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Since all shifts are apparently done electrically, it should be possible to shift from 4th to 3rd with the button or a switch.
I'll be looking into installing a switch to do this when I get a service manual with the wiring diagram.
Any downside to this idea "e2helper"?
While I have no great need to use the +/- button and was simply testing the performance, I do find shifting down to 3rd handy on some of my hills, and do miss my overdrive off button rather than the Malibu's inline shift to 3rd on the column.
Please respond.
Around the same time I started to notice the rumbling sound when stopping to pay toll from 65mph. There was no shaking, vibrating, pedal pulsing or pulling, just the noise. My car was built in Feb 04 and now has 4K miles. This is the only real problem I have noticed with the car (other than the rear shades). I have not experienced any of the other problems people have been talking about on this forum.
There was a recall for unwanted ABS activation due to an erratic wheel speed sensor and the dealer re-programmed the brake module. After that the rumbling is less noticeable, but it is still there. I still think there is something wrong and will have dealer check it out when I have my next service.
We bought our Maxx in March and I noticed a rumbling sound coming from the front brakes and a grinding feeling through the pedal. This occurred mainly around town. After driving at highway speeds it seemed to quiet down quite a bit, but after sitting all night it was back again. After about 400 miles I "bedded in" the brakes and the noice and feel went away and hasn't been back since.
One thing I have noticed though is that we seem to get an abnormal amount of brake dust on the front wheels. The car has 5K on it now. Makes me wonder about the longevity of the brake pads.
can you define a rough idle.....do you have a variance of several hundred RPM, does the car shake at idle...know you are not happy with the car..might want to look at lemon laws as they apply to your state.....but if the dealer can diagnose a cause or get a code to come up...dont know what course they have either..
other board members...what ya think?
I would still use the assistance center..they assigned a case number and a person to deal with it...call them..leave a voicemail....keep telling them you arent a happy camper....and do the same with your salesman and the service manager...you feel the car isnt right and you arent a satisfied customer now......perhaps e2helper is frequents the forum can also provide some insight as well
"We have reviewed your original request, and support the decision that has been previously stated to you. We apologize that this decision was not in accordance with your wishes.
This is the final decision of General Motors and we will no longer address additional e-mail on this subject. Please feel free to contact us again with any other concerns you have."
SO THERE YOU GO...to me...they are just going by what the dealer said. I dont know where to turn next. Because like I said according to the Dealer the car runs "fine".....ugh!! I am getting so frustrated with this. I should have just kept my old Malibu. (1998) but of course I loved the new ones and was dieing to have one...I just didnt intend on having these problems. Thank everyone for all thier responses. Again, I love this forum. To me it is someplace where I can vent....Haha! Thanks again to everyone!
Tony
I will take my car to the dealer and inform them about the problem.
Good question. Arbitration is an option. Time-consuming and run by the BBB (page 7-2, owners' manual). You may get satisfaction, but the BBB is biased for business - naturally.
According to this forum, and my experience, there seems to be a major and continuing problem with Chevrolet and its dealers. Every defect I've brought to the dealer's attention has been denied to exist or they are incapable of fixing it. The last was the incorrect fuel gauge reading. According to the dealer the defect doesn't exist - end of conversation. "Check Gas Cap" continuing to display, dealer response - no problem - end of conversation.
Has anyone gotten anything repaired satisfactorily, under warranty, on their 2004 Maxx? What?
Do you know when your vehicle was built?
Was it before early May?
For the times that your vehicle was at dealer do any of the repair orders state they reprogrammed the powertrain control module?
The lastest calibration for your vehicle looks to have made some improvements in idle quality among other stuff.
E2helper - have you had this no start situation occur as well?
I only mentioned theft telltale because of an ealier post. At this time I really don't have any suggestions or want to rule anything out. Just suggest if it happens again that you try to describing other things like telltales in instrument panel (when the ignition is ON).
Regarding brakes, I am not very knowledgable, and will ask around
Also, is there any long term problems of having the lights get moisture inside of them?
Playing the devil's advocate, I can understand a manufacture's high threshold before buying back a vehicle -- to do this for minor issues the administrative paperwork and logistics alone would would be a killer, let alone the direct financial hit on the vehicle itself. Granted this may not be your concern, and you may not consider your issues minor -- you only want a car that meets your expectations, but understand the dilemma a manufacturer faces.
On the other hand, I am not a manufacture's advocate. On 3 of the my last 5 vehicles (2 Ford Windstars and a Toyota Corrola -- the latter known for reliability) I encountered systemic issues. On the Windstar (first model year) the engine started running hot, I believe after about 30K, even over heating and requiring towing a couple of times, one time leaving me stranded! Three dealers, including one that specialized in heavy engine work, couldn't locate anything definitive, they just flushed the system and sent me home. I had the thermostat replaced but I doubted this was culprit. I was advised that since the temp gauge was within the "normal" range the vehicle was operating as designed.
Unfortunately the problem could not be readily reproduced. To make a long story longer, it turned out to be major engine problem requiring resurfacing the head and replacing the head gasket (normally a $2000+ repair) but this wasn't apparent to the manufacturer for several months after I encountered the issue. Needless to say, when I eventually got a recall notice I felt relieved and vindicated... the problem wasn't just me, despite the experts.
