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Well gents... turns out this was much too much ado about nothing. Bolstered by Paul's rooftop AC comments, I used a small 3" plastic pry bar tool and carefully worked my way around the recovery tank cover without difficulty or damage. I bought this car in 2000 from the original owner with 16K on the odometer. It now has a little over 30K miles and I know this recovery tank cover has not been off since I've owned the car. I find the material, whatever it is, is the right stuff for this application as I find no deterioration or brittleness in the cover or in the sealing areas around the perimeter. So I'm happy to report my recovery tank cleaned up nicely, the cooling system is flushed & refilled and all is well. ZT

Thanks Paul, I appreciate your suggestion and the info you provided! ZT

I'm getting ready to flush and refill the cooling system of my 75 LeSabre Convertible. Step 7 in the relevant section of the Owners Manual states: "Remove Recovery Tank CAP with hoses intact... and remove recovery tank COVER... before cleaning with detergent and water." My OEM Coolant Recovery Tank is shown below. As is often the case, a little voice in the back of my mind is whispering, "Don't be too hasty on this!" I'm not sure what this tank is made of but experience tells me that whatever plastic material this is, might very well have become somewhat brittle and inflexible over the years. Am I being too cautious here thinking the cover could break before readily popping off the tank? Has anyone dealt with this, or similar, that could offer some advice? Your replies, as always, are appreciated. ZT

Thanks for your reply and the technical info you provided NTX... But apparently, you missed my reply to EmTee above... "I'm fairly certain that my electric seat control was causing the battery drain. Once I cycled the seat position switches last evening, the parasitic drain disappeared and has not returned as of another check this morning." 😊 At least for now, all seems to be good! ZT

Thanks Ben! And your take on disconnecting the battery makes perfect sense. I was just curious as to what Marty had in mind. ZT

Thanks EmTee, and "Yes", that would have been my next approach; but it looks like I've jumped that shark for now. I'm fairly certain that my electric seat control was causing the battery drain. Once I cycled the seat position switches last evening, the parasitic drain disappeared and has not returned as of another check this morning. 😊 As expected, once off the charger last evening, the battery drifted down to its usual 12.6V and currently remains at that level. Thanks Marty! Yes, I do have an electronic clock that hasn't worked in years; but that has never previously caused any battery drain problems. As stated above, I'm fairly certain that something was stuck in my electric seat control and once the switches were cycled, there was no more parasitic drain. I am however, intrigued by your suggestion of a battery disconnect to avoid such problems in the future. What sort of "battery disconnect switch" would you recommend? ZT

Trunk light (and the license plate lights at the aft end of the trunk lid) both turn off when the trunk lid is closed... so that's not the culprit! However, when I pushed the fore and aft electric seat switch back and forth a couple of times and let the switch return to the neutral position, the 1.6A parasitic drain disappeared once again. Battery is now fully charged at 12.9V which I expect will drop off to 12.5 or 12.6 volts with the charger disconnected. I will monitor the situation to see what happens over time (over night) and report back. Thanks for all the replies! ZT

No dome light in my ragtop! Only foot lights and under dash lights; they all turn off as they should with the doors closed. Glove box was actually the first thing I checked, as that little bulb got me once before in the past. I have confirmed the glove box light is not on. I haven't checked the trunk light as I haven't been in the trunk in quite a while. But I will make sure the trunk light is not lit. ZT

Thanks for your reply Phil. Yes the radio and retractable antenna both work. With the key OFF, turning radio ON or OFF does not affect the 1.6 A parasitic drain. ZT

Well, it appears I spoke too soon. After running the car as described above and seeing only a 0.11 A drain after shutting it off, I went back out to the shop a few minutes ago, to see the 1.6 Amp parasitic drain has returned. As per Ben's post, I tried disconnecting the two wire plug on the top of the alternator and it had no effect on the 1.6 Amp drain. So, unless anyone else has a different suggestion, I will proceed with pulling and replacing fuses to see if I can isolate the problem circuit. ZT

Thanks Ben! I appreciate your reply and sharing your experience. Do you recall if your parasitic drain was about 1.6 A too?

