1998 Buick Park Avenue: check engine light

Filed Apr 18, 2013 · Engine, Fuel system · 125,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 1998 buick park avenue. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled without warning. The check engine light illuminated as the failure occurred. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer and the fuel pump was replaced however, the repair did not remedy the failure. The vehicle was not further repaired. The failure mileage was 125,000 and the current mileage was 128,000.

Filed Aug 31, 2007 · Engine · TN

Greetings, I procured a car from the twin city buick dealership on 3046 airport highway [alcoa tn 37701] to purchase a nice used car for my son. The salesman, was nice enough to show me / steer me in the direction of a 1998 buick park ave with 30k original miles. We ran a background check on the miles and car history report and with a handshake called the deal done. My son used the car for one year and put about 10k miles on the vehicle he noticed that the temperature gauge was getting a little warmer than normal. The car was checked out at clifton buick dealership in rockwood tennessee my son was at summer camp in rockwood tennessee as a boy scout leader for the last two summers and it was discovered that the plenum gasket device was defective. In addition, anti-freeze was discovered leaking into the engine as well. The bill to get ben's car back on the road was in $568.06 about two weeks later the engine light came back on and I had to go back to the dealership. It was a faulty sensor discovered and most likely attributed to the anti-freeze leaking through the tailpipe as was suggested by the dealer. This cost was $315.66. Finally, about a week goes by and now the oil light came on. Again we are at the dealer and discovered it was not the anti-freeze but damage to the engine from the plenum issue. The cost to trouble-shoot the car was $82.60. Additional detail provided by the dealer is $3,360.00 to replace the engine with a used engine that has 68k miles and 1 year warranty or $4,453.00 to replace the engine with a rebuilt one that has a 3 year 100k mile warranty. The dealership recommended the rebuilt one. *jb updated 12/12/07

Filed May 30, 2006 · Engine · 63,368 miles · SC

On may 6, 2006 we were coming back to spartanburg, sc from the beach. We were about 7 miles from kingsree, sc. After leaving a service station, we started getting "check engine" messages. We went back to the service station to see what was wrong. We had no coolant. I put a gallon of coolant in and decided to go into kingstree, sc in case there was more trouble. Just as we got to kingstree, sc we stopped at another station after getting more "check engine" messages. Again, we were out of coolant and now the car would not start. A wrecker towed it to a garage. The mechanic said he was fairly certain of what the problem was because buick had been having lots of trouble with a particular part. He then confirmed that it was the upper intake. He replaced the upper intake part with a revised part from buick and assured us we would not have any more trouble with the coolant. This cost $571.48 and a 6 hour delay. The consequences could have been much more serious if we had not been near a service station. Buick refuses to pay or acknowledge they have a problem with the intake.

Filed May 1, 2006 · Engine · 63,000 miles · MI

Dt*: the contact stated the engine overheated several times and continuously required additional coolant fluid. This was always preceded by the check engine light illuminating. When the vehicle was taken to a service dealer, they determined there was a pinhole sized leak in the manifold. The service dealer was able to repair the leak.

Filed Jan 5, 2006 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 106,934 miles · ID

Dt*: the contact stated there were two problems with the vehicle. The first problem involved coolant leaking from the engine. The next morning, the check engine light illuminated and the vehicle would not start. The vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop, the mechanic was able to get the vehicle started. Upon inspection the intake manifold was filled with water and the manifold was replaced. The second problem occurred when driving across a patch of ice at approximately 40 MPH the traction stability and ABS failed. The v traction control and ABS lights illuminated. The front end started to slide. The contact pulled the vehicle to the side of the road and turned the vehicle off. Once the vehicle was restarted,the traction control and ABS reset themselves and were working properly.*ak updated 3/3/2006 -

Filed Aug 27, 2004 · Engine · 83,460 miles · IL

The sevice engine light came on and within a day or two my car kept needing coolant. I scheduled an appointment with a buick dealer but the next day the car wouldn't start. I had it towed to the dealer and within hours of getting there I was told there was an upper and lower internal manifold leak. The service person told me that he was familiar with the problem but would not say it was a design flaw. Why would a dealer carry a manifold that is a non-moving part but a cast piece of iron if this was not continual problem? I work in a foundry for caterpillar that makes cast blocks and heads and was told by an engineer this is a bad design.

Filed Jun 7, 2004 · Engine · 85,900 miles · MI

While driving at 50 MPH check engine light came on, showing that the coolant was low. Dealer examined the vehicle, and filled the reservoir with coolant. Between the dealership and the consumer's home coolant drained from the reservoir and the radiator. Vehicle was towed back to the dealer, who replaced the manifold, the gasket, and upper plenum on the engine.

Filed Jan 7, 2004 · Engine · 68,000 miles · NJ

While I was driving I heard a pop & the service engine light came on I went another block and the car lost power & white smoke came out of exhaust. I turned engine off & tried to restart which was unsuccessful. I contacted buick dealer because after talking to a few people I was told that this was a common problem with gm autos. Customer representative told me to go to dealer & they would work with me on the cost of the repair. After a week of wasted time I went to a local mechanic who repaired the auto at a cost of $1,049. The mechanic informed me that this was a very common problem with this engine because of the type of parts the manufacturer uses durin g production. I am relieved that nobody was injured during this incident but if this had occured on a highway and I was not able to get off to a shoulder the situation might have had a different outcome. This auto at the time had 68,000 miles and 1 week after the time frame of the extended warranty the extended warranty expired at 60,000 miles.this is a $33,000 vehicle and I would hope that an engine would last longer than 70,000 miles. I own two other vehicles (toyota's) and they have a combined mileage of over 300,000 miles and both purchased new cost less than this vehicle. It is my understanding that there have been other complaints of this type for this vehicle and the manufacturer has done nothing to correct this problem.

Filed May 6, 2003 · Engine · PA

While driving, the engine light illuminated on the dash board, and suddenly the vehicle started to lose power.