My first two cars (purchased at age 16 and 17) were Buicks, and now I'm back (20 year later)! I needed a daily driver for work, and the trusty 3800-II found its way into my driveway (and soon garage) in the form of this 2000 Buick LeSabre purchased this morning:



I ended up purchasing from a dealership, which surprised even me considering I am pretty anti-dealership in almost every way. A few days ago, I posted a "Wanted: decent car" ad in my local Craigslist including my price range (around $1500) for a good working commuter car. Got a few nibbles but nothing solid. Then a salesman from a dealer about 20 miles away e-mailed me, telling me they just took this LeSabre in as a trade from an old retired lady who bought a newer Buick. The car had most of its lifetime of maintenance and repairs done at that dealership... something I never do, but I'm fine buying cars that have! This was the perfect scenario. Headed in this morning to look at it, drove it, loved it, and bought on the spot. Total price $1428 and that included taxes, title transfer, and plate transfer (over $200 extra I'd have paid the DMV after buying private sale). They only charged me something like $1200 for the car and "documentation fee". Unbelievable!

The LeSabre has 159k miles on the clock, so it'* no spring chicken... but it seriously drives/rides like it has 100k fewer miles. Literally EVERYTHING works, and it has very minimal rust around the gas cap door and lower body drain points. I'm happy, and am sure I'll be back to discuss any issues that arise... likely inevitable.

Great car, 3.8 is a great engine. Good luck

unbelievable deal, must have very good luck

Looks like the Lesabre is in very good condition! When a car is maintained like yours was and at that price... you cant go wrong! I really like the styling of them & comfortable!
Besides My Pk Ave, I recently got a 01 Leabre also in white for my nephew..also dealer with only 81 k miles on it. He'* had it for a few weeks now and loves it!
The 3.8 are very reliable, just keep the oil & filter clean with regular maintenance schedule
I also like to do about every 60k miles the transmission filter & the new Dexron VI (6) fluid, which is the premium choice synthetic runs now very smooth!.
Any future mods or plans for the Buick?

Now that is a score!

I probably won't do any significant mods, but I'm not against the idea... so anything that you modern Buick owners have done, let me know. Here come the first round of questions:

My '98 Bonneville I used to own suffered the unfortunate catastrophic melting intake plenum around 70k miles, and subsequently caught fire at the dealership and was totaled out (what a way for that ownership experience to end!) so I'm hoping to avoid intake issues on this Lesabre although I know it'* possible with the 3800-II'*. Anything I can do to watch or avoid?

I have quite a history of dealership service records from the LeSabre (I requested copies of them), but I haven't seen anything about coolant or tranny fluid changes. Would it be wise to take care of those now, at such high miles? Or are they better left alone if they haven't been changed at regular intervals already? I've heard that about tranny fluid in the past, something about pH levels. Are both of those DIY projects?

The coolant level is a bit low. Does everyone here use strictly Dexcool to top off, or are the universal coolants okay? The universal products were rare when I had my Bonneville 7-8 years ago, so I'm unsure on that.

Oil change monitor is showing 40% life remaining, but I'll change that and the air filter (last change unknown) as soon as the weather improves. I've changed my own oil and used full synthetic on all my other cars for years, but I'm thinking I should stick with dino oil since this engine already has so many miles using it. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance everyone, and good to be back in the GM fold. I can't get away from these dang cars!

i would do as i did, replace the lower intake gaskets with the felpro aluminum framed gaskets, replace the upper intake with the redesigned dorman kit i list, that has all the fixes for the upper and egr, the aluminum coolant elbow, all at the same time. not a big fan of dex, it makes a brown mess alot of times i always flush it and put in prestone extended life on all my gms.

its up to you if you want to plug the coolant from being in the upper all together, i did because i figured it doesnt need to be there, and just causes issues
https://www.gmforum.com/mechanical-1...2005-a-304071/
make sure you use thread sealant on the bolts too that will cause leaks

the trans its never too late to start doing maintenance.
the oil, its forever ongoing debate.

New guy here.
jwfirebird....GREAT advice on the 3800 lower intake gaskets. I replaced mine on my 96 Lesabre 2yrs ago.
Sure wish I'd have read this post back then as I didn't "plug" the ports in my intake.
The dorman kit I used didn't have the aluminum coolant elbow...had the junk plastic-fiber elbow. I tried to get an alum. elbow but couldn't find one.
About 1 yr after I installed the gaskets the elbow cracked just as I expected it to.
All of the sudden the parts store had the alum elbow??? Anyway, changed out the elbow and haven't had any issues since.
Absolutely LOVE the 3800 motor.
247,000 miles and goin' strong!!

jw, have you got any part numbers for the Felpro and Dorman gasket kits (and prices I should be paying) that you mentioned here? There are a bunch of different options on Rock Auto which is where I'm looking right now, and I want to make sure I get the right ones.

i did list the part numbers it the thread i linked to but copying from there
Dorman pn 615-180 is the manifold, comes with the gaskets preinstalled, pcv and injector o-rings but not the upper ones so autozone had a oring multipack. it also has the egr fixes in this kit that go in the lower manifold

Aluminum intake elbows; another common problem the plastic original ones are like the intake they get hot and brittle and come apart. Dorman pn;47065hp or NAPA bk6601942.

MS98014T is the aluminum based felpro lower kit its like 48 bucks, the upper is 70 i think and the elbows were maybe 10-20