Buick LeSabre: No Heat & A Vibrating Dash 

I appreciate the holistic view here. Life expectancy of the vehicle, life expectancy of the owner, and knowing your customers and the history on their cars. It's good to know there are mechanics like you taking the long view and advising customers instead of mugging them.

You didn't change the heater core because you're an honest mechanic looking out for your customers!

Happy new year everybody

"in the case of old Buick drivers, well things happen". Mr. O callin' it like it is! Those LeSabres and Park Avenues were great cars, plastic elbows not withstanding. Cruise down the road in Buick comfort at 80 mph and 32 mpg all day long.❤️ Great video.

Buick LeSabre Story: Back when I was in High School (70s), my buddies dad had a new Buick LeSabre. He was a mechanic in the Air Force and loved to tinker on the cars while wearing a cool Air Force Coverall. He always had a beer with him. One day he was working under the hood of the Buick (huge hood), and had his beer can sitting on the plastic radiator cover on top. He closed the hood, the beer can was DOA, and there was a hole in the plastic cover! Some mistakes make good memories!

Next time you do a heater core flush it would be nice to get a money shot of the first blast of gunk coming out of it. It would be interesting to see how plugged it has to be to get a no heat complaint.

Several years ago I had a 2008 Toyota Yaris with the big 1.5 that I kept outside and it was my daily commuter car. One fairly cool morning I went out, started the car and after a few minutes I turned up the blower motor to high. Suddenly I heard a skittering across the inside of the dashboard. A mouse was inside the duct and ran headlong into the blower to which caused it to squeak loudly and killed the mouse. It also caused the blower to be badly out of balance and shook the dash like it was going to leap out of the car. I had to get going so I turned the blower to the lowest setting (still shaking but not bad) and went to work. By quitting time it had already started to smell. Needless to say I wish it was as easy as that Buick to clean the blower out. I could have done it that morning and saved the assault on my nose. Thanks for all the great videos Mr. O!

Great video Eric. Preventative maintenance is part of mechanics...the goal is to keep the rig in good running condition with smaller amounts of dough vs replacing the part, making the time down longer and more expensive for the owner. I do like that air/water gun you have Eric...slick puppy:-) Happy New Year everybody:!!

Great job. You fixed everything with minimal hassle for yourself and reasonable cost to your customer.

My late dad loved his LeSabre. He bragged about the 35+ mpg's he got on trips. They were pretty decent automobiles for a GM product. His was a 90's something model.

Always enjoy watching other people work on these engines. I've owned many over the years and have a Bonneville right now with 238k on it and I'd drive it about anywhere.

I remember the old '70 Dodge Dart we had that self-cleaned all the leaves out of the blower/ducts in Spring. You'd be going down the road, decide you wanted some cooling air, open the doors in the footwell. All the leaves and dust would hit you in the face, but the system was clean for the year.

all the sudden after you said flush gun, I get the music from love gun by KISS going through my brain. I'm broken. lol

Happy new year to you and your family. I really enjoy watching all of your videos. As a former mechanic myself I tip my hat to you sir.

Video suggestion: do an April fools video where you only show the boring stuff like cleaning up after a job (discarding fluids), putting tools away, paperwork, ordering parts, etc. It’s good for us to see the behind-the-scenes work that goes in to jobs. Thank you for your amazing videos! I watch them every day!

Thanks for the video. Used that power flush tool on my winter heater yesterday. I first learned about that handy tool in one of your videos. Have a good 2023 Mr O.

Buick is a good car and the 3800 series v6 is one of the best engines out there. Good job

I wish I had a shop in town that would actually take the time to do this right. Gold standard of maintenance on this channel every time.

I did it last week. New water pump, complete system flush, both front, and rear heater cores. New 50-50 antifreeze. It works great and puts out mega heat! Good for another 10 years. Southern California Soccer-mom van...

Thanks I Learn every time I watch you Mr. O”

Master mechanic at work. Premium service. Intelligence matters. Bobs your uncle little fella.

The 3.8 V6 was hard to beat. Had an Olds 98 with that motor. Great MPG and never let us down.

Love those Buicks and of course your outro. It may be the best on the interwebs.

I really like how you treat each and every job with the utmost care. Thank you for sharing your talents.

Affirmative on the DexCool It ate up my heater core and made my car a sauna and it filled my radiator with mud. Great product that GM said had no problems. WRONG!!!!

2000 - 2005 Buick LeSabre my favorite car, great engine , a/c and heater, stuck to the road , replacements parts were cheap. my biggest gripes were the coolant elbows and rusting by the gas door.

