So Fix it

Buick introduced the LeSabre Marquee as a concept car in 1951. The nameplate officially became part of the Buick lineup in 1959. Before discontinuing the model in 2005, Buick had sold over 6 million LeSabres, and for 12 years it was the best-selling full-size vehicle in the U.S. The Buick LeSabre has sold with a number of different transmissions, all of which are prone to problems. Signs of a bad transmission in a Buick LeSabre arent difficult to detect.

Leaks

Look at the ground under where the Buick LeSabre is normally parked. Puddles of fluid, stains and spots are all signs of a leak. If the leak appears red in color, there is a good chance the Buick LeSabres transmission is leaking.

Fluid

Even without a noticeable leak, the transmission fluid is possibly getting dangerously low. Use the transmission fluid dipstick to check for proper operating levels. If the fluid is not translucent red or smells burnt, change the fluid.

Vibrations

Vibrations and shuttering of the vehicle during gear shifts is a clear sign that something is not right with the Buick LeSabres transmission. The transmission is designed to shift smoothly and easily; vibrations are a sign that shifts are not happening as intended.

Noises

Grinding, whining or any other unusual noises coming from the transmission are a clue that something is wrong with the gears or transmission valves. Transmission noises usually come from the floorboards and near the center of the vehicle.

Overheating

Overheating of the transmission is a severe sign that something is wrong with the Buick LeSabre transmission. Overheating is caused by internal breakdown or during heavy towing, rocking the vehicle, racing or stop-and-go driving in high-heat environments. Signs of overheating are smoke, burnt transmission fluid and excessive heat near the shift lever.

Placed at the front end of most front-wheel-drive vehicles, struts support the vehicles weight while absorbing the shock from bumps and other abnormalities in the road. You cannot depend on a vehicle with bad struts to function properly in an emergency. If you notice any bad strut symptoms, take your vehicle in for evaluation and repair.

Bouncing and Rocking

If you notice that your vehicle no longer drives smoothly and bounces excessively when driving over bumps in the road or braking, your struts many be going bad. You may also notice abnormal rocking and sway in your vehicle while you drive. To test your struts, perform a bounce test by pushing down one corner of your car and letting it bounce back up. If the vehicle bounces a lot, that corner of the vehicle has a bad shock or strut.

Worn Tires

Uneven tread wear on your tires may be a result of bad struts. The excessive bouncing caused by bad struts could result in balding spots, wear channels or cupping patterns on your tires.

Bottoming Out

When your struts need replacement, your car will bottom out when driving over dips in the road, especially when carrying extra passengers. Bottoming out occurs when the struts or shock absorbers fail to support the frame of the car, and your car lands "hard" after going over a bump. You may notice this phenomenon happening in the front of your car. When you brake, your car tends to nose dive when your struts fail.

Leaks

Your struts consist of shock oil, dampening valves, a piston, main seal and a main body. When your struts fail, the internal dampening value or main shaft seal stops working. This results in the shock oil leaking out.

Rattling

When your struts give out, youll notice loose rattling sounds in your car while driving, especially when you go over bumps in the road. This happens when the inside parts of the struts strike the outside of the struts.

The intake manifold is sealed to the cylinder heads of an engine to prevent coolant leaks from occurring. If coolant escapes, it can run all over the engine and other parts, which can lead to other vehicle problems. Its beneficial to have information regarding why engine manifold gaskets go bad.

Causes

Leaks are often the reason that engine manifold gaskets go bad. Corrosion can wear the gaskets metal over time, which causes the manifold gaskets to lose their leak-free seal. A metal epoxy applied with extreme heat can repair the gasket and allow it to seal efficiently once again.

Types

There are several types of vehicles with engines that are known for having manifold gaskets that are prone to go bad. General Motors makes several of these engines, including V8 engines such as the 5.0L and 5.7L.

Time Frame

Manifold gaskets can last in good working order on a vehicle for many thousands of miles before they go bad. Some vehicle engines are equipped with plastic manifold gaskets that may not last as long. Plastic gaskets can perform well to around 70,000 miles before they go bad and need replacing.

All vehicles come equipped with small engine components called engine oxygen sensors. Many different types of oxygen sensors perform an array of different functions, and a faulty oxygen sensor can wreak havoc on engine operation and performance.

Rough Engine Idle

Vehicle engines that have a bad oxygen sensor often run irregularly or roughly. Oxygen sensors can control or contribute to many different engine functions, including fuel/air mixture, engine timing and engine combustion intervals. A faulty oxygen sensor can disrupt any of these things and cause a rough engine idle.

Engine Missing

A bad oxygen sensor can impede the air/fuel mixture of an engine or interfere with the engine combustion, both of which can cause an engine to miss, or run irregularly. An engine miss is normally most pronounced at idle or at lower engine speeds; a faulty oxygen sensor can inhibit the normal fuel delivery/combustion within an engine and cause a miss.

Engine Pinging

If a bad oxygen sensor is aligned with the ignition system on a cars engine, it can retard or advance engine ignition timing, which can cause an engine to ping. Pinging occurs when an engines combustion gases are ignited at the wrong times.

