Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe Problems of Buick Century - part 1

5/15/2017, $1,197. 66 repair for intake manifold gasket. On October 23, 2008, the California superior court granted final approval to the class action lawsuit, but nothing is available to those of use that did not have a problem until after that suit. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2001 Buick Century 🔎.

I had to replace the head gasket twice. Mechanic indicated the first time that the coolant might be the cause for the gasket deterioration. When replaced the second time, the gasket was (I believe) a metal rather than plastic or rubber and the coolant was green. So far, so good. Both replacements cost $1000+. Recently had brakes replaced and was told the intake manifold gasket needs to be replaced at a cost of $1100. The car runs well, but has serious rust on the rail below the doors. Not sure I should spend that much on a 16 yr old car. I've also had to have a motor on the driver's side window repaired. That seems to be a frequent problem with this model, too.

See all problems of the 1999 Buick Century 🔎.

My vehicle was overheating. I took it to a local mechanic and they found that my antifreeze was leaking into my oil. He stated that the intake manifold gasket has broken and had to replace the gasket, intake push rods, and exhaust push rods.

See all problems of the 2000 Buick Century 🔎.

Had service engine light coming on periodically and was loosing coolant, but could not find any leaks, was told it was probably faulty light, or leak in tank. Took car for oil change and ask to look for any leaks, found coolant in oil. Intake manifold gasket failed and had to be replaced. Was told due to coolant being dexcool and eats the gaskets.

See all problems of the 2002 Buick Century 🔎.

The contact owns a 2003 Buick Century. Whenever the contact examined the engine she noticed that the oil level would continually drop after having an oil change. The vehicle was taken to the dealership where the contact was informed that the engine manifold was leaking. The current and failure mileages were 46000.

See all problems of the 2003 Buick Century 🔎.

I currently have a 2002 Buick Century custom with 107000 miles on it. I had a starter catch fire cause of a large buildup of oil coming from either the head gasket or the manifold gasket. This issue needs to be addressed. Driving at high engine temperature with cause a major safety issue for anyone driving short or long distant.

2002 Buick Century custom, had to replace the intake manifold gasket at 69k at a cost of over $700. Shortly thereafter, front left and right wheel bearings failed and they were repaired at a cost of $350 each. Now at 80k the head gasket is leaking coolant so badly the car cannot be used. The approximate cost of this repair is $1400. Car was purchased new, fully maintained and adult driven.

The contact owns a 2003 Buick Century. The contact took her vehicle to the dealer for regularly scheduled maintenance. She was informed that the maintenance could not be performed due to a faulty manifold gasket that was leaking oil into the antifreeze. The dealer replaced the head gasket at the cost of $900. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 78,162 and failure mileage was 78,130.

Had coolant light coming on periodically and was loosing coolant, but could not find any leaks, was told it was probably faulty light, or leak in tank. Took car for oil change and ask to look for any leaks, found coolant in oil. Intake manifold gasket failed and had to be replaced. Was told due to coolant being dexcool and eats the gaskets.

Intake manifold gasket leak at 61,233 miles,719 dollar repair. Updated 12-12-07. The lower intake maifold gasket, thermostat were replaced as well. Updated .

Bought vehicle in 01. 20. 07 with 56,943 miles (2002 Buick Century custom). Sometime (around 62,000 miles) notice engine hesitates, after warming up, hesitation disappears. Asked my mechanic and his first question was if white smoke was coming off the tail pipe, I said no. A couple weeks later, at startup (early in the morning) the tail pipe smoked for a good 2 to 3 minutes, again, once warmed, stopped, and engine run well. This went on for another 2 weeks, during this period I asked again my mechanic, but this time I mentioned the white smoke, no oil smell, his response was I was burning antifreeze. Went back to dealer to see what they could do to help me, left the vehicle for diagnosis, then they offer me a 15% discount on parts of and estimated $1500. 00 work. Since this was unacceptable, I called Buick, explain situation, and also mentioned fact that an engine this age - mileage - this kind of failure was not acceptable. After 4 calls from Buick, it took Buick 2 weeks to come back with ha resolution: that the best they could do was 15% discount on parts and 15% on labor. At some point I wanted to pickup the car and I was told it was not safe to drive. Meantime, I did some research and found out that NHTSA did handle this type of issues. Further research in the NHTSA web site showed that (like my mechanic told me) this was a recurrent problem with this model. I picked up the car on 10. 25. 07 at a final cost of $1,157. 00.

The contact owns a 2003 Buick Century. The contact took the vehicle to the repair shop for routine maintenance. The mechanic discovered that the manifold was leaking and made the repair. The contact noticed the number of complaints that were filed for this failure and believes it to be a manufacturer defect. The VIN was unknown. The current mileage is 47,900 and failure mileage was 47,600. The consumer provided the repair invoice for the vehicle. Updated 09/05/07.

