No-start or intermittent start failure on the 1998 Buick Lesabre
5 fires 5 of the 22 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 1998 Buick Lesabre report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 80,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 23,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57,000 miles | 59,627 miles | 62,363 miles | 78,352 miles | 80,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 1998 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
In november,2002, our vehicle would not start. We took it to the local licensed mechanic and he discovered the upper manifold and gasket were disintegrated. On further research he obtained a copy of a bulletin from general motors that stated if you have to replace the upper manifold, also replace the lower. Our mechanical insurance paid for the upper but not the lower. We wrote to gm and after a few e-mails, of course they said no way. I do not understand why there has not been a recall on this problem. It could be a very dangerous situation. I ask you to look on the internet address: http://www.petitionline.com/mod_per/signed.cgi?gmcnsmrs. You will find 3700 + or - signatures and stories of similar gasket problems. Please see what you can do about this. I believe gm knows they have had a gasket problem.
The consumer stated the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was taken to an independent shop and the mechanic determined that the intake manifold cracked. *ak the problem was due to a faulty fuel pressure regulator. The consumers VIN was not included the recall. *sc *jb
After starting the vehicle, a fire started in the engine compartment. The consumer managed to exit the vehicle. *ak there was no warning light. The key was turned to start the engine when the backfire occurred. The service dealer used the old parts that were damaged to repair the vehicle. After the repair, the vehicle would not start. The vehicle needed a new engine from the fire. (the coolant had leaked into the cylinder and caused it to leak) recall#04v090000 the consumer requested reimbursement. *sc *jb
Also reported on the 1998 Buick Lesabre
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
Other electrical problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Alternator or charging system failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 1998 Buick Lesabre?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 1998 Buick Lesabre?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed