Nightmare GMC Acadia - What to do next?

jgohearn

I need some advice, I have no idea what to do next. I bought a white 2008 GMC Acadia in January of 2016. I think it had around 135,000 miles on it. It now has 150,000 miles on it. We've been having a tough time with it ever since. In May 2016 we put $1500 into it to have the wiring redone because the sunroof would leak water into the car. They also said the transmission wave plate was going bad and was $5,000 to replace. This had a service bulletin Special Coverage from GMC at 120,000 miles or 10 years but we were over the 120,000 miles. Well we didn't have $5,000 laying around so the plan was to drive it until the transmission stopped working then get it fixed. Now just this week April 2017 it stopped running all of a sudden and we were told it needs a new engine for about $6,000. We paid $14,000 for it. KBB says is worth about $7,000 (fixed). It would be about $12,000 to fix and we still owe about $10,000 on it. I have no idea what to do with this thing. The monthly payments aren't what get us with vehicles it's the big expenses for major repairs that are the hard par to deal with. We are thinking about just leasing cars from now on. It seems like every time we take a vehicle in to get fixed it's always $1500 or more. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

John O

PF_Flyer

First thing, I don't think you should concern yourself with what it's "worth" if you get it fixed. If you sell it at that point and get the KBB value you're in for at least $15,000 ($10K you owe plus $12K to repair minus $7K you might get for it), and you have no vehicle. So you get a new vehicle to replace it, and are at least $15K underwater on that.

If you get it fixed and keep it, yes you still are in for $22K, but you at least have the vehicle to drive while you chop away at the debt. If you feel good about the repairs solving the issues and starting fresh with a "new" engine, you might get enough miles out of it to give you enough time to pay it down to a level you can live with when you move on to the next vehicle

The only other option I see is to scrap the Acadia and stop the loss at the $10K you still owe and get something new with that added $10K on the cost. (At least it's $5K less than the first scenario)

*I* would either fix & keep and try to drive it into the ground to get the debt paid off, or cut my losses and move on. Doesn't seem to make sense to spend $12K to fix up a vehicle so someone else can buy it for $7K... and leave me withe the $10K I STILL would owe on top of that.

This is the definition of "tough spot"

Mr_Shiftright

First of all, what symptoms are present for the alleged bad wave plate?

Where are you taking the truck to be fixed?

Why do you need a "new engine"? Was this thoroughly explained to you.

I'm wondering if you need a good second opinion on all this stuff before you make any decisions.

jgohearn

Thanks for the answers guys. PF_Flyer we're going over both of those scenarios and trying to figure out what makes the most sense. Part of me wants to eat the $10,000 and lease something for 2 years to kind of regroup before we make another major car decision. That way at least any major repairs would be covered. We've had the worst luck with vehicles for about the last 10yrs. We got a new 2004 CR-V and that was a lemon and money pit from the beginning even though CR-Vs are supposed to be pretty reliable. One time when we were visiting family in Michigan and our CR-V was getting extensive work done that was going to take longer than we had time for. We needed a 2nd car at that time anyway so we bought a used Chevy Trailblazer to drive back to Florida. Looked great, seemed perfect. Bought it from a high-end repair shop that would also sell nicer 4x4s. It made it to Georgia. Less than 24hrs after we bought it was told it needed a new engine. Luckily the repair shop we bought that from paid for it. And as of today our 2006 TDI Jetta just started making a loud noise from the engine. I have to take that in now. We are just afraid if we get the Acadia fixed another major repair will be needed. The weird part is my wife and I don't drive much over the year and baby our cars. We don't speed, we don't brake hard, don't accelerate hard.

Shiftright: The wave plate issue has been going on for about a year. The local GMC dealership confirmed it's the wave plate. It shakes pretty hard going between 2nd to 3rd gear. Also, shakes in a higher gear as well. I've learned to drive the Acadia to minimize the shaking. When to accelerate when to let off the gas. It doesn't like it when you are at that in-between speed where it's just about to shift. We split our cars between the dealership and a local auto repair shop that is owned by a family friend. We trust him and he's a no BS kind of guy that's fair. I towed the Acadia to my friend's repair shop late Thursday night and left town early Friday and just returned today. We just spoke briefly over the phone on Friday morning so I need to get more details. He said the engine dropped and it was done (Not sure what that means.)

Thanks again guys for the help.

Mr_Shiftright

OK, if in fact the transmission and engine are bad, then fixing this car with that mileage on it is crazy. Were I in your shoes I'd try to sell off the Acadia as a "mechanic's special" and just eat the rest.

Given your car history, perhaps leasing isn't a bad idea. In hindsight (which is so easy), buying an Acadia in the first place was a mistake, and one with 135K on it was asking for trouble. The 2006 TDI is worth keeping if repairs are not too grotesque---good gas mileage and good resale value. The CRX was just very bad luck I guess, not your fault in any way.

Or, you could sell the Acadia for a few thousand, sell the TDI once it's fixed for maybe $5K--$6K if it's clean and come close to even on the Acadia debt.

Then you could lease (and presumably share) one car or even lease two cars if you can score a really good lease deal on something. There are some cheap leases out there.

tonka858

Car is not worth fixing, Those have so many issues your best to trade it in eat the loss and move on.

thecardoc3

Go with a used engine and transmission from a used vehicle. Typically used components come with a least a part warranty on the order of three to six months so you risk extra labor if you get a bad one, but the up front savings can be worth taking the risk. By replacing both the engine and transmission at the same time, there is some overlapping labor which can be waved and result in a savings there as well.

When you have your shop call around for a used part, see if they can identify one that has already had repairs done to it such as the transmission having been previously rebuilt (which would mean the wave plate issue would have been dealt with) and/or the timing chain replaced which is one of the potential engine issues.

If you find a good engine that otherwise hasn't had the chain done, you could consider having it replaced prior to installation. I believe once repaired as long as it is serviced correctly you should be able to get a few years out of it and that would help get you back to level ground.

Mr_Shiftright

I thought about advising that but after some serious deliberation I leaned the other way because unlike most other cars, with the Acadia there's probably a reason why its in the junkyard in the first place---AND--he has TWO risks to overcome buying used---both the transmissions and the engines have known defects after the miles build up.

So any used engine/transmission purchase would have to be very carefully vetted prior to installation.

Like Doc says, it would be great to find a wrecked Acadia that just had the engine and transmission rebuilt, or a rebuilt transmission + an engine with very low mileage---but that's not going to be easy to find IMO.

thecardoc3

I always had good associations with the salvage yards. They readily identified pre repaired units and would keep them for the shops that they usually did business with. Yes its still a gamble, but at least you were hedging your bets a little.

jgohearn

Thanks, all good thoughts and ideas.

Kao

Hey, Jgohearn. I just bought a 2008 GMC Acadia, has the same shaking in the same form that you mentioned. Had the rack and pinion replaced because it was bad and we though it was that. Shaking got better but it's still there. I'm starting to think it's the wave plate. I wanted to ask, you said you were able to kinda work around the shaking and drive it like that, and in a way learned how to minimize the shaking. How long did you drive it with that problem before the transmission went bad...or did you keep driving it like that but you sold it before it went bad, did the transmission ever go out of commission? I wanted to know if this was a problem I could just live with till I got the money to fix it =/

Thanks