Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Chevrolet Impala: Problems & Solutions
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
BTW, anyones trunk leaking?
Definitely feel a difference in the braking now, but was surprised to see that my old pads still had a good bit of wear left on them (probably 1/8" or so above the wear indicator/"chirper").
I have not experienced none of the issues related to check engine lights, airbag lights, leaking trunks, ISS or rattling breaks. My car runs fantastic, is tight, solid, quiet and compleletly rattle free. This car has never ever left me stranded anywhere and the engine runs like the finest Swiss watch.
I am selling it, not because I have had problems with it, but because I want something different as I have a new 2004 MINI Cooper S on order for October '03 delivery.
I think some of you have a combination of unusually problematic cars with clueless dealers. For the person with the leaking trunk, tell your dealer to look at the plastic tailight assembly rubber seals. If those seals are slightly worn or not making good contact against the bodywork, water will get in, guaranteed.
I had the same exact leaking trunk problem in a different car...a $30K 1997 Acura 2.5TL sedan. I took the car 3 times to the dealer and every time I found the same water leak and musty smell on the right side of the trunk. The dealer claimed to had water pressure tested the car's trunk and found nothing wrong with the trunklid weatherstrip rubber seals.....but...after I got really unpleasant, they took the car back inside the service bay and the technician took a look at the right side plastic tailight assembly seals...and..BINGO!..the rubber seals were defective and water was getting in from the tailight, not the trunk.
So, I suspect you have the same exact problem, unless you car was involved in a severe rear end collision and the water leak in the trunk is the by product of a bad bodyshop repair.
Oh and by the way, that 1994 Dodge Shadow of yours never saw the shop, because Chrysler made the same car with almost no changes since 1987, therefore, your 1994 version already had all the "bugs" worked out from the earlier model years. Ask any 1987-91 Dodge Shadow/Plymouth Sundance owner about their cars to find out how many times their clunkers went back to the shop and how that wonderful Chrysler paint job stayed intact during that time.
Good luck.
It is important to have your Impala checked if you are loosing coolant, even when there are no obvious signs of leaks. If the manifold leaks internally, you're in big trouble unless you've got a very good warranty. The 3.8 is an expensive engine to replace.
This one issue is really dragging down the reputation of a very solid vehicle. My 2001 LS drives great. I put about 700 miles a week on mine (long commute - a long comfortable commute). And I'm averaging 28.8 mpg cruising at speeds up to 85.
BUT now I have the coolant leak. So it gets to go in again when they replace the carpet kit and spare tire cover. Yeee haaa!! It's been fun let me tell you.
Thanks all
I agree with you, its a great car. I love the huge back seat, fits a car seat and two adults. I will sorely miss that. It rides great and is pretty fast. But you can't mistake all the problems as quirks or being uncommon. But that's what I get for buying a new model when it first came out.
Funny you mentioned the paint deal on the shadow. I have seen that soo much, but never happend to mine. Chipped alot though, real easily. I traded it in after 5 years.
No trunk damage to my impala, it's either a bad design or the tail light like you mentioned!!!
Anyway, add me to the coolant leak problem now!!!!
Also, I will be driving about an hour next week to LA, can the coolant leak wait as long as we check the levels often? I don't have time to get it in the shop.
I can now drive down the street without pedestrians stopping and looking at me.
My dealer told me this is the only pin kit they have ever installed.
thanks
3.5 year old '00 Impala. Blower now only works on 5th speed ... does nothing on speeds 1 through 4. Out of work so have plenty of time but not money, so tried to fix myself. Made sure path to blower is okay from vent under hood. Was able to touch blower fan and visually inspect from above ... nothing obvious, it moves around, slight squeak. Opened up lower panel on passenger side and saw blower housing ... looks like it will take a lot of work to remove it, so I stopped hoping to get some advice here.
Questions: anyone done this before? Any chance I can fix this myself, either by cleaning out the blower or other? Any other advice?
It's our second car so we can sort of live with the problem, but obviously would like to fix it.
Thanks!
Some may criticize this, I was desperate to get the dye out, took my time and I can't tell you how careful I approached this and got good results.
Bill Sapp
Sugar Cookie
Send me an E-mail (look at my profile) and I'll give you a good overview on the Impala. I currently own a 2001 Impala LS.
I got an '03 Impala in December. It's the best new car I've ever owned...no problems yet. Until now, I've never had a new car where at least one thing didn't go wrong, from a van that had one failure (radio, but needed three visits to fix) to a different vehicle where the heater, transmission, window seals, window motor, ad nauseum, failed in the first two years. GM initial quality has really gone up.
