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This is our second Silhouette and so far the power doors have worked better than we expected.
RE; trac control. I know it works as I had it activiate in some sand one time, but and I see the light come on at startup, but it doesn't light when I hit the switch. I have the service manual on order so I should figure it out soon.
DD
As my van was used, I have no idea if this is normal or not, but I doubt it. The engine works fine and everything but the trac control light when turned off a the switch works like it should.
I'm dying to know what it is but unless one of you knows I'll have to wait until I get the service manual.
DD
There are six wires on the end, but the harness on my trailer is only four pin. Where do the wires go? Does anyone know the color codes?
re: trailering - I can't remember and am too lazy to look it up for you but do some internet searches for trailer lights and I'm sure you'll find something on it.
Well I now need some information. We have the 2000 Silo GLS, which has leather seats. We have had to have the “slot in groove” backs put back together on the driver’s side seat more than a few times and are now on our second replacement seat cover. To make matters worse the same seam on the back of the passenger’s side split and they have also put another cover on that one. The new covers don’t look “right” of course and the service manager tells me that they probably won’t until the summer when it gets hot and then they will “conform” to the seat. My wife has been handling the situation until today. We got the Van back yesterday and the service dept. failed to reattach one of the arm rests. Now this is a minor thing, however I have felt like the service dept. (guys that I know) have been giving my wife the run-around and just patching and not fixing the problems for some time (it has been months since we took it in the first time and this has been fixed on the driver’s side at least 4-5 times). So this morning I went in and talked to the service manager. He informed me that this was the ONLY van he had this problem with and that the fix (seat cover) was covered by a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty. The Van’s warranty runs out in Sept. and I want to make sure what he’s telling me is true (I plan on contacting Olds about the warranty). This is the ONLY problem we have had with the van.
Is anyone else out there having a problem with the “slot in groove” seam on the back of their leather seats?
Thanks,
CCCJPM
’00 Silo GLS
25,000 miles
YMMV, DD
DD
I'm going to order a rear bar for my olds to make it tighter handling. I've done this on my last two vehicles and the improvement is amazing, although it increases the spring stiffness on bumps that only hit one side. That and some 16" or 17" rims and it should be a lot sportier handling than a stocker.
I also got a small JBL tube type subwoofer on Ebay and will install it to feed off the stock stereo system speakers in the rear.
Some old EPI mid/tweeter assemblies I salvaged out of some trashed 6x9 tri-axles look like they will mount to the front door where the outside mirror attaches on plastic trangle trim. I can wire them into the stock door speakers for some much improved treble response. The low firing door speakers have a terrible time getting highs to ears. May upgrade all the stock location speakers too if I get into this and find them wanting. I'll keep the headunit for the integrated controls.
I'll have to post some links to pictures after I get this done.
DD
-Dan L.
'01 Montana
I find the ride a bit bouncy and the van sways more than I would like, but the soft ride is comfortable for trips.
To add some control to the vehicle I think increased shock dampening is in order. Since I have the automatic leveling, changing out the rear shocks could be problematic, and only changing the front struts would be dumb as the back end would still be bouncing. Hmmm... I may live with it the way it is, but one alternative I saw in the JC whitney catalog was Gabriel Hi-Jacker air shocks. I am not sure but I"m guessing they have a lot more dampening and would still hookup to the air line. Gaberiel struts at the front would hopefully match up. Monroe probably also makes similar products. But I'm guessing KYB or other performance shock companies don't make air shocks!
I had to laugh, the last time I saw the "hi-jackers" shocks was in the '70's when that was the way to jack up your car along with shackles (as was popular then) and put big crager mags and tires that stuck out from the fenders. Makes about as much sense as those dropped to the weeds cars that can't get up a driveway or ride with no suspension travel left.
As I have a new MIG welder, I was even thinking of maybe welding in some shock mounts for a second set of rear shocks and just leaving the air shocks alone. But after looking under the van I see most of the room under there is already used. My pickup had tons of room and that would have been simple.
Anyway, the stereo stuff should be pretty easy. After cranking it yesterday I decided I'd replace all 4 of the 5.25" speakers. I went to crutchfield.com and found that they list both the 5.25 and 6.5" speakers as replacements. Has anyone done any speaker replacement and if so what did you do and how did they fit?