I was given an extended warranty, and the mini-van served me very well for 8 years.... in fact I even bought another one used that I knew had the same issue because I was confidant the issue was resolved. Yes, I would've preferred a manufacture trade out, and even compensation me for the many hours of consternation and disruption to my schedule, but I realize they have limits to what they can do to stay in business when dealing with thousands of customers, and the extended warranty (which I never had to use) was welcome and understandable.
I encountered another issue with a new Toyota that is closer to the rough idle complaint that was never completely resolved to my satisfaction (I'm going long so I'll spare the the details), but my point is that with all three vehicles I was ultimately served very well, despite the considerable frustration and imperfections. I'm also a former Honda Accord and Civic owner (multiple years and models). I'm not an automotive expert but until my family time commitments grew I did almost all mechanical non-warranty repairs. As I stated in a previous post, take the course of action you feel appropriate for your needs, be persistent, and document everything. Yes it is hard to be patient -- I can't tell you lost peace of mind I suffered with all the makes and models I mentioned, including "reliable" foreign makes.
I'm certainly not excusing ineptitude, which may be at issue in some of the complaints I'm seeing, but I've grown to realize no make/model is perfect, even though this sounds cliche and may not be of much comfort.
I also know from first hand experience that forums of this type tend to elicit more negative than positive feedback from the owner base as a whole. Obviously this particular discussion is explicitly intended for problems, but message boards often tend elicit more negative feedback than positive because people who are not having problems tend not to seek out resources like this. In the software marketplace I serve in I managed a dial up bulliten board for years, and I compared actual surveys (followed up with personal contact) with online comments. While the vast majority of users were satisfied to very satisfied, a superficial pulse of the online forum could easily indicate otherwise.
Why am I saying all of this? I don't recall the actual ship numbers of this vehicle, but I'm confidant if problems like those posted here were endemic, there would be a significantly greater number of negative posts, and as it stands this is not the case.
This forum is easy to find using Google, and manufactures and vendors all live in glass houses these days. They can no longer hide behind problems and stay in business for long.
As I understand it this vehicle only began shipping late last Fall, and overall the first year issues and owner feedback are very positive. Again, perhaps of little consolation if you are having difficulties, but it might help to put your problem(s) in perspective. I believe the car itself and the ongoing feedback in this forum are good reasons to remain optimistic!
I hope my feedback provides helpful perspective and is not seen as just a vain exercise to validate my own buying experience, which has been very positive. You'll probably not see long posts, if any, from me for some time, unless I have a serious problem. I just had a bit more time given the holiday weekend and I wanted to give something back to all of you for the invaluable help you've provided to me.
Can't agree. When individuals are experiencing and relating the presence of exactly the same defects, those problems ARE "endemic". Consumer Reports and J.D. Power surveys clearly define which auto companies produce superior products - the various companies' quality is not the same.
What is agreed is that perfection is not an option. The issue is the inability of Chevrolet/dealers to correct the deficiencies or even acknowledge their existence.
It seems it would be a simple exercise for Chevrolet to monitor forums like this one, learn the problems, have engineering resolve the difficulties, and e-mail the information to the dealers. If nothing else, advise customers that "we're working on it". Instead, it's a constant runaround.
American auto manufacturers (only two remaining) have been losing market share and may eventually be bought as Chrysler has been. It is solely through lack of quality in their products. The marketplace is the arbiter, and GM is not satisfying customers sufficiently, to, over the longterm, remain in the automobile business. Change is possible, and the owners on this forum would gladly forgive and forget, if GM would "do the right thing" and successfully correct the problems experienced.
Long term, who knows? And more importantly, the current problems are not getting addressed/repaired.
It's all about cost. If I were just interested in a sedan and not the Maxx I'd probably look elsewhere - if "elsewhere" is affordable.
The Mazda 3 would be on my list - although it has less room than the Malibu, and also is a new model. Camry and Accord are no brainers but more expensive.
Is the low price a sign or just them wanting to get rid of these base models??
PS I really appreciate all this input and think this and cars.com are another major perk of a web!
No I do not know when my vehicle was built...is there someplace where I can find that out...I know it is on the car someplace probably! And no none of the work orders from the dealer say anything about reprogramming the powertrain control module...what would this mean?
And where can I find out about the latest calibration for my vehicle?
I should have been a little more help...
Look at the last 6 digits of the VIN on your vehicle (the stuff after "F")
Is is greater than this number?
223920
If it is NOT then there is a later calibration available for your vehicle that the dealer should likely try out.
Go to this site with your VIN
http://calid.gm.com
Since it isn't a protected site behind a GM firewall I figure you might have found it yourself anyways. Probably some requirement that companies make this available to public. Make sure pop-up control turned off for this site with lastest IE or you won't see a response.
For this specific calibration update I mentioned is the following comments:
New calibration with diagnostic enhancements for DTC P0340. Also improvements for starting, idle quality, and shift stabilization affecting 3-4 upshift.
Really this is the only information I have
Any idea about this calibration update mentioned on the GM site regarding setting P0455?
"12589770 12589771 New calibration to reduce the potential for setting P0455."
Is it for the "Check Gas Cap" alert?
Bonnie, in regards to your vehicle all I can say is that there is an updated PCM calibration available for your vehicle. I am not going to say that it will address your concerns but it certainly is something that dealer could try.
I would suggest either contacting the dealership or the GM customer care contacts you already have and tell them you have learned there is a new PCM calibration available for your vehicle that MIGHT address your idle concern. It is always possible they already updated your vehicle with the calibration and just didn't tell you.