Just as someone else mentioned on here, it seems like when the warranty is out, the transmission is on cue to fail.

We bought the Buick in the winter time and it kept reducing power. Took it to the dealer and they just cleaned the intake saying it had a dirty mass airflow sensor, which we had to pay for times 3. They said it had to do with the cold weather and any vehicle could do this. Now that it's warming up that problem is gone (for now). But now when we travel for 2 or more hours at a time our transmission is over heating constantly, having us pull over and idle to cool it. Then when we finally get to start driving it barely wants to shift into 5th gear and finally into 6th after revving the bag out of it at 4k RPM.

I'm in no mood to pay 4+k to replace this piece of junk. Hey GM!!! I'm gonna refrain from buying any more gm junk from you and many more shall know it from me. Unless you step up to the plate and take care of your customers (who by the way bailed you out at last minute before bankruptcy) recall the damn tranny

I had to replace my transmission and have taken very good car of this car. I have really loved this car and decided that when I decide to purchase a new car. It would be another enclave. BUT!!!!!!!!! When the transmission failed and called the manufacturer, first off I got a customer service and the person on the other end could barely speak English. Which by the way, annoys the hell out of me. Secondly, after asking several mechanics, I was told that Buick knows that there has been a problem with the transmissions in this vehicle and won't acknowledge that there is one.. With that said, this tell me that at 100k miles you better know you are going to have to spend some serious cash. At this point, I will not own another enclave. I will buy a vehicle that stands behind what they sell.

Transmission started slipping from a stop to 1st gear. Remedy was to turn engine off, let sit, then restart and upon shifting into drive, wait until you could feel the transmission shift into gear. Otherwise, the transmission would never shift out of 1st gear. Local dealer recommended replacement to the tune of ~$4K. Seems WAY too early to have transmission problems - Especially since this seems to be a relatively common problem. Had 5yr 100,000 mile GM warranty, but it had already expired based on time. Very frustrating.

Buick/GM... you are pathetic. My wife loves this car however this is the 2ND transmission due to the faulty wave plate design that should have already been recalled and addressed by GM. Instead, not only will I never own nor buy a GM product again... I'll actively campaign to discourage friends and family to boycott GM also. This is ridiculous. First time it failed, it stranded my wife and kids on a busy interstate in a rural area for hours. We paid good money to get it corrected and now this.

I'm done! No wonder so many people swear by Japanese and German engineering. I am truly disgusted with the inaction of GM on this issue after seeing all the other complaints.

We were on a family trip and on our way home and the transmission failed. We were on the highway about three hours away from home and had to baby it all the way home. After two transmission shops visits we discovered the wave plate had failed and our only option was to attempt to rebuild or replace. We decided to attempt a rebuild only to find out it was not Able to be rebuilt and had to purchase a new GM certified transmission. The transmission shop then told us the rebuild company had such a high demand that they had to purchase new transmissions to send out in place of rebuilt ones because they were not able to keep up with the high demands. GM why are you not recalling this transmission? This is not the only problem that I have had with my enclave. There have been many more issues. The bad part of this is the car is so expensive and if you traded in you will lose a lot. I would never recommend Buick to anyone ever again and I will never buy a Buick again. I'm considering never buying GM again.

It began with a weird surge when shifting from Reverse gear to Drive. It was a hesitation, but I really didn't think anything of it. There were no issues during normal driving other than than the transmission hesitation.

Then I received the call... My wife calls me and tells me that the check engine light turned on, she called On-Star and the codes indicated engine and transmission issues which required the car to be serviced within 24 hours. She also mentioned that it began to seriously have problems going up any type of hill. Headed her direction and was able to VERY GINGERLY drive the car back home (she was only 2.0 miles away). Never went above 25% throttle. I had the car towed to the Buick service department and got the call the next day that there were metal shavings in the transmission. Only option was replacement at $4,100. After spending $2,400 on another repair last month, I have basically extended my car payoff for another 1 year (scheduled to be paid off in a month; bought used in 2011). But... I'm going to pay it since I'd rather have another year's worth of payments rather than another 4-5 years for another car.

Buick should be ashamed of the reliability (and their image) of the 2008 Enclave and at least try to make it right for their customers who have dealt with Electrical and drivetrain issues on what otherwise, is a great car. My kids love it, my wife and I love driving it. I hope I'm making the right decision to fix. Anything else I should be worried about????

I will never buy another Buick again. Such a shame for what is otherwise such a good car.

Transmission went out on the highway! I don't think a vehicle that cost as much as a Buick Enclave should have transmission failure at less than a 100,000 thousand miles. We could have been hit-we were going 65 on the highway. Buick you need to step up and recall the transmissions on your 2008 Enclave.

Update from Dec 29, 2014: I just want Buick to understand how serious this is......on the highway going 65, brake lights did not come on but car would not move!!! If this would have been during rush hour me and my family would not be here. BUICK PAY ATTENTION AND RECALL YOUR TRANSMISSION IN THE 2008 ENCLAVE.