My Impala is the base model, with the 3.8L engine. I got stung by a 3.4L engine before, but I believe the Impala's 3.4L is different than the mini-van's version.
I've never had an OEM sound system that was this good, the dual-one heater & A/C is neat, the trunk is HUGE, and the seats are comfortable all around. Split rear seats, rear arm rest, center rear shoulder belt, CD + cassette are all neat. (Plus, the radio plays while you're rewinding or forwarding the tape...why did this feature take so long to appear?) The 3.4L engine was pretty powerful and smooth on the test drive, but the 3.8L is g-r-e-a-t. I'm also getting 20.6 mpg, according to the travel computer display (which I had to take in order to get the steering wheel controls). The car warms up much faster than my previous cars...pretty important this last month.
Stuff to look at: If you're short, the high trunk lid may keep you from having as big of a "field of view" while backing up. The automatically dimming day/night mirror is bigger than I'm used to, and I have to push it all the way up to keep it out of the way to see towards the two o'clock direction.
The salesman let me take the car home over night to see how my family liked it. So, the wife and I got to drive the car during the day and night, see if everyone fit (family of six), and see how well it fit in the garage.
I need to know some really good adhesive or any other suggestions, wonder if the TSB on the issue is a real fix or if its just replacing it with the same thing like the manifold problem.
We've been very happy with the car. Engine (3.8L) is great and the sport suspension is excellent. We have 5 in the family so opted for the bench seat w/ leather. Rear seat leg and hip room is huge by today's standards as is the trunk. Gas mileage is amazing averaging close to 30mpg on the highway at 75-80 mph with a car full.
The car isn't perfect, of course. My nits are the fit and finish of the interior is not great (not BAD, but not great). The leather seems thin and cheap to me as compared to my Olds Aurora. Also there's an inordinate about of road noise at highway speeds in the back seat (from the rear wheel wells I'd guess) - not so noticable from the front.
On balance,though, for the money we are very pleased with the car and would buy another in a heartbeat.
ghostwolf - I know this issue about the headliner on the sunroof models has come up before, and I can see the Velcro you're talking about glued ot the roof. However, when I push my headliner up there to meet the Velcro, it doesn't look right. When it is hanging freely, it hangs level across the sunroof opening (albeit a 1/4" or so below). Is it possible the Velcro is there as part of the production process (to possibly hold the headliner up while the other adhesive sets up or something)?
Haven't posted for months!
Well here is an update on my 2000 Impala LS(3.8L V6) with close to 70,000 km's
Things are generally going well. Warranty ran out awhile ago, elected not for an extended. Wanted to charge me close to 2800 dollars Canadian for only an additional year or so. WHAT A RIP OFF.
Car seems to be running well. No ISS Problems. NO Brake Problems. No coolant or warped manifold problems.
One reoccuring problem is the Air Bag light. I've had it fixed numerous times underwarranty, last warranty repair they actually replaced some module or something.
well the light is back on. Debating weather to just get it fixed somewhere else cheaper andpay for it..OR go back to GM and argue that even though the warranty is done, the Problem has been reoccuring for the past TWO YEARS.
WHAT TO DO?
Guess we will see.
Take Care Guys.
I have 12,000 miles on my 2002 3.8 liter Impala and have been watching my coolant resevoir weekly. Will probably get an extended warranty due to this problem unless GM faces up to the problem and actually comes up with a fix versus just replacing the manifold with the same part when the situation occurs (Bandaid).
Very frustrated with this situation.
This file is in powerpoint and it has some good diagrams of the parts involved in this study back in 1995-1996 timeframe.
http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/~gjostein/mschp10.ppt
Any Comments?
Probably the most common problem that we see is
the warping/leaking of the upper intake plenum. It's a
plastic upper intake plenum that sits on top of the lower
aluminum intake manifold. You can either get some
external coolant leaking like this:
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/380015%20(11).JP- G
you can see the dried coolant pooling close to the thermostat housing,
what you can't see is the other side of the manifold where it's pouring
down the back of the bell housing.
Or you get a bad enough leak that it leaks internally and fills up
the inside of the lower intake, like this:
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/38001.JPG
nasty, eh? When they are this bad, they often hydrolock the
engine as the coolant starts to flow into the cylinders. What's the
cause? This EGR pipe sticking out of the lower intake manifold:
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/38002leaks.JPG
Here is a picture of the old and new manifold designs end to
end so you can see the smaller EGR pipe in the newer design.
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/3800intake.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/3800intak1.JPG
The old style EGR pipe overheats the inside of the upper intake
plenum and warps/damages it.
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/380015%20(16).JP- G
plenum and warps/damages it."
