Laugh out loud moment...Chevy floor mat. "I think I found the problem"

A mint buick belongs to an elderly gentleman. Inconceivable!

17th times a charm 👍

Worked in a Buick/GMC parts department in my late teens and early twenties and learned to respect how solid the Buick 3.8 is.

This vehicle did not meet the minimum rust requirement to be featured in a WWW video :P

Wes, Thank you for replacing the questionable starter. The elderly owner didn’t need to be stranded either at home needing to go somewhere nor out in a parking lot or on the street without being able to get his car started!!!

It was nice to see an obviously very well cared for LeSabre. Hope the old fella's still around and enjoying his Buick.

I missed this one when first shown . Your video's are timeless . Intermitentes are always a puzzelment .

I had three of those Buick LeSabre's as company cars. Drove each one to over 200,000 miles and never had a problem with anything. Brakes, tires and fluids is all. Oh wait, one needed an alternator. The last one I drove for 249,500 miles. Was upset that I did not get to 1/4 million, but we traded it on a new car. Great vehicles and fuel efficient as well. I averaged 26 mpg at turnpike speeds all those years.

Back in the 1900's when I was young, if a starter wouldn't crank the engine, the first test we did was the tappy tap tap-especially on GMs. Hammers don't usually give a false reading. I could hear the bendix hitting the flexplate. There's you problem lady.

I had a 2004 LeSabre Limited with leather and all the buttons, bells and whistles. I never had one ounce of trouble with the car except for one battery replacement. When I retired in December of 2012, I had to make a decision, my truck or the car. I decided to keep the truck. I hated to see it go but as a widower I had no use for both vehicles. That Buick was the smoothest riding, quietest car I have ever had the pleasure to drive. It was the same color as this one.

The channel needs to be re-branded "Watch Wes Freeze"...

Hi Wes, Great video. Thanks for sharing. On your battery tester, your voltmeter face has a static electricity buildup ... when you touched the face at 6:17 you saw the needle jump upward (very low humidity at 0°F, which allows static buildup). Easy fix (no, not dielectric grease this time!) ... grab a fabric softener dryer sheet and wipe the face of the meter. This will provide a conductive path to keep the static from building up and holding the needle in place. Regards, R

Love the test light in the wheel ! You could've cut that out but didn't We're all human and many of us have been there ;-) Thanks for the vid Wes. Stay warm out there.

"Tango Uniform" = Tits Up LMAO good one Wes, always love your content buddy!!

10:13 that statement about dielectric grease is a great sarcasm

Those 3.8L V6 Buick motors are rock solid. I've had two Buicks sent to the junkyard for various isssues where it wasn't practical to repair, both were still running. Both had over 200K miles.

Wes, just wanted to say my son (11yo) and I found your channel a few months back. We have been watching your old catalog. Your videos are great and your knowledge base is extremely impressive. As a father son team who loves to tinker/fix/etc... Which is a lot art on the next generation, thank you for being a great example to my son. Keep up the good work and I am very happy for the success of your channel.

I think you got it, with that loud solenoid click but starter that doesn't want to wake up, problem must be solenoid/starter related. Us old guys don't want to fool with our cars anymore to save a few bucks. We just want them to work every time. We earned that in our youth laying under cars in the middle of winter , driving with an extra battery in the floor board and running bald tires. We learned our lesson the hard way.

Wow this was a wild one. Gender bender, test lights a flinging, battery tester a fluke. Liked it. The music at the ends was cool too.

Hopefully that guy will be back to get the blown shock replaced. It also looked like maybe it had a leak towards the front. Entertaining as always, keep up the good work!

I never thought I’d hear an electrical connector referred to as “a gender bender”. That’s gold!

This customer chose the BEST to repair his car!. THANKS Wes..

The sarcasm on the die electric grease is hilarious 😂 @Watch Wes Work

The Cursory tap is called "Percussive Maintenance" and it's standard procedure for all electronics.

The day isn't complete without a video from the great www

I've owned three lesabres in my life. When I had my 97 I remember having some starter problems. If I recall correctly, I pulled it apart and discovered one of the arms on the yoke was cracked, which allowed the yoke to slip in front of the collar. That was almost a decade ago, and I think I just welded it up and put it back together. The things you'll do when you're poor and freshly married, just to get by. Never had a problem after that though.