Best channel for Mechanics and Non Mechanics

Buick/Pontiac 3.8L V6 is one Gm few bulletproof engines

Thank you Eric, I watched one of your previous videos where you use CLR to flush a heater core. So I did it to my Ram and it worked awesome! After 18 years of turning wrenches I thought I knew a lot, until I started watching your videos and saw you do some things a bit easier. Thanks again for all your videos they definitely help.

"Contact: Oh, it's a 3.8, Contact: Vroom. I love it. I love that flusher tool. I wish I had that when my Geo Metro ran (before the motor went). it never got warm! Years and years ago, an old mechanic told me to run Dawn soap through my system and so I did, you would not believe the goo that came out! Made a ton of bubbles when flushing! Great on trying to save the heater core and flushing the whole system. You're a good man that runs a good business. Hope the New Year brings you many blessings!

Hey Eric. I just found your channel a few months ago, and wanted to say I really appreciate your approach to the repairs you do. No endless rattling and goofball chatter… you get to the basics of just getting the job done well, with added side notes, when needed. Just wanted to put my 2 cents in on that. Wish there were Many more honest auto mechanics like you. Thanks!

He will be back just because of your honesty, that is money in the bank baby !

Great to see such a professional, thorough job. We used a flush machine at my old job but with a restriction in the heater core, it wouldn't have done much for the problem. Great work as usual.

Eric, you da man!! Love your videos. You’re so honest and tell it like it is.

My first visit to your channel, Eric, and I absolutely admire your honesty, work ethic and competence. I am addicted to The Car Care Nut (I have 2 Toyotas) and Rainman Ray in Florida. And now I add you to my subscriptions. Thanks for your video and you three will keep me entertained and give some needed knowledge.

Eric!!! Great to see you here posting. Happy New Year!!

Thinking of stuff getting sucked into the blower, way back when I had a 65 Rambler Classic 660. Fired it up with snow on the cowl vent. A horrendous crunching sound and a pile of snow was deposited on the floor board. 😮 Quite a surprise. Never happened again, but of course I am more diligent about cleaning off the vent afterwards

Word of advice on the GM 3100 / 3800 engines. Where the heater hoses connect to the engine are plastic elbows and they do break. You can get metal ones as replacement. I would replace both radiator hoses,T stat, pressure cap, ,water pump, belt and tensioner since you are in there anyway. .Not much extra cost and fill with a 50/50 mix of coolant..

That 3.8l is one dam near indestructible engine top 3 favorite engines

I took one of the small caps from a spray can, cut a hole in it and glued in a section of 3/4" hard plastic tubing. The cap fits perfect on the end of my little shopvac hose, allowing me a smaller extension hose to put into tight areas (especially beside the seats) to vacuum up small debris and such.

27:40 you take care of the customer and they take care of you. We haven’t been screwed by our independent and he gets ALL out work. Burn the customer once and tada are you lost them for life.

I love the fact that you don't mince words, that you're a realist when it comes to the fact that the flushing of the heater core might outlast the owner, or car. Great video as always, and a Prosperous New Year to you and your family 👪

You are the man! Looking out for your customers first and then if it needs it, you change it. You are so right about the length a car lasts up there and undoing a hose for flush is a whole lot less trouble than a heater core that is buried in the dash. Great call!

Had to change the heater core on my brother's car a few years back, no amount of flushing would clear it. Problem was that to change the heater core we had to take out half of the car's interior, dashboard, steering column, front wiring harness, etc, etc. Once it was all out, someone said "oh, you should have cut that plastic panel by the firewall, made a hinge with a soldering iron and the core just slides out". The air was blue. 20 hours later after really struggling to put it all back (the wiring harness got caught up on EVERYTHING) and it was fine.

Happy New year Eric , Vennessia and family! We wish you much success for 2023. You are a great inspiration to all us mere mortals.

Appreciate the approach on the why you flush a heater core vs why you replace it, especially when it's a Buick. Buick just can't shake the "old people's car" label, no matter how much they spend on fancy commercials with young people having fun in them and people amazed that it's a Buick. And with that, comes the need to think of how long your repair job has to last, and how much the person can afford to put into a fix. Lots of these older people are on fixed incomes after all, they can't just drop... usually around $1000 on a heater core replacement after you include labor costs. So being able to get this thing working again with just a heater core flush and cleaning out the squirrel cage blower wheel is a gigantic savings for the customer, and if something else more major goes wrong with the vehicle, chances are they'll remember you saved them money in the past and come to you for help. One of those "earn less now to earn more later" kind of things, if you get what I'm trying to say. If you don't hit the customer with a sticker shock every time they visit you, they'll probably bring it to you for more minor stuff more often. Stop thinking of the up-sell, and think of the future-sell instead.

A Very Happy New Year to everyone.. Health and Happiness..