DD
If you want standard shocks on your Silhouette figure out a way to use the autoleveling system to inflate air bags that go inside the springs then free up the shock absorber space for whatever shocks suite your fancy.
Maybe different models of the GM minivan have different rated shocks. Our 2002 Silhouette has a nice crisp ride with FE4 suspension package. You may be able to swap your air adjust shock for a new set from a different model GM minivan.
I am not a fan of JCWhitney because I want the correct parts, not generic ones that can be made to fit.
Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, please tell me what to expect. I'm dropping the van off for service later this week.
Other than that, the van has been great. It's now got 20000 miles on it. coincidentally, the engine light came on right when it turned 20000 miles. Only other warranty items so far have been the hatch handle and a center wheel cap (the metal cover with the Olds emblem fell off some where after the dealer rotated the tires). I expect this can easily happen if the tech is not careful how he take the cap off (it's only pressed on). BTW, I need a new hatch handle again. I'll have them fix this as well. Also had the power slider serviced twice under recall.
At any rate remove and replace the cap, and make sure you secure it tightly, if light doesn't go off then keep your appointment.
I am asking now I can get a bit of a deal maybe now in off season.
THanks,
DD
In any event, I'm still under warranty until the end of the year, so if it is something more than a loose cap, I want the dealer to fix or replace it.
I'll keep everyone posted...
Other than that we have had fantastic service from the van. We love it. Had a couple problems over the years. Problems with sliding door when new, ignition switch and key problem once where the key/ignition switch locked up so you could not start the van. van had to be towed to the dealer to fix that. It is a '99 purchased in November of 1998. Everything on it except the entertainment center. My parents liked mine so much that they bought one. They have a 2000 Premiere.
There are approx 100 items that can trigger the service engine soon light, The biggest pain is having to go to the dealer to get it re set.
On the gas cap, you must make the rachet noise to ensure locked down. (In NJ no self service, so you have to listen for the pump jock to do it.)
Our problem came when the fuel guage sender unit was replaced and the gasket on the tank did not seat properly causing an air leak etc.
There is a self corrective situation that after three ignition cycles it should turn off the light, if say you have resent the gas cap.
Have the dealer replace your broken one under warranty and then don't use it anymore.
As for the hatch handle, I never use it. My wife has to as she is shorter than I. She isn't rough when closing the hatch. The handle is poorly designed. I was hoping GM would design a better replacement for it as it seems to be an ongoing problem.
I'll keep you posted! :-)
As for the recurring handle breakage, I may opt to make my own strap once the van is out of warranty. I remember the straps on old leather luggage lasting longer than the luggage itself. Now if I can get gray leather die to match the gray leather seats, I'll be in business.
I did not know Olds made an all captains chair option. I have 4 CC and a bench in the back.
Mobil 1 is my oil of choice - Good plan, except for two things.
1. make sure you check the level frequently if you are doing extended oil changes as these newer engines are "looser" on the rings to give more fuel milage and you could end up pretty low. I would not rely on the oil level alert, that is probably set pretty low and by that time you might have done some damage.
2. I personally would not wait until "zero" oil life to change it, even as good as Mobil 1 is. I had a turbo car with a manual trans and I swear I could feel the engine run with more power after a fresh shot of Mobil 1! 5,500 is as far as I'd go on it, but it will go a bit farther I'm sure. I don't have that oil life feature on my '98 so I don't know how good that is.
( I have a story about Mobil1 -- At a CART race and one of the teams was sponsored by another motor oil. I happened to be watching from a balcony above the pits during qualifying, and the mech had the motor cover off the car, and the mech comes over and checks the level and then grabs a bottle of Mobil1 and pours it into the "XYZ Motor Oil" sponsored car! I was laughing, the mechanic must have felt the sponsor's oil was not well suited to high performance engines!)
ps. for those who are following, I'm getting some 6.5" component speakers to add to my stock radio and get the tweaters up near my ears on front and back. I have a 50watt RMS x 4 chan amp I could use to boost the stock radio's signal, but I must be getting old the hassle doesn't seem worth it given I hardly crank it anymore. The stock radio with the bass tube should be enough.
On the suspension, I was following a suggestion and thinking of going with 4 air bags instead of springs. I could lower it when I wanted to which would look interesting and keep the flexability of variable ride stiffness. I have heard you need beefy shocks to keep it from bouncing, so they would have to be available as well.
