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Buick LaCrosse Transmission Problems

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Comments

  • dareaperdareaper Member Posts: 1
    First off I feel for you folks that got stuck with one of these . I've been looking for a few good used cars for family members and have been doing tons of research , especially on Buicks because family members have had such good luck with them . I did buy a 1991 Park Avenue last week with 21,000 miles on it , my research told me the car was pretty much free of these catastrophic kinds of issues . It's a shame that people have to go through this , I know my daughter is as I write and she is fit to be tied . I personally have always bought new cars and any car regardless of cost that met my fancy , but I will never do that again . I will wait at least a couple of years now to get the reviews . Not to sound like I'm defending GM or any other car company , but I wouldn't want to be in that business in any way shape or form . It seams like every car company is having these kinds of issues now , and this is at the same time cars have gotten ridiculously expensive . Again sorry for all your troubles folks .

  • slyon68slyon68 Member Posts: 1
    I own a 2005 Buick LaCrosse V6. I don't know if it's a CXL or anything like that. I drive a lot, therefore, there are over 114K miles on it. It's been a great car for the last nearly 5 years that I've owned it. However, for about 6 months or so, it's been selectively hard-shifting...like shakes the whole car with this loud thud, and freaks me out. Usually happens during "slam and go" traffic (rush hour) when I take off or am going uphill and then it continues every time it shifts until I turn the car off. I had read before that if you stop the car and restart it, it would restart the computer. Sometimes it does correct the issue. Now, in the last few weeks, the RPMs have been jumping around from between 1 and 2, and up to 3, and back down and it feels sluggish. It's random. I just had the transmission fluid, etc., changed 6 months ago, so I'm wondering if this issue didn't start right after I had that done and something wasn't done right. Does that sound familiar to any of you? I can't afford too much, but seeing that I owe less than $1,300 on the car, I don't want it to die on me before I get it paid off! :(
  • BenkahunaBenkahuna Member Posts: 5
    edited October 2018
    Hello,
    Ihave a 2008 buick lacrosse that is acting up. Its choking up and engine is stalling and surging... sometimes. One time it completely went dead! No matter which garage we take it to no one can figure it out!! We had even had one guy claim it was the gas pedal and he did something to fix it and it was great for 3 months then it started doing it again. so we took it back they replaced the gas pedal and again things were glorious for 3 months.. it started doing it again.. so the garage guy got sick of it, told us to go somewhere else... to a transmission place..One of his friends.. Bad idea.... they did a bunch of stuff again it was great for 3 months and it started doing it again... We take it back they claim we need a new transmission Maybe..
    well I am not going to blow another dang dime on a huge maybe! This car has been trouble since the day we got it... for 3 years it has nickle and dimed us to death. it seems like every other month its another 150 to 300 to fix SOmething.. I am about to go postal..... We cannot figure it out.. we are desperately trying to fix it..
    Please please advise...

    Has anyone else had this odd engine stalling, choking, surging... issue? its like its not getting gas or something.. the guy got away with keeping our money and gave us a gas pedal that wears out every three months... I feel sick he got away with doing that.

    Even the gear shift to put it down in drive.. we paid close to 300 to have that replaced and it was the exact same when we got the car back and they bsed us claiming we need to give it time to loosen up because it was new.. the garage got away with screwing us on that one. I am so fed up im about to drive the car off a cliff and kill it myself!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It's interesting that the repair fixes the problem and then eventually fails. One might conclude that something is wrong with the circuit which controls the gas pedal position sensor/throttle position sensor system.

