GabrielT Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) So ever since I bought my car it has felt a little gutless. It is a 2002 Buick Le Sabre so it's not exactly sporty but it should have a bit of oomph. Be aware that I can really only talk to my dad by phone as he is far away from me. A couple weeks ago it started running REALLY rough, like it would choke and cough under acceleration of any kind. I nice bang loss of power then another bang as the engine coughed back to life and made the whole car shake. Very pleasant. Thought it was water in the gas, ran the tank dry then I filled it with premium, no luck. At this point I called my dad, master of all things with engines. Dad says "sounds like a sticky PCV valve, they are like $5" and I say "sweet I love it when things are cheap"... how wrong was I. In taking out the pvc valve I completely broke off both retaining clips. New PCV cover $20. Car runs really nice for about 30 miles then starts doing the same old. Frustrated I proceed to drive like a complete butt which probably makes things worse. I take the car to the car parts place and ask them what they think. Their responses are "fuel filter, air filter, spark plugs, plug wires, fuel pump," no one mentions MAF sensor. Hint: The problem isn't the MAF sensor. So I do the cheap things, replace air and fuels filters which needed changing anyways. Checked plugs and wires. Replaced two plug wires I broke... and still no change. I drive around like this for a week. My dad says he thinks it's a vacuum leak off handedly. I chuckle and notice my engine light is on. I go the the car place where they read the codes and it all points to MAF sensor. I clean my old one with no change in performance. At this point the car wont idle at all and dies randomly while driving. I become desperate. I buy said MAF sensor for $120, it is a re manufactured one too. No change >.< My dad says, I will drive up, trade you cars and limp yours home. I say limp it too the scrap yard but he ignores me. 2 days later I get a call, my dad says "it was a vacuum leak, the person (me) who installed a new PCV valve pinched an O-Ring and the car basically thought it must have been driving in a pure oxygen atmosphere" he went on to add "I figured it would give it a little light tuning while I was working on it, nothing that costs any money, just time". I get the car back and it runs better and has more power than when it was new. I'm not kidding, yesterday to see how it was running I took it out and the results were impressive. Le Sabre Official Stats New are: 0-60 8.9 seconds. Quarter Mile 86 MPH in 16.5 seconds. 205HP 230lb-ft torque. 3600lbs curb curb wieght. Le Sabre with 230,000 Miles are : 0-60 7.5 seconds. Quarter Mile 93 MPH Probably mid 15s. Oh and now it will smoke the tires with ease. Horse power unknown. I weigh 230lbs and I have about 150lbs of stuff in the trunk. Also top speed limiter seems to have forgotten that the car is limited to 105 and didn't step in to slow me down until 110mph. Moral of story, let dad work on cars. After which they run better than they did new. Edited April 3, 2011 by gabrieltessin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazwegion Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) ROTFLMAO good story! Although it's not always the case generally our Dad's (and elders) have assumed much knowledge through experience in their lives, to leave it "untapped" it to waste a excellent resource, Gabriel's Dad FTW! Edited March 31, 2011 by tazwegion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 Awesome glad you got it straightened out, with benefits!! What kinda mileage does that whale get? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Capitan Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 Lol, did you tell your dad that YOU installed the new PVC valve, or you letting that one slide? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielT Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Awesome glad you got it straightened out, with benefits!! What kinda mileage does that whale get? Well even when it was running very badly I was getting 18mpg in town delivering pizza and 30mpg highway. Last time I filled up I averaged 21mpg in the city and I wasn't exactly driving to get good mileage. I credit this to the fact that it is no longer burning rich enough to for the exhaust to be seen as gray. Lol, did you tell your dad that YOU installed the new PVC valve, or you letting that one slide? He knew at the time that I was who replaced the part lol. He was just giving me a hard time. Edited March 31, 2011 by gabrieltessin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandoPatriot Posted April 2, 2011 Posted April 2, 2011 http://www.regalgs.org/ If you are not already a member, join up. We have a few LeSabre guys on there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop245 Posted April 2, 2011 Posted April 2, 2011 its pcv valve not pvc thats a type of pipe hehe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielT Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 (edited) its pcv valve not pvc thats a type of pipe hehe I was saying it PCV the other day and I was corrected by someone to call it PVC instead. I was like hmmm, eh whatever and it stuck. Thanks for pointing that out though. Now edited to make me feel like less of a noob. Edited April 3, 2011 by gabrieltessin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F13Bubba Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 I was saying it PCV the other day and I was corrected by someone to call it PVC instead. I was like hmmm, eh whatever and it stuck. Thanks for pointing that out though. PCV= positive crankcase ventilation, PVC= Polyvinyl chloride. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop245 Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 PCV= positive crankcase ventilation, PVC= Polyvinyl chloride. i knew what pvc stood for but forgot what pcv stood for lol or i would have posted that too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locutus Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Sexy! Now time to get that limiter off of there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielT Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Sexy! Now time to get that limiter off of there. I have been looking into it. If I could find someone with a tuner for my car I would. I am not going to drop $300 buck to buy my own for a car that has so many miles. It does accelerate really hard up to the limiter but I got pulled over for 102 last year so more speed isn't what I really need. I have video games for that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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