Buick but it is like a honey substance. It has kept the car solid and rust free. The paint does show's it's age. The best treatment I know is called Rust chek. You can have it applied by the Rust chek people. You can also buy aerasol cans so you can spray the seams and anywhere else. It also makes rubber like new. A complete car spray is about $80.00 dollars US. Cheap insurance. Don't use old engine oil it's far too contaminated. There are many oil spray professionals. it is basically a glorified penetrating oil. Keeps car rust free and mechanics happy. The one drawback is it that dust sticks to it. Things come apart easy but your hands get really dirty. You can power wash it off and reapply. The only other solution is the seasonal switch. One car for winter and one for summer. I do both and keep my winter car solid and rust free. After all who wants to drive a rusted out piece of junk in the dead of winter at -10 degrees. A rusted car is more likely to leave you stranded in the cold. Just a few things to think about from the great white north.

[rustbucket]

I am in Ohio, had an 87. The body wasnt too bad, but the fuel lines and brake lines and fuel tank bolts were a problem with rust. O2 sensor fell off with rust. As soon as I got my next car, I immediately went through all those things and greased them up, for easier take apart later. One thing that did last well is the muffler and pipe, I dont know why.

[imidazol97]

Brake calipers and pins should be replaced--that's the problem with the car early in this thread. The grease on the pins needs to be the right grease so the calipers can slide and keep sliding through the normal life of a set of pads.

I've had 93 LeSabre, 98 LeSabre, 03 LeSabre. The 93 had little rust at 150K when I traded it--I'm talking about underneath. The paint area had no rust. I sprayed the thing off during the winter underneath. I'd spend more time spraying underneath than I did spraying the paint at the 4-5 minute do-it-yourself washes.

If your previous owner drove the car in salt, put it in the garage where it's warmer and more moist, and didn't follow the directions in the owners manual to wash the thing off underneath--no wonder it rusted. Don't blame GM for an owner who thinks it's gas and go and that's all there is to car maintenance.

Bought a 61 Chev when another car was being repaired--friend's dad kept it in their cow barn. Moist, warm in the winter from all the cow's and straw and all. Rusted out terribly from that. It was seldom driven in salt until I had it.