Poor Gas Mileage

Depending on the type and/or location of a faulty oxygen sensor, the fuel-delivery and the fuel-combustion systems can be thrown off or made irregular by a faulty oxygen sensor. If too much fuel is injected into an engines cylinders or a faulty oxygen sensor disturbs the delicate air/fuel mixture of an engine, gas mileage will suffer.

Increased Vehicle Emissions

Vehicle oxygen sensors play a critical part in keeping a vehicles emissions within certain parameters. A vehicle can fail a state-mandated smog test because a bad, or faulty, oxygen sensor will not accurately measure various engine ratios or air/fuel mixture concentrations or adjust certain engine operations accurately enough to keep a vehicles emissions in check.

A bad terminal connection can cause the battery to not work. It is definitely worth the effort to check the terminals because it is easier and less expensive to replace the connectors and clean the terminal posts than to buy a new battery.

Failed Electricity

A defective terminal connection prevents the battery from providing electricity to your car, which may result in electrical systems working poorly or not at all. The lights may become dim and the starter may not be able to start the engine.

Corrosion

A bad battery terminal can cause a build-up of a powder-like substance around the post of the battery terminal. This corrosion can cause a batterys poor connection. You can disconnect the battery cables, negative then positive, and scrub the terminal posts and connectors with a mixture of baking soda and water to remove the corrosion.

Poor Charging

If malfunctioning terminals are preventing a good connection to the battery, the alternator will not be able to properly recharge the battery. This could cause the battery to appear dead.

In a correctly functioning vehicle, the battery provides temporary power to start the engine and run accessories like the lights and radio when the engine is switched off. The alternator, on the other hand, provides electricity to power all of the cars functions while the engine is running and also recharges the battery. If the alternator fails the battery will die, since it is not getting recharged. The only permanent solution to this problem is to get a new alternator but you can recharge the battery in the mean time.

Instructions

1

Jump start your car. If your battery is dead, you can provide a temporary charge to the battery using jumper cables. Connect the cables to a running vehicle and then to your battery. Leave the cables attached for several minutes and have the driver of the working vehicle press down on the accelerator while their vehicle is in park. This will provide a surge of electricity to your battery. Start your car and disconnect the cables.

2

Connect your battery to a portable car battery charger. Make sure the charger is fully charged then attach the red clip to the positive terminal of your battery and the black clip to the negative terminal. The amount of time it will take for the battery to fully recharge will vary depending on the strength of your charger. A ten amp charger will usually take 45 minutes to recharge. Consult your chargers manual for specific recharge times.

3

Connect your battery to a wall charger. If you do not have a portable charger you can connect it to a charger that plugs into an outlet. You can use an extension chord if it is not raining to charge your battery while it is still in the car or remove the battery. Pull the battery out and take it to where your charger is. Make sure it is sitting on a level surface while it charges. Connect the black clamp to the negative terminal and the red clamp to the positive terminal. The LED light on the charger will turn green when the battery is fully charged.

4

Make your own trickle charger. If you do not have a wall charger you can make a trickle charger using a 12V appliance or cell phone charging chord. Simply cut off the connector on the end then seperate the two wires that make up the cable and pull them apart. Strip the ends of the wires. Use a multimeter to determine which wire has the negative charge. Attach a black alligator clip to it. Attach a red alligator clip to the other wire. Clamp the clips onto the battery and plug it it. A 12V charger will take about 12 hours to recharge a dead battery.

Most modern passenger vehicles use two or more anti-lock brake sensors to determine the rotational speed of the wheels. These sensors relay wheel speed information to the ABS computer and the powertrain control module, or PCM. The ABS and PCM computers use this information to calculate when to activate the anti-lock brake system, engage the traction control, retard the ignition timing and many other actions. When a wheel sensor fails, the on-board computers cannot gather information properly. In this situation, they disable one or more of these systems until the problem is remedied.

Instructions

1

Drive your vehicle to a safe location where you can perform an isolated road test. This could be a large, empty parking lot or a remote street without pedestrians and cars. Youll need to read a scan tool while the vehicle is moving, so its important to be in a safe testing location.

2

Connect an ABS-capable scan tool to the vehicles diagnostic port and turn on the scan tool. Navigate to the ABS menu and select the Live Feed function. Your scan tool may have the Live Feed menu labeled as something different, but youll need to find the menu or setting that allows you to read the live data from the wheel speed sensors.

3

Drive the car forward and accelerate to 15 miles per hour. Glance down at the scan tool and make sure that all of the wheel speed sensors show the same 15 miles per hour reading as the speedometer inside the vehicle. If one of the sensors shows 0, Zero or N/A, then that sensor is not providing the computer with a wheel speed value.

4

Return home and park inside your garage. Turn off the engine and raise the end, front or rear, of the vehicle that has the bad wheel sensor. Support it with jack stands and chock the wheels on the opposite end. Apply the parking brake, if the opposite end is the rear of the vehicle.

5

Crawl underneath the vehicle and locate the wheel speed sensor that wasnt responding. Use a work light to inspect the wiring harness and for cuts, frays and other damage.

6

Disconnect the wheel speed sensors electrical connector and turn the ignition to the ON position. Measure the voltage at the sensors electrical connector with a digital multimeter. Look up the specified value in a service manual and compare that to the value on your digital multimeter. If the value is correct, and the wires arent frayed or damage, then the sensor is bad and must be replaced.