Hello All, It's been a while since I've posted anything here but I'm looking for a little insight and/or suggestions from anyone who may have been down this path before. My 1975 LeSabre Custom Convertible is not a daily driver but rather only an occasional driver for special occasions when the weather is suitable. When parked, I regularly rotate a 1.5 Amp Battery Minder between the Buick and a couple of other vehicles to keep the batteries up. With kids and grandkids in town a couple of weekends ago, I took the Buick out for some local top down rides with no problems whatsoever. I then put the top back up and parked the car in the garage. Then early this week, before hooking up the battery tender, I measured the battery voltage and was surprised to find the battery was completely dead at 0.11 V. Fortunately, I was able to nurse the battery back up to full charge with a variety of chargers and charging rates and then hooked up the 1.5 A battery tender. The next day, my 12.6 V battery was down to only 10.5 V or so. Further investigation revealed 1.6 - 1.7A parasitic drain on the battery with everything turned off; that the 1.5 A battery minder couldn't quite keep up with. Before starting a full blown diagnostic routine of pulling and replacing fuses one-at-a-time to locate the source of the parasitic drain, I got the battery back up to 12.6 V and started the car. It may be important to mention that, according to my Buick Service Manual, 1975 was the first year for a certain new type of alternator and I have found that after starting the alternator does not come "on-line" without revving the engine a few times after which the alternator comes on-line and works just fine from idle RPMs on up, with measured battery voltage remaining constant at about 14.5 Volts regardless of load. So after going through this routine, I shut everything down and found the 1.6 Amp parasitic drain had disappeared with an at rest battery drain of only 0.11 Amps which seems to be normal. Having taken no further diagnostic or corrective steps, beyond what I've described above, I'm hoping someone can explain or at least take a stab at what may have been causing the 1.6 A parasitic drain that seemingly has corrected itself? Any ideas, hunches, or guesses will be much appreciated. ZT

My thanks to NTX and Pete for your replies! I've been digging a bit deeper on the weatherstripping and waiting for some carpet samples from ACC and Trim Parts before posting again. Ultimately it was Steele, Soff Seal, and Metro Moulded that I compared. While not a muscle car, it appears that Steele does carry just about everything for the 71-76 B body 2 door convertibles including a four piece set of the "Window Felt Outer" p/n 80-0782-57 (belt line weatherstripping) for $235.60/set; Ouch! I was somewhat confused by the item description re: "for models without reveal molding and with a stainless steel bead on the belt line". I'm not sure what a reveal molding is but my original outer rubber window weatherstrips do have a thin (chrome? stainless?) metal strip attached. Is this the stainless steel bead they're referring to? Is this metal strip reused on the new rubber stripping? As for the front bow seal, I did order and have received a Metro Moulded HD732 "SUPERsoft" seal and it looks pretty nice. These are available from many sources ($36-$50 compared to Steele's $125) and a local supplier matched JEG's who had the lowest price I found online. I haven't yet installed the new seal as I'm still working towards a resolution of a front bow problem that appeared after having a new convertible top installed by a local shop. (More on that whole subject in a separate post just as soon as I can get my thoughts, questions, and some pictures together.) I received standard cut pile and plush (Essex) cut pile carpet samples from ACC, SockInteriors, and Trim Parts. They were all pretty much the same. I was looking forward to receiving ACC's 875 oxblood sample as my car's original build sheet shows carpet color as OXB (oxblood?). Unfortunately, ACC's oxblood color sample did not match my carpet. The suppliers all seem to use the same color numbers too. I found that the 815 and 1016 (standard and plush) reds matched my oxblood carpets most closely. I am still waiting for a few more color samples from ACC. The standard cut pile samples looked quite thin and I think I'll opt for the thicker upgraded plush cut pile to more closely match my original LeSabre carpet. I'm also leaning toward the optional MASS (rubber-like) backing. Has anyone here opted for the MASS backed carpets? Were you happy you did? Or didn't? ZT

I'm looking for recommendations on replacing the carpet and some of the weatherstripping on my 75 LeSabre convertible. I've done a bit of research and believe, for a 1975 car, I should be looking for cut pile carpet. The major players for replacement molded carpets seem to be ACC in Alabama and TrimParts in Ohio. If I'm not mistaken, most if not all the on line auto replacement carpet sellers, are selling, and probably just drop shipping, either the ACC or TrimParts carpet. Are there other manufacturers that I am not yet aware of? Has anyone here had any recent experience with either ACC or TrimParts carpet? Opinions? Recommendations? As for the weatherstripping, (front bow, A pillar, & waist/belt-line bottom window moldings) I've found Steele, Metro Moulded, and another described as a "Metro Moulded Replacement". Steele seems to be double or triple the cost of the others... Metro Moulded touts up a supposedly superior "Super Soft" material... Everyone claims a perfect fit and function! Any suggestions, opinions or feedback on your experience is appreciated! ZT

Thank you Digger!

