LucerneOwner

I read in a 2007 Lucerne promo of the "NEW DOUBLE ISOLATED” powertrain mounting system. Does anyone know whether this is different/better than they used in 2006? My own experience with my 2006 CX is that the engine noise isolation is not as good as it could be, and not as good as it was in my previous 1999 LeSabre. Otherwise, it's a nice, quiet car, especially after the source of an annoying vibration under acceleration was found & corrected by the dealer. If better mounts are now available, I'd be interested in retrofitting them to my 2006, if that's possible.

EUREKA & WUNDERBAR -- IT'S FIXED!!! Thank you ALL, especially ponchoman49, Sajeev Mehta and others who have been so informative and/or supportive during this C&G Forum topic in my hoped-for clarification of annoying engine growl/noise problems in my 2006 LUCERNE CX. I started out wondering if I was alone in my particular disappointment in this car, and not being very knowledgable generally in this subject matter. After these 50+ posts and a little additional research, I was much better able to articulate my dissatisfaction to my dealer, and with more confidence from understanding and knowing I was not alone. I was also somewhat lucky, in that there is now a new service manager there, who intervened (after my regular service advisor brushed me off in this third visit for the same problems), and decided to have his best technician revisit the situation. Well, unlike the previous go-around, this guy was just what the doctor ordered -- knew right away what I was complaining about, and said he had some ideas for a solution. Both he and the manager were gone by the time I picked up the car, but he managed very significant improvement in BOTH situations: (1) brief growl/shudder accelerating from a stop, and (2) excessive engine noise in the cabin at all speeds when accelerating. I called back this morning to give my thanks & positive feedback and find out what they did. Here's what I THINK he said: there's apparently an adjustable strap that limits how much the engine can 'rock' on the mounts during acceleration. If it rocks too far, then both problems (1) & (2) above can occur, in part because too much resulting angle on the exhaust can cause contact (with something). It's amazing how much improvement a half-inch adjustment of that strap made. I think this Forum has achieved one of its primary purposes, namely, to educate and give better insight into complex car problems. Another lesson, is NOT to give up when you believe something is just not right, and the service manager thanked me for that instead of just going away as a disgruntled customer. Thanks again to all, as my CX is now quiet enuf to satisfy even a persnickity quiet-freak like me ... no, it's not perfect, but I never said it had to be.

Thanks for your additional insight on this problem. I have have carefully and respectfully drafted a 1-page letter to my Buick Service Advisor (cc: to the Service Manager) which I will take with me in my next service visit. I have included your insightful historical perspectives (paraphrased for brevity) and even offered to cooperate with them in resolving/mitigating this issue. I specifically asked if there are other TSBs or aftermarket products that would be helpful. If nothing comes of their efforts, I figure this letter will be a good background show of good faith and cooperation on my part when/if I take it to the next level (Regional Manager or even Bob Lutz himself). Just curious: if I pursued a custom fix on my own, is replacement by the 3.6L DOHC V6 possible, and, if so, about what kind of cost might be incurred?

I already explained that ... distractions plus my focus on hopeful remediation of residual problems in my 1999 (wind/road/etc). It never occurred to me that Buick would take a step backward from having already solved engine noise so beautifully in the 1999 LeSabre, but I still fault myself for missing it. Keep in mind we're talking somewhat subtle effects here, altho very annoying once one's attention becomes focussed solely on them. As far as memory/mind degrading with age, come back when you're 70 or so and tell me you're just as sharp as you are now. Not all of us would be so lucky. Exactly, plus my priorities & viewpoint are just different. To me silence is golden and is the essence of quality & luxury feeling in a car. i don't like to hear an engine even if it does sound good, whatever that means, and I certainly don't need noise to tell me the car is alive ... I see movement outside and I feel power/acceleration.

Don't know about the LaCrosse. Road/wind noise (& therefore QUIET-TUNING) isn't an issue at low speeds where the noticable Lucerne V6 growl accelerating from zero occurs. On the other hand, when accelerating at higher speeds, or downshifting on mountain upgrades at highway speeds, the loud engine/exhaust noise might be masked better prior to Q-T of those 2 noise sources. Even so, there's no question in my mind that the Lucerne has much more engine noise under load and/or accelerating at higher speeds than did my 1999 LeSabre. My friends and I used to marvel how unobtrusively the 1999 would downshift on Arizona mountain upgrades -- we would barely be aware of it because the transmission was so silky-smooth and the engine so quiet. If I understand Ponchoman49 correctly, this higher speed engine noise in an accelerating Lucerne probably has more to do with the exhaust system than the engine mounts.

Hey, cool! Never heard of it. Thanks.

I'm ashamed to say I don't think I was paying close enuf attention in my test drive, and didn't wring it out thoroughly enuf. I may have been distracted by the salesman and my wife being in the car with me, and the newness of the car. Also, I was focussed on the alleged reduction in wind noise in the QUIET-TUNING hype, since that was the primary source of noise in my 1999 LeSabre. I was impressed. Because engine noise was not an issue in the 1999, I guess it never occurred to me that it might be in the Lucerne, and kinda tuned out that possibility. I don't know for sure ... the old memory is fading now. I do know that the 2 subsequent Lucerne rentals I had (during servicing of mine) had the engine problem, but by then I was looking for it. And now we know all 3 Lucernes that Panchoman49 tested and that Sajeev Mehta tested (and that CR tested) had the engine noise/vibration discussed here. My suspicion is that many/most Lucernes have this problem (except maybe when the planets align), but that many people don't notice or care. I've even come across several people on these web Forums who LIKE a growly sound coming from under the hood ... a macho thing, I guess. There may not be many persnickety folks, like me, for whom SILENCE is so very golden, and/or who were previously spoiled by a super-quiet engine like the (late model year) 1999 LeSabre, as described by Panchoman49.

