Watch out Cooter, those GM's might be death traps. No Joke. WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. is recalling 1.5 million vehicles because of potential engine fires.
GM said there have been no reports of any fires or injuries. Some of the recalled vehicles are no longer in production.
The recall includes the 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue, the 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix, 1997-2003 Buick Regal, and the 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala.
The recall involves vehicles with a 3.8-liter V6 engine. The government said drops of oil could fall into the exhaust system and cause a fire in the engine.
GM spokesman Kerry Christopher said it was a precautionary measure for consumers.
The recall involves vehicles with a 3.8-liter V6 engine. The government said drops of oil could fall into the exhaust system and cause a fire in the engine.
Just about every V-8 Mopar I've ever had has the oil filter right above the passenger-side exhaust. It's pretty much a given that when you change the filter, you get oil on the exhaust pipe. Heck, I always just let it burn off! Haven't caught anything on fire...yet!
And just about any car ever made will leak oil onto the exhaust manifold, if the valve cover gaskets start to leak.
I never could figure out why those Honda CR-V's would catch on fire when the oil filter accidentally got double-gasketed. Maybe the oil sprayed out in such a fine mist, that it was more combustible? I accidentally double-gasketed my 2000 Intrepid, once. When I took the old filter off, the gasket remained stuck on the engine and I didn't notice...until I put the new filter on, started the car up, and heard obscene, squirting noises coming from under the hood. At the rate that sucker was losing oil though, it would've probably run dry in under a mile!
Heck, if I can keep a 2000 Intrepid running for almost 10 years, and going on 145,000 miles, then any car should be able to do it! FWIW, my newest GM product is 24 years old, and shows no signs of impending doom. :P
my newest GM product is 24 years old, and shows no signs of impending doom.
GM USED to build tough trucks. That is until about 10 years ago. Now they are just foo foo trucks for wannabe urban cowboys. I am looking for a 1995 or older Ford Power Stroke Diesel for my truck to keep. Ford took on that ugly Dodge look in about 1996-97. Pre Fodge PUs are the last F series I would buy. So keep your Silverado. It will probably outlast you. And will be much cheaper to fix than any of the new ones.
PS My neighbor drives a 1952 GMC and a 1964 Ford Bronco all the time.
True. If you did your shopping during any decade you could find a good long lasting D3 car or truck. A lot of those cars were overbuilt and even thought they had bad rides and some mechanical problems, most of the problems could be cheaply fixed. How many ten year old Chevy Silverados do you see in a day?. Sure they ride like hell and guzzle gas but they can take a licking and keep on tickin. :sick:
At some point, a worker stops being considered part time. That is, a company cannot just arbitrarily say a worker is part time and continue to work (and pay them) ~40 hours/week for a year or more on end just to avoid paying benefits.
Just in the last year or 2, Microsoft was taken to court (maybe it was arbitration) over that very issue. They had a number of "part time" programmers that had been on the payroll for years, doing the exact same job and working similar hours as full-time workers, only the part timers were not paid any benefits. I believe the ruling went against Microsoft and they had to start paying the part-timers (which they were in name only) benefits, along with back pay, so they effectively became full time employees with benefits.
No, you are confusing "Part Time" with "Temporary". Microsoft was taken to court because they were employing staff 40hrs/week as "temporary" employees and not giving them benefits. There is no law I know of that says employees can't be "part time" but "permanent" forever. McDonald's and scores of others do that.
I haven't even mentioned my '65 Wildcat or my bil's '67 Camaro or my friend's '69 Cutlass (gee, all over 40 years old. Don't see many Toymota's that old)
No surprise there: Toyota's 1st mass-market offering in this country, the Corona, didn't hit these shores until '66 or '67, & Toyota didn't have a nationwide dealer network until about 1970.
Honda's 1st serious entry in the U.S. market, the Civic, didn't come out until '72 or '73. (Before that, Honda sold a 2-cylinder car in this country, but only through a few dealerships on the West Coast.)
all of you with 10 year old Big 3 vehicles, enough of you do not exist to keep the Big 3 afloat, at least in the size they have been back in the 80s and 90s...if everybody was a lemko, GM would be on top and Honda and Toyota would sell as much as Aston Martin (10 a year???)...
Too many of us have been badly burned, not once, not twice, but MANY times over the years, and that is why they deserted the Big 3 Big Time...the average buyer does not know UAW from USA, but they know when a car is built poorly, and WE know it is a UAW problem...if it is a design or style problem, I assume that is discovered in the showroom (Honey, that car is ugly...or, Honey I can't reach the radio knobs) and the vehicle is never bought...but bolts falling off, windows falling out of track, or hoods that don't close well (may not discover until 1st oil change) is a UAW workmanship problem, and has probably been the cause of