2 weeks ago at 73,350 miles, got off highway onto back streets. Started shifting funny. RPM flaring up before shifting, slight "bump" at low speed shift. In reverse, surging and clunking. Had it towed to dealer in Deleay Beach FL. Told me nothing wrong with transmission, you need a right front axle and 2 motor mounts. $1500 later get the car back, still doesn't seem right. Some surging in reverse first couple of days but no clunking, just some slight RPM flaring (maybe my imagination he thought).

Now at 73,575 miles, get off the highway last Sunday and wham, RPM's go nuts. Get to house, put in reverse and sure enough, nothing... already knew this was a symptom from research. Get it towed to dealer again, Dealer called and said $4800 for new GM cert transmission. I already started a case with GM Customer Care when I first took it in in anticipation of getting run around. Dealer says if he calls CC they will want to rebuild instead of installing GM cert'd re-manufactured. Well, call them because I am surely not going to tell you "oh then go ahead and put in the cert'd tranny and I'll pay for it"

I can't believe they begged us to bail them out and we did... and now what do we get POS designs and astronomical cost of ownership... as this is just the latest in a series of problems the car has had...Think of all the money they must be making on (just) out-of-warranty work. I too had a Toyota to 180k miles and only a few minor issues. OK, enough ranting for now...

Update from Mar 17, 2015: Just found out GM is doing warranty adjustment for this will pay for future and past repairs up to 120,000 Miles. contact your dealer. have until 3/31 to submitt. Check this link.

http://www.enclaveforum.net/index.php?topic=26706.0

I purchased this nightmare from a local dealer in Calgary Alberta at 120,000 km. Not even 5000 km later the frigging transmission went on it. I phoned the dealer about the problem and because I never purchased an "extended warranty" on it.... ( they never offered this in the first place) I was told I was SOL. So after fighting and arguing with the dealer they offered to pay for half the expenses, shoving a "normally we don't do this" S%&* in my face. I'm still out the other $2000, have no vehicle indefinitely with four children, and am now worried about whether or not this thing will fall apart after they "fix" it.

I had brought it in to a friend's transmission shop after lagging it to work with a check engine light and found 8 transmission failure codes on it. My friend had explained to me that the fluid was black, and this happens over time, NOT a couple of months. I've had the PCV breather dripping oil into the intake hose onto the air filter. The muffler is falling apart and leaking in three different places. Surprise, surprise ! that's a dealer only part that costs 1200$. The AC makes this hissing noise that they won't deal with either! My family and I have all driven Hondas ... what a stupid mistake to give this crap a chance.

I can honestly say, this kind of customer care and quality control is despicable on GM's part. Re-call your garbage and pay back your consumers what you robbed from them! After all, they're the ones who kept you alive on your verge of bankruptcy!

The timing chain of this vehicle began to slip at 85,000 miles. This caused the vehicle to drive erratically when the chain slipped. At the same time, the 3rd gear wave plate in the transmission failed causing the car to shift poorly when accelerating. When changing lanes on 9/23/14, the car would not accelerate and to avoid hitting another car I had to steer off the road and I hit a street sign (no damage).

This car also experienced the other issues common to this model....Steering rack and power steering failure.

We bought this car when we were expecting our 3rd child. It seemed like a great car except for the annoying whining sound in the power steering. We were on vacation with our 3 small children, 4 hours away from home, IN THE MOUNTAINS, when the transmission went out. It nearly caused us to have a severe accident while coming down the mountain. Luckily, we broke down in front of a hotel and was able to get if off the road so we could check into a room. After doing some research, I found the infamous "wave plate issue". Since we were 4 hours away from home, we ended up having to stay a couple of extra days, until someone from home with a trailer could bring us a rental car and haul our broken down Buick home. Needless to say, that ended up being one expensive weekend getaway! After taking the car to our local dealer and having them to connect it to the computer for a diagnosis, we found out the wave plate was the exact problem. I was given the choice of replacing the transmission for $3,700, or rebuilding it for $200 less. We are in the process of trying to trade it in now, because I am no longer willing to let my wife & kids drive in this death trap! GM needs to address this problem and correct it asap. We are lucky we did not end up in a crash, but it could easily happen to someone else!

Just your standard wave plate issue here...car worked perfectly for the first 7 months we owned it. Then on Memorial day coming back from a family vacation I went to accelerate and the engine rev'd but nothing happened. Wouldn't go over 25 mph or go into reverse. Luckily we were less than 5 miles from home. Limped back to the garage and started searching the internet for transmission issues. Discovered the infamous--and well-documented--wave plate issue. Based on research in other forums I decided that repair wasn't the best option and went instead for a re-manufactured GM transmission that came with a 3-yr, 100,000 mile warranty. Now I'm having issues with the front steering bearings and the engine always seems to be lagging. I'm selling this crappy thing before the engine dies on me.