Advertising:
1998 Buick Park Avenue Base Sedan 4-door 3.8l With No Functioning Key on 2040-cars
Year:1998
Mileage:103000
Location:
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
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It won’t start, it smells bad and it’s ugly. Now for the bad
parts- This is a two owner vehicle with about 103,000 miles on it.
When we bought it with about 84000 miles on it last year (previous owner was an
older lady), it had a known electrical glitch that eventually turned into a
known electrical Festival of Glitches. Which is why it won’t start. It has a
newish starter, alternator and battery. We have played “find the hidden current
draw” many times. Eventually we pulled fuses and relays at random (including the radio,
which was a POS anyway) until the worst of the glitches (the fact that the
battery would drain in about a day) was vanquished. Or at least moderated. Meanwhile,
my son showed the good sense to move far away, and during that time the key was
lost. A smooth $135 later, we have a key that unlocks the doors (or the ones that actually
open from the outside; two at this time), causes the dash to light up and that
turns in the ignition. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually start the car. The
locksmith’s view is that there must be an electrical glitch that is preventing
the key from programming. Uh, yeah. He suggested that only the dealer could
help, although the overarching tone was “sucks to be you, man.” We did take it to a local mechanic, who made a couple of
stout runs at it. He eventually asked us to stop bringing it in, as it made him
sad. So, the key does everything but start the car. When turned
to “on,” there is an ominous electro-mechanical noise from the right rear wheel
well, which I presume to be related to the self-leveling suspension, if it has
a self-leveling suspension. I’m going with that because it’s less worrisome
than many other possible causes of the noise, and ascertaining more info about
the noise would necessitate opening the trunk. Which is full of water. We don’t
know why. Which probably has nothing to do with the fact that the
driver’s mirror fell off, or that the “twilight sentinel” auto headlight switch
sometimes turns the headlights on in the middle of the night, when the car is
turned off. Or that the driver’s
power window does not work. Or any of the other electrical devices that don’t
work. Which would be most of them. Amazingly, both power seats work, although the switches are
hanging on by their wires. This seems to be a GM design characteristic; I
noticed it a lot when I was looking for replacement door handles (two of which
don’t work, as has been noted) at the junkyard.
There are lots of these things at the junkyard. There’s
probably a Buick Park Avenue specific junkyard out there. When it did run, it actually ran okay. The motor was smooth
and didn’t leak anything and the transmission shifted gears appropriately.
Which is meaningless since it won’t start, so anybody bidding on it should
assume that not only will it not start, but if attempts are made to start it,
it will explode. Possibly blowing away the atmosphere and ending life as we
know it. Let’s manage expectations. It doesn’t look nearly as good as the pictures indicate
(we’re not even sure how those dents on the right rear door and rear fender got
there, but we suspect wayward snow-sledders were involved), and the pictures
cannot convey the overall grossness of the interior. Really, wear a hazmat suit
the first time you get into it. It’s not all torn up, but at some point the
teenage filth treatment overcame any desire we had to make it look reputable
inside. We cave (wet, muddy Arkansas caves), but one of us didn’t always change into clean clothes
afterwards. The teenage one who owns the Buick, in fact. Still, the most the junkyard will offer is $250 (if they
come get it). And that’s only because of the newish alternator, starter and
battery. And the fact that the tires are all the same brand and have lots of
tread. It’s a sad time when the state of the tires is a major determiner as to
a car’s value. Before he moved and lost the key, he thought he had it sold on Craigslist for $1000, but that person never returned. That said, for somebody with the time, tools and knowledge to fool
around with it (not to mention access to a trailer), it could be made into
cheap transportation. Cheap, ugly and possibly unreliable transportation, but
transportation. Or not. Really, it could just explode. |
Buick Park Avenue for Sale
1999 buick park avenue base sedan 4-door 3.8l(US $2,495.00)
2003 buick park avenue ultra sedan 4-door 3.8l
2002 buick park avenue 62k 1 ownr diamond edition rag roof lthr onstr cd garaged(US $5,700.00)
2003 buick
1999 buick park avenue ultra
One owner supercahrged sunroof leather heated seats low miles very clean(US $16,000.00)
Auto Services in Arkansas
Wingfoot Commercial Tire ★★★★★
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Address: 7791 Alcoa Rd, Shannon-Hills
Phone: (501) 771-2341
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Auto Repair & Service, Tire Dealers, Auto Oil & Lube
Address: 1210 E Oak St, Enola
Phone: (501) 450-7744
Steve Jones Chrysler Dodge Jeep ★★★★★
New Car Dealers, Used Car Dealers
Address: 1110 Falls Blvd N, Wynne
Phone: (870) 238-8175