I work in the Navy ship repair business. We use a similar substance to protect against corrosion between dissimilar metals in the sea environment. When you tighten the hardware it displaces the grease. The grease is just there to coat the surfaces and slow water intrusion. Eventually, everything succumbs to salt water. You just do your best to prevent it. Keep doing what you are doing!!!!

Watching you with that starter is like the first time you find out you can back a semi-trailer into a spot you can’t drive out of. Leaves you scratching your head and kicking your butt. Great 👍 Content 🇺🇸🦅🌏⚓️🇺🇸

Wes teaches the modern birds and the bees to KZfaq

OMG, Tango Uniform is by far the funniest way of describing the death of a machine that I've heard in a long time.

Old style Denso starter motors offered a diagnostic post between the solenoid and the motor. Especially in those a scope can show details that clinch the diagnosis when it's not clear. I guess we shouldn't be surprised these can be hard to diagnose since the copper ring inside the solenoid will rotate, offering a different, shifting contact every time the contacts come together. The way those things get pitted up can give a few months of unreliability before they finally leave one stranded. It's too bad we don't often make the effort to find parts to replace contacts, but I can see why a pro wouldn't want to risk an unhappy customer. In the end you did a trustworthy fix for any cold winter day.

thank you for showing your little moment of indiscretion at the front wheel. glad to see that someone who is clearly a more experienced mechanic than i can still make a "dumb" mistake. as long as we don't lose a finger in the process it's a lesson learned with a minimum of harm done. i enjoy your videos ... no bad music, no shaky camera; keep up the good work.

Di-electric grease prevents the flow of electricity? SWEET! Next time I have to work on household electric, I'm just going to paint the end of the wires rather than turning off the breaker. I'll update on how well that works. LOL

Are you kidding! Best video ever. Test light does a triple with a full gainer. Load tester goes down in solidarity with the test light. the simple joy of the sight of a rust belt Buick that is not swiss cheesed and miracle of miracles, swapping the starter didn't require an engine jack or body off frame Good day all in all.

Totally agree with your decision to put a starter in.........love the ending with the tractor almost like a zen to watch

What a great way to brighten a gloomy day! Watch Wes Work and Dirt Perfect videos! WWW is still number ONE for me! Now a guy just needs a Vice Grip Garage video!

From an ex mechanic, I completely agree with your diagnosis.

Glad to see you agonizing over putting in a new part. A lot of the mechanics around here (southern NY state) would say, "Ok we fixed the problem, we put new bulbs in your break lights and now your car starts." Great video, Wes thumbs up.

I was thinking solenoid contactor most likely getting burned & pitted. For the sake of dependability, you did the right thing.

Allot of folks don’t know the internet was named after thisKZfaq channel. WWW. Respect!

When Wes said he thought he found the problem, I almost thought he was going to say that you cannot install CHEVROLET floor mats in a BUICK and expect it to run properly.......

I had the exact same car but 2002 ! I never bought new cars and this was the first new car I ever bought. It had 28 miles on it when I bought it. I ran that thing up to 261k miles. I finally sold it when the radiator was leaking badly, The transmission was slipping - noticed it was a lot harder to get up hills. As the new owner was pulling out of my driveway the front drivers side head light burned out. Kinda like a "Goodbye" from salute from that car. I think these were the last of the good cars that GM ever made. That 3800 engine is one heck of an engine. I now own a 2008 Lucerne with 150k miles on it. Its got the 3800 series III. After owning my 2002 I vowed to learn to fix my own cars. From that point on its been quite the adventure and I have graduated up to even replacing the intake manifold gaskets. I have saved a ton of money doing it myself and gave me a great excuse to buy some really cool tools. :) Getting ready to buy my next car probably this coming fall. Sadly, I cannot justify buying a GM/Ford/Chrysler vehicle. I really want to stay American made but I always run my cars over 100k and need a dependable vehicle. So, Looking at a Lexus RX350 I guess at this point - Used of course. Probably a year or two old. Low miles. Wes, Thank you very much for your videos. I really enjoy watching them. Its these videos (and from others like South Main Auto) that inspires people to work on their own cars and trucks. Thats something that has been missing for a while and needs to be brought back.

The fact you even worried about firing the parts cannon shows you are one of the good guys. Keep up the great work!

