Buick Engine and Engine Cooling: Engine

Buick is recalling about 330,742 vehicles over a problem with the engine and engine cooling. The leaking engine oil can drip onto the hot surface of the exhaust manifold, increasing the risk of a fire.

Campaign
15V201000
Manufacturer
General Motors LLC
Reported
6 April 2015
Vehicles
330,742
Built between
Jan 2003 – Jun 2004
Models
4
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
24 April 2015
Repaired
25%
Unrepaired
189,218

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between January 2003 and June 2004. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2004 Buick RegalBuilt April 2003 to June 2004
  • 2004 Chevrolet ImpalaBuilt April 2003 to June 2004
  • 2004 Chevrolet Monte CarloBuilt April 2003 to June 2004
  • 2004 Pontiac Grand PrixBuilt January 2003 to June 2004

Repair progress

189,218 of 330,742 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q3 2016.

25% repaired — 84,136 of 330,742 reported

Owners not reachable
17
Scrapped or exported
57,371

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

General Motors LLC (GM) notified the agency on April 2, 2015, that they are is recalling certain model year 2004 Buick Regal vehicles manufactured April 9, 2003, to June 1, 2003, 2004 Chevrolet Impala vehicles manufactured April 8, 2003, to June 23, 2003, and 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo vehicles manufactured April 7, 2003, to June 23, 2003. On May 18, 2015, GM expanded the recall to cover an additional 49,751 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix vehicles manufactured January 6, 2003, to June 25, 2004. In the affected vehicles, the valve cover gasket may leak.

What could happen

The leaking engine oil can drip onto the hot surface of the exhaust manifold, increasing the risk of a fire.

What gets fixed

GM will notify owners, and dealers will remove the plastic cover and plastic oil fill tube extension and replace the front valve cover and gasket. These repairs will be done free of charge. The recall began on April 24, 2015.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJanuary 2003 to June 2004
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA6 April 2015
  3. Owners notified24 April 2015
  4. Latest repair reportQ3 2016 — 25% repaired

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 6 April 2015.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 14574.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
14574
Recalling manufacturer
General Motors LLC
Recall initiated by
MFR

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand