Buick Century hesitation problems

Filed Mar 22, 2017 · Steering · 125,000 miles · MI

This morning I started my car to head to work, there was a whining noise and very hard to turn my steering wheel. As I backed up I noticed a leak onto the pavement. I purchased a bottle of power steering fluid with stop leak and put it in hoping that's what it needed. I continued my drive to work with hesitation. I was still unable to make a sharp turn. While at work I researched a few things and found it to be the rack and pinion has probably locked up and leaked. The part to replace will cost me about $200 and the mechanics fees will be more, with a total of around $750-$800. My car is older and has me wondering if I can afford to put more money into replacing faulty parts. If this part already has an investigation ongoing, I would like to be placed on the list to have this issue solved.

Filed May 1, 2014 · Body · 5,000 miles · VA

Second owner of my buick 2001 purchased from the original owner with 5,000 miles in 2008. The second year I noticed when ever it rained there was water on the floor on the passenger side. I still own the car and over the years have just had regular maintenance done. The water on the passenger side has gotten worse and every time it rains I have to take towels and dry up about 1 inch of water from the carpet. I am retired now and hesitate to take the car to a mechanic as I have found most will take financial advantage of a female. Just wondered if any other owners have had this problem or if there have been any recalls. Eventually , I will have a mechanic look at it and get an estimate for repair as soon as I can because I am tired of mopping up water every time it rains. I also wonder what it is doing to the metal under the carpet. The original owner was an older woman who rarely drove the car. I purchased from her son at her death it still had the new car smell so I am pretty sure she bought the car new and this problem was inherent in the design.

Filed Oct 26, 2007 · Engine · 62,000 miles · RI

Bought vehicle in 01.20.07 with 56,943 miles (2002 buick century custom). Sometime (around 62,000 miles) notice engine hesitates, after warming up, hesitation disappears. Asked my mechanic and his first question was if white smoke was coming off the tail pipe, I said no. A couple weeks later, at startup (early in the morning) the tail pipe smoked for a good 2 to 3 minutes, again, once warmed, stopped, and engine run well. This went on for another 2 weeks, during this period I asked again my mechanic, but this time I mentioned the white smoke, no oil smell, his response was I was burning antifreeze. Went back to dealer to see what they could do to help me, left the vehicle for diagnosis, then they offer me a 15% discount on parts of and estimated $1500.00 work. Since this was unacceptable, I called buick, explain situation, and also mentioned fact that an engine this age - mileage - this kind of failure was not acceptable. After 4 calls from buick, it took buick 2 weeks to come back with ha resolution: that the best they could do was 15% discount on parts and 15% on labor. At some point I wanted to pickup the car and I was told it was not safe to drive. Meantime, I did some research and found out that the federal safety agency did handle this type of issues. Further research in the federal safety agency web site showed that (like my mechanic told me) this was a recurrent problem with this model. I picked up the car on 10.25.07 at a final cost of $1,157.00.

Filed Apr 13, 2007 · Transmission · 51,570 miles · VA

Tl*- the contact owns a 2000 buick century with a current mileage of 70,200 miles. The transmission was hesitating in first gear. A mechanic at midway service center looked at the vehicle on 4-13-07 and the code p1811 for transmission shift valve was detected. The contact stated that he had the same problem on 10/18/2004 with a failure mileage of 51,570 miles. At the time, the dealer, jim stutzman, replaced the pc solenoid transmission shift valve part #10478146. Ak

Filed May 26, 2005 · Engine · 60,000 miles · CA

The teflon scraped off, along with stumbling and hesitation. The engine was replaced. Upon the replacement of the catalytic converter, metal shavings were found in the front screen. The new catalytic converter removed all of the stumbling and hesitation. The old catalytic converter showed evidence of antifreeze and was defective at time of the new engine replacement under factory warranty. A new catalytic converter should have been installed at the time of the engine replacement. The defective engine debris and obvious head gasket leak contributed to the catalytic converter failure. General motors should pay for replacement of their poorly diagnosed catalytic converter, place in used spark plugs and wires. General motors would not give a 100,000 mile warranty for the new engine. *ak the chassis mileage was 94k miles.

Filed Apr 8, 2005 · Acceleration · OH

Vehicle tends to hesitate to accelerate at various times while on the road. This occurs while the check engine light remains on.

Filed Dec 14, 2004 · Brakes · 15,000 miles · NY

Consumer complained about brake problems. When they were applied vehicle hesitated to stop. Consumer took vehicle to dealer to be serviced, but dealership could not determine the cause of the problem.*ak....gmc ha dbrake problems in the past, which they failed to admit. The vehicle was repaired at independent garage at owner's expense.

Filed Oct 5, 2004 · Fuel system · 93,597 miles · WI

Engine injector failure. *bf the consumer has 5 injectors on the vehicle and so far only 1 has failed. The consumer believed that eventually the remaining injectors will have to replaced. The consumer the manufacturer knew about the problem for years as far as 1994. The injector problem has caused another safety issue such as engine hesitation when the gas pedal was depressed and the engine does not want to move for a number of seconds until the pedal is almost floored.

Filed Apr 14, 2004 · Engine · 36,200 miles · NY

Service engine light came on and have been experiencing a clunking hesitation when accelerating anywhere from 10 to 45 MPH. Took car to dealer on 4/5/04 and service manager went for a test drive with me and he definitely felt the problem. When tech ran computer check he said two codes came back and that the fuel sensor had to be replaced and it was not covered by my extended warranty or the emissions warranty. I had the work done and the service manager said that may have been what was causing the problem and to call if it did not resolve. I drove the car the next day and was still having original problem. They set up appt again to have a tech go with me on another test drive. This was on 4/10/04. The service manager had the shop foreman go with me on a test drive and he also felt the clunking hesitation and said they would run some more tests and that it may be a solenoid related to the transmission. I phoned the dealer on monday afternoon 4/12/04 to see if the diagnosed the problem yet, after being put on hold and then disconnected I called back. This time I got service manager's voice mail and left a message that I was still waiting to hear about my car. No one returned my call. On tuesday afternoon 4/13/04 I phoned the dealer again and then was connected to service manager who then proceeded to tell me that they found a problem and that they drove a few more buick century models that they had on their lot and that the clunking noise was normal for my car but that it was just more pronounced in my car. He then went on to say that they found a leaking manifold gasket , both upper engine mounts loose and the passenger side lower engine mount loose. My 2000 buck century custom has only 36,600 miles. I purchased the car in august of 2003 from the dealer and the mileage was just slightly over 31,000 when I purchased the vehicle.

Filed Feb 26, 2001 · Acceleration, Brakes · NJ · fire

While driving uphill, vehicle began slowing so consumer accelerated, vehicle hesitated for a moment and then took off, consumer took foot off accelerator, however vehicle continued to accelerate at a rapid rate, consumer kept foot on brake slowing vehicle, consumer put vehicle in park and shut it off, brakes were so hot that flames were coming out of the wheels, consumer threw snow on tires to extinguish fire on both tires, brake discs were glowing orange, consumer traded vehicle for a 2000 model, however was $5000 more and feels she is entitled to some compensation.