Six month review: 2003 Buick Park Avenue

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Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: sciphi
My 99 LeSabre gets similar mileage on the highway, slightly lower around town. Exact same 3800 Series II engine and 4T65E transmission. . . .

Next modifications are polyurethane swaybar endlinks and an aftermarket PCM. I've heard good things about both, and both together will only run about $160.

Will the polyurethane endlinks make the car ride more firmly, or just reduce sway on turns? (Mine doesn't sway much; I suspect it has the touring suspension.) And what is an aftermarket PCM?


The poly bushings just make the car roll less in the turns. The aftermarket PCM is a reflashed engine computer (Powertrain Control Module). Makes the car do things like 3rd-1st downshifts when you need them.
 
I went with the OEMs, the Goodyear Eagle LS. Ride comfort is the most important thing to me, followed by price, and the Eagles do well in both.
 
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
I went with the OEMs, the Goodyear Eagle LS. Ride comfort is the most important thing to me, followed by price, and the Eagles do well in both.


I hope you have better luck with the Eagle LSs than I did. That's what came standard on my 99 300M and I spent a fortune trying to get them balanced. I never could. These were the roughest most unrefined tires I've ever experienced. I wound up replacing them with well over 2/3 of the tread remaining.

The tires on my 07 300 are the Goodyear Integrity and these seem to be doing okay. Nice and smooth.
 
Here's a spy video of Paul driving his Park Ave on some of the Louisiana roads.
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(Yes, I know this is the wrong model year.)
 
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You caught me! The only thing missing is the so-called "street repair" crews standing around doing nothing. . . .
 
Update at 3 years!

The PA and I have been rolling along for 3 years now. In the last year, with no more car note, I've spent money on the following:

New battery
2 oil changes, Oct. '09 and April '10
An interior rattle repair
A new gas cap
Oil sender replacement
Brake and PS fluid drain and refill
3 tires
Window lubing; replaced interior A/C filter

(No, I'm not going to total it all up. I like my hair the dark color it is, thank you.)

Car needs:
Oil change, late Oct.-early Nov. (which may lessen/cure oil leak)
Polish and wax; leather treatment of seats
Polish headlight lenses; maybe replace bulbs
Lights replaced in stereo
Rear defroster not working -- relay?
30K mile trans. fluid change in Jan.
A road trip (well, okay, that's me . . . but it'll benefit the car, too)

It's been a very good beast, and at 77K miles, I think, it has a lot of life left in it.
 
Benz-

Are you going to try a high mileage oil (such as Maxlife) for the oil leak?

Odd that you mention the gas cap. We had to replace the cap on the '99 P.A. as well. Kept turning on the "check engine" light.

Did you do the interior air filter yourself? I did it once, will never do that again.
 
A friend of mine had a mid-90's Le Sabre. It was an absolute boat but easily the most comfortable long distance car I've ever driven (I had to take it on 4 11-hour drives). It had 175,000 on it when I was using it and everything was original at that time, only tires, brakes, oil changes.

It's funny but a lot of the stuff that American cars get panned for in the press make them ideal for long distance driving. Numb steering and spongy brakes and a soft ride conspire for greatness on long road trips. When I had to take our 2003 Accord for that same 11-hour drive I was about to kill myself by the end, yet the Buick and my truck (which I had on a 4000 mile road trip over 8 days) were excellent.

The 2002 Malibu I have driven is absolutely perfect for long driving. The steering on that thing might as well be connected to nothing for the steering feel but it holds a line like no other vehicle in my experience except the Buick.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Benz-

Are you going to try a high mileage oil (such as Maxlife) for the oil leak?

Odd that you mention the gas cap. We had to replace the cap on the '99 P.A. as well. Kept turning on the "check engine" light.

Did you do the interior air filter yourself? I did it once, will never do that again.

The oil is slated to be the Mobil Clean 5000 10W-30 I bought a month or so ago. Currently I'm on Castrol Edge 5W-30, which has accelerated the leak or consumption. If the MC5K doesn't improve things, I might have to try MaxLife -- or maybe Rotella T5 10w-30.

No, that interior air filter -- my mechanic says there are two or three pieces to it -- I left to him. If more car makers would put them someplace we could reach, say at the base of the windshield on the outside . . . but noooo, they're most of them under the cramped dashboard.

And cchase, that's one of the wonderful things about the Buick: "numb" steering and "detached" ride. If I lived where people actually insisted on properly paved streets, as they did in Denver, I might find the ride a bit boring. But in Third World Land, I need all the cushioning I can get. I'll have to test-drive a Malibu and a LaCrosse one of these days.
 
It's the same way in the land of the freeze-thaw cycle. Lots of torn-up pavement where a floaty ride isn't the worst thing in the world.

Maxlife did slow the leaks in my Buick's engine.
 
