Thats an understatement.

Just picked up a 1994 Buick Lesabre, doomed to be my winter beater. Its got 102k on it, and was garaged kept its whole life. I purchased it off of an 86 year old man who bought it new. I paid $500.00, nice!

Its starts and idles mint. Ive got one concern. If i ease into the pedal, rpm'* go up as they should. If from idle i give it 1/2 throttle or more, it bogs as it trys to gain RPMs. They will go up, but very hastily. I also notice some smoke coming out of tai pipe(very little). What do you guys think, start with plugs/wires/fuel filter, or just do intake gaskets&head gaskets also(heard these commonly go). thanks for your help guys, and you'll be seeing alot more of me! -Paul

HEAD gaskets? Quite literally NEVER.



On the list:

1. LIM gaskets.
2. 180 degree thermostat with one small bleed hole drilled.
3. Replace plastic coolant bypass fitting in LIM with new steel design (if not done already)
4. TB cleaning (and MAF, per Techinfo article, link at the top of the page).
5. NGK TR-55 V-power spark plugs gapped at .060"
6. Belden Premium (blue) plug wires from NAPA.
7. PCV, air filter, fuel filter.
8. No Fram, no Bosch.
9. O2 sensor. Denso, NGK, or AC Delco (preferred) only. Use www.rockauto.com and our discount code listed in General Chat. If you don't know how old the O2 is, or if it has more than 50k miles on it.
10. No Fram or Bosch


With a new car, there are too many things that can go, and you don't have a full picture of the maintenance history. Have to take care of the basics, as they'll solve most issues on newly purchased used cars.

Hey man, thanks for your help. Im going to order some tune-up parts tomorrow at work and see how that goes, we use Napa, AIP, and a few other places for parts(i work in a large autmotive shop) so getting the right stuff shouldnt be an issue. Ill let you guys know how this goes, any other suggestions??

There'* not a whole lot more that we can add until you get some of the basics done and then go from there if needed. Like willwren says, get the correct plugs and wires as he listed if possible, as we have found those to work best on these 3800s generally.

As to the smoke, what color is it? That may give you a clue as to what is needed next.

A TB cleaning is just about a must-do.

Let us know how it goes.

Oh, and Welcome to BC!