"New Calibration. 12213574 New calibration to eliminate false P1404 Codes".
Whatever that means.
1.4 hours ($84) plus shop supplies ($8.40) plus tax ($7.62)= $100.02.
Was surprised that wasn't covered under extended warranty (I'm out of the 36K mile warranty).
Mikey
Took it to local mechanic, who immediately said I had transmission problems he couldn't handle, so I went to a local transmission place that came highly recommended.
Seems the transmission pump bearings failed, leading to all sorts of unpleasantries inside the tranny. Picked it up on Friday to the tune of $1778 repair bill. Ouch. And this on a van with 57k miles on it.
Mechanic showed me all the parts that went, including pump housing, shafts, and just about anything else that moved.
I did ask about buying a rebuilt transmission, but he advised against it, saying that the rebuilts he's seen were mostly junk, many times reusing worn components.
He did say that GM has recently been using less robust pump components, and older transmissions were less likely to have this type failure.
Mikey
So far, hasn't "protected" me.
Don't even get me started on sales tax. I live in Tennessee, a state that lives or dies on sales tax. Everything is subject to sales tax except prescription drugs, medical procedures, haircuts, and lawyer fees (really). We are getting killed on a very high tax that's avoidable (internet, shopping in nearby states - there's eight of 'em that border us and no place in TN is more than 60 miles from another state). It's not deductible on Federal taxes, hits lower income people especially hard, and it keeps going up - soon to be near 9%.
The sales tax on my transmission adventure was $135.
Mikey
Steve
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Actually, I had such a hard time getting the van looked at by the dealer, I was glad to get the heck out of there, $100 or not.
I brought the van in very early, so I could wait on it, they don't take appointments.
I was told that it would take until the next afternoon to get it in the shop, and I'd have to leave it. No good, since I had taken a day off work and driven 60 miles to get there. No loaners, either.
I asked if I could make an appointment to wait on it: "NO, we don't take appointments."
After I asked if there was any way it could get done that day, service advisor became very annoyed and called shop manager to check...said it would be a couple of hours. Fine, I said, and this really made service advisor mad. Said they didn't like people waiting on cars because it made them nervous! (They have a waiting room). I thought it was a joke at first, but it became obvious it wasn't. I was told not to bother coming up and asking when it would be done, either.
I never raised my voice, or said anything to provoke this little episode.
Whew! I walked over to a McDonalds, had a nice, long breakfast, and came back a couple hours later. About an hour after that, I was told about the calibration problem, and it would take an hour to fix.
"Great! Is this covered under the extended warranty?"
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU HAD AN EXTENDED WARRANTY!!!"
"Well, gee, I bought the van here just last year, and it's the warranty you give away on all Olds".
"Well, now I have to make phone calls because of you!". This was after giving a little old lady a lot of grief about a warranty claim.
Came back a bit later, and said that since it was only a labor bill, no parts, it wasn't covered.
Whew, just gimme the ticket and let me outta here.
This was really sad, since it has been the best dealer I'd ever bought from. No sales gimmicks, good service up to now. I guess these people are going to lose their jobs when Olds goes and they just don't care anymore.
Or maybe they were just having a bad day. I'm really not sure what happened. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for one bad episode.
I did get a profuse phone apology from the service manager afer I complained. Even offered to let me make an appointment next time.
Mikey
Second, what is the recommended fix for the yellow front lights that have condensation that's persistent. I've seen the posts for silicone and drilling a hole in the bottom, and also the post to replace them. Also one of my fog lights has standing water in it. Can these be picked up in aftermarket. The van has 26K miles on it and is still under the original factory warranty.
Also saw the posts on the power silder. Is the recall a fix for the welds or just an actuator switch as GM cust service indicated on the phone?
I get harbor freight tool catalogs and they had some "driving lights" normally like $14.99 for sale for about $7.99 a pair! I could not resist adding that to my other stuff on my order and they arrived over the weekend. I have not yet tried to install them. But they sure look like they are the same size and everything. I know I will have to redo the wiring to get them working, but still for the price, I'll try it.
Of course I'm keeping some sweatshop in China going...
Oh, and I was looking at my speakers and found out one of my Silo's previous owners had some decent coaxial speakers added! BonusI had assumed they were stockers behind the stock openings.