Gotta use that ol' cookie sometimes! 😄 Love the Oliver action at the end. 🙂

A red car that fixes itself, last one I've heard of was "Christine"! "Watch Out Wes" haha

Most channels would start cursing this, that and the other and say "That will do." Wes says "This car belongs to an elderly gentleman and he want it to be reliable.” (non verbatim) Wes has old fashioned values and respect, you can't knock that. Hope everyone caught in your present weather is well and safe.

Wes, nice to see some other KZfaqrs watching the channel! Great to see at least one of your little buddies out in the shop with you. Liked the snowman to start off👍 Thank you.

In the UK we call them Sunday drivers, that's why their cars are so clean.

I love when Wes makes sarcastic comments. That means he’s happy with how the job is going. BTW with the TLC you give that car it’ll go another 20 yrs.

It's just so nice to see you work on something that you didn't have to fight every inch of the way. I hope it lasts the gentleman for years to come. 👍😊

hey isn't it just life, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, some videos have excitement some not so much. I just love the mixture. Keep on doing what ever you want and I will still be here watching. And that's from someone who can not drive a car (no license) but can drive a motorcycle, a boat and a train ! Thanks

Bearing in mind how cold it is there, I think your meter issue on the load tester could be static related. It's something I learned of through radio & test instrument repair and apparently cold dry air can cause it to be worse. Basically a charge builds up somehow in the plastic meter lens & can hold up the movement on mechanical meters like that. ISTR cleaning the lens with antistatic wipe or a cloth dampened with water/dish soap helped.

Hey Wes - many (many) moons ago I worked at AutoMeter. Those meter faces are very prone to picking up static charges. I noticed after you load tested the battery in the car that your hand near the meter cover made the volt needle move. I immediately flashed back to my days in the factory rebuilding those meters. You need to dissipate the static charge on that cover and it'll (probably) be ok. We spritzed them with glass cleaner and wiped them off and that dissipated the static (for a while).

Nice to see that sweet old Oliver tractor working and being given the respect of a warm shop to live in.

I had a starter this past year would do the same thing, then it seamed it self healed for a month or more then it went back to its old tricks. Glad you replaced it!

Went Tango Uniform .... haven't heard that since my military days 😁

Hilarious about the grease, I put it on everything! Lol

I bought my Ranger used. It came with fancy Weather Guard floor mats. Over rubber floors. After a week of catching my feet on them I threw them in the back of the truck. Made rubber footboard covers for my rider. Liquid nails doesn't last long on a mower.

It's always a pleasure to watch your videos. And more so when the family is included.

Nobody:man this battery under the hood gets in the way Gm: perfect we love fixing problems with more problems Chrysler: hold my beer while I take this tire off

Lol. I love your sarcasm on the dielectric grease, but you are so dry about it it's hard to tell you are kidding. I can imagine people with less knowledge on the subject thinking you are serious. "We wouldn't want any electricity going through those connections..." Hahaha. Imagine some guy trying to learn auto mechanics scratching his head.

Since watching Wes I have been applying die-electric grease to all the connections I pull apart. By coincidence my corrosion problems have stopped. Thanks Wes. Keep up the good work and don't freeze out there.

Enjoyed the podcast. You presented yourself very well. Keep up the great videos. Always learn something!

I like the wheel test light, Was that recommended by your dislike for the gman products 🤔

Wes, do u still mess around any with machine shop stuff anymore?

I really enjoyed the moment of Zen at the end with the instrumental and snow clearing. "Mighty Wes, mellow mechanic".

I just discovered your channel a couple of months ago and I'm hooked. With regard to the comment that the starter motor may have snapped out of it's funk. When I was in college, I worked as a junior mechanic in an auto repair shop in the late '60's/early 70's, when cars were much less complicated. One of the things the senior lead mechanic used to tell us, 'cars don't heal themselves, problems only get worse, and more expensive unless addressed.'. I think your approach to replace the starter motor was the right answer.

TU, perfect. Will watch for the commenter who doesn't get it. LOL

i had a 92 Lumina that wouldn't crank or start, nor could you move crank shaft with a four foot bar.

I love your shop! You did your best to diagnose the issue and I cannot believe it was too expensive of a starter.

The old gentleman obviously looks after his car and he needs it to start 100% so changing the tired starter motor is well justified. Good call Wes😎

Here's to intermittent problems, especially intermittent electrical problems. You gotta love them. Not.

A Buick "owned by an older gentleman". Did it have the obligatory box of Kleenex in the back dash?