My Dad has an '03 Impala LS with 50K some miles. Miles aren't high but its time and short trips that and the rough rods, salt and climate that breaks cars. It's has had nothing done to it besides oil changes and air and cabin filter changes except: 1 brake job, 1 battery, new tires, and 1 coolant flush.

Basically those are just normal maintenance items for any 7-8 year old car. In full disclosure it could probably stand to have the intermediate steering shaft replacement performed and I think the belt tensioner squeaks on start up and could stand to be repalced or greased. And the IMG could be done but it doesn't lose coolant. A brake fluid and trans flush could be performed and has been put off. But those are really just preventative maintenance items. Other than that it runs and drives like it did since new.
 
Benz-

I'd be really curious to see if something like MaxLife would make a difference in your oil leak.

Can you tell where the engine is leaking the oil?

The underside of Mom's '99 is 'wet' in spots, but it hasn't yet dripped. This is using Pennzoil Platinum... changing it every 6,000 miles (per the OLM).



The cabin air filter is something that you *don't* want to ever change yourself.

There's three pieces to it, that you slide each piece into a thin slot to the right and above of the gas pedal.... one at a time.

You put one in the slot, the push it up and hold it, while sliding the second one in **underneath** the first one... while making sure that a tab on the top of the second one slides into a slot on the bottom of the first one.

Then repeat a second time for the third piece... and this is all while trying to work down by the gas pedal.

If your mechanic charged you anything less than an hour to replace it, you got a bargain!
 
Mine's leaking from the oil pan gasket. Big drops of oil are on every bolt holding the pan to the block, and the pan is wet the whole way around.

I'm not surprised Maxlife swelled that particular gasket a bit, and slowed the leak. Could be the bolts just need tightening...
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Benz-

I'd be really curious to see if something like MaxLife would make a difference in your oil leak.

Can you tell where the engine is leaking the oil?

The underside of Mom's '99 is 'wet' in spots, but it hasn't yet dripped. This is using Pennzoil Platinum... changing it every 6,000 miles (per the OLM). . . .

I don't see drips under the car when it's parked overnight. I've crawled under, and the entire oil pan and filter area is dry. Grimy, of course, but not wet. And the front exhaust pipe up top, which is right below the head gasket, is dry and unstained as well. So no idea where it's leaking -- or consuming -- oil.

The consumption first showed when I finished the AutoRx treatment soon after I got the car and went to Pennzoil Platinum; I had to add a pint of oil at 2800 miles. It stayed the same with 2-3 succeeding fills of PP, decreased a bit (first pint needed at 3000 miles) on Castrol GTX, back to the 2800 with NAPA Synthetic -- then it shot up to a quart in 1200 miles with this Castrol Edge. All 5W-30.

I'll pop in some MMO during the last 500 miles on this fill, then go with the MC5K 10W-30.
 
With how warm it is where you live, something thicker, like Maxlife 10W-30, or the suggestion you made of T5 10W-30, would be a good oil to use, IMO.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
With how warm it is where you live, something thicker, like Maxlife 10W-30, or the suggestion you made of T5 10W-30, would be a good oil to use, IMO.

I'm truly beginning to think so. I went with 5W-30 because it's allowed in the manual and because I was trying to eke out a little more gas mileage with an oil a bit thinner at startup.

(We do get some cool-to-cold weather in The Swamp; we saw some below-freezing temps last January and February; and I head off to work at 6 am. But losing more than a quart of oil over an OCI cancels whatever savings I might see in mpg.)

I wish the T5 didn't come only in gallon jugs. I suppose I could buy a quart of Formula Shell 10W-30 to mix with the T5 in my 5-quart sump.
 
Paul-

An engine will tend to use oil more after changing brands. Not sure why, but I've seen it happen multiple times.

That said, I don't like what you're seeing with the Castrol Edge, and your 3800 clearly doesn't like it. Your numbers show that it isn't working well.

I think I'd stay away from Edge in the future.

I'm in Illinois and use 10w-30 in the '99 year round. We see temp ranges from +95 to -15 (yeah... that's a 110 degree swing).

With those kinds of swings in temperature, 10w-30 is not going to be a problem in New Orleans at any time.

Mom's will use right at a quart between changes (5000-6000 miles).

I'm quite sure that in '99, 10w-30 was the preferred weight.
 
Yes, the Edge was a flyer, bought and used because of the great deal I got in late '09. It just may be too thin.

The manual does say 10W-30 is preferred, but for temps below x (I can't recall the exact number -- 32 F., maybe), it says 5W-30 is okay, with 0W-30 if you're seeing temps below even the x. So I expect 10W-30 will be fine. I've discovered at least one gas station here that serves up 100% gasoline, and once I don't need to run the A/C as much, my gas mileage should be quite good, too.
 
PYB 10W-30. The older 3.8L GM's love this stuff.

As for as long road trips I agree with one of the above posters, hard to beat a Park Avenue.
 
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