Gas Recirculation Valve (egr Valve) Problems of Buick Lesabre

My car is a 1999 Buick la sabre with a 3. 8l engine. July/20/2012 my car had 80,000 miles on it when my engine started to miss. When I got it looked at by my friend I was told there was coolant in the cylinders. The engine had problems with the intake plenum leaking coolant, because of the egr system. He then fixed the car. On November 20, 2014 my engine had 138,000 miles when it overheated on the highway. I found no coolant in the reservoir with coolant in the oil. When my friend looked at my car he said it was the plenum again, but this time the coolant in the oil may have wiped the main bearings. The overheating may have also warped the cylinder heads. He told me at the least there was damage done to the bearings. Being upset I looked online for information to find that this problem is common with that engine. Also that gm didn't acknowledge the problem. Has gm finally admitted to faulty manufacturing? even if my car is fixed I no longer feel safe driving it. It may leave me on the road in winter someday with my young son. Or worse, stalling on the highway with loss of power steering. Can someone please help? I am a single mother going to college and money is tight.

See all problems of the 1999 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

Here's what happened, the car started consuming dexcool antifreeze, but none was noticed leaking external to the engine. The upper intake manifold made of plastic apparently warped, and/or a hole burned in near the egr stove pipe, thus dumping antifreeze into the engine and hydrolocking the engine. Major problem, complete engine failure would not start or run. This car had been well maintained with both regular oil and coolant changes, the car has been adult driving . Cost to repair $450. 00 for just upper intake, add another $450 for the lower intake as well.

See all problems of the 1998 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

This concerns a defective design of the intake manifold used by gm on 1998, 1999, 2000, and some 2001 Buick Lesabre's equipped with the 3800 series ii v6 engine. Following the failure and resultant hydraulic engine lock of a neighbor's 1999 Buick Lesabre with approximately 80,000 miles on the odometer, I visited our local Buick dealer (lee chevorlet/Buick - washington, nc) to discuss what appears from research done via the internet to be a frequently encountered problem on these vehicles so equipped. It seems that a failure of the intake manifold is a very common problem on vehicles with about 80k miles on them, my wife drives such a vehicle - a Buick Lesabre limited purchased from lee chevorlet, washington, nc on 2/24/99 it currently has 78,000 miles on the odometer. The dealership owner, and the service manager freely revealed that this is a serious and chronic problem with these vehicles and is the direct result of a poorly designed part used on them. They are prone to failure at about the 80k mile point which results from an internal (not apparent) failure due to materials degradation. The result is very frequently the discharge of engine coolant into the cylinder(s) resulting in a hydraulic lock up with frequently disastrous results involving not only an engine seizure while in operation but also associated significant engine parts damage. Their recommendation for a remedy to handle this dangerous situation is to have the involved parts (top and bottom intake manifolds) replaced with "the gm replacement design resulting from the problem. These vehicles are all +/- 10 years old and have outlived their original 3yr/36,000 mile warranty. They indicated that the only way to perhaps get gm to participate in a remediation of this problem is to speak with the customer assistance group which I did yesterday. They deny existence of the problem and will provide no assistance in the $800-900 repair. Failure of this part in operation could be fatal.

Wife's 1999 Buick Lesabre with 90,000 miles on it was burning antifreeze in engine. I was told by a certified gm mechanic to try tightening throttle body mounting nuts because being too loose was a common problem from the factory. Did that 6 months ago and it seemed to help even though the manifold throttle body mounting surface was warped due to the engine heat. Over the past month the car became increasingly hard to start, burned large amounts of antifreeze, and would stall intermittently. On March 13, 2008 I took the intake manifold off the engine and found antifreeze in the intake duct going to the air filter and antifreeze pooled in the intake manifold. This was caused by two separate defects, the upper intake manifold gasket not sealing properly to the lower intake manifold (was leaking in two different spots) and the leaking throttle body to intake manifold gasket (was leaking coolant into the intake duct to air filter), which was caused by excess heat from the egr pipe warping the upper manifold. Another serious problem with the upper intake manifold was the heat from the egr pipe eroded the manifold to a point that it would cause leaking coolant to enter the intake manifold in the near future. This seems to me to be a safety concern not only from a standpoint of the car stalling and becoming hard to steer but I work in the outdoors in remote locations in sub zero weather in the winter. I am always prepared for the possibility that my car won't start and I will have to walk miles to the nearest phone but somebody else may not be prepared and it looks like this defect might be dangerous if not fixed. I replaced the upper intake manifold and gaskets with an aftermarket one and the car is fine now.

