This 1997 buick le sabre , in very good condition , exploded with a fireball and sending plastic "shrapnel" and engine cover parts out to a radius of 24 feet. Thank god none of the three people trying to start the car with the hood up were standing over the engine bay. The resulting repairs were $700 and my long time extremely competent group of mechanics were all baffled and could not explain why or how such a thing was even possible on such a system (I.e. Late model fuel injection , starting a cold engine. *ak referenced in ea02-030
1997 Buick Lesabre engine complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 120, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Consumer had parked vehicle and it exploded as consumer was exiting vehicle , adjuster stated possible internal engine intake manifold to be cause, claim 05-4442-741.
Engine exploded when vehicle was started, claim 38-j616-719.
Vehicle would not crank early in the day, it was taken home and parked for a few hours when a fire started, claim 42-1218-296.
Consumer started vehicle and heard a loud pop, flames came out from under the hood, the origin of the fire and explosion was inside the intake manifold of the engine, the cause of the fire was a backfire within the engine compartment, claim 17-9112-605.
During normal operation of vehicle while traveling at any speed steering column assumes a different center position approximately 90% of the time, dealership examined vehicle and determined that one of the steering mounting bolts was loose, and another mounting bolt was twisted out of position, dealer replaced the bolt, and corrected the problem. *ak consumer stated the rack & pinion bolt was completely broken.
Engine exploded when vehicle was started, claim 38-j616-719.
I had taken this vehicle back to the buick dealership where I purchased it at 34k miles and told them it had a "miss" and that it "hesitated" driving down the road. They said it was a spark plug and replaced one. The last time I took it to another buick dealer it needed 4,200.00 to make it road worthy including a new water pump, new transmission, new brakes and rotors. The service code on the car should have indicated failure of these parts when I took it to the first dealer.
The vehicle stalled without warning while driving due to a blown head gasket, a few months later vehicle stalled again, vehicle was towed to a body shop and mechanice stated that head gasket had blown again and that the motor would need replaced, water pump also failed and was replaced on four occasions.
While attempting to start the vehicle the engine caught fire totally destroying the car. Nlm there was recall on the upper intake manifold.*jb an investigator stated that the fire originated within the ignition of vapors of gasoline in the engine compartment of the vehicle, they stated that it should be noted that the conditions described at the time of the fire are in line with the recall regarding the upper intake manifold. *slc referenced in ea02-030
Water pump stopped working for no reason. Please provide any additional information.
Wheel cylinders leaking causing a grunting noise to occur as the car was placed in reverse. Nlm
Is there a problem with the in engine manifold warping and causing over heating and premature engine failure?
Motor burned, cause of fire origninated at the engines fueling system on the intake housing side, claim 53-c681-096.
In june of this year when I went in for an ordinary oil change and was told that the serpentine belt needed to be replaced, which was done on june 19th and cost us $131. Since then it has been one thing after another, the gas gauge stopped working and to repair that plus the oil change and automatic transmission service that ran us $764. On october 20th after getting into the car and starting it, the temperature light came on, and I immediately took it to your service department. That was the egr valve which was $313. Then six days later on october 26th the car started to overheat when I pulled into my garage, after letting it cool we checked the coolant jar and there was nothing in it. We added water then took it straight to your service department, this time they had to replace the intake manifold which cost us $391. In between these happening I took the car in to have the brakes checked and they told me that the front brakes and the two rotors had to be replaced. We took it to another garage and had them check them since they had only been replaced less than one year before and had less than 15,000 miles. We were told there was nothing wrong with the front brakes. While road testing the car on november 25th the engine cut out and the oil light came on. When the car was started up the oil pressure went all the way down. It was taken straight to your service department and left there until it was checked on monday the 27th. We were told that the engine needed to be replaced and the cost was going to be $3,400.
Anti-freeze was leaking into motor and causing it to be sluggish & hesitate. Also, there was a foul smell coming into vehicle. Dealer said there was a defect within the part.
Steering wheel paint coming off, replacement of the steering wheel necessary.
Vehicle backfires during start up. This could lead to an engine compartment fire. *ak referenced in ea02-030
Since I bought the vehicle, the car has gotten horrendous gas mileage, the horn intermittently does not work and the transmission has slipped. The car was taken back to the dealer and nothing was done. I was told "we were unable to find a problem." the horn issue nearly resulted in a car accident lastnight as the horn, again, decided to take the night off. This is not right!!
Car is cutting out. No warning. I could be going 65 miles an hour or completely stopped at the red light. Car will restart in about five minutes. I have had it to the dealership [two different ones] three times and it has not been fixed to date. I feel this car in dangerous and would like to get some help.
Consumer started vehicle, there was a loud pop and then flames came out from under the hood, the origin of the fire and explosion is inside the intake manifold and the engine, the cause of the fire is a back fire within the engine compartment, claim 17-9112-605..
Vehicle would not crank earlier in the day, vehicle was parked for a few hours when a fire started in the engine area, claim 42-1218-296.
Engine exploded as consumer was getting out of vehicle, claim 05-4442-741.
Vehicle stalls intermittently without warning while in motion. Nlm
Engine--oil gasket leak.
Car surged forward when pulling into a parking space, airbags did not deploy.
Engine continually experiencing clunking noise. Mjs
Possible engine failure, check engine light illuminating.
Catalytic converter system failed.
Oxygen sensor failed. Yh
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