9th Sep 2008, 19:36

Went thru my reviews and noticed I never said anything about my charging light issue. Same as a previous commenter, so I'm not the only one.

Everything is OK, but the charging light will not go off. I think the wire that goes from the alternator to the ECM might be brittle and the wire is bad. But I really don't want to mess with it at the moment.

I have a scan tool, and the reading that the ECM receives is lower than the reading at the battery, which I checked with a voltmeter. Anyone experience this problem before?

24th Jan 2009, 12:22

It is very interesting and amusing to read all of your comments on your car. Not many people follow up. You are persistent. I am also a Buick lover however I now own a Mercedes. Mercedes is the only other car I would buy instead of a Buick. Here lately I have been considering trading in my 05 Mercedes for a Buick again.

I have owned a bunch of Buicks and have experienced most of the same problems you have run across. Alternators were always going out for me. singformemyangel@yahoo.com.

25th Jan 2009, 10:43

I love Buicks too, but if they ever stop making them, or the styling continues to become a la Toyota, I will probably trade for a Mercedes.

I would never buy a Honda or Toyota. Maybe Cadillac or Lincoln, but Mercedes are very nice.

However, I would take my '05 Park Avenue over a new Mercedes. I wish Buick would go back to being traditional American instead of trying to mimic Toyota and Lexus, they sold much better when they did.

I recently saw a picture of the new '10 LaCrosse and the resemblance to a Camry made me sick, even worse than the Lucerne. Why can't GM figure out that retro styling would sell great in the Buick line, most Buick loyalists won't remain so if the line continues to retain less and less of what makes a Buick a Buick.

The fact that GM thinks the Chinese know more about this than Detroit is very sad indeed.

14th Feb 2009, 20:33

I own a 95 Buick Park Avenue. I have some sort of electrical issue. The voltage drops at various times, causing all lights on to dim almost to the point of going out. The gauge on the dash goes from 15 down to the red and various points in between. The car has a new battery and rebuilt alternator. Both seem to test fine. Any one have any suggestions?

16th Feb 2009, 18:20

Could be a bad PCM becuase the PCM is the voltage regulator for these cars. Also check your grounds. You could have a loose ground somewhere. I'm the original reviewer and I've seem to have had really no electrical issues besides the voltage light not going off.

17th Jun 2009, 14:23

Update: Car now has 154,500. Since last update someone broke in my car and stole my CD player. They pried the door lock out with a screw driver so now you can pull the lock out of the door and open it. Not worth fixing. Plus the alarm will go off. Got a new CD player and now I just take the face off all the time.

I also change out all my valve stem seals and my oil consumption has dropped a lot. Not sure how much yet but seems to have gone from burning 1qt every 1300 miles to about 1qt every 2k-2.5k mile range that's livable for me.

Also had to replace the climate control unit. It started blanking out and tripping to default setting. Dealer wanted $921!! for a new one, probably half the value of the car. This is 10+ year old technology. I have seen circuit boards for washing machine more complicated. I think someone on ebay does these repairs for around $100. I went to the junkyard and on a prayer found one when I had gave up guess this is a very common problem. It was a newer park than mine so I had to switch the faces out so it could mount properly. Cost $12 :).

GM will lose potential loyal customers with those type of cost for replacement parts and further put themselves in a hole. Especially on an older car. I was very unimpressed with that type of price quote.

18th Jun 2009, 16:44

I had the same issue with my '99 Park Avenue. I purchased one used off of eBay for about $50. 6 months later it developed the same problem. I then purchased the repair service you mentioned on eBay for about $50 and never had another issue for as long as I had the car. I have seen much newer Park Avenues on eBay or Autotrader with fairly low mileage with the same problem. My '05 has yet to have any issues with the unit but at least if it does I know where I can have it repaired cheaply. You just have to be an informed consumer. People should know the dealer service department is out to make money. These days with the internet there are plenty of other options. My local dealer has even been willing to match the price of on-line bargain sites I have found.

19th Jun 2009, 14:30

Originally Reviewer: I totally agree with the last comment. You do have to be an informed consumer these days. Or the dealer or repair shops will take you for what you got. I typically go to dealer to get an estimation on the difference on OEM parts and store parts.

Had someone think that they needed brakes because the quick lube shop told them they did. When I checked to see if they needed them, they had over half the brake lining left. Just one example of what many people go thru every day.

7th Jul 2009, 20:55

Another update: 156,900 This update is kinda soon for me, but this car continues to impress me. Recent I put about 1k miles on it over a course of 3 days (300-400 miles a day) in 95+ degree weather. I traveled about 80-90mph the entire trip and averaged about 25-26mpg. Pretty good gas mileage at that speed for that size car. Not one hiccup during this time. And it only used 0.2qt of oil. Very impressed, the valve job was worth it. This purchase was one of the best decisions I have made in my short life.

8th Jul 2009, 12:23

To 20:55: You probably have a long way to go with your Buick yet. Our 1977 Buick LaSabre was sold last year with over 277,000 trouble-free miles. ZERO problems beyond routine maintenance. Buick currently is tied for J.D. Powers top ranking in long-term reliability with a Ford product. Both outrank even the lofty Lexus. I read a comment on a Toyota site wondering why anyone would choose a Buick over a Toyota. I can think of 277,000 VERY GOOD reasons!!