2005 Buick Park Avenue

Parents have a 2005 Park Ave. In the last few months it has been acting goofy. Below are a list of things it has done.

  • The seat is always set all the way back. 3-4 times it has automatically adjusted itself while out of the car to move all the way up and to tilt all the way up.

  • Alarm has gone off for no reason perhaps a 2-3 times just from stopping and shutting off the car.

  • Lights on heater-air cond. have never worked since car was purchased later last summer. A few times they have come on for a few minutes to fad away again.

  • A month ago the Tire Low Pressure light came on in the dash. Tires all checked all good on pressure. When light is reset it come back on the next time you start the car.

  • The last couple weeks the Change Oil Soon light came on. Changed oil and filter, light still comes on every time car is started. Click the reset button like the Tire one it goes off only to come back on next time car is started.

  • Just the last 2 days it once did not start right away as usual, but took perhaps 10 seconds. It stalled a couple times and then finally got going.

  • Yesterday it stalled a couple times while driving. As approaching a stop light it stalled. Also a couple times as sitting at a light it would want to rev up and had to be careful holding the brake hard enough as the reving up would push the car ahead. Not that it would rev wide open or anywhere near it, but enough to push that car ahead with normal pressure on the brakes for a normal idle.

I do not know if these are all related to one problem. The heater lights could just be a poor light inside there. I wonder if the other problems are not a screwy computer in the car or perhaps a bad sensor? What are your thoughts on this guys and gals?

Seat memory… does it also reset the mirror? If yes then I assume it never memorized the setting.
Correction to seat adjustment: The way you describe it, it is perfectly OK for the seat to go back and raise. It’s a feature to make it easier to get up and exit the vehicle.

Low tire pressure… can frequently come on after the car has been parked overnight. If the light goes off after driving for a while then I would not worry too much. As you drive air inside the tire gets warm and expands bringing the pressure back to “normal”. I do assume you checked the tire with a manual gauge to confirm that they are properly inflated.

Oil Change reminder…take a look at this and see that you follow the same procedure:

Stalling…don’t have enough information but it might need the idle adjusted…etc

With all due respect . . .

The idle speed has been non adjustable on the vast majority of automobiles for quite some time now

I suspect that this is possibly a flood vehicle. There are just too many problems , I would just bail out if possible because this is an accident waiting to happen.

A routine maintenance battery service & testing the battery and charging system makes sense. The stalling and inconsistent idle speed could be related, or that could be another problem. What to do depends on the configuration of the idle control mechanism used on that vehicle. Checking the throttle position sensor, servicing the idle air control, and a throttle body cleaning are all something to consider. A proper diagnosis by a shop is where to start, reading out any diagnostic codes present, and a visual inspection & test drive by a trained mechanic.

The mirrors have never changed. The tire pressure light keeps coming on every time you restart the car. It does not matter if it was sitting overnight or if you just drove 30 miles, stopped for a few mins and started it up. Thanks for the video on the oil change light. And yes I did check tires with a gauge. One tire may have a very very slow bead leak, so perhaps that is bringing that one.

No, sorry. Tire pressure should be measured when the tires are cold, ie, at normal ambient temperature. The TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) is setup to do the same.

I agree with that in general. What I was trying to say, maybe poorly, is that the tire pressure light may come on when a car is parked overnight and the temperature falls. The pressure in one or more tires may go down below the threshold and therefor the light comes on. Once the car is driven for several miles and warms up, the pressure increases again and the warning light(s) turn off. My 300 does it all the time, especially during cold months. It can go down as low as 5-6 pounds and then go back to normal. Adding air at the time the pressure is at its lowest point could raise the pressure by ~5 pounds once the tire warms up again. I am not sure what is worse. This is not so much a problem during warm months of the year.

But, apparently that’s not what the OP is experiencing with the PA anyways.

These problems can be all connected to one bad circuit and will not be solved unless checked out by a person whose primary job is electrics. A Buick dealer will not necessarily be your best choice nor a basic independent garage. There are facilities and mobile services that do solely electric trouble shooting and can pin point the cause much quicker and specific. They will not keep replacing an endless stream of parts and still not solve the problem.

The comment that it is a flood vehicle may very well be the cause and your State Vehicle Agency may give you some guide lines how it can be determined.

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Lift up the carpet in the trunk and inspect the floor in the corners. Also take out the spare tire and inspect the floor inside the tire recess. If the car was in a flood, mud may still be visible even after cleaning.

Mr. Sanders, why would I need to do that ? It is not one of my vehicles being discussed?

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Mr Volvo, it is a follow on to your suggestion.

Add air. That’s why the number they give you is called the cold tire pressure.

I think some people believe if the low pressure warning light goes out when the tires are warm/hot the problem is that there is too much cold. The cold pressure should be what is shown in the door jam, the warm/hot pressure is generally 5 PSI greater, that is the intended operating pressure.

The OP’s vehicle has an indirect tire pressure monitor that measures tire diameter, if the reset procedure is not followed precisely the system will not calibrate to the new tires.

I got the change oil warning as video to stay off. By doing that the tire air pressure warning also went and stays off. I drove the car today and it ran just fine. I did check the trunk and see no sign of mud.

Do a Car fax search to eliminate your “flood” car concerns