Items to look for when purchasing a 1997 to 2005 Buick Park Avenue

This list is based on my vehicle and reading internet forums and shouldn't be construed as perfect. The list should be applicable to 1997 to 2005 park avenues and possibly lesabres:

• Heating and air blend door motors. These motor direct where air comes out of the dash.
• Upper intake plenum (non supercharged engine) when fails coolant can leak into engine (bad!)
• Lower intake manifold gaskets. Super and non supercharged engine. When fails coolant can leak into engine.
• Intermittent stability control system warning.   A common failure item is a sensor in the steering column that tells the computer the steering wheel position.
• Heater hose elbows. These plastic elbows pass coolant thru the serpentine belt tensioner on the front of the engine to the intake manifold and water pump.They are plastic in a hot engine compartment and crack and leak with age. Their is an aftermarket aluminum version available from Dorman. These are usually replaced when the intake manifold gaskets are replaced.
• Rear self leveling air suspension. Failure modes include compressor, leaks in tubing, or the air shock leaks. System can be replaced with a simpler system.
• Up / down movement in power seat. There is a plastic gear that fails. You will hear the motor run, but the seat will not move up or down. I have read that GM wants to sell you the whole seat track. If you want to fix just the problem there is a brass replacement gear available on ebay. It is a little bit of work as the existing shaft has to be modified to accept the brass gear.
• Oil pressure reading on digital information system will constantly read 130 psi. Usually a bad sending unit.
• Trunk leaks
• Front struts usually need replacing by this time.
• Power windows are slow or inoperative.
• Motor and transmission mounts
• Hard shifts when the transmission is warm. Hard shifts go away after the car is restarted. Culprit is usually pressure control solenoid in the transmission.I haven't seen any youtube repair videos on a park avenue, but on General Motors cars with a similar motor and transmission such as the Chevrolet Impala it is possible to partially lower the transmission on the car and replace the solenoid. It is fairly labor intensive and a decision would need to be made if the car is worth the cost and if a complete a transmission would be a better choice than replacing one part on an old transmission.

After reading this list I can see why the original owner was ready to get a new car. To have a shop perform all the repairs would cost thousands of dollars. However, it isn't as bad as it seems. Some items such as the stability control system don't need to be fixed. If you are handy you have the ability to drive in a luxury car that you probably wouldn't be able to afford. 

On my car the up / down motion on the power seat was broken and the car had the original upper plenum, lower intake gasket, and heater hose elbows and worn struts. With knowledge of these issues i was able to reduce the purchase price.

I missed the service stability system, high (130 psi) oil pressure reading, and one inoperable rear window.