1997 Buick Lesabre: hesitation when accelerating

5 of the 393 complaints about the 1997 Buick Lesabre describe hesitation when accelerating.

owner complaints: 5
of this car's complaints: 1%
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 11 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Hesitation when accelerating by model year

2005
1
2002
3
2001
2
2000
2
1999
1
1998
3
1997
5
1996
1
1994
1
1993
1

What owners say

Filed Jan 15, 2004 · Transmission · 52,000 miles · NE

Hello, I had a problem with my car hesitating going up a small grade or sometimes just driving down the road and took it back to the dealer. They told me it was a spark plug and fixed it. The problem continued and I took it to another dealer who said I needed a new transmission. Besides a new transmission, they also replaced the intake manifold gasket and put new brakes on the front with rotors. The receipt from the garage says the transmission had an 1870 trouble code. My car was purchased new and had 52,000 miles on it. The total cost was 4200.00. I asked the gm people for help with this expense as I am a single mother working 2 jobs and did not get a reply. I took out another loan to pay for this. Now, with almost 80,000 miles, the transmission is doing the same thing and my friend with a computer says it is the 1870 trouble code (when the check engine light comes on). I can not afford to spend another 4000.00 for another transmission.

Filed Dec 1, 2001 · Electrical · TX

On11/22/2001 in the morning hours,I try to start the car when I heard a backfire explosion and then smoke came from under the hood. I did open the hood to do a visual inspection of the car to see what could be wrong, I seen nothing wrong with the car I started it and went to work.the same day I was driving from work to my home, when all of the sudden the car started jerking up and hesitating, I saw a thick and white cloud of smoke came from the the exaust . Smoke came from under the hood and I did turn off the car to investigate what could be the possible cause.when I opened the hood of the car, a strong gasoline odor came from the engine. I let the car to cool down and then I drove home. I had the car taken to a buick dealership and they told me that the plenumupper intake manifold was warp and needed to be replaced,fuel regulator was bad and because of that the transmission modulator was flodded and had to be replaced. I would like to give you some more details about this problem, but all the documents are at the dealer at this moment. I'm looking foward to hear from you.thanks for your time and happy holidays.

Filed Aug 16, 2001 · Brakes, Electrical · NE

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.

Filed Aug 1, 2000 · Engine · IL

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.

Filed Nov 12, 1999 · Acceleration · NJ

Rpms race, check engine light is illuminating on the dash and vehicle hesitates/ stalls and will not accelerate. Consumer has contacted the dealer, dealer unable to determine the cause of the problem.