Can anyone direct me to an online parts manual or downloadable PDF parts manual for a 1975 LeSabre? In particular, at the moment, I'm looking for the correct GM part number for an power window relay? Thanks for any assistance! ZT

Congrats to you Bullheimer for your resourcefulness and "can-do" attitude! I'm sorry to have arrived only now in "the bottom of ninth inning" but if I'd been here at the start of this game I would have suggested that you try some of the 2 part expandable urethane foam commonly used in the taxidermy industry for creating bird and fish bodies or for casting/sculpting/carving the lifesize and shoulder mount manikins upon which a taxidermy specimen's prepared skin or hide is applied. The problem with the aerosol cans of hardware store foam is the difficulty of applying successive, adjacent "stripes" of the spray can foam to cover a large area making it almost impossible to achieve a uniform layer of workable foam with a consistent density. For about the same cost of 3 or 4 of the aerosol cans you could order an easy to use kit like this... http://rmi-online.com/s-244.html from Research Manikins up there near you in Oregon or similar products from any of the major taxidermy supply houses. This 2 part 3 lb foam is easily formed to the desired shape with a rasp or 60-80 grit sandpaper leaving a nice uniform surface to which you can apply a coat of "hide paste" (or latex tile adhesive) that will permanently bond a skin, hide, or in this case your vinyl dashboard cover. If you'd like to wind up with a more durable skim coat or a topcoat of harder cured foam, I'd suggest you experiment with restraining the 2 part foam to the desired shape as it expands and cures with a temporary "dash cover" fashioned to the desired shape and fastened strategically to allow the excess expanding foam to escape out the sides to be trimmed off later at the edges after it cures. To avoid any bonding at this step, the temporary cover should be coated with wax, WD-40, or any other "suitable mold-release" so you can easily pull it off the foam after curing. ZT

I never saw the OP that NXT5467 refers to in his 'reply' above, but the topic title caught my eye and I am happy to be able to add a little specific info on the OEM tires that came on my 1975 LeSabre convertible. While I've put four new tires on the car, I still have the originals which are in pretty good shape after running for about 15k miles. The original spare, and the jack, have never been out of the trunk! As can be seen in the photo below, NXT5467's little tire tread 'character sketch' is spot on. The OEM UNIROYAL tires are prominently marked... UNIROYAL PR6 STEEL BELTED RADIAL HR78-15 TPC SPEC NO. 1001 Inside the whitewall, close to the tire bead, are the following markings... RADIAL HR78-15 TUBELESS POLYESTER STEEL NYLON TREAD 6 PLY SIDEWALL 2 PLY LOAD RANGE B MAX LOAD 1770 LBS AT MAX INFLATION 32PSI Hoping this additional info might help someone out there! ZT

Very nice Sherwood! How long since you took it off the trailer in your avatar? ZT

To tell you the truth NXT, I think this is what probably had more to do with the deterioration of my rubber hoses than ethanol laden gas. The car has been sitting in storage, and not driven, for the better portion of the last fifteen years. So it really hasn't seen much in the way of ethanol until only quite recently. It's the drying out, over time, with no fuel of any kind in them that I think "did them in!" ZT

JohnD & NXT, I appreciate your thoughtful replies! I did in fact have another look at my sender and, like you John, I've ordered an aftermarket replacement. (A Spectra Premium FG110B from Amazon - $53 and change with free 2nd day shipping while my Prime 30 day free trial is still in effect). Turns out my sending unit was pretty narly looking and the bad connection wasn't at the push on connector on the outside of the tank as I'd thought but rather on the underside of the sending unit cap where the insulation on the flat ribbon conductor had delaminated and broken completely off the underside of the connector pin. The replacement unit is almost identical to the OEM sender in my '75 LeSabre; the only difference being a slightly different vapor collection setup near the top of the sender. And while the outside of my tank didn't look that much different than when it left the factory, I also spent a good bit of time, last night and today, flushing and cleaning out the inside of the tank. And while I didn't find an aftermarket anti-siphon device, as you suggested, I discovered it was indeed the tank's internal baffling that kept my test hose from reaching down far enough to reach the half load of fuel that was in the tank! My learning continues! And NXT, don't get me started on the mandated BS ethanol farce which BTW is a perfect example of the crony capitalism that's doing as much damage to our way of life as the other camp's entitlement mentality! That's, "Nuff said!", on that topic lest I'm warned for getting a tad too political here! I will say that the whole ethanol debacle is the bane of many of us in the piston powered low compression general aviation community where non-ethanol "mogas" is by far a superior fuel, in all respects, than the 100LL (Low Lead) AvGas used in most certificated light planes today. The only trouble is finding "mogas" that doesn't have the ethanol in it. You are correct too NXT, in that even though I came the long way around, I will indeed be feeling pretty good about "everything back there" and I do intend to replace all the rubber hoses "up front" too! I have heard that the current production rubber fuel hose material, if it's marked with an SAE specification as opposed to the cheapo Walmart stuff, stands up way better to ethanol in the fuel than the original rubber hoses in our old cars. I was also pleased to note that the new sending unit I purchased is tested by the manufacturer to stand up ethanol laden gasoline. So I should be good to go for a good long while; once it's all back together. And I do appreciate you letting me know that you enjoyed "My story!" Thanks again to you both for your replies! ZT Sent from my iPad

