Things that have gone wrong on aroad trip in a Buick.

[Heath]

My Dad and I were going to Bowling Green last year in my 87 Turbo-t. We got about 2 hours from home and my front seal in my transmission started leaking pretty bad. So we stopped at a parts store bought a gallon of fluid. I decided I did not want to continue, so we headed back home (stopping often to check the fluid level) 2 hours later we are back home. We unload my car into his GN and take off again. We arrive in Bowling Green that night at 12:00.
We had a good week at the races. We loaded up headed back home on our 11hr trip. We had about 4 hrs to go when all of the sudden it was like the car came out of gear. We pulled over looked under the car, no leaks,couldn't smell anything bad. Pulled the gear shift forward and back no gears at all. Had to call my wife and father-in-law to come get us with a trailer. Dad took his car to Mike Kurtz to see what the damage was. The front of the torque converter came apart and took out the front pump. I posted this to see if anyone else has had any back luck with their Buick or if it is just me.:biggrin:

 

[Grumpy]

typical 20 year old used car :redface:

 

[Adam Connell]

flat tire... then someone kicked the **** out of it while it was parked for no reason...

 

[Rocket Power]

Not Buick, but 20 minutes from home after a 6 hour road trip my fuel pump lit on fire and also melted the wiring all the way to the front and started the plastic inner fender on fire. Pump was in the trunk, beside the plastic fuel cell, beside the full nitrous bottle.....

Needless to say I have a different car for this spring and a brand new fuel system. This time it is a A1000 mounted inside a rick's hotrod shop stealth tank.

 

[QuickBuick87]

I use to take my 87 Turbo T on vacation all the time when in the early 90's we were up in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the car kept stalling when climbing a steep mountain. I later found out (as the car was fine in "normal elevations"), that at real high elevations the car was running lean in the real thin air, at least that what my good friend who happen to be a mechanic told me at the time. Man, when your that far from home, and in the middle of a state forrest out in the middle of the BOONIES, and its almost NIGHT , well........it wasn't fun...........:wink:

Ken B.

 

[SouthernCal GN]

Bought my car in Texas, then flew out to pick it up and drive it home. Ran into a Texas hailstorm 2 hours after I left- no damage!

About an hour from home in SoCal, I hear a godawful whine when I went to merge onto the freeway.........pulled into a parts store, and took off the inlet pipe....I see broken blades and a wobbly shaft

Pull a McGuyver and rig the inlet pipe directly to the throttle body, and nurse her home. Did you know the GN is a dog without the turbo.......

 

[turbo nasty]

Had a gut felling before a trip to grab a extra MAF as a precaution and about halfway back home I give the GN some throttle to merge into traffic and it stumbles and bucks and the SES flashes.

Pull over scroll through the SM and wall a bad MAF code. Grabed my screwdriver swapped it on the side of the road and kept cruisin.. Glad I brought it. :biggrin:

Now I always have a extra one in the car. Another time let my bud drive and told him to stomp it and he does and the car surges and bucks... the MAF once again.

 

[87 Pete]

Pull over scroll through the SM and wall a bad MAF code. Grabed my screwdriver swapped it on the side of the road and kept cruisin.. Glad I brought it. :biggrin:
.

I had the same thing happen to me on the Illinois tollway, car starts bucking really badly... pull over, motor shuts off....

Luckily I had an extra MAF in the car, (and a screwdriver on my swiss army knife :biggrin: ), popped it on, and away I went

Pete

 

[Steve V]

2hrs into a 6 hour trip the AC compressor brearing start raoring at 10 PM on a Friday nite! Drove another hour to a hotel and got up in the AM went to advance grabbed a compressor and drove the rest of the the trip praying! Arrived and change the compressor,lost all my R12!!!! Drove home free of incident.:biggrin:

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Going to Philly
20 minutes into the trip
Late night and the car just dies.
I was a victim of the MAS syndrome
Anyway a 20 minute trip turns into a 1 hour drive home.

 

[jasjamz]

1.Fuel line leak while driving down near St. Louis at girlfriends college. Local Firestone type shop patched it up nicely. Enjoyed the rest of the weekend and drove 4 hours back home with no problems.

 

[Quiky One]

Powermaster went out 450 miles from home...quite the tow home

 

[GNRick]

I started this thread a few days ago to help minimize problems on the road:

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/general-turbo-buick-tech/211354-whats-your-trunk.html

 

[CHARGED]

Not a long road trip but went to E-Town 1.5hrs away for the Buick event, paid to race, first run after the burnout the brakes don't feel right but ran it anyway. Well let's say its hard to stop these cars going 115mph without the powermaster.
Get into pits, blown fuse, borrowed another from a fellow racer, tested the brakes a few times and everything is OK, up to the line for the next run and the brakes go again while power braking red light and limp down the track

Days over,changed tires, drove to the nearest auto parts store to pick up more fuses and drove carefully home, toasted 2 more fuses on the way home:biggrin:

 

[87natl]

Buick story, but not my GN.....

We had a 77 Buick Lesabre we just used for trips, it sat a lot inbetween times (never a good thing). I head from Northern Va to OC Maryland one morning, pulling a camper/trailer. About a half hour into the trip, my right front brake caliper seizes up, smoke pouring from the fenderwell. I pull off to the side of the road, fortunately had my allen wrenches with me, pulled the caliper off and tied it up to the frame to get it off the rotor.

So now I'm driving down the highway pulling a trailer...with one front brake.

Then, at about 65 MPH, one of the wheels flies off the trailer. I'm fishtailing all over route 50, trying to keep from jacknifing the trailer. Get over to the side of the highway and pull the spare out of the camper. Had to rob two lugs from the other wheel so I can bolt if back on, 2 lugs per wheel now, LOL!

About 45 miles later, that spare blows out, and there I am swerving again....

I go to get the other spare out of the trailer, but its low on air. So i walk 2 miles each way to a gas station to get air for the spare, bolt it on, and finally make it to OC..........just a few hours later than planned.

Screw it, I was on vacation and going to the beach...BEACH OR BUST!!!!!!

 

[SVORay]

It's not that bad but 15 mins into a 6hr drive ( night time) I noticed my park lights wasn't working. Pulled over and replaced a fuse...it poped as soon as I started the car. We drove close behind it with the chase car the rest of the trip. Later I found out it had a bad dimmer switch.

 

[Roc87]

Have replaced a Crank sensor 3 times, one of which was about 30 miles out of town. Bearings in the alternator went out in Pueblo colorado, got a "reman" from autozone (Kept my core), a week later it stoped charging. Took it back and demanded my money back, took my old one to be rebuilt. Stock MAF went out, but it was in town, and I was still able to drive it. "Reman" maf went out about 3 months after that, then I swapped to the Trans+ and LT1 maf.

If I were to drive it to BG (Which I'd love to do) I would have an extra;

Crank Sensor, cam sensor cap, ignition module, coil pack, belt. A gallon of antifreeze/gallon of distilled water, a few quarts of oil, and a few quarts of tranny fluid. Oh yeah, and a roll of duct tape