Hey wes found you through unstoppable. Awesome that you helped her out ! I have been a mechanic for 23 years . So really appreciate your kindness to help others. Keep up the good work! I will be following your progress ! Take care !

Wes, I learned about this little trick which has worked for me a couple times in checking a valve leak. Take a light piece of cardboard like a pop carton or cereal box and hold it a little ways away from the tailpipe while the engine is running. If a valve is burnt or leaking it will suck the cardboard flap against the tailpipe. Also could you mention that working with discharged batteries in cold weather that they maybe frozen and when hooked up to the charger, they could blow. I have heard of it happening a couple times. Keep up the good work and I enjoy your family. The dishwasher video was great especially the scratch and the good outtakes.

Thats a pretty, uh, progressive test rig you've got there.

You were getting odd readings because your battery was on a concrete floor. Everyone knows that makes them unreliable in inexplicable ways.

Concise, very clear, and well-edited. We subscribed.

loved the ending and music. Thanks for the great videos Wes!

I would be more worried about the flammability of the gases that come off a charging battery.

4 min fix just needs test light on starter

Good job Wes... I liked your videos before I saw your podcast interview.. but now I really like your videos and channel. Keep up the good work. Seems like life just has to get easier for you.. haha.. “two mice fell into a bucket of cream...” you are definitely the second mouse!

We use an anti-oxidant grease (like Noalox) prior to attaching electrical connections then wipe down and apply Di-electric grease to coat everything after the connection is complete...just a thought...love your channel

Man it is 80 degrees today in South Carolina, and watching you deal with that snow, just reminds me why I live here,

Hopefully that fixes the problem for a long time. In the old days starters could wear out the bushings and draw to much juice and make the car start hard. I don't know anything about new starters of today's world though. Great fix. Thanks for the video.

Great video. The new lights look amazing, night and day difference.

Can't say I've ever seen a westendorf loader in like new condition. That Oliver was a heck of a find. Best regards from Indiana.

I liked the percussive maintenance on the battery tester, reminds me of people thumping the side of their tvs when the picture started to roll.

Good work Wes! Finally, a KZfaqr who is under 60 years of age and knows the difference between the words “well” and “good” and how to use each. Let me know if that old chap wants sell the Buick.

That's a solid Buick for a 20+ years old IL car wish I had it

Great video! I had a similar problem with an older model Pontiac. I was broke in those days so I pulled the starter. I took the solenoid apart and found that the solenoid plunger only hit about half of the copper hex head bolt that runs through to the positive battery lead. Half of the hex head bolt was worn away. I loosened the outside nut on the bolt and turned it 180 degrees so the plunger would contact the part of the unworn head of the bolt. Put it back together and it worked fine as long as I had the car.

Wes when I heard that old starter click, my 48 years of mechanical senses said put a starter in it.. you went the extra mile to make sure there were no other problems so I feel good about the job being done correctly... as in all your videos. Thanks for the entertainment. That test light you made out of a brake light, we had something very similar in the Air Force for testing starters on jets. We called it a load light.. the only difference was we had three bulbs wired in series to provide more load on the circuit..

You just never know do you.....you did right..glad to be here to watch you work.

I'm with your mechanics gut feeling on this one Wes. The gentleman that owns this car has treasured it! Being an Aussie I was even surprised to see how clean that car was underneath.

The moment i heard that Starter solenoid click i knew that that was the problem, you have to take my word for it, it was a good video and it was nice to watch you work Wes🛠, thanks.

Im glad to see your vid and quality is rising its pleasure too, thanks

Wow! It started with all that anti electric flow grease stuff! Guess you didn’t apply enough! Lol! And the underside of that car is amazing! You did all you could do on this one as far as testing so we are all confident it will start for years! Great job Wes!

I like the sarcasm when it comes to die-electric grease

Thank you again Wess always good. Parts Canon. I love that you always treat a customer car as if it is your wife's car. And always do your due diligence to troubleshoot and not just fire the Parts Canon. You are a rare breed these days. I worked for dealerships years ago that the service managers would be all over you to get er done. No time to sort out a problem just swap out everything. Or they just diagnose the problem with only a verbal conversation with the customer. Then tell you to throw the new Parts on. Often times it was not the problem at all. But the owners of the dealership were happy to sell Parts so the customer's bill just grew. Have a wonderful day.