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Comments
You verified what someone else had already reported. Good for you. ANd I'm glad you were analytical enough in your procedure that you found the vibration. Many people don't realize that in a differential setup, one wheel free is turning twice the speed of the speedometer. So it can be very dangerous.
I also would worry about hanging the wheel free, because the CV joint is flexing more than its usual amount. I would have supported the A-arm some. But I'm glad you found the problem.
What I would do is submit a copy of the bill to the service manager, not the writers, the service manager. Along with the copy I"d list the times you were in and what you told them to check.
I'd also submit the bill directly to Buick by certified mail. I would suspect $220 may show up in your mailbox as goodwill payment. I remember when I disassembled my 67 Mustang because it kept freezing up after a long drive. Ford paid me for the damaged piston and required new gaskets for rebuilding the motor. They did keep the damaged piston.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Thank you. I feel safer for you.
I still would hassle the dealership about a refund of cost.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I have the same problem with my Lucerne, what size are the rubber washers, did you use one on each bolt, and did you put them on to the plate that the brake and gas pedal are mounted on? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill
If you are having vibration and clunking problems with your Lucerne and no one seems to be able to fix it -- get rid of it! We had ours to the dealer 10 times for those problems, we had about 4 sets of tires, replaced half shaft in the steering, numerous tire rotations, road force balancing, etc. Also unrelated-- the driver's door handle fell off, the stereo blew up and the mechanism that controls the driver's seat and the driver's mirror went bad. This was over a period of 23 months -- we tried to work with the dealer to resolve and we tried to work with a GM troubleshooter to resolve but got nowhere and used lemon law as a last resort.
The most important thing to do is take the car in to the dealer immediately when you notice the problem and make sure it is well documented - particularly mileage because they will charge you for usage even if you win. We were outside of the statute of limitations when our case got to hearing BUT because the problem started with low miles, our usage fee was nominal (we had over 40,000 on it by the time we got to hearing). If you are over a certain amount of miles when you start your case, they'll throw it out. Keep all documentation of any visits to the dealership and make sure they write on them what they did and the service bulletin # if they used one. I also made a spreadsheet with the date, reason for service, how long they had the car, what they did, and mileage each time it went in. This proved to be very helpful when it came time for hearing preparation. We hired an attorney but went through the BBB arbitration process (I think GM requires that). The attorney did a lot of the contact work with the BBB but you can definitely do this yourself. It is actually set up to be used by the consumer. Basically, the case is opened up online, you send in all of your documentation when they ask you to and then they decide if you have a case. If you do, they set up hearing at their office (we went downtown Pittsburgh because that's where I work). Our attorney was there, a volunteer arbiter from the BBB, and a GM rep was on conference call. I spoke for my husband and I because I was the most involved with the ordeal. The GM rep stated her case, I stated mine. The arbiter asked questions of both of us and then the GM rep was allowed to ask me a couple of questions. The arbiter has the option to drive the vehicle -- he did in our case. When we got back, we called the GM rep back and had closing comments. It took almost two weeks for the arbiter to make a decision but he ruled in our favor and GM had to reimburse us for the full amount that we paid for the vehicle. We did not get attorney fees because the BBB feels that an attorney is not necessary to use their system. It is not necessary if you are well prepared on your own-- in our case, I could have done it myself-- our attorney was more hinderance than help most of the time.
My parents just bought a 2010 CXL (much to my chagrin) but we'll see if it's any better than our 2006.
Good luck to anyone who opts to go lemon law -- it can be done! I'll be glad to give further advice if anyone needs it.
Does anyone know the TSB for bad engine mounts? I have seen a few posts regarding mis-designed engine mounts, but I cannot find a TSB about this. Dealer
said they cannot find it either.
acceleration. The dealer did find that my engine mount "strap" was wrong and they adjusted that, but I still feel the vibration, maybe even more so now. I am not even
sure why there is a "strap" on this car. Seems the mounts should auto-align the engine/xmission without some adjustable part. Well that's another top in itelf.....
Can bad engine/xmission mounts cause the axles and bearings to go bad? I would think so since the flex would stress the axles and thus the bearings, but just trying to get another opinion. It seems very strange that 2 hub bearings and axles all go bad within 40K miles. I really think the mounts are bad. I assume this "strap" was incorrect since day 1 since I never had any work done on it until it was recently adjusted which leads to my next question.........if the "strap" was incorrect and my engine/xmission was flexing to much, can this wear out the dampening of the engine mount rubber? I would think so, but again I want another opinion. I think the dealer is checking the mounts and if they don't see a tear or leak, they assume the mount is good? Besides a visual tear or leak, how else can an engine/xmission mount be tested? I think maybe the dampening of the mounts is shot especially since the "strap" was not correct.
Thanks!!!
Now I own a 2008 Lucerne, same vibration and changed pads and rotors and it was good for a couple days. The vibration is back. ( I expect using the parking brake has tightened up tolerances to the rotor) The common thing here is with both cars the vibration seemed much worse for the first 15 minutes of driving and then got slowly better. This to me indicates it is something temperature related. I changed the tires on the 2008 now and it still vibrates. Recently I used a dial indicator on the new brake rotors and found that one rear is not spinning true. This indicates the hub is likely bent as I also see the un-true condition when the dial indicator is run on the hub face. I will replace it but temporarily I spent the time to shim between the hub and rotor with strips of tin tape until the rotor ran through the brake pads with minimal wobble. It does feel better today but will have to run it for a couple of days to see if the vibration comes back. FYI I have already replaced 2 hubs on the other side of the car due to free-play. This car has only 80,000 kms on it (about 50,000 miles)
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I wonder if runout measured on the hub needs to be measured only at the 5 lug bolt areas where the clampdown areas are.
I have never found a problem with runout in the hub even on replaement hubs. I did have a problem on a car where the old style front hub had lugs that were off center from the center of the wheel bearing of the hub and caused a radial runout in the wheel.
Measuring runout on the rotors and wheels requires the contact point be cleaned very well to remove oxidation and allow the wheel and rotor to mate perfectly against the raw metal.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,