2000 - 2005 LeSabre Window Probems?

[tyesac]

After 15 decent one years with my 1991 LeSabre, I'm in the market for a more recent version. I've been researching various used/one owner 2000 - 2002 LeSabres for sale in my area, and have a few candidates in mind.

Here's the "rub" so to speak. I noticed on one of those owner review web sites that these LeSabres seem to have a common complaint (of the few that complain) relating to the power window mechanisms.

Is this a legit concern, or am I seeing the rants of a few disgruntled owners, i.e. the "I'll never buy another American made/Buick/GM etc, etc..." types?

Tom C

[variablepitch]

On our '02 LeSabre Custom, we did have both a rear and front passenger side window mechanism fail on warranty. I rolled both windows down prior to them not going back up. I was able to get them up by pushing my hands together and duct-taping them up. Buick stood behind both with no problems.

[Guest gecco]

how ironic. I have a 2003 Lasabre company car and just over the weekend, the mechanism failed in my driver's window. I thought it just a fluke until I read this post.

[Reatta Man]

They are VERY bad. Problem started in 2000 model year. A friend has a 2000 and a 2003; all four windows in the '00 have failed; none in the '03 have failed.

Joe

[NTX5467]

With many of the recent "freshened" or redesigned platforms of GM vehicles, they have started utilizing window regulators that use cables to raise and lower the window rather than the "hard linkage" of 1970s (and prior decades) prior designs. The wire in the cables looks a lot like stainless steel and looks to be large enough to do what it needs to do . . . provided that the other parts of the window mechanism which might guide the glass as it moves up and down are in good operation condition and everything moves smoothly. There are also some white plastic "roller guide" wheels that guide the cable when it's out of its protective sheath.

In some cases, the wheels (with appropriate "grooves" in them for the cable to run in) can chip and let the cable get out of the groove in them. This stops things really quick, from what I understand. I believe the wheels might be available from the aftermarket vendors, but I'm not really sure about that.

As mentioned, other GM vehicles use similar design window regulators. Some of them had "problems" at some point in their life, but it seems that once the first batch of replacements happens (the warranty work "spike" effect), things taper off pretty quickly.

ALSO, do not forget the "tape drive" window regulators of the 1980s and all that it took to fix them when they had problems. NOR the 1990s "ball joint guides" which ran on the tape, which had a small ball joint pivot which snapped into an oblong white guide that all served as the interface with the tape drive and the bottom of the window glass attachment. Or the "snap-over/around" window glass guides during those same time frames too. In short, once the traditional "hard linkage" window regulators were deemed either too expensive or too heavy, few of the resulting replacement mechanisms have not been completely without problems. Yet they were "known problems" that were usually pretty easy to fix every so often (with many parts later showing up on the Help Rack at the auto supply).

End result . . . you can make what you might want to make of it (the window regulator issues), but it does NOT make the particular Buick LeSabres a car to "stay away from at all costs" by ANY STRETCH of the imagination. They are very good cars with lots of space and a smooooth ride and decent handling AND great fuel economy on trips (and around town if you learn how to drive by the trip computer's "Instant Fuel Economy" readout). To me, the car has many more redeeming factors that are not diminished in any way by the window regulator issues--be that as it may.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[tyesac]

Thanks for all of your input. As it turns out, I did buy a 2002 LeSabre Ltd, Maroon exterior, lt Grey leather interior. It's highly optioned out, so, it's been a big upgrade from my previous 1991 LeSabre custom. As for the windows, I'll deal with that if that happens. Since this car has auto climate control, I expect that the windows will spend most of their time closed. That being the case, I hope that I'll stay under the number of operating cycles that wear out the mechanism. It was never a deal breaker, but, I was surprised at how consistantly this appeared to be the one complaint. Seems odd that the engineering staff doesn't follow the "if it ain't broke, don't fix (improve) it" design philosophy.

BTW the driver information center shows an average fuel MPG number of 22.8MPG. Not bad for one with the 3.05 drive ratio and GT suspension. I typically have the Driver Info set to display the instantaneous MPG rating, and I'm surprised at how quick I can see readings in the 30 - 40 MPG rate shortly after leaving a red light and getting to a typical 45 MPH speed at around 1500 RPM

As for the "tape drive" window lift system, my 1980 Skylark Ltd coupe had them, and I became fairly adept at fixing them in short order. In fact, I still have about 3'- 4' of replacement tape stashed away here. That Skylark though, is gone, and like my recent '91 LeSabre, both proved to be great "ambassadors" for the brand, each done in more by rust after 13 - 15 years of daily driving than by any mechanical fault. That Skylark once ran a stretch of over 2&1/2 years of being driven every day with only routine maintanence. Compared to co-workers, they were having more repairs done on thier imports than I was, and that for one of the so-called troublesome X cars.

Tom C

[59 98]

Yes, very poor design - and I am not 100% sure it was an accident they were made to fail so easily, as the regulators are very spendy parts to buy. We have replaced several of those, several, in the Buicks, Pontiac G. Prix's, and Cadillac Sevilles in our shop. A good friend of mine has had all 4 of his replaced in his 02 LeSabre. One of the main design problems with them is they use plastic rollers on the ends for the cable to move on, and they always break or lose a piece, therefore the cable slips off and gets slack in it. Then, as you operate the regulator, the motor will just chew up the cable, thus ruining the whole assembly. They average $380-400 a door to replace.

Very cheap design, and the only way to remedy it and not have them break is to use the windows at all. The new ones you buy still have the plastic rollers.

Matt

[Reatta Man]

Tom,

You were right to not stay away from the Lesabre. The cars are very good overall, and when you compare the car's mileage for its' size, it is outstanding. Basically, it gives about the same mileage as much smaller Honda and Toyota models, many of them with 4-cylinder engines.

If you watch ebay, the rebuilt window units often show up at very good prices. If you can change them yourself, I would say it is not any more difficult than changing a wheel bearing or motor mount on a FWD car.

Joe