13th Dec 2002, 16:12
I own a 1995 century. I think it's a great car. The only problems I have with it are the one's I cause. It's extremely dependable and safe too. I've gotten into two accidents with her and no one has ever gotten hurt in it. The fact that we decided to fix it twice is indicative of how much we love her.
13th May 2004, 00:42
I have a 1996 Buick Century with 82,000 miles and the only problems I have had are electrical. One window motor was replaced at a cost of $150. I replaced the alternator at a cost of $125. Presently, the power seat motors are not working well. Overall, the car rates well.
28th Mar 2005, 08:21
I have a 1996 Buick Century, and I've had nothing but problems with it. Complete new computer system, new brakes, new wheel bearings, new alternator, new water pump, and now my head gasket is going. I'm done with Buicks!!!
9th Jul 2005, 07:55
My 1996 Buick Century seemed great. At 93,000 miles coolant began disappearing. Discovered it was going into oil pan. It presently is in repair shop. Comment about bad intake gasket looks very helpful. Thanks. We bought the car a year ago with 69,000 miles and this was the first repair problem we had.
16th Apr 2006, 20:21
Never buy ANY GM car with the 2.8 or 3.1 this was the 2nd worst moter Chevy ever (1st of course is the Vega moter)
16th Apr 2006, 21:32
If you are going to buy a Buick, you can't go wrong with the 3.8 V6, those engines are the best!
6th Jul 2006, 09:49
The 3.8L V6 also has the same intake problem. My landlord's '98 Park Avenue blew the intake, destroying his engine. $4,000 later, it has a new motor. He told me he was so glad he got the extended warranty that covered it. The culprit is the plastic intake. They used to be made of cast metal, but probably to reduce manufacturing costs, they switched to plastic, which is when the failing intake problems started. If I'm not mistaken, they started using the plastic intake on the 3.8L in 1993 or 1994. My 1991 Park Avenue with the 3.8L had the cast metal type and hadn't had any problems with 96k miles.
5th Mar 2007, 18:08
I have a 1996 Buick Century with 180K miles on it running strong a lot of little things go on Buicks. This is not my first one so I know. The Century rusts very quickly the window motors are crap and I have replaced 2 and working on a 3rd as well as a 4th, but at this point I'm just going to fix it with tape and a trash bag. Buicks run great as every little thing on em falls apart real solid cars comfortable and surprisingly powerful. If you don't care how a car will look after 6 years then the things that go wrong can be fixed with stuff from around the house. Windows stuck down back of trunk completly rusted out. But hey alls that matters is that it gets from point A to point B safely.
17th Jan 2008, 14:27
I have a 1996 century that the check engine lite keeps coming on. I took it to a local dealer and he wanted to take my transmission apart. This car shifts fine and gets a good gas mileage. I can have that lite cutoff drive under 50 mph lite never comes on.I'm starting to think its in the computer.
18th Feb 2014, 12:32
The plastic intake manifold that leads to coolant leaks into the oil, started on the 1995 standard 3.8L engine, and for the supercharged 3.8L engine in 1996.
The EGR gas degrades the plastic, leading to cracks and then leaks. If you have the repair done, make sure they replace the plastic intake manifold with an upgraded one that eliminates the problems. Just replacing the gaskets will not fix it for long.
15th Jun 2002, 11:37
You have my sympathy. We had a '95 Century and it was as bad as yours. My in-laws have a '96 and have also had problems.