Pretty good choice, but too pricey for me. I think, if I can get this excesssive engine noise/vibration in my LUCERNE CX rectified, that I will have perhaps the finest luxury sedan for the money in the world. I put on W/W Goodyear ComforTreds (quieter/smoother than orig Bridgestones), which not only dress it up spiffy, but make it sportier-looking ... give the APPEARANCE of 19" wheels while still retaining the softer ride of its 16" wheels. The car is that metallic sand color ... can't remember what they call it. You like Meryl Streep? I like Meryl Streep. Cheers!

You're CLOSE! I don't want to hear anything from the car itself (or wind or road). Ideally, I would like to have utter silence, except for music from the CD or radio, or quiet conversation.

This Ponchoman49 post is an amazing revelation that corroborates EXACTLY my experience with engines in my quiet/smooth (late model year) 1999 LeSabre Ltd & noisy/gruff (early model year) 2006 Lucerne CX. Thank you! Thank you! I had hoped that, if I persisted long enuf on this Forum, someone knowledgable would come along and illuminate this most disappointing aspect of my Lucerne CX. I will copy/print this info and take it with me to my next service appointment. I think the dealer may learn something from this which will hopefully enable him to mitigate the problem(s). I think he was on the right track when he followed TSB protocol and replaced 1 engine mount (he said orig DESIGN was defective) and then used a procedure to allow the engine to "self-align" itself to all 4 mounts to minimize mounting stress. That partially corrected the annoying brief buzz/vibration accelerating from zero, but not the general noise level under acceleration at other speeds. However, I don't believe the exhaust system has yet been addressed. QUESTION: Do you know of any current aftermarket components (like that NAPA hard rubber engine mount or exhaust components) that would help my situation now? That might be very helpful, although the dealer might tell me my warranty would be voided. Thanks again!

I haven't kept up with CR's reviews over the years, but I wouldn't be surprised that they favored certain foreign brands, especially Toyota/Lexus. My take on the domestic car industry is that they became complacent, uncompetitive and unresponsive to the public's needs & desires. Finally they got the message and some domestics have made significant strides getting back into the game, but the stiff competition is still there. I can't find online what CR had to say about my old 1999 LeSabre. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have liked the wallowy ride or handling, but that is of little consequence to me, as handling is not an issue for a very conservative driver like me. For me, silence is golden, and I can't imagine CR would have anything disparaging to say about engine noise in the 1999 .... maybe high speed wind noise, but not low speed engine noise, even under acceleration. it was, simply, an amazing car in that respect, as my friends who rode in it can attest, so it is most disappointing to me that Buick took a step backwards in this one respect.

.... and yet I find their assessments of pros and cons to be pretty much in line with those of my own experience as a conservative driver (average 24.3 MPG, 1st 8000 miles, balanced city/highway), so why do you judge them so harshly?

Thanks, I've done that, and their canned answer was, "We here at the Customer Assistance Center are not able, nor equipped to make any specific or conclusive diagnosis over the internet as to how your engine's volume can be decreased. It is for this reason that we rely heavily on the Service Staff at Buick dealerships to provide our customers with any type of mechanical diagnosis .....". In other words, there is no such thing as corporate customer service. As mentioned earlier, I've gone the dealership service route, with limited success, but will try once more. I'm very disappointed in this cop-out from BUICK.COM ... you'd think they could run this by their R&D/design experts and/or the people at Buick who create/issue the Technical Service Bulletins to the dealerships.

Thanks, maybe I'll write to Bob Lutz after giving my dealer one more chance. It's strange, though, that more complaints like mine haven't surfaced in this Forum, as I've read similar complaints on other web sites. The road test reviewer for CR, for instance, lists the "coarse engine" as one of the "low points" for the Lucerne and sez the "V6 is rough and sounds harsh when pushed", altho he indicates it is "unobtrusive". Maybe so, for most people, but that is a subjective matter. For someone like me, for whom silence is so very golden and who was spoiled by the extraordinary silence of my previous 1999 LeSabre Ltd, this gruff engine is not so unobtrusive. For me it's very annoying. Another reviewer said the engine makes the Lucerne sound like a generic airport rental sedan, which may be an overstatement, but I read in all of this that my situation is NOT unique and may well be endemic to the car itself, just not a point of contention for non-perfectionists and those not spoiled by previous experience.

Thanks for your comments. I bring up this issue again only because I'm hoping eventually to stumble upon someone here besides Sajeev Mehta who has experienced and understands my same problem and, even better, has a suggested solution. Inasmuch as my dealer can't seem to help further, I don't know what else to do. They're ordinarily pretty good, and my family has been with them many years, so I have no particular reason to believe I would get better service elsewhere, and I wouldn't have any idea where that might be. Maybe I'll give them one more chance. Sigh! At this point, I'm pretty much disillusioned with Buick, worn down, and an unhappy camper. This will probably end up being my last Buick. Now, I just wish I could have a new 1999 LeSabre Ltd, like my last one. That would make me a happy camper.