2000 Buick LeSabre Limited 3.8 Litre

Summary:

Good running, but too many faults with power windows

Faults:

My main problem is the power windows. Today my fourth power window has failed. I pay over $650 for each repair. This is a car that General Motors says has no problem with the windows. Four out of four sounds like a problem in the manufacturing. No more General Motors for me even thought I have been a GM buyer for 30 years.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 27th September, 2006

1st Jan 2007, 13:17

I have an Oldsmobile that has had the window problem famous for GM.

I take it downtown to a local auto electric shop, and pay about $260 for the new motor, and fix. The fix has been done over a year, and still works fine. The dealer usually charges the most, and uses OE parts. I don't feel the GM part is the way to go. Only if they could insure me that their parts are improved, and warranteed. You will still pay much more at the dealer.

2000 Buick LeSabre LIMITED 3.8

Summary:

Excellent, nice driving car

Faults:

Left rear passenger power window quit working. You could hear the motor running, but the window did not move. After reading previous complaints about the same problem, I want to add an extra twist. For the first 68,000 of its life, it was garaged most days during the hottest part of the day. I gave the car to my Daughter after buying a new Lucerne, and she parked it on the street with the driver's side facing the 100 degree sun. Five months later the left rear window broke. I suspect the heat on the plastic parts was a contributing factor. Most other complaints were at the 50,000 range and I wonder if they were sitting out in the hot sun all day. I had an extended warranty and it had gone out the week before this happened. I went in to the dealer and asked what they would charge to repair, and they were just working on one that day and the immediate answer was $526.

General Comments:

This has been a wonderful nice driving car and my only complaint is the window regulator. From what I have read, GM should foot the cost of repair of a known defect.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 17th September, 2006

14th Jan 2009, 22:49

I had a window reg replaced at an auto electric shop for half what the dealer wanted... food for thought.

2000 Buick LeSabre

Summary:

I'm happy with it except with the windows so far

Faults:

I am so happy I found this forum and read so many having the same problem I am having.

I purchased a 2000 Buick Le Sabre Custom in 2005, everything working fine. Now I have two windows not working, driver window and passenger window.

I am very disappointed. In all the years of owning cars, I never had windows not working.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 9th September, 2006

2000 Buick LeSabre Custom

Summary:

With the exception of the windows, I had excellent performance until the car reached 90K miles

Faults:

The window regulators starting going out around 40k miles. Within 6 mos. All except one rear window was broken.

Around 90K. The transmission started acting up, shifting and thumping very hard, but this has been an intermittent problem, and maybe occur once then not again for several months. If I shut off the engine for a while, it would be fine on next start up. The service engine light would stay on for 2-3 start ups then return to normal.

Around 90K, it started to die on the highway. This seemed to be random and I never knew when it would happen. Usually if I threw it into neutral it would restart without ever slowing down, but on the instances when it did not restart on the first attempt, I would have to coast off the highway and sit for 5-10 minutes. The dealership said they could not diagnose the problem until it gave a service code or I brought it in while it was happening. This problem never gave a key code nor did the service engine light come on when it occurred.

I've had the fuel pump, sock etc., replaced twice. The first time seemed to solve the problem for about 8 months before it happened again. Replacing the pump the second had no effect, the problem still persists today.

As I cannot trust my Buick on the highway I have just today, purchased a new vehicle. I kept my Buick because with the transmission problem, the dying on the highway problem, and only one working window, I felt I could not get a fair trade in price for it.

I've seen many Internet queries about this motor dying problem. I wish they would do a recall to fix it, since it is an extremely dangerous and possibly life threatening issue. Once I was sandwiched between two semi trucks and in heavy traffic I was barely able to get to the pull over lane.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 2nd September, 2006

4th Sep 2006, 15:30

We had 3 different window regulators go within less than 6 months of each other on our 2000 LeSabre.. at around 60,000...We fixed the first 2 out of pocket, and Buick was not much help when I decided to contact them on the third broken one. That one is currently duct taped shut, and I'm waiting for the fourth one to go. The pulleys in this unit are made of plastic, and the cable is lightweight for the job required of it.

So many people have had this problem, that it should be a recall issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the only place that initiates recalls, so a complaint must be filed with them. If enough people do, maybe Buick will have to stand behind their dysfunctional product. The worst part of all this is, the NHTSA issued a bulletin concerning this problem in January of 2001- they were aware of the issue.