    You might try to visit this website and click on "repair shops". These people are the best trained and if there's one near you, they'll figure this out.

    http://www.iatn.net/
  • BenkahunaBenkahuna Member Posts: 5
    Thank you mr. Shift right!!! I will do that right now!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Let us know how it turns out for you. Hope you get it fixed right this time.
  • BenkahunaBenkahuna Member Posts: 5
    Ahh TY Mr. Shift Right! Whats so funny, is that every time we take it somewhere despite what they say, they must be doing something to the car, because even this time, the car is acting angelicly again! No issues for almost a week now. They claimed 2 things came up on the report, they didnt do anything and couldnt really find anything to do with the surging. For some odd reason the car is acting fine again, I'm sure it will til the 3 month mark. That confirms it must be a sensor they must be resetting or something. I dont know why they dont tell us to just replace it? Do you think its possible they are doing that on purpose so we have to keep coming back? Each time we come back they always find a couple of other things that need to be fixed. This has happened with at least 3 or 4 mechanics now.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Did you take it to one of the shops on the list at http://www.iatn.net/?
  • BenkahunaBenkahuna Member Posts: 5
    Not yet, Since the car seems to be running right again.. I need to check the codes on the paper work I was given. I will try to get to that next week.
  • BenkahunaBenkahuna Member Posts: 5
    Well Craig Johnson is listed as one of the mechanics there.. I felt like he was dickin me around. Maybe ill try that Toyo one listed. They all want to put in a brand new tranny. I read where one guy went through 4 of them and it never fixed the issue.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well go with the person you feel most comfortable with---the industry can certify a mechanic's training, but not dictate their personalities to them (or you). Sometimes people just don't speak the same language.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,745
    edited October 2018
    Benkahuna said:

    Whats so funny, is that every time we take it somewhere despite what they say, they must be doing something to the car, because even this time, the car is acting angelicly again! No issues for almost a week now.

    We call those intermittent problems. Which BTW the only way to prove what is happening is to do all of the testing while the problem is occurring. Once it stops happening there can be codes left behind that can hint towards the source of the problem, but that's all it can do.
    Benkahuna said:

    They claimed 2 things came up on the report, they didnt do anything and couldnt really find anything to do with the surging. For some odd reason the car is acting fine again, I'm sure it will til the 3 month mark. That confirms it must be a sensor they must be resetting or something.

    No it doesn't confirm that they are resetting anything. In fact the most plausible explanation is the symptom you are decribing is general enough that there are a number of things that could produce it and some of the repairs might have been right on the money. Then something else happened and even though it feels so similar, that doesn't mean it actually is the same thing.
    Benkahuna said:


    I dont know why they dont tell us to just replace it? Do you think its possible they are doing that on purpose so we have to keep coming back? Each time we come back they always find a couple of other things that need to be fixed. This has happened with at least 3 or 4 mechanics now.

    They don't just tell you what to replace because repairing cars doesn't actually work that way. They can't tell you what is wrong until they get to prove what is wrong and if the problem is as intermittent as you described then they haven't gotten to prove much of anything.

    Do you have a list of the codes that have been setting and precisely what they reported that they did as testing? Some of your above description suggests that the transmission line pressure might be too high when some of the failure(s) have occurred. Eleveated line pressure can be caused by a faulty input, such as the pedal sensor assembly. It could happen if there is a pressure control solenoid or solenoid circuit issue. It could happen because of a mechanical issue inside the valve body, and in fact it could happen for another half a dozen reasons on top of those. Again, while any one of those problems are occurring, you would feel very similar behavior from the car.
  • Alee007Alee007 Member Posts: 1
    2010 Buick Lacrosse only 67, thousand miles transmission problems??? Engine light , tcm light happened first dealership charged 600 or 800 to replace some coils and a spark plug now 2 months later all lights again plus wont shift into any gear and seams like transmission went into some default mode???? no one seams to know the problem it looks like this specific transmission is recalled but not on this car??? need advise /help still making 400 payments cant afford this disaster.....
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    It's hard to say with a modern car unless we have some codes to read. Do you have a good independent repair shop in your area?

    You might check this website which lists highly qualified technicians around the country. Just click on the link below, then click on "repair shops" to see if there's someone near enough to you to at least have the car scanned.

    http://www.iatn.net/
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