I have this same engine in my Australian Commodore but RWD. For some reason they don't put the oil filler neck on them, it's just a cap on the rocker cover. Sure makes filling the oil a pita, I mean I could get a funnel but who's got time for that! Happy new year!

You mention the thermostat neck at 15:46, and that's why I'm with this guy and I purge all dexcool and run universal. I've always thought that was DexRot that destroyed the neck.

Good job. I appreciate your honesty. I'm a disabled veteran that lives on a small, fixed income. My respects.

Nice job I’m sure the owner appreciates your effort & honesty !

Oh-oh, I think I need to add one of those flush-gun tools to my shop 🙂 Thanks Eric for all your helpful videos, I really appreciate them!

Had a 97, 98, 99, 05 Buick Park avenue 3800 engine changed to the aluminum elbows and intake gasket on all four. Pretty much all I did to all four of them. Great cars.

Happy New Year, SMA!!! As a bearing aficionado, we need more bearing videos! That's your new year's resolution in 2023!

Thanks Eric for all that you do. I didnt know the tricks of flushing the radiator,but thank you. Thanks for taking care of the customer,and you always do a good job!

Love to see a professional mechanic do this job, I always learn new tricksfrom your videos . Happy New Years!🍻

Ahhh the old Buick 3800, love those things, helped put my kids thru school, ok slight exaggeration. But when you said 2005 I was amazed it hasn't rusted away....Fluid Film to the rescue!

Watching one of your streams is just how I wanted to strat 2023 thanks for the video

Great video!! I just did the cooling system on my truck. Reversed flushed everything including the heater core. Installed factory antifreeze, all good.

Excellent work as usual. Good to see an honest mechanic that does not do unnecessary work.

I love those 3800's. Back in the time when the manufacturer actually engineered serviceability into their vehicles.

good fix Eric.

I was just watching this with my wife's family and we discovered that you are less than 100 miles from where she was born and lived for 5 years. She's an adopted Floridian now..... Happy New Year and thanks for the video.

HEY! It's that guy! Thanks for that. Always a good time hearing it.

Happy new year Eric. Hope this Buick driver is around for many more episodes on south main auto. 👍

16:51 Great flush job…back flushing the radiator was a good idea. With the older brass radiators we would unsolder the upper tank and run a rod through the tubes to break up the scale if the back flushing was not enough. I doubt that rod out jobs are very common these days. If you don’t want scale to build up, then don’t use tap water in your cooling system. Distilled water is a far safer choice.

Appreciated seeing the extra work above a spill & fill fluid replacement. Happy New Year!

I'm a mechanical designer (32 years) for a company that makes turbine controls. My boss put a lift in as a perk. I've had to "figure" out so many repairs on my bosses 2006 VW Phaeton with a W12. Sometimes it will take a couple weeks to figure out a repair and and make some sort of tool. Thanks to you I keep plugging as well as doing my actual day job. And yes you can change a water cooled alternator on a W12 without pulling the entire motor.

i like how you look out for the customer and not try to rip people off. love your channel

Happy New Year, Eric . . . and to your family too. I've learned so much from your channel. In fact, Santa brought me a set of impact sockets this year!

Perfect timing my neighbor just bought a 2000 Buick , I can help him out if it needs one ! Thanks Eric! Peace & love brother! Jeff T . Taunton mass.

I'm a huge fan of how thero you are with these types of jobs. I have seen so many techs just half ass a flush and never fixing a single problem. My hat is off to you sir.

Have been driving for near 50 years and worked on cars for many of those years mostly in the southern states. Just curious why this is more of an issue up north vs down south. Now I have changed quite a few heater cores but it was due to leaking not because of plug gage Great job Mr O.

Customers appreciate the care in removing the hoses with a pick. I had a hose leak driving through Montana once. Simple hose replacement job by a mechanic's baboon touch resulted in hot antifreeze dripping on my leg and a heater core replacement, albeit 40 miles down the highway later.

I love it when he refers to NY as PRNY-so true....

My 99 y/o grandmother still has her 1992 Buick here in the Deep South. The Sun has destroyed the cloth interior and the dash. Car has less than 95K miles. It rarely leaves the carport anymore. We come drive it at least once a week to drive her to the store or Church. I don't think this car has ever been above 50 mph.

If your customers trust you, they will come back again and again. Win for your customer and, win for yourself. Plus word of mouth recommendation is the best advertising possible. Does your shop ever get on a first name basis with any of your customers? It always seems a friendly place to be.

Great job Eric. An honest man can look at himself in a mirror an be proud.

Those Buicks were one of the best cars that GM ever made. I had a 1999 that I drove for 15 years in the salt until the brake line to the rear started to leak.

Happy new year! Stay warm-ish!