Well... Dale nailed it on the little black cap on top of the sending unit. It is indeed a removeable connector! I got a little more aggressive with it just a few minutes ago and it pulled right off. A little clean up of the contact sleeve and pin and my gas gauge should be back in service! ZT

Did I not make my thoughts clear enough for you Bernie? <LOL> What did you think of that? And can you, or anyone else, provide any info on that little black "cap/plug/insulator/connector" on top of the tank sending unit? Does it simply push on and pull off as Dale opined? Or is it a hard wired connection down through to the float rheostat? ZT

Thanks Dale! I was hoping that was the case but I'm a little hesitant to tug on any harder than I've already tried until I know for sure. Hoping someone else will confirm your hunch. Trouble is my Buick is to young for most of you guys to have fooled around with. I should mention to you that Whizzers and Cushmans were how I got around the neighborhood before moving up to some pretty cool Limey bikes and a '55 Merc 2 door sedan project by the time I had a drivers license. One of these days I'm going to have to make a list of all my past rides. There's a lot of them that I sure wish I still had that would bring a pretty penny these days. The trouble is, I always had to sell what I had to afford what I wanted next! Like the '69 Corvette 350-350 roadster that I sold in '77 for 3 grand to put toward the lot where I built the house we still live in. ZT Thanks a lot to you too Mike. I'm just a newbie here and wasn't sure how my "story line" would be viewed or accepted by you guys. It's nice to know that you enjoyed it! ZT

