Five problems related to engine shut off without warning have been reported for the 2012 Buick Lacrosse. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2012 Buick Lacrosse based on all problems reported for the 2012 Lacrosse.
In 3500 miles my car consumed 4 qts of oil. In returned that caused stalling vehicle shut off while in traffic on a highway and engine damage. Gm knows that it's a problem but will only fix the problem if you are under warranty.
Driving my car was just great on my 81st day of ownership it all changed I was leaving a red light in vicksburg off the interstate onto warrenton rd I experienced loss of all power to everything in the vehicle and if anyone is familiar with that road the are hardly any room to pull over so bad that if I had a passenger hey would have to climb over to the driver side to get out or else slide right into the mississippi river, talk about bad timing with the exception for the radio the vehicle would only click once no abnormal smells smoke or anything that would cause me to think of any engine damage. After hours of waiting the tow truck came checked the car tried to boost it and couldn't get a charge after getting it home I took the battery to the advance auto parts to charge it and they said it was a dead cell so j brought another battery got it home just for it to click still no crank, it's push to start so it was just one single click and the engine light is the only light on the dash that would illuminate. So I called onstar they told me it needed to be taken to a dealer immediately due to a charging issue after taking it back to the dealership they said it's the motor locked up which is obserd due to the fact there was no indication of it doing anything abnormal before it shut down and with it being new I was told it would shut down before it ran hot and mess up the engine and also makes me wonder why it would even be considered because of the fact of the engine protection mechanism. Now the vehicle is at the dealership just sitting there and I have no way to work and still have to pay car note and insurance on a vehicle I don't even have access to anymore. The dealership is dixon auto and body sales and I'm stuck waiting with nothing to look forward to as far as a ride.
While driving in traffic on city street during rush hour traffic my vehicle completed shut down no warning, engine light popped on, the wheel became stiff the brakes became stiff. I put it in park, turned the ignition offend started it up again, it started right up and I continued driving for another 4 miles engine light remained on. Pulled into parking shut if off and started it back up but engine light remained on, drove 4 miles home, as turning onto street shut off again wheel locked, brakes stiff, repeat first steps, drove 50 ft, shut off, drove another 50 ft shut off, but then didn't start back up right away. Wait a minute started up but was hesitating. Never had this happen, 130k miles on it.
While driving on a city street at 20 mph the engine started knocking and the service charging system light came on. A few minutes later as I was backing into a parking spot in a parking lot at work the car shut off and would not restart. I had the car towed home and a mechanic looked at it and seen that the engine was hydro-locked which he was able to unlock. After checking the spark plugs, coils, valve cover, timing, oil, coolant, alternator, starter, battery, fuse block and wiring harness, the plugs needed replaced, there was metal shavings in the oil and some type of fluid in some of the sensor plugs on the motor. After replacing the plugs and oil and oil filter and cleaning other components I was driving the car to the store and the malfunction light came on along with service charging system and service stability trak I stopped at autozone to have them scan the engine and the code came back with malfunction with spark plug #3 so I bought a new plug and on the way home about 10 mins after leaving autozone the car completely shut down in the middle of the road. My mechanic came and we were able to get it to restart and get it back home which was only a few blocks. After doing another tuneup and getting it to drive again 2 blocks from my place a rod went right through the front bottom of the engine block which then required for a new engine. I called gm, Buick, the car lot I got the car from and everyone said there was no longer a warranty on the vehicle so the only choice I would have was to pay $10,000 for a new engine not including labor price. My car insurance didn't cover mechanical failures either so I was stuck with a $30,000 car that wasn't drivable. Cause is unknown. I bought this car in Jan. 2015 with 31,000 miles on it and this happened in Nov 2015 with 40 some thousand miles on it. Routine maintenance was kept up to date also.
Vehicle was excessively rough in transition between hybrid and engine power and would jerk as if someone had placed the vehicle into park while moving. Vehicle lost electrical power to ac, radio and other accessories. Vehicle shutoff and had to be stopped and placed into park before it would restart. Vehicle lost power steering and the steering would stay locked in position until the vehicle rolled about 10-15 feet or until the vehicle transitioned to engine power. These condition repeated multiple times in a two day span, the vehicle was taken to the dealer for service. The dealer replaced a solenoid and an engine mount stating they had excessive wear. The vehicle now stays running, but I continue to have issues with the rough transition between modes. My concern is that this is the root cause of the excessive wear on the other parts and that the vehicle shutdown and steering loss will occur again. If it does, the damage to property, injury, or loss of life could easily occur given the lack of drivability and loss of control of the vehicle when the condition occurs.