So with the new smaller EGR pipe the warping hopefully shouldn't happen (or is less likely)? When was the design changed?
If I hear anything about this I will post it here.
I have been reading some very knowledgeable postings on the GM 3.8
> Liter Series II engine and needed to know if there has been a fix for
> this problem or are the GM dealers simply replacing the composite
> upper intake manifold with the same part whereby the problem with the
> EGR intake pipe will still cause the composite intake manifold to warp
> over time and leak antifreeze.
It all depends. If the vehicle is under warranty, it will get a new
lower manifold if it is needed. When the customer has to pay for
it, they aren't real excited about spending 1000 dollars for both
manifolds (by the way, the aluminum lower manifold is cheaper
then the plastic/nylon upper manifold). In that case, the upper
manifold gets replaced and will probably go for another 80-140
K before it warps again.
> I saw one posting showing a smaller EGR pipe being used on later
> models of this engine but did not know if this was one of GM's
> "attempts" to correct the warping intake manifold problem. If it was
> GM's "attempt" has it actually worked (e.g., has anyone seen this same
> problem continuing to occur in vehicles with this smaller EGR Pipe??)
I'm starting to see the same leaking problem from vehicles with
the new manifold supposedly already in place. Do any of GM's
fix's ever actually work? Some do, some don't.
> Also, I have a 2002 Chevy Impala that has this 3.8 liter engine. It
> was built in Canada in May 2002. Does anyone know what date GM
> started to use this smaller EGR pipe in their engines or has any other
> corrective actions been taken on later model 3.8 Liter engines?
I don't know the exact dates, but the bulletin specifies that only
95-98 models are affected. But I've seen the older manifolds
on the 99 models.
> Any other problems with this engine that I should be on the look out
> for? Concerned 3.8 Liter Series II Engine owner
http://www3.telus.net/public/ianrmac/Images/3800/380013.JPG
havent posted in here in a long long time. I have 100 miles left on my warranty and my car has been to the dealer 3 times for the ticking sound when turning the steering wheel in a slow moving parking maneuver. It is scheduled t go back on thursday for a fourth attempt at getting it right. I need help from the group on what the TSB # that refers directly to the engine cradle/rack mount brackets that suspect is what it is in my case. Teo if you are out there I remember you were particularly knowledgeable on this topic. I appreciate the help in advance guys.
Rog
Thanks,
Brian
webbrian@yahoo.com
Thanks,
BC
"Sub Frame Noise at Weld joints. Applied pentratiine locker to frame. Noise gone"
This also took a 24 hour drying time in which I had to leave it over night and a day and they gave me a rental.
Haven't had the problem return yet.
Anyways, hope that info may help with getting your servcie people to fix it.
Good luck
Nicole
I also had a low coolant light at 23,000, but I haven't noticed a strong anti-freeze smell, but I will monitor it.
I also had the low tire pressure light problem, but overall these are minor annoyances for a very good car. Before computers, I did all my own work except for auto trans. I bought the GM extended warranty because of major problems with another American make, no it wasn't a fix or repair daily. I drove a 1966 Impala SS with a 425/427 w/a rock crusher and won over 50 trophies. I also used it to tow my funny car to the track and used it as a daily driver.
Can't wait for the "SS", if it will be for real. Thanks for listening everyone.
Otherwise I like this car better each time I drive it.
t_tookalook@hotmail.com
One thing that I have been considering is taking off the wheel liners and coating them with a sound proofing coating (on the inside part) and seeing if that helps. I'd say most of the noise is comming through the wheel liners, maybe some throught the floor and trunk too..
and to the Chevy email comment page at:
http://www.chevrolet.com/contactus/index.html
Chevy responded with a form type letter saying there were no recalls on this issue. Riiight.
I love my LS except for this stupid design flaw.
Thanks
Nicole
Also, I think I might be losing coolant... had the system flushed about 10K ago and it already appears to be below normal. Thought they pressure tested, how much fluid dissipation is normal in 10K miles?
Bill
Also, the service deptarment just called and said the coolant leak was coming from the intake manifold...surprise, surprise. They said they are putting in the redesigned one. Cool, I was under the impression that they were just putting in the same part as originally put in. They are providing a rental, it will be done tomorrow.
Nicole
There are problems with later models having the flickering lights that GM refuses to acknowledge is a problem. Some posters have replaced the alternator 3, 4 and even 5 times!
I'm researching my next vehicle and thought I'd read the Impala boards as I like the 3.8....
My Olds has 27400 since I bought it 1/99 and have had many problems, but most seem to have occurred after the warranty expired!
I'll keep lurking and learning.
Deke