Hello all!

I've been learking now and then for a couple years here. Figured I'd finally join up and ask a question.

First off for my car info. I've had her for about 8 years. It'* my first car and I just picked up another car so I can do work on one and still get around. Been pretty reliable although I've had a few issues.

My current issue:
VIBRATION

This car has always been amazing at highway cruising. Hop on a main road, set cruse control and it would just go at any speed happily. Great overdrive and smooth ride.

Over the past year+ it has been slowly getting a front end vibration that is speed dependent. It would also vibrate and pulse on deceleration. I had a crappy job so didn't have the ability to do much about it till recently. At its worse the vibration would start a little before 60MPH and pretty much limit me to 60 unless I wanted to risk shaking the poor car to death.

Over the past month or so I changed the front brakes which completely removed the deceleration vibration. I also changed a wheel bearing, balanced tires, rotated tires, checked ball joints, and checked tierod ends.

Everything I have done so far has helped a little. After all is said and done I can now go almost 70MPH with just slight shaking. Thing is after that it still gets quite bad.

Things I suspect:
Control arm bushings are pretty cracked, but not coming apart yet.
A few people mentioned the CV joints, that'* what I will most likely be doing next.

Anyone have input here? I really don't want to tear the whole axle assembly out and need to drain the trans. Way too much work for me to do in my apartment parking lot! But if it'* what I gotta do then I guess there'* no choice. I'm kinda just sick of changing thing after thing to not solve it.

If this is the appropriate next step I do need some info as I haven't been able to find a definitive answer. Should I change the axle seals on the trans when I do this? How are the CV'* held in? I've heard that there is a C clip that hides under the boot. Is that it? I'm good with my hands but new to this whole mechanic thing.

One last question about jack stands. As far as I know there are only the 4 approved jack points on the pinch welds. Can I stick a stand with a block of wood under the subframe or subframe bushing? I would really like to have the car on stands while working, not just the jack.

Thank you all ahead of time for reading and your input,
Will



Car: Buick LeSabre Custom
Year: 1997
Miles: 130,000 ish
Engine: Series 2 3800

Previous repairs:
Alright, so this may get long. Haha!
LIM/UIM (Of course)
Crank position sensor
Plugs/Wires
That friggen water cooled belt tensioner elbow like a bazilion times.
Sub-frame bushings - I cheated, the shop did it
New gastank/sender/pump - Also cheated and the shop did it
Alternator
Swaybar link a while back
New front calipers
New rear brake cylinders twice
New master cylinder
New brake lines
Recently evacuated and recharged the A/C for summer

Repairs related to this issue:
Front brakes/rotors&pads - Helped vibrations while slowing down
Tires balanced - vibration comes in a few MPH later
Tires rotated front to back - Helped delay the vibration another MPH or so
Right front wheel bearing - Helped delay the vibration another few MPH

The half shafts have a metal O ring (C clip) on the end that "snaps" into an ID groove in the transmission. Give the half shaft a sharp tug to release, or a sharp push to install. I have changed several without draining the transmission, and there is certainly no transmission tear down involved to change them. If you changed a front bearing you did 90% of the work involved in changing a half shaft. You might have to undo the tie rod end in order to turn the steering knuckle far enough to get the outboard end of the half shaft out of there.

I'd suspect the control arm bushings, try getting under the car safely and inspect the bushings visually, sometimes you can tell, I know-I could tell my 04 LeSabre bushings are torn and need replacement sometime. This is my opinion.

I know for a fact the control arm bushings are cracked, but they're not falling apart and are still in one piece.

I was thinking of doing them and the ball joint but I'm not sure how it goes together. One of the bushings is pressed into the control arm, but the other one seems to be pressed into the frame. How do I get that one out? If I rent a bushing press will it just come out or do I need to cut it out?

Tomorrow morning I'll be working on the car doing a power steering pump so I'll take pictures while I'm under there.

Thank you for the reply!
Will

I am not 100 % sure about Buicks, but on a BMW, the smallest crack would cause a vibration. On my LeSabre though, I've had vibrations before at 58-65 Mph. Road force balancing the tires solved the issue since those models has the stiff chassis.
Vibrations came back again few months ago, so I checked the bushings and sure they were torn, not significantly, but I could easily tell that it'* not good.
Regarding the bushings, I am not sure how it'* installed, my guess would be a press would get both out and in.
Let us know how it goes!