When I had an oil change at about 32,000 miles the mechanic indicated the oil was a quart low. I had the cooling system flushed at about 50,000 miles and the mechanic noted oil in the antifreeze. At 55,000 miles the car now needs a new intake manifold gasket at a cost of $800 to $900. Gm faces a class action lawsuit in canada for this same problem and many u. S. Blogs indicate this is a common problem. Service stations are reporting that this failure is common and due to a design defect. The warranty expired at 36,000 miles. Because of this, Buick says it has no responsibility for this problem. In addition to the gasket problem, I had to replace the wipe blade mechanism and leaking wheel bearings. These, too, were premature problems and not due to any abuse or neglect of car maintenance. Gm will not recognize a history of problems due to the fact I went to a local precision tune for maintenance. The dealership I purchased the car from moved about 45 minutes away from my home making it very inconvenient to go there for maintenance.

The contact owns a 2001 Buick Century. The vehicle's intake manifold gasket failed at less than 100,000 miles on a brand new engine. The contact smelled anti-freeze and brought the vehicle to a mechanic who conducted pressure testing. The failure was diagnosed as the manifold gasket. It is a replacement engine and it is demonstrating the same failure as the original engine that was replaced at 35,000 miles by arbitration order. Buick has refused to pay for any failed components concerning this motor, including replacing the catalytic converter. The converter was plugged from the original motor failure along with the subsequent failure from the intake manifold gasket on the new motor. The power window regulator failed in January of 2007 for the second time. The current mileage is 145,000 and failure mileage was 100,000.

Intake manifold gasket leak.

- the contact stated that after starting the 2002 Buick Century the coolant light came on, after driving a couple of miles the light went off. The contact took the vehicle to the garage which performed a pressure test and found a hole in the manifold. The failure could result in a fire. The vehicle has been repaired. The lower intake gasket manifold was leaking coolant. Updated 02/22/07.

Notice coolant is leaking around the intake manifold area on 3. 1l v6 engine of my 1999 Buick Century. Local mechanic said it was a common problem with this engine. Dealer is asking approximately $900. 00 to repair this problem. This should be a recall on this engine if this is a frequent problem. A good engine should not failed like this in my opinion. This is not a normal wear and tear of the engine, but poor engineering of the engine. Dealer should pay for this problem.

Car heater would not warm up. Temperature would then fluxuate between hot and cold. Took the car to the dealership, the dealership diagnosed the problem as intake manifold gasket failure. Coolant mixed in with oil in the engine. Dealership service department required to keep car overnight to fix the problem. Needed a rental car and no loaner was available. Gm agreed to split the cost of the intake manifold gasket repair 50/50, but would not cover the cost of a rental car. Effect of this gasket failure at this time is unknown and effect to engine and components. Car has 68,500 miles. Original owner off car has kept up with all scheduleed maintenance.

: the contact stated the engine's intake manifold was leaking antifreeze. The non service dealer determined the top of the motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not taken to a service dealer.

Manifold gasket needs to be replaced due to a small leak which is causing considerable amount of problems. All mechanics that I have taken this car to say there is a problem with this particular engine where gm changed to plastic gasket. All seem to have same diagnoses except gm and gm dealership.

The contact owns a 2002 Buick Century. The contact stated that there was a coolant leak. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the intake manifold needed to be replaced. The contact mentioned that the failure recurred three times. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who stated that they would contact her at a later date. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 87,784 and the current mileage was 146,556.

Oil/coolant leak from defective manifold gasket on 2002 Buick Century special.

Both the intake manifold and the heater core failed on my car.

- the contact owns a 2000 Buick Century custom and complained about the following problems: the lower intake manifold gasket, the thermostat, and water pump. These components had to be replaced because the vehicle was overheating. The rear brake shoes and a leaking cylinder also had to be replaced. The rear drums, and the switch on the driver's side for the power windows where replaced due to possible fire concerns. In addition, the right outer tie rod end on the passenger's side wheel was loose and had to be repaired. Since the vehicle was inherited in 2003 all the aforementioned failures had to be replaced or repaired starting in 2005. The contact spoke with the manufacturer, and they stated they would not reimburse the contact because there was no relationship established with the dealer since the vehicle was purchased. The current mileage was 74,442, and the failure mileage was 64,218. The consumer has provided invoices of services and checked with gm to see if there was a recall on the gasket manifold, however she was informed no recall was issued for that part. Update 05/10/tr.

Tl-the contact owns a 1997 Buick Century. The contact stated that the dexcool antifreeze has deteriorated vehicles engine manifold gasket, which caused the engine to overheat. Check engine warning indicator was illuminated. Vehicle was towed to a independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the lower manifold gasket needs to be replaced but it was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000, ddr.

See all problems of the 1997 Buick Century 🔎.

The 2001 Buick Century was not shifting well and ran out of transmission fluid. When the reservoir for transmission fluid was refilled the fluid ran out quickly and I took the car into the local dealer to be repaired. They told me all the fluids were mixing and that if it was not fixed the antifreze and water would have leaked into the oil and blew the motor because the lower intake maniforld gasket was bad. The bill from the dealer accounts for leaking transmission fluid lines and the li manifold gasket. These were expensive repairs and the reason I decided to report them was that my son and daughter-inlaw both have new gm vehicles and have replaced the intake manifold gaskets on one of them 2 times and the other 1 time for a total of 4 intake manifold gaskets for out family. They have a 2001 and a 2002 alero. Now my daughter is also describing what may be the same problem.

