Five problems related to steering have been reported for the 1997 Buick Lesabre. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Sub frame is completely roated out on the back drive. Complete safty hazard needs recall.
While accelerating up to speed from a stop, all of a sudden there was a noticeable thump, the steering was erratic, the car vibrated and shook. The power steering was inoperable. We slowly drove the car home (2 miles) and upon examination, we discovered the engine cradle frame was hanging down, only a few inches from the ground. The engine cradle mounting washers (2 on each side) had rusted thru, allowing the rear of the cradle to drop. I also noticed the right side sway bar was broken off at the mount on the lower control arm. The entire front suspension and wheel assemblies are fastened to this cradle, so that's why the steering became erratic - there was no longer any solid attachment to the car. After carefully examining the attachment points, it is obvious that this is a serious safety and structural design flaw. These cars should be recalled for the safety of the public. We were lucky that we were on a straight road at a slow speed when this happened. I noticed there are many, many complaints on the NHTSA website of this exact same issue.
Was driving car and it started steering hard drove home approx 35 miles to find the k frame washers had rusted off and the engine was not being support. Has it fixed and same thing happened again going less than 5 mph and steering went out and on inspection the front and lower frame mounts had fallen and car has been parked every since because I can not find parts that are resonibly priced! I was on the interstate doing 70 mph 10 mins prior to the last incident could have been a bad result. Have read about these problems in a forum someone started on google, cant believe there was never a recall!.
The contact owns a 1997 Buick Lesabre. While traveling 15 mph the contact noticed a loud thump noise coming from the front end, seconds later the vehicle lost all steering power. The vehicle had not been diagnosed and there were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 120000.
While driving vehicle the steering wheel pulls to the right and there is a lot of vibration in the steering. The vehicle was at the dealer four times but the problem still exists. The vehicle was lemon.