Hard starting, lack of power, hesitation gm dealer diagnosed intake leak by egr valve (air and coolant leaks) dealer replaced intake plenum (non warranty).

See all problems of the 2000 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

Gasket and egr tube failure causing plenum and upper intake leakaage causing "hydro-lock'.

See all problems of the 1997 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

Vehicle returned for inspection with regard to 04v090 12/13/04 complaints poor performance, fuel economy, hard starting, and use of dexcool anti-freeze since recall performed. Decool anti-freeze entering the intake manifold of engine, and engine oiling system from failure or rupture of upper intake plenum near egr passage. Anti-freeze has filled engine lifters causing noise/failure, filling combustion chamber causing hydro-locking of engine, could cause catastrophic failure of engine resulting in possible fire or accident. Dealer refused to repair under 04v090 manifold over pressure condition stated replacement of upper & lower intake, lifter, plugs, oil, anti-freeze at a cost of $1,150 on vehicle that had 77,827 when the recall was done, and now has 80,407 mi. Which is less then 3,000. This could very well have hydro-locked the engine at freeway speed,or caused catastrophic failure resulting in severe damage, injury, and possible fire from engine oil & fuel hitting the hot catalytic converter!.

This is a engine problem with what I believe was a bad part design. The part is failure of intake plenum. The egr pipe from the engine comes through the plastic intake. There is a lot of heat generated at this point. Over a period of time a hole is burned through the intake. This floods the engine with coolant. I bought the vehicle new. The first time the problem occured at 59,000 miles. I had the vehicle repaired at a cost of $1100. 00. I asked the dealer about this. The reponse was . Yes we know there is a problem with the k engine but the factory has not called for a recall. At 113,577 miles the problem occured again. I again had the engine repaired at a cost of $1140. 93. Again I asked the dealer about this. I was told that a service bulletin was sent out in 1996. This stated that if a owner complained of a coolent leak around the intake. Not only should the plastic intake plenum be replace but also the aluminum intake should be repalced becaused the factory had replaced the egr pipe with a smaller pipe. This would keep the heat from burning a hole in the plastic plenum. The cost of this repair is to be paid by the owner. I checked out the service bulletin and found the problem covered all gm 3800 series engines form 1995 - 1998 my engine VIN # is 1g4hr52k3wh51080. I was told by the gm service tech. That this problem occured so often that any owner of a 3800 series engine and the new design intake has not been installed you are guaranteed the engine will fail. Again I feel this was a design problem.

Intake manifold burned at egr passage adjacent to throttle body coolant passage(all plastic- original design was probably cast aluminum). Subsequent coolant loss into engine air intake causes erratic operation and probable engine damage. Replaced manifold with new one at a cost of $500 parts plus 5 hour. Labor complained to gm but to no avail.

Vehicle had been losing coolant since 1998. Vehicle had been to dealer for repairs at least seven times. The gas recirculation valve (egr) port was made of plastic, and when it melted, coolant seeped into the engine. Consumer received reimbursement of $479. 99 from mc clellon Buick after contacting the original owner.

Intake manifold failed on my 1998 Buick Lesabre at 77,000 miles. Plastic manifold perforated due to exhaust gas impinging from egr tube, flooding engine with coolant and causing engine to stall with subsequent loss of power steering and brakes on interstate highway.

Car backfired and engine caught on fire.

Consumer noticed anitfreeze on the driveway under their vehicle. The consumer took vehicle to the dealership to have it serviced. The dealership indicated that there was a crack in the upper manifold, which was the cause of the leak. There's a service bulletin for this part, the egr valve was replaced because of excessive heat. The consumer requested reimbursement for repairs.