Roberts Auto Repair ★★★★★
Auto Repair & Service
Address: 600 W Martin Luther King Blvd, Greenland
Phone: (479) 444-6528
Rhodes Auto Brokers ★★★★★
Used Car Dealers, Automobile & Truck Brokers, Truck Brokers
Address: 1401 S Main Street, Moscow
Phone: (870) 536-2275
North Arkansas Tire ★★★★★
Auto Repair & Service, Tire Dealers, Tire Recap, Retread & Repair
Address: 500 S 7th St, Heber-Springs
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Auto blog
Junkyard Gem: 1990 Buick Reatta
Wed, Oct 4 2017General Motors built some interesting sporty cars during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the company attempted to claw back market share from European manufacturers of high-end two-doors. There was the mean-looking Oldsmobile Trofeo, the Turin-to-Hamtramck Cadillac Allante, and the gadget-packed Buick Reatta. Here's an example of the latter car, wearing Maui Blue paint and residing in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. There was a lot to like about the Reatta, but the powertrain came as a disappointment: the ancient, rough-running pushrod Buick 3.8-liter V6 engine, driving the front wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission. The 3800 engine made 165 horses in 1990, which wasn't bad for that year, but Reatta money would have bought you a new 1990 BMW 3-Series with a tuneful 168-horse DOHC straight-six. The Buick V6 was something of an Albanian grain-thresher motor compared to the engines in the Reatta's European rivals' cars: rugged but crude. The pre-1990 Reattas came with Buick's amazing touchscreen computer interface, which may have scared off the most conservative Buick traditionalists. This car had more typical-for-1990 controls. Only 6,388 Reatta coupes were made for 1990, so we're looking at one rare Buick here. Handcrafted by these artisans in Lansing. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1990 Buick Reatta View 15 Photos Auto News Buick Convertible Coupe Luxury
GM recalling 316k vehicles due to headlamp faults
Mon, Dec 1 2014General Motors has announced a recall covering 316,357 vehicles globally, due to the possibility of sporadic or permanent failure of the low-beam headlamps. 273,182 of these vehicles are in the United States, while the remaining affected units are in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere. This recall includes the 2006-09 Buick LaCrosse (pictured above), 2006-07 Chevy TrailBlazer and TrailBlazer EXT, 2006-07 GMC Envoy and 2006 GMC Envoy XL, 2006-07 Buick Rainier, 2006-08 Saab 9-7X, and 2006-08 Isuzu Ascender. In an email sent to Autoblog, General Motors explains that if the headlamp driver modules are not functioning correctly, "the low-beam headlamps and daytime running lamps could intermittently or permanently fail to illuminate." GM states that this problem does not affect things like high-beams, turn signals, marker lamps, or foglamps. As of this writing, GM states it "has not been able to confirm whether the HDMs in these vehicles caused any vehicle accidents." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been notified, but the recall has not yet posted to the government agency's website. Scroll down to read the full details in GM's email. General Motors is recalling 273,182 Buick LaCrosse sedans and Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Saab and Isuzu midsize SUVs in the U.S. for possible intermittent or permanent loss of low beam headlamps. Affected models are: 2006-2009 Buick LaCrosse sedans; 2006-2007 Chevrolet TrailBlazer and 2006 TrailBlazer EXT; 2006-2007 GMC Envoy and 2006 Envoy XL; 2006-2007 Buick Rainier; 2006-2008 Saab 9-7X and 2006-2008 Isuzu Ascender midsize SUVs. If the headlamp driver modules is not operating correctly, the low-beam headlamps and daytime running lamps could intermittently or permanently fail to illuminate. This condition does not affect the high-beam headlamps, marker lamps, turn signals, or fog lamps. GM has not been able to confirm whether the HDMs in these vehicles caused any vehicle accidents. The total population, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico and exports from North America is 316,357. The NHTSA was sent the Part 573 information for this recall on November 25. It has not yet posted to the NHTSA website. Featured Gallery 2008 Buick LaCrosse CXS News Source: General Motors Recalls Buick Chevrolet GM GMC Isuzu Saab SUV Sedan chevy trailblazer buick rainier isuzu ascender
Buick shows off new Ultra Luxury Interior for LaCrosse
Sun, 27 Apr 2014The options sheet of the 2014 Buick LaCrosse gets all kinds of fancy with the addition of the Ultra Luxury Interior. Pointing its Tri-Shield logo at the world of haute luxury, the cabin treatment combines sangria leather with ebony accents, shadow tamo ash wood trim and a microsuede headliner to "drive fashion forward."
You'll need to start with LaCrosse models with the 3.6-liter V6 and either the Leather, Premium or Premium II trims to go all Brioni and Buckingham on the cabin, and the privilege package will run you $2,495. We're told that you won't find such contrasting hues anywhere else in the class, though, and that kind of exclusivity might make any price a bargain.
You can find more information on the Ultra Luxury Interior in the press release below, along with some intensely fashion-foward gobbledygook.