22nd Jul 2010, 20:16

I have a 1998 Buick LeSabre, which my wife drives, and it has recently been making noises like the floorboard buckling, and popping noises in turns and hitting bumps. I crawled under the car today and found the cradle bushing mounts rusted away from the cradle, and the rubber actually missing on one of the four. I called my friend who is a mechanic, and he said get rid of the car, it is too dangerous to drive. Problem is, it only has 120k miles on it and the engine, body and trans are fine. I cannot believe my wife and I were so close to possibly losing the steering or a wheel. I live in New York and think I'm going to contact the channel 5 "SHAME ON YOU" program.

Buick should step up to the plate on this one. Why should I junk the car because it can't be fixed? I lost my job and this was the only car we've had for the last year.

24th Jul 2010, 17:18

I have heard of numerous people fixing this problem on this site.

18th Aug 2010, 20:43

Well, I, too, just joined the "rusted cradle club". I have a 1998 Buick Park Ave Ultra with 130,000.

My wife was driving when suddenly the car jerked to the right and wouldn't move. Thankfully, she was at an intersection and had just started to accelerate. Five minutes later, she would have been on the expressway and then what?

So, I had to have a used cradle (or sub frame) installed and a new axle half-shaft because it yanked apart. The old cradle was riddled with rust and had actually tore in half.

I have been a loyal GM guy for many years, but this is crap. According to this and other sites, GM needs to step up and at least compensate us for part of the repair costs (yea, $1200.00 this cost me!).

19th Aug 2010, 16:53

Add me to the club of lucky to be alive survivors. I was driving my 94 Buick LeSabre on July 14th. I had just exited the interstate highway, and was turning and accelerating on to a four-lane secondary road, when I heard a loud snap; my car veered across two lanes of traffic, out of control, with no steering whatsoever. All four rear engine cradle bolts pulled through due to rust, and my engine dropped down, and the steering link pulled out, and you have no control of your vehicle. How many people have died from this problem? Your safety should not be compromised, whether the car is 1 year old or 20. I hope by writing this, it may save someones life, or they can get their car checked out. Class action law suit coming up!!!

20th Aug 2010, 22:48

Daughter in law called this morning about her 95 LeSabre. Same as others; she drove it to tire shop, and they said they had never seen it before. Back 4 bolts had pulled thru the subframe. I drove on to my car dolly to bring home, and when I backed off, the steering came unhooked. We are in Illinois and agree we have rust, but this is a serious problem. HAVE YOURS CHECKED IMMEDIATELY!!!

25th Aug 2010, 13:23

I am 77 years old, and own a 1984 Buick Le Sabre as one of my daily drivers (the wife and I also share a new 2010 Ford Taurus). We also live in the rust belt. This car looks similar to the 1977-1990 Boxy Chevy Caprice.

While all the other "old fogies' back in the 1980's and 1990's hopped on the bandwagon and bought front wheel drive Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Cadillac, we decided to hang onto our 1984 for the long haul. Nearly 250,000 miles later and it still runs and drives like a Swiss watch. We undercoated it once when it was new, and washed it maybe once every two weeks. Rust is finally starting to take its toll, but it is far from falling apart yet. There are cars less than 10 years old that look much, much worse.

Sure it isn't the fastest or most economical thing on the road, and it may nickle and dime me every once in a while, but repairs over $700 even in this day and age on the old LeSabre of mine are pretty much unheard of. Last year I replaced the original brake lines, after 25 years. Change the oil and keep tires on these old GM, Ford, and Chrysler giants, and they will run forever. Too bad that isn't the case for cars built today.

25th Aug 2010, 15:40

Last year we sold my late brother's 1977 Buick LeSabre. It had over 277,000 miles on it, with not a single repair. We live in the South and rust is not an issue here. The car was virtually showroom new inside and out after 32 years.

4th Sep 2010, 10:42

I have a 1995 Buick Park Avenue. The steering wheel was turned 30 degrees to the left while driving straight, even after an alignment. My daughter had the car at college, and reported that the steering wheel was spinning without turning the wheels. I checked the steering and it seemed okay. I brought it home and took it to my friend/mechanic (father-son team). Up on the rack, the cradle hung down; four bolts rusted away. Decided to trade it in on something else rather than fix it. Repairs would equal the value of the vehicle.

9th Sep 2010, 22:15

1994 Buick Park Avenue, 137,000 miles.

I was driving today, and had all four of the rear subframe mounts come out. I had just started to accelerate from a stoplight and bang, a loud crashing sound. I let off the gas, and tried to steer off to the shoulder, BUT HAD NO STEERING!!!

Thankfully I was going slow when it happened, and was barely able to get off to the side of the road. If I was cruising along at 65 MPH on the tollway when this happened, it would have been a major disaster. I might not have been able to write this post.

After the vehicle was on the flatbed tow truck, and I looked under the vehicle at what broke, I saw that all of the mounts had rusted off!! I can't believe how fortunate I was that this didn't turn into a multi-car accident with injuries.

12th Sep 2010, 03:42

I drive a 1995 Buick LeSabre Custom as my winter car. There are 135,000 plus on my car and I have no problems with anything rusting what so ever. Again it is my winter car so when I drive it the roads are usually soaked in salt... I guess since I take the time to make sure I get an undercarriage wash done at the local car wash every 3 weeks or so, I have prevented these problems. I honestly feel the people who have had these problems have failed to maintain their cars properly. For a 15 year old car, it owes me nothing and when it comes to bad mouthing GM I do ask you when was the last time you saw a 1969 Honda Civic rolling around. Exactly, never!