See all problems of the 1996 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

Engine coolant destroyed engine due to the degradation of upper intake mainifold materials around the egr stove pipe. Without warning(no warning lights went on) while on the road coolant entered the pistons through the degradated upper intake manifold and caused engine failure. This could have caused a major accident as power was lost and speed dramatically dropped. Seems to be obvious engine design flaw in 3800 v-6 engines produced by gm in Buick lasabres, riveras, regals, Oldsmobile 98s, 88s. Intrigue, pontiac bonnevilles, grand prix, & Chevrolet luminas, monte carlos over a period of years dating from 1995-1998 when they changed the manifold design. A service bulletin by gm #01-06-01-007a in July 18, 2001 indicated the gm is aware of defect and has since produced a different manifold to replace and repair problem but will not stand behind these engines when they fail without warning. Gm has been uncooperative in this matter. All repairs to this car are documented with biliings, etc by certified gm service dept. Including oil changes and preventitive maintenance. This was a well maintained vehicle with a service history that can be documented. I have pictures of the inside of the engine where damage occurred. The gm service dept. That replaced damaged engine indicated that they had 3 other vehicles with the same engine damaged because of coolant leak through the degradation of the intake manifold in that one month time frame. This is a small dealership and they indicated that this was a indicator of a major problem with this component.

The day vehicle was purchased, while driving home the service engine light came on, vehicle was taken to nearest dealer to have it inspected, in which the egr valve connector was repaired, however five days later the engine light appeared again, consumer took vehicle to another dealer and was informed that he could not promise that the light would remain off and to take vehicle back to where it was purchased to discuss the problem with them, consumer was then informed that there was a glitch in the program board, and that the problem could not be fixed until Buick sees how many other vehicles are having this problem. (letter written on behalf of client. ).

See all problems of the 2001 Buick Lesabre 🔎.

The egr valve failed, the customer request reimbursement because he believes the original valve was defective and it should have had a lifetime warranty. Nlm.

Engine stopped while driving down a hill, about 55 mph, and entering a left curve. Vehicle, w/o brakes or steering, pulled to the right, going onto the berm and then doing a 360 degree turn in the middle or roadway, hitting guardrail and then sliding off roarway, over a slope, into a field.

A deteriorating plenum was causing coolant to get into engine cylinders. Dealer notified, and repairs made at consumer's cost. The heat from the egr valve burns a hole inside the wall of planam allowing the engine to suck coolant into cylinders and causing the engine to lose power steering and brakes resulting in accident.

Egr valve stuck in closed position - but if fails in open position could cause engine stall.

Vehicle stalls continually while driving, replacement of the egr valve, knock sensor and pcm have not rectified problems with stalling. Mjs.

After having t egr valve serviced, miles later without warning, intake manifold began to leak coolant onto engine, causing engine to shutdown and lock up. Mechanic stated intake manifold needed to be replaced when valve was serviced.

While driving egr valve light illuminated on dashboard, causing vehicle to stall. Dealer was notified, mechanic stated sensors were not functioning correctly.

While driving vehicle, the check engine light came on. It failed to go off. Taken vehicle to a mechanic and had the sensors replaced. The engine problem was the egr valve which caused the vehicle to be sluggish. Took to a different mechanic and the wires and sensors were replaced again. Vehicle taken for test drive and check engine light came on. Restarted vehicle after turning it off and it back fired. Had cracked the plastic intake phebem, which needs to be replaced. Ts.

Vehicle had been losing coolant since 1998. Vehicle had been to dealer for repairs at least seven times. The gas recirculation valve (egr) port was made of plastic, and when it melted, coolant seeped into the engine.

Fax fm andrew hunt (NJ) request assistance in getting reimbursed for $561. 24 worth of repairs to fix the upper intake manifold on his 1998 gm Buick Lesabre & recall all cars listed in gm tech. Service bulletin # 01-06-01-007a. The consumer stated the concern was the vehicle did not give warning of a problem as the coolant emitted from the tail pipe unnoticed. If there was too much coolant in the engine the vehicle would stop. The defective plastic intake manifold and the broken starter from the vehicle which clearly showed that the egr stove pipe allowed water to get into the engine.

The egr pipe melted the intake manifold. The consumer believed the problem was due to a design defect.