I've learned quite a lot in the last few weeks! There's been both "Good News" and "Bad News" along the way and, of course, I do have a few questions for you Buick guys... Bad News: Not necessarily Buick related here; but the transmission in my 2002 Blazer started going into "Limp Home Mode" intermittently a few weeks ago. Good News: In addition to eventually solving the Blazer's limp mode problem, was that the loss of our daily driver was just the kick in the a$$ I needed to get the 75 LeSabre back on the road again. Bad News: In order to get the Buick roadworthy, I had to install a new master cylinder which had been leaking fluid down the front face of the lower half of the vacuum brake booster on the firewall. Good News: The master cylinder replacement and brake bleeding went well with no apparent damage done to the booster unit nor did any of the brake fluid find its way into the passenger compartment! Bad News: While the gas gauge hasn't worked in the 19 years I've owned this Buick, despite having just put several gallons of gas in the tank, the car wouldn't start until I replaced the fuel pump and spent a good bit of time priming by hand at the carb. Good News: The new fuel pump seemed to do the trick and the Buick got us to and fro until the Blazer's transmission problem was solved. Bad News: Then just the other day, while going down the road nicely with what I thought was plenty of gas in the tank, the engine died and would not restart. After getting the car home and putting a few gallons in the tank just to be sure we hadn't run out of gas, it still wouldn't start and I resigned myself to the idea of replacing the recently replaced, but apparently defective fuel pump. It was then that I got down and had a look under the car and saw the steady stream of gas leaking from the front right corner of the gas tank. ARGHH! Good News: I've dealt with leaking tanks before, and while there's hardly a speck of rust on the Buick, I felt confident that a bit of aviation fuel tank sealer applied on the outside of the tank while still in place would make short work of any small pinhole(s) that I might find. Bad News: After adding a bit more gas to help locate the leak(s) and getting the car up in the air, it became apparent that this was no pinhole as gas was now flowing from the entire length of the horizontal seam across the front of the tank and finding its way at first to one corner and then to both front corners of the tank and onto the floor... ...When the leaking finally stopped I stuck a hose, with my thumb over the exposed end, down the filler neck to verify the tank was empty and reluctantly accepted the fact that the tank had to come out of the car to be properly sealed up or replaced. Double ARGHHs! Good News: In addition to the tank mounting straps and hardware being in almost like new condition on this car, I now have my own lift in the shop which in the past, I'd only dreamed of having while removing gas tanks from old cars on jack stands and lying on the ground. This was going to be a snap! In addition, for the first time, I had correctly identified the sending unit's ground wire and its attach point on the underbody forward of the tank and the wire going to the gas gauge coming out the rear of the tank and which disappeared through a grommet into the trunk where a quick disconnect was located. Hey, I thought, by the time I'm done I may even get my gas gauge working again! And while everything was coming apart easily with no snags, and with a plastic garbage can sitting atop a rolling cart ready to receive the tank... for some reason, I decided to wait till this morning when I could enlist a little help before completely removing the two straps and lowering the tank. Bad News: Early this morning then, with my helper holding up one side of the tank and me with one hand under my side and with the other hand I unscrewed the last few threads of the strap attach bolt on his side. I heard quite a grunt as his side of the tank came down smartly a few inches and I asked him if it seemed heavy? To which replied only, "Yeah! Pretty heavy! It wasn't until I removed the second bolt and took the weight of my side with my free hand that I realized "How heavy!" What a disaster this would have been had I tried completing the job the night before by myself! It turns out, after kicking the rolling cart and trash can out of our way, and wrestling the tank down and onto the ground, I siphoned 16 gallons of fuel out of a tank I thought was empty. At 6 pounds per gallon plus the weight of the tank itself, neither one of us was ready for; or at all prepared for the 150 pounds or so of the not-so-empty gas tank. After apologizing to my friend for my mistaken notion about the tank being empty, my thoughts immediately went to Bernie's remarks in reply to another of my recent threads in which he warned about the perils that often follow those two famous words... "I thought...!" Good News: Once the tank was fully out and a full and proper inspection was performed, all the symptoms made perfect sense and the faults became perfectly clear. Regardless of the amount of fuel in the tank, the fuel pump could not reliably supply fuel to the carb because the pump was sucking air, instead of fuel, as a result of the increasing deterioration of the rubber fuel feed line near the spring clamp where it attaches to the tank unit's steel fuel line. Visible cracks in the dried out portion of the rubber hose were now apparent and definitely leaked air where when an air hose and a thumb were applied to opposite ends of the hose. As for the leaks in a tank with no visible signs of rust and with 95% of the factory undercoating finish still intact? Well, There was no leak! The source of the leaking fuel was a similarly deteriorated rubber fuel return line very close to where it attaches to the steel return line in the tank. When the engine was running, excess fuel, instead of going back in the tank, was being pumped overboard all across the top of the tank and then flowing down the path of least resistance to the seam flange and spilling off at the corners. So Bernie, "You were so right!" We should all be careful whenever saying or thinking, "I thought..." At first I thought I was out of gas! Then I thought I had a bad fuel pump! I next thought I had a leaky fuel tank and then thought I had a seriously leaking fuel tank seam! Lastly, when preparing to drop the tank, I thought I'd convinced myself that the tank was empty! In fact, none of the above was true! The best news is really all the good lessons that I've learned through this entire ordeal; and of course that 24" of new rubber hose will have me on the road again. I also discovered that, except for what appears to be a loose connection at the little rubber cap where the fuel gauge wire attaches to the top of the tank unit, my fuel level sending unit inside the tank is operating correctly with decreasing resistance from the ground wire to the gage wire connector as the 16 gallons of fuel was being siphoned out of the tank. And then there's this... found taped to the underbody... above the tank after it was removed... Apparently some sort of production line build sheet giving all the particulars about my Buick when it was being built! This will go very well with the original dealer window price sticker that came with the paperwork when I bought the car! I am happy to have found this build sheet and that it's still in such great shape after being taped under the car for the last forty years! I do apologize for my excessive verbosity but I thought (Uh-Oh, there I go again) that some here may enjoy hearing about this adventure or even benefit from all the things that I thought and then subsequently discovered were not as I thought! As for my questions... 1) What's going on with the fuel filler neck inside this tank (baffle-wise?) such that I could insert a rubber hose down far enough to appear to have reached the bottom of the tank and then being withdrawn with a thumb over the end of the hose without a trace of fuel inside or on the outside of the hose when in fact the tank was over half full? I'm still very puzzled about that??? 2) The little black cap where the fuel gauge wire attaches to the top of the tank sending unit? (See photo below) At first when testing the resistance from the gauge wire connector to the tank ground wire, I was showing an open circuit. Then after a little gentle prying and twisting of the cap my multimeter showed a steadily decreasing resistance (100+ ohms down to about 30 ohms) as the 16 gallons of fuel was being drained. Is this little black cap a connector of some sort? Or perhaps Is the cap an insulator that can be removed to repair a bad connection there? Any help on this will be appreciated as it seems to be the key to getting my in dash fuel gauge working again! ZT Sent from my iPad