Piston Slap: This Sabre Rages Against a Throw-Away Society

I took it to a transmission shop, and guess who has a rare 3.05:1 gearset instead of the regular 2.86 gearset in all the other LeSabres? ME!

The shop said that since the 3.05 gear set comes with the Gran Touring suspension, he is having trouble finding a rebuild kit for it. So that leaves us with the following options:

• Plan A: Take the transmission apart and hope and pray that the parts it needs are available. If not, I’ll have to pay to put it back together broken. If all goes well, though, the price is $4,500, and a one-year, 12,000-mile warranty.
• Plan B: Purchase a rebuilt transmission and install with a three-year, 36,000 mile warranty for $4,700.

So here comes the dilemma: I have a 19-year-old car with 113k miles on it that I paid $3400 for, with roughly $1500 in repairs that now needs a large $4700 repair.

I also have two other vehicles that I don’t want to start driving daily. I’ve started looking around at what I could buy for $5k, and honestly, the options could be better. They’re usually younger but have way more miles than 113k, and are cosmetically challenged. I don’t mind driving something old, but I don’t want to drive something that looks beat up.

I had the Buick checked over, and other than needing the transmission work, the only current need is the air conditioner compressor clutch, which is a bit noisy and could stand to be replaced. However, this car doesn’t “feel” like it’s in a death spiral and on its last wheels. (I’ve owned those cars and know the signs!)

I’m not overly attached to the car; however, cosmetically, it’s very clean. Although you do see LeSabres still around, most of them are on their third and fourth owners, and they are beaten to death. The transmission guy even remarked, “I haven’t seen a LeSabre this clean in a few years. If you don’t want to fix it, I want to make you an offer on it.”

People think I’m insane to consider doing the work, but it’s already been down for about three weeks, and I miss having it. So, what would you do in this case? Hunt for something new? Or stay with what you know has worked up until now?

I look forward to your thoughts.

Sajeev answers:

This is a delightfully uplifting story/question, told with the perfect amount of context, and it even has an easy answer. You already answered the question when you suggested that you aren’t “overly attached to the car,” but you “miss having it.” The latter is how I feel every time I park my 1989 Lincoln Continental and use something else (from my collection of weird Fords) as a daily driver.

So many front-wheel-drive, full-sized American sedans from the 1980s to the 2000s do the new Toyota Camry commuting thing shockingly well. This class of “classic” car gets the job done so the more complex, prestigious, compromised, or fragile enthusiast vehicles in one’s fleet don’t have to do real work.

Your thoughts should no longer worry about financials, about throwing good money after bad. Don’t even think about finding a different set of problems car for $5000, because it’s okay to consider this Buick like your other cars. (Yes, I am projecting my personal beliefs upon Adam, but that’s what I’ve done on Piston Slap since its inception in 2009.)

So keep it, and get that rebuilt gearbox. I am glad you have two options, but as a fan of my 3.8-liter Lincoln’s 3.19:1 final drive ratio, you will likely regret losing the 3.05:1 gearing in your Dynaride (sorry, Grand Touring Suspension Package) equipped Buick. The quicker gearing is what makes these comfortable yachts fun to drive in modern times, even if they only have a wide-ratio four-speed gearbox. Pair this goodness with its more European suspension calibration, and a Buick LeSabre can be an affordable and almost fun boulevardier.

The 2.86:1 final drive isn’t end of the world, as it has fuel-sipping perks if you spend a lot of time on highways. But I would still pay the money to have your shop take the higher performance gearbox apart, assess what’s wrong and give you a list of needed parts. Remember that you are already going against conventional wisdom by keeping this LeSabre, so what’s another rack when you’re driving what you need and want?

It’s worth noting, too, that when you dive into a gearbox of any kind, it’s a good fix everything that’s fixable. Not doing so is a false economy that can come back to bite you later.

Playing parts hunter for the Buick is worth your time, because I suspect you are the type of person the Grand Touring package was meant to appeal to in the first place. We discussed how to find obsolete GM parts after we Piston Slapped another reader’s Pontiac Grand Prix STE, so I would start prepping by getting familiar with where Rock Auto keeps factory part numbers, and how to create eBay saved searches.

I’ll assume the two transmissions share many hard and soft parts, it’s just the stuff at or near the differential that could go bad. If all else fails, get a used differential/transaxle from car-part.com or LKQ for donor parts. But if the parts absolutely do not exist, throw away the disassembled transmission and get a remanufactured unit. (Or slam it together as cheaply as possible to make it a returnable core, if needed.)

I am optimistic you just need a new torque converter, a basic rebuild (since you are already in there), and I am confident your right foot will appreciate all this effort. It could be worse: You could have it as bad as this guy and his 1998 Chevrolet Lumina.

So fight the good fight, and take a stand against dumping perfectly good vehicles just because their short-term prospects are terribly resource-intensive. In the long term a 2000s GM sedan will serve you better than just about any other used car. Heck, it might be better than any late model vehicle, depending on their level of complexity (turbos, CVTs, lotsa computers, etc.), and the quality of the roads on your commute.

This LeSabre was built to last, even if that was a side effect of being less innovative/fun/prestigious as its competition was when new. This Buick deserves your best, and it will give it right back to you as the months and years pass.

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