I'm glad you didn't go too far that fuel gauge was pretty low...Thanks for your videos Happy New Year to you and your family.

Eric, it's good to see a guy that takes care of his customers needs with proper maintenance. That heater core is a trap for debris / contamination in the cooling system. The system flush will probably last the life of the car and no unneeded parts or labor was required to solve the problem. Good on you!

Welcome to 2023! looking forward to more great videos. I always learn something, watching you.

Eric, this is the best radiator/heater core flush I have ever seen done. your procedure is by far more superior than running a caustic cleaner through the cooling system.

Cast iron engines like this are notorious for sludging/scaling up without regular coolant changes, and it always ends up in the heater core. This is one case where the universal coolant really doesn't cut it unless you're changing it almost yearly (not that I disagree with just following what the customer wants). Your heater core flush method is flawless, I sure wish I had something like that in the past after owning several cars like this lmao

Another excellent video. Always replacing a part that can be cleaned/rebuilt/gunk blown out, makes a customer happier than if parts are replaced every time the car is in the shop -- unless there's no other choice. However, if parts are being replaced every time the car is in the shop, maybe it's time to spend parts money on another car.

Very thorough Eric, Nice work

I've always done my coolant flushes by: Pop the upper radiator hose, run it to a bucket. Drain the radiator itself to a pan, cork it. Drain the overflow tank. Fill radiator with distilled water. Open heater fully. Run engine until the thermostatic relief valve (what they keep calling a 'thermostat') opens. Keep adding distilled water until the water into the bucket runs clear. Cut off engine. Drain radiator and cork, add coolant concentrate until you hit the 50/50 point for the car. If you can't add enough, start the engine, drain out a bit more distilled until you have concentrate right. Reconnect all hoses. Fill overflow with 50/50. Start engine. Keep adding 50/50 to radiator as it refills the upper hose. It doesn't have to be perfect. As long as it's at least 40% coolant, you're good. If you hit 60% coolant, you're still okay. You can do a drain and fill after a year with 50/50 mix. If you keep up with drain and fills, you'll keep your fluid fresh. Caveat: Some systems now are built where you HAVE to use a machine to drain and fill. (Ford trucks). Others, like the Mazda 5, have the drain hose _partway down the side of the radiator_. You'll need to cork that so that what you pour into the radiator cap doesn't come straight out. (if you have a new hose you're going to install anyway, just cut the hose in the middle, one side to pinch off, the other to be connected to go to the bucket) You _will_ go through a lot of distilled water, but it's not like you're going to do this monthly, or even yearly. This should be an every three years type thing. You _can_ do the flush with distilled and premix. Do the same thing as the distilled, except keep pouring in the premix until the water coming out _isn't_ clear. (Or you can use the premix in place of the distilled water, but that's a bit more expensive than using distilled to make sure everything flushes out clear)

Great job on the coolant and changing out the thermostat. Remember if we can’t do it you can ! Lol 😂

"Oh you STINKPOT!" My favorite epithet when I work on a car around my grandson.

Happy new year Eric to you and the family! Keep up the excellent work and videos.

Hello Eric! Wishing you, Mrs. O. , and your Family, a Safe, Healthy and Happy New Year. 🎈🎊🎆

But the way you did it is the best because you still make a profit and the customer is happy they didn't need to spend thousands on a new heater core and now they have heat.

Happy new year! Tell Mrs OH and the kids we love em! Eric love when you get down to earth and show us brass tracks on labor sir! Especially on the most iconic of cars the 3.8L!

Jay the Florida pool pump motor repair guy. When Service Calls Longwood approved ! that was good info 2 see & know👨‍🔧good job SMAR

I was a mechanic for 20 yrs then a snap on dealer for 35 yrs and techs would always question me what other tools techs use ,what thought worked and what didn't-cooling system bleeders came up a lot European cars always seemed to be the worst, and some trucks-what seemed to work was putting an aspirin tablet in the thermostat valve flap -water flows free-- as it warms up tablet dissolves and system is full --no air trapped--I still work on cars now and then and it worked for me -especially on bmw.

The worst car I ever put a heater core in was a 1979 Ford LTD. I had to hang the dashboard from the seat belts. I put one in a later Marquis (1997) and it was much easier. Still had to loosen the dash. Great video!

You want the customers to come back And tell others, you give them SERVICE. A forgotten concept in so many areas. Good on you!

To me, this is maintenance people should do every couple of years. Coolant only lasts so long. Even if you just do it yourself, it will protect your heating and cooling system for the long haul. BTW how many mechanics would of went the extra mile and flushed out the coolant reservoir and back flushed the radiator. Way to go Mr.O

I agree flush the heater core first b/c it's definitely easier than tearing apart some of the dashes. The older I get the sorer I get the next day.