Manifold intake gasket failure (leaking massive amounts of coolant/water into crankcase) with only 60,000 miles on the engine!.

Car started to leak anti-freeze very slowly. Has the dexcool antifreeze. I checked the radiator to see if it was low, and the radiator looked as though it had lots of rust in it. So I took it to a local firestone store to have it looked at, and they found the leak and proceeded to tell me that this was a common occurrence in gm vehicles around this model year with the 3. 1 liter engine, that a manifold gasket would start to leak, and you either got antifreeze leaking into the oil, or as in my case, the oil from the engine got into the cooling system, hence into the radiator and turned it into "gunk". The price tag to do the work was around $700. So I thought I would call the Buick dealer in town to see what they knew about this problem and see what they would charge to fix it. I found it ironic that the gentleman in the service department knew exactly what I was talking about, said they the parts on hand to fix it and quoted me the exact price without even taking a breath. Seems this is a rather common occurrence with these engines. Which leads me to believe that this is some sort of manufacturing defect, and that perhaps gm/the manufacturer should be picking up the bill for this fix. The service man at the firestone store said the same thing, that this is getting to be pretty common with these cars and could recite the necessary work that needed to be done to fix it right off the top of his head. So I would like to register my complaint in hopes that something could be done to rectify the situation. The car is in the shop presently being repaired. The head gasket and manifold gaskets need to be replaced, which constitutes tearing half the engine apart. Also the oil needs to be changed a couple of times to get any coolant out of the engine, and of course the radiator needs to be flushed, cleaned and refilled. No old parts would be available as what needs to be replaced are gaskets.

Driving down road one day when car overheated. One mechanic replaced thermostat but continued to do same. Took to another facility who ran diagnostic test and was told that it was the r & r intake manifold gasket. Car is a 1999 Buick Century with only 46,191 miles. Have been told the cost to fix problem is approx. $700. With all of the other identical problems of other owners why hasn't something been done with this problem? consumer should not have to foot the bill for gm's defective parts. There is obviously something wrong with the engine design. Had a Buick regal before this and it is still running with over 195,000 miles. No engine cooling system problem with it.

While the vehicle was parked driver noticed fluid leaking from underneath the vehicle. It was taken to the dealer for inspection, mechanic determined that the intake manifold needed to be replaced. Intake manifold gasket failed. The consumer stated that cooling fluid on garage floor.

Our well maintained 2001 Buick Century with a 3. 1 l v6 has developed an intake maniold leak at under 75,000 miles. The car has been wonderful since purchased new - until now. Internet research has revealed that gm used a "plastic" intake manifold and it has been problematic. It was also revealed through research into gasket manufacturers that the 100,000 coolant is more corrosive that gm anticipated. Now, where does the responsibility lie for the manufacturer (Buick div) to take ownership as a responsible corporate citizen and provide some replacement cost relief to the customer? I currently own 3 general motors vehicles, however only 1 with the problematic intake manifold design. I look forward to hearing from someone soon. As a marketing manager for a major company, I can assure gm that customer loyalty is what drives my business success. In order for me to select gm for my next vehicle, I would like them to tell me what they will do to remedy this design flaw problem of intake manifold gasket failure. Thanks, art pandaru.

Service engine light came on and have been experiencing a clunking hesitation when accelerating anywhere from 10 to 45 mph. Took car to dealer on 4/5/04 and service manager went for a test drive with me and he definitely felt the problem. When tech ran computer check he said two codes came back and that the fuel sensor had to be replaced and it was not covered by my extended warranty or the emissions warranty. I had the work done and the service manager said that may have been what was causing the problem and to call if it did not resolve. I drove the car the next day and was still having original problem. They set up appt again to have a tech go with me on another test drive. This was on 4/10/04. The service manager had the shop foreman go with me on a test drive and he also felt the clunking hesitation and said they would run some more tests and that it may be a solenoid related to the transmission. I phoned the dealer on Monday afternoon 4/12/04 to see if the diagnosed the problem yet, after being put on hold and then disconnected I called back. This time I got service manager's voice mail and left a message that I was still waiting to hear about my car. No one returned my call. On Tuesday afternoon 4/13/04 I phoned the dealer again and then was connected to service manager who then proceeded to tell me that they found a problem and that they drove a few more Buick Century models that they had on their lot and that the clunking noise was normal for my car but that it was just more pronounced in my car. He then went on to say that they found a leaking manifold gasket , both upper engine mounts loose and the passenger side lower engine mount loose. My 2000 buck Century custom has only 36,600 miles. I purchased the car in August of 2003 from the dealer and the mileage was just slightly over 31,000 when I purchased the vehicle.

Leaking intake manifold gasket on 1999 Buick Century, 77,000 miles.

Intake gasket on my 1999 Buick Century with 25,000 miles on the odometer failed.

While driving intake manifold leaked antifreeze. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.