My wife and I drove 3hrs. one way to look at a 2003 Bonne SLE with 85K on the clock. It was on the Auto Trader for $9,999 and the Dealership was Weekley(Butler,Ohio) .First thing they gave us the keys for a test run and all went well untill I pop the hood and noticed the coolant reservoir completely dry! Pulled the engine cover off and saw coolant leaking from the uim. Went to the rear and smelt the water dripping out or the exhaust and it smelled like coolant also. I didn't know how long it was leaking so I told the dealer I would have to pass on it! I also saw the under side of the hood was all blistered. This was the 2nd silver 2003 with the blistered hood that we looked at. I was wondering if it'* just the silver ones' in 2003 with this blistering problem? Thanks . Bob.(Pgh. Pa.)

wow dude thats a nice little hual there... i know where butler is and i know where pittsburg is... there way to many bridges there in pitts... but sorry to hear about your wasted trip... but its always a cool drive... ive done it quite a few times before..

Bubbling hoods on 2000+ GM cars with aluminum hoods is very common. To bad to hear about the coolant UIM issues, 2003 sounds awfully earlier for intake failure. What was the mileage?

Jim W, There was 85,600 miles on the clock!

Well I would have made a deal that the dealer replace at least the UIM with the sale of the car if not the LIM gaskets as well. Or maybe a huge discount so that you could have it fixed yourself.

As far as the hood goes, yeah, as mentioned, they have that problem.

This dealership was a Chrysler--Jeep dealer, and when I showed the owner he just gave me a surprised look. He didn't understand why is mechanics didn't pick up on it during their inspection. I told him that it would cost about $500. to fix the uim and the lim, and he didn't say nothing else about knocking any more $ off. If he would have take'n the $ off I would have driven it home!!

It wouldn't be worth it buying it since if the UIM failed you would have no way of knowing how long the coolant has been inside the engine and you wouldn't know if it has damaged the bearings or anything else yet inside the motor.

sorry about your luck. ive got a 98 for sale in monroeville if you're interested.

That sucks man. My hood has a small bubble near the front also (what causes this??).

Anyone got a pic of this "bubbling hood" thing? Is the silver 2004 LeSabre susceptible to this, too?

EDIT: I decided to ask this question as a separate thread:
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=76200