2002 Lesabre....Good buy?

[GringoPete]

Anyone know if there are any issues I sshould be concerned about with the '02 Lesabre Custom?

I'm looking at one in mint condition with 68,000 miles on it for the wife but want to know if there are any major issues like my '98 and the upper plenium intake manifold meltdown.

The car is selling for $5,995

[GringoPete]

Here's some pictures:

[chris_eitniear]

Looks exactly like my '01.

As far as I know, and I researched it quite a bit before I bought mine last year, there aren't the engine troubles with the 99 and up like there were in the 97-98 model 3.8s.

That being said, I can highly recommend the 2000 and up LeSabre. I've had my 01 for just over a year, and I wouldn't trade it for any car that I've previously owned. $6K isn't a bad price either, at least not in the area of Michigan that I live in. I paid 7K for mine with 61,000 on the odo.

You might want to get the vin and do a carfax report on it just to be on the safe side, but it looks like a nice car.

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by chris_eitniear

Looks exactly like my '01.

As far as I know, and I researched it quite a bit before I bought mine last year, there aren't the engine troubles with the 99 and up like there were in the 97-98 model 3.8s.

That being said, I can highly recommend the 2000 and up LeSabre. I've had my 01 for just over a year, and I wouldn't trade it for any car that I've previously owned. $6K isn't a bad price either, at least not in the area of Michigan that I live in. I paid 7K for mine with 61,000 on the odo.

You might want to get the vin and do a carfax report on it just to be on the safe side, but it looks like a nice car.

Thanks for the feedback!

[C man]

Doesn't those Lesabre models have the famous " window regulator issue"? I know for a fact that the 2000 year models do but I don't know how many model years were affected by this.

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by C man

Doesn't those Lesabre models have the famous " window regulator issue"? I know for a fact that the 2000 year models do but I don't know how many model years were affected by this.

This is definitely something to look into . Thanks.

[C man]

Did a little reasearching and the 2002 model still has the window regulator problem. With it being at least $400 an occurance at the dealearship that should be taken into consideration since its a known defect.

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by C man

Did a little reasearching and the 2002 model still has the window regulator problem. With it being at least $400 an occurance at the dealearship that should be taken into consideration since its a known defect.

Do you know if there is an aftermarket brand window regulator on the market to replace it with?

[Rasp]

My 2001 had the window regulator problem with the passenger side rear window. I think the garage got an aftermarket regulator through napa. (It was a year ago so I might be wrong). You could try them though. It was still pretty damn expensive though.

The regulators are made with cheap (but expensive) plastic parts that do the breaking. Someone on here once said that they use plastic because it keeps the overall weight down. Which makes sense for improved gas mileage.

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by Rasp

My 2001 had the window regulator problem with the passenger side rear window. I think the garage got an aftermarket regulator through napa. (It was a year ago so I might be wrong). You could try them though. It was still pretty damn expensive though.

The regulators are made with cheap (but expensive) plastic parts that do the breaking. Someone on here once said that they use plastic because it keeps the overall weight down. Which makes sense for improved gas mileage.

There's a Napa just on the other side of town. Thanks for the tip

[pcmos]

The other issue you may want to consider is the 4th clutch hub failure on the 4t65e transmissions which affects pre-03/04 models. I believe there have been a couple posts in the forum about the issue. In 2003 or 2004 they switched to the hardened 4th clutch hub to prevent the failure. My 2000 LeSabre was lost as result of the problem. I rebuilt the transmission myself and got about another 20k or so out of the rebuild, but the internal damage as a result of the clutch hub debris eventually caught up with me. Unfortunately I chose not to replace all of the parts that sustained what I considered in my inexperienced opinion to be minor damage. The second transmission failure totalled the car at about 145k miles. It wasn't worth a 3900 dollar transmission replacement job. Had the clutch hub not failed prematurely I probably would still be driving the 2000 LeSabre. I'm hoping my 2004 will give me better reliability in that respect.

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by pcmos

The other issue you may want to consider is the 4th clutch hub failure on the 4t65e transmissions which affects pre-03/04 models. I believe there have been a couple posts in the forum about the issue. In 2003 or 2004 they switched to the hardened 4th clutch hub to prevent the failure. My 2000 LeSabre was lost as result of the problem. I rebuilt the transmission myself and got about another 20k or so out of the rebuild, but the internal damage as a result of the clutch hub debris eventually caught up with me. Unfortunately I chose not to replace all of the parts that sustained what I considered in my inexperienced opinion to be minor damage. The second transmission failure totalled the car at about 145k miles. It wasn't worth a 3900 dollar transmission replacement job. Had the clutch hub not failed prematurely I probably would still be driving the 2000 LeSabre. I'm hoping my 2004 will give me better reliability in that respect.

Now that is defnetly something to be concerned about. Right now i'm wondering if my '98 Lesabre Custom has that transmission in it. I know that the tranny has '4T65 " in the name but i'm not sure about the "e" .

[imidazol97]

Originally Posted by GringoPete

Do you know if there is an aftermarket brand window regulator on the market to replace it with?

I've seen posts by people who send their regulators to a rebuilder and get them back in a few short days with what must be 1-day turnaround. The price was low, I'm thinking around $75. If you can take it apart and prop up the window or not drive the car for a few days, that would be ideal.

[C man]

"E" stand for electronic, and it does have the 4T65E transmission

[GringoPete]

Originally Posted by C man

"E" stand for electronic, and it does have the 465E transmission

Well that doesn't sound good

How do you know when it's starting to fail? Does it just stick in 3rd gear?

So far i'm approaching 97,000 miles with luck....knock on wood.