2000-2005 LeSabre - Which Year and Model to Buy?

[2003LesabreDriver]

Sorry I have not been on the chat for a while. BuickGirl your photo of the shorter shift lever with traction control is what my 2000 Lesabre has. When sitting in the car the lever is about as long as the edge of the steering wheel, maybe an inch or so inboard towards the radio.

My 2003 & 2005 have a much longer "crow bar" , no traction control, which I find to be practical and awesome.

 

[asnowsquall]

The transmission issue that I had was the solenoids failing and causing very hard shifts. It happened at least 3 times with the Lesabres and Park Avenues that I owned. Cost about $800 to replace the solenoids the last time it happened, but that was probably after 200,000 miles. The hard shifting was an issue when the transmission got hot on hot days or driving in stop & go traffic. I tried pulling a trailer with an ATV on it for about 10 miles one time and the transmission didn't like that at all so I never towed with the Lesabres again. I change the transmission fluid every 50,000 miles and used Amsoil synthetic ATF. I would say the transmissions were adequate for their intended use, but not more than that.

Did you replace the solenoids yourself? I noticed on my sons car that there are air bubbles on the dipstick which I've never seen on a transmission dipstick before. The come and go as does the rough shifts. I just got the car about 2 months ago for my son, and it does seem like from what Ive seen so far that its when its hot that its doing it. I'll have to look, but the transmission was flushed recently before we purchased it. When you switched to the amsoil did you drain the torque converter also if thats even possible?
Thanks,
Dave

 

[Irish1]

I had a transmission shop replace the solenoids. I did not drain the fluid from the torque convertor. It is my understanding that dropping the pan and changing the fluid gets about half of fluid out so after each change the amount of non amsoil fluid was diminished. It is very messy to drop the pan to change the fluid. I used a fluid evacuator to suction as much fluid as possible out through the dipstick tube then drop the pan and clean out any sludge or metal fines. I think I have read that air bubbles could be caused by overfilling the transmission.
We had a Saturn years ago that had a drainplug and a spin on oil filter on the transmission. GM should have done that on more of their cars.

 

[silverbullet04]

I had a transmission shop replace the solenoids. I did not drain the fluid from the torque convertor. It is my understanding that dropping the pan and changing the fluid gets about half of fluid out so after each change the amount of non amsoil fluid was diminished. It is very messy to drop the pan to change the fluid. I used a fluid evacuator to suction as much fluid as possible out through the dipstick tube then drop the pan and clean out any sludge or metal fines. I think I have read that air bubbles could be caused by overfilling the transmission.
We had a Saturn years ago that had a drainplug and a spin on oil filter on the transmission. GM should have done that on more of their cars.

You can get a aftermarket pan with a drain plug to make the job easier. I had one, but I wasn't able to get a good seal around the tranny pan gasket and it leaked. So I went back to the factory pan.

 

[02LTD2.0]

You can get a aftermarket pan with a drain plug to make the job easier. I had one, but I wasn't able to get a good seal around the tranny pan gasket and it leaked. So I went back to the factory pan.

The key is to use the factory gasket. The paper gaskets are more prone to leak.

 

[silverbullet04]

The key is to use the factory gasket. The paper gaskets are more prone to leak.

I used the factory gasket and still couldn't get a perfect seal. Went back to the factory pan and had no issues. I ended up returning the pan with the drain plug.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

If you look closely, you will see there is a small shoulder on the transmission pan bolts which allows for the thicker 'original' metal core pan gasket. You can re-use the original gasket or use the aftermarket gasket but you will need to add washers (washers with a large enough ID to go over the small shoulder, I think 8mm ID washers work but you to confirm) to compensate for the thinner aftermarket gasket. I opted to go with the latter on my (3) 4T65e LeSabre transmissions and the pans never leak. I'm in the camp of using the aftermarket pan with a drain plug.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

The harsh shifts most often are resolved by installing the shift kit. More specifically the stronger springs & travel limits for the 1-2 accumulator and the 2-3 accumulator. But sometimes this is not enough to achieve ideal shifting. Careful adjustments of the shift time tables in the PCM program will allow for fine tuning the shift times. As I'm fine tuning the shift times tables, I prefer an ever-so-slightly crisper shift to remove any excessive slippage during shifts. I can share my tables for shift times that have worked well for me. Both of these improvements seem to really help the 4T65e transmission life.

 

[DrivenDaily]

The harsh shifts most often are resolved by installing the shift kit. More specifically the stronger springs & travel limits for the 1-2 accumulator and the 2-3 accumulator. But sometimes this is not enough to achieve ideal shifting. Careful adjustments of the shift time tables in the PCM program will allow for fine tuning the shift times. As I'm fine tuning the shift times tables, I prefer an ever-so-slightly crisper shift to remove any excessive slippage during shifts. I can share my tables for shift times that have worked well for me. Both of these improvements seem to really help the 4T65e transmission life.

When tuning the shift tables, do you also have access to the Torque Management? A buddy tuned my Malibu and made it a quicker shift, but it also has a DBW TB so the ECM can fully control the throttle position. Our LeSabre/PA/PAU cars use a cable, so it might not be adjustable or may have only minor edits available.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

Thank you for mentioning this. Once I get the shift times to where I think they are correct, I sometimes do follow up with increasing the torque management tables settings to get it perfectly smooth. Increasing the torque management tables settings reduces spark timing (only) during shifts to help smooth the shifts further. These in combination with the shift kit really does seem to be effective for helping these transmissions last. I 'personally' also feel an external cooler is a plus but not everyone agrees with this point. I've read articles by knowledgeable people who have convinced me that the transmission oil should not exceed approximately 170 degrees f.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Thank you for mentioning this. Once I get the shift times to where I think they are correct, I sometimes do follow up with increasing the torque management tables settings to get it perfectly smooth. Increasing the torque management tables settings reduces spark timing (only) during shifts to help smooth the shifts further. These in combination with the shift kit really does seem to be effective for helping these transmissions last. I 'personally' also feel an external cooler is a plus but not everyone agrees with this point. I've read articles by knowledgeable people who have convinced me that the transmission oil should not exceed approximately 170 degrees f.

I have an external cooler that completely bypasses the radiator on my Nissan SUV. To make sure that it doesn't get too cold in the winter, I bought a thermostatic valve with 4 fittings. One is the input from the trans and they claim that 10% of the fluid is always flowing out of the valve into the cooler from the second fitting. The third fitting accepts the return from the cooler, and the fourth fitting where the fluid passes back to the trans.

Between fitting #1 and #2 is the t-valve. When it's cold out, only the minimum amount of fluid (10%) goes to the cooler and the other 90% does a U-turn to fitting #4.

Any fluid going to the cooler (between 10% and 100%) returns to the body through fitting #3, then out of the body to the trans through fitting #4.

It is a fully mechanical device. No switches or sensors. I have had zero issues with it.

You may want to consider a more controlled method of cooling your trans fluid. This way you know for sure that it's not just getting dumped into the heat exchanger 100% of the time.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

That makes sense to me, I'm looking at them now.