Other engine problem on the 1997 Buick Regal
10 fires 10 of the 21 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 other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 1997 Buick Regal report other engine problem at a median of 140,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 110,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 195,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 97,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98,000 miles | 109,393 miles | 138,000 miles | 166,500 miles | 195,000 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, 10 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 $300–$4,000 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 61; the 1997 has 21. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
While driving on the freeway at approximately 65 MPH the pulley wheel from the motor came off. This caused the power steering to go out. Owner had the vehicle towed to the dealer, and was informed that the pulley wheel and drive train pulley belt had to be replaced. *ak
1997 buick regal gs on thursday may 1, 2008 I received in the mail a recall letter from gm. In this letter it explains that these vehicles have higher rocker cover gasket temps. In short, this could lead to vehicle fire and surrounding property. On friday, may 2, 2008, my daughter was driving this vehicle and parked at a friends house. While the car was parked and engine off, the car caught fire in the engine area. The vehicle and contents were totally destroyed. Damage was also caused to the friends house. *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 buick regal. The contact placed oil in the vehicle and noticed that the engine was on fire once he arrived home. The vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames and his neighbor extinguished the fire. The vehicle was destroyed by the time the fire department arrived. There were no injuries. The fire department filed a report. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 200,000.
Also reported on the 1997 Buick Regal
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Wiper or washer failure
Wheel bearing or hub failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 other engine problem happen on the 1997 Buick Regal?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 140,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 110,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 1997 Buick Regal?
21 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