Buick Lesabre longevity and increasing it

[JimP]

I just bought a 2004 Lesabre Custom with 106k miles on it. It was garaged and well maintained by the late owner. In fact it looks and feels like a new car.
I will be performing the usual recommended maintenance. However, are there any specific problem areas?
What has been your experience with issues like -
Cloth seats, do they wear?
Would it be wise to get a protective cover of some sort?
Transmission - I've read it can be a problem area.
Does it help to change the fluid to something specific and often.
I see there is a TSB about changing the magnet.
I live in the rust belt. - wire brush and undercoat?
Ride - change the air ride to conventional?
I welcome any suggestions.

 

[02LTD2.0]

The cloth seats are very durable.

The 4T65E tranny is definitely the weak spot in the drivetrain.

If the car is to be driven in winter on salty roads then you should get washes at a car wash that also has the underside bath as the rear spring perches are prone to rust.

If your air shocks are working leave them alone.

 

[silverbullet04]

I have leather in my 04. Car has 59k miles on it and the leather is in great shape, but I maintain it very well. I actually wish I had cloth, which is much more durable.

 

[JimP]

What I have noticed about cloth is that it is very grabby on your clothes. For example, if I get in with my shirt untucked, sitting down, it grabs my shirt tail and pulls down. I must lift my butt and pull up on my shirt to relieve the stress. So what....... I like durability.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Leather is more durable than cloth. Any day.

I like cloth better because I slide less when going around corners. It's also more comfortable in all weather situations: cooler in summer, warmer in winter. I can get into the car with shorts on and not worry if it's cloth, but I'll either burn my legs in the summer or freeze 'em in the winter. If any skin is touching it and I'm sweating, I stick to leather.

 

[JimP]

Good points Driven Daily.

 

[JimP]

This car was garaged in Connecticut, though still part of the rust belt, winter is a little easier on cars than where I live in on a dirt road in rural VT. Comparatively, the undercarriage is in decent shape. However, there are some spots with rust and scale that I have tended to with a wire brush and palm sander. I followed up with this paint that converts rust to black oxide. It goes on clear but turns black where it encounters rust. Crossing my fingers I've improved things. I may follow up with an undercoat. Comment if you like.
I have owned a few vehicles that rust was the achilles heal - condemned even. My 2005 VW Golf, has chassis rust, in particular around the plugged holes that were used to index the car along during production. Most of the rubber bungs fell out in fact. It flunked inspection twice. It's ashamed because everything works on the car including the cassette deck. 🙂 I feel guilty disposing of it. I'll probably keep it to make runs to the parts store to fix my other used cars. I'll risk the $100.00 fine.

 

[silverbullet04]

Leather is more durable than cloth. Any day.

I like cloth better because I slide less when going around corners. It's also more comfortable in all weather situations: cooler in summer, warmer in winter. I can get into the car with shorts on and not worry if it's cloth, but I'll either burn my legs in the summer or freeze 'em in the winter. If any skin is touching it and I'm sweating, I stick to leather.

Leather in the lesabre will not hold up better than cloth in the long run. My car has under 60k on it and the leather is clean with no rips, but it does have some signs of minor wear only on the drivers seat. My seats are also meticulously maintained. I would like to see a picture of leather interior in a lesabre that has high miles and no maintenance, compared to a lesabre with cloth. The cloth may stain easier, but I bet it doesn't have wear like the leather.

 

[Buick City Bert]

Living here in Maine I have tried various rust remedies, "Extend" is good if it is painted over after it cures, otherwise the finish is too soft to hold up, "rust reformer", and "rusty metal primer" are OK if careful prep is done, and then over coated with harder paint. The best strategy I have is to coat the undercarriage with "Fluid Film" every fall, it protects what is not rusted as well as slowing existing rust, plays well with the rubber parts, and is not real toxic when applying it. These are ways to increase the life of the car, we have safety inspections annually here, and excess rust is a fail.

The transmission in these cars is a winner in my experience (4 vehicles), they go over 200k if you just do the service, and it is fairly easy, "U tube" has good videos, but basically you drop the pan (carefully) all but 2 quarts comes out, carefully install new filter, clean the pan and magnet, install new or clean reusable gasket, and refill with 7-8 qts of good Dexron III. The remaining fluid is very dilute, or you can disconnect the cooler line and pump out the last two qts before you top it up. every 40k miles maybe.

The kiss of death in these cars to me is the heater core, did it once on a 2005 Lesabre, believe me, they put it on the assembly line and build the car around it. Two days and many cut and bruised knuckles later got it done, not sure anyone could charge enough to make a living doing that job.

