2011 Buick Lucerne: engine overheating

Filed Mar 28, 2026 · Electrical, Fuel system · NV

Fuel pump relay is overheating to dangerously high temperatures. At least 211 F degrees. Causes the fuel pump fuse to melt leaving me stranded. Immediate replacement of the 20 AMP fuse is necessary to get the car running again. The fuel pump relay gets really hot even if the AC is not on. Waited for hour and a half in near 100 F degree heat for a tow truck to it home. I’m lucky the car did not catch on fire. I know quite a few of the Buick Lucerne’s have had recalls regarding this item. Picture of the actual car is included. No police report was necessary as this was a breakdown situation. This has utterly disrupted my life because I do not have access to a car with good air conditioning until this problem is repaired.

Filed Dec 13, 2022 · Electrical · 198,000 miles · WI

The contact owns a 2011 Buick Lucerne. The contact stated that after several attempts the vehicle failed to start-up without warning. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to the circuit board which was in the rear back seat. The contact stated that the rear seat latches had rubbed against the circuit box, causing the circuit to overheat. The circuit board was replaced. The contact then stated that upon entering his vehicle while in a parking lot, blueish colored smoke was coming from the vehicle. The contact removed the back seat and saw that the circuit board had started melting. The Police were first called to the scene and the Fire Department then arrived and was able to extinguish the smoke before the circuit board caught on fire. Neither a Police report nor a Fire report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it remained. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and a case was filed. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 198,000.

Filed Jan 22, 2020 · Electrical · 58,000 miles · PA

Engine stopped running with no warning. It was repaired by the dealer at no cost under technical service bulletin (tsb) 15-na-051. In addition to the repairs specified in the tsb, the dealer had to replace the rear fuse box and repair the wire to the fuel pump because they were both damaged due to overheating. This is a fire hazard which should have been made a recall instead of an extended warranty.

Filed May 4, 2018 · Electrical · 123,000 miles · CA

A manufacturer defect exists in the area of the rear fuse box located under the rear seat on the left side. The seat bracket applies pressure to the fuse box cover deflecting it from its standard position. This deflection puts lateral pressure on the fuel pump relay. This lateral force cause an weaked contact between the relay and the fuse box connectors. Increased electrical resistance causes the relay to overheat and melt its base and fuse box. The heat is intense enough to case the contact pins of the relay, and socket of the fuse box and softens the metal further degrading the continuity and increasing resistance. This mandates a replacement of the fuse box since simply replacing the relay after the heat damage may not be sufficient to remedy the defect. A manufacturer tsb exhists however, this component is more likely to fail on a longer high speed drive. If it fails at speed, vehicle control issues may arise among with driver panic when the engine stalls at highway speeds.

Filed Aug 1, 2017 · Electrical, Fuel system · 160,000 miles · MI · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 buick lucerne. The contact stated that the vehicle would not start and an electrical burning odor was present inside the cabin. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the fuel pump relay had overheated and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 160,000.