 

[02LTD2.0]

The leather seats in a LeSabre are thicker than in a Bonneville.
Modern day fabric interiors are much more durable than they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
The cloth seats in my 2003 Toyota Camry are in great shape @ 190k miles.

 

[DrivenDaily]

For durability of leather vs. cloth, here's the score according to these 3 websites:

Leather 1 - Cloth 0

Leather 2 - Cloth 0

Leather 3 - Cloth 0

I never said that cloth doesn't wear well. I said that leather is more durable than cloth. That's my opinion, and I've provided "internet facts" above. Y'all can decide for yourselves.

I still prefer cloth for the year-round comfort and being non-slippery. I sold the leather seats out of another car I owned and replaced them with cloth for that very fact.

You don't have to agree with me, but in my experience, leather is more durable overall. Just not as comfy in enough situations for me. Me. Maybe not you.

 

[silverbullet04]

For durability of leather vs. cloth, here's the score according to these 3 websites:

Leather 1 - Cloth 0

Leather 2 - Cloth 0

Leather 3 - Cloth 0

I never said that cloth doesn't wear well. I said that leather is more durable than cloth. That's my opinion, and I've provided "internet facts" above. Y'all can decide for yourselves.

I still prefer cloth for the year-round comfort and being non-slippery. I sold the leather seats out of another car I owned and replaced them with cloth for that very fact.

You don't have to agree with me, but in my experience, leather is more durable overall. Just not as comfy in enough situations for me. Me. Maybe not you.

I checked out all 3 links. None provided pictures of long term use with leather vs cloth. All 3 links just provided opinions and not facts.

I would swap my leather for cloth if I was able to find a clean set of front and rear for a good price, or if someone wanted to trade and their cloth was as clean as my leather.

I respect your opinion and I'm not arguing with it. I'm just stating my opinion as well and my experience with both. 👍

 

[Irish1]

Here is Wisconsin a lot of the Lesabres that I see are rusted through on the front fender in front of the doors and the rear quarter panel behind the passenger doors. Both areas are due to stone chips in the paint. For the front a set of mudflaps will protect the fender from the stonechips. In the rear I use a clear plastic chip resistant film on the dogleg between the door and the wheel well. Interestingly, my 2000 Lesabre came with the protective film and the seams on the bottom of the doors fully caulked. The 2003, 2004, & 2005 Lesabres that I owned did not have this. Also rubber floor mats will protect the floor from water and salt that from your shoes. The Weathertech mats for a 2017 Hyundai Sonata are a good fit. The Sonata front passenger side rubber floormat is a perfect fit on the Lesabre drivers side and the drivers side floor mat fits ok on the passenger side.

 

[JimP]

Irish1, I was thinking along the same lines. My 2004 Lesabre had some rust just in front of the rear wheels as you describe. It appeared to start from the outside so it makes sense to apply some protective Film.
Shipping tape, or is there some special product?
Thought about mud flaps and rubber floor matts too.

 

[Irish1]

I used something like this

https://www.amazon.com/VViViD-Clear-Protection-Choose-Including/dp/B01LXOPYQ4/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=34X65EFMZJYVW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0pfCHKeiPYfrZ12tSrxikvIfCOJE8iX9kDZ3Qaxa9ESz47OYb1XIHOGajOO4abbLt38yDfsjHNBLaCZGZoavyvok6mUEZIM_vnKtH_amWMsCa_jscd2AGAkA1e5RD5GRZ9xrJgpTi_Dc50z8DoInwmx25tZ3HFhfGCqFqFBuZQyp65DkD09OWcnGp5juN0jBArOser2ZQ8DB-xnSYvEZWrne1js7EY9lGbTI7zucOu7SXHIIZCf91N1pQFbBlB4yTGXcKvDQHA9sDHMcQALtyDu6vTVPvvI4LrojJaPNOdo.nyrlQawzmv0GJp8vDvvDxWQBIni5OllpcOl-pzIfas0&dib_tag=se&keywords=3m%2Bclear%2Bprotective%2Bfilm&qid=1751915243&sprefix=Clear%2Bprotctive%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[JimP]

FYI - I just found a pile of wet dirt (about a quart) that had accumulated on a subframe member in rear driver's side wheel well.
The gas tank filler tube passes through the wheel well and there are gaps such that wet mud will pile up on the subframe which is on the other side of the pass through - got some rot there. Will have to have it welded.

 

[Traz]

Shortly after buying my 2004 LeSabre Limited, I was replacing the Lower Intake Manifold Gaskets and I dropped a bolt and it went down the front fender near towards the firewall. So I took out the front fender liner and I dug out about a half gallon of sand. After seeing that, I went at the other front fender and took out another pile of sand from that side also.

Does your car have the improved metal lower intake gaskets? and new metal coolant elbows?

To make your LeSabre last, I would say that the coolant needs attention. It's old enough now that you are kind of at the mercy of the previous owners.... whether or not they changed the coolant in a timely way or not. But I would definitely check it to see if it needs to be changed. If you're not sure, just change it.

 

[JimP]

Traz thanks for the tips - just what I was looking for regarding this post.
I'll check the front fenders.
"Improved metal lower intake gaskets" - I don't know anything about the repair history since the original owner had passed and his son had nothing to offer in the way of repair history other than the assurance his dad was meticulous about maintenance and always had a local garage do it.
I purchased some radiator flush and plan to do that and replace the fluid this weekend.
It's in decent shape otherwise. Here's a photo. I can't figure out how to rotate it.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

I post these when ever I see anyone inquiring about LeSabre longevity, Not to discourage owning the LeSabres, I really like these cars.
1a. The 4T65e transmission (not peculiar to the LeSabre) has issues which can be worked around to help them to have a longer life.
- I installed a separate cooler for the transmission. It's controversial if these help the trans last longer but I think they do and its not difficult to install. One member mentioned that he likes to install a three way thermostatic valve on the cooling lines to bypass the external cooler when the transmission oil is cool. I've not done this as of yet but something to consider.
- I installed a 'TransGo Shift Kit 4T65E' shift kit. More specifically, I only installed stronger 1-2 & 2-3 accumulator springs & piston travel limits (both are accessible through the pan. I recommend taking a little extra time to carefully make those two pistons fit well & float freely. These are not difficult to install, you just need to take your time and be organized.
- I prefer to spend a little extra and install a pan with a drain plug. If you go with an aftermarket gasket, be sure to place a flat washer under the head of each pan bolt (to compensate for the aftermarket gasket being thinner than the OEM metal core gasket and the threads are not continuous on the bolts). The OEM gasket does not need the flat washers.
All the above can be done on a Saturday.
- After the shift kit is installed, I prefer to use tuning software like Jet, HPT or EFILive (I prefer Jet) and fine tune the transmission shift points and shift timing and if needed, I may increase the upshift torque reduction values to achieve really good shifts.
1b. This won't be an issue for your 04. After about 11-12/03, the 4th gear hub splines were hardened on the 4T65e. Before then (97-11/03), the 4T65e teeth were not hardened and would eventually strip, loosing 4th gear. This happened on my 2000 and I went into the PCM program and turned off 4th and ran on 1-2-3+TCC which still was a good driver since the final gear ratio on these cars is a high gear ratio.
2. The rear air shocks will eventually leak. I used to replace the air shocks but this last time, I paid $10 more for a set of spring loaded shocks. I pulled the compressor fuse (under the back seat) and left the compressor & pneumatic lines in place. This way, if the next owner prefers the air suspension system, it's all in place. After trying the spring loaded shocks, I've decided this is the style that I prefer, so I will convert my other (2) LeSabre's when they inevitably start to leak. Either rear shock type are easy to install. Update: I'm about 6 months with the spring assist rear shocks and I still like them. Not quite as soft of a ride but I'm fine with them.
3. The dreaded 00-05 LeSabre dash-pad issue. There is a definite downside which is the dash pad will come unglued from the plastic frame its glued to, once it detaches, it's not pretty to look at but it doesn't really hurt anything functionally (but it really does look bad). I have a 2003, 2004 & 2005. I've removed the dash pad on all (3) and drilled holes along the length of the front edge (where it will come unglued) and installed short self tapping screws (rivets also work well, there is room for either). After doing that, it will never detach.
Here are a couple of helpful video links for R&R the dash pad & installing rivets (again short self tapping screws worked fine for me). If GM had wrapped the vinyl around the edge of the plastic support frame and used a little more adhesive, it probably would have not been a problem but they all fail.

 

[Traz]

Very well presented, RD_Atlanta !! Yep, I concur. I've had to address every one of these issues on my 2004. I used rivets on my dash-pad.

The first time I put the accumulators back together, one of the piston rods was a little cocked to one side, and I ended up cracking the accumulator cover. I was hunched over trying to see with my 58 year old eyes. A new accumulator cover later, I set up a table in the garage and SAT DOWN to reassemble it. So I recommend you do the same. Sit down at a table and take your time to carefully put it together.

As an eternal optimist, I replaced my rear air shocks with ACDelco OEM replacement. Three years later the air leveling system stopped working very well. It was sort of working, but weak, and so I ended up replacing again with Detroit Axle conversion shocks. So yes, they are going to fail eventually. Maybe sooner than later. I'm quite happy with the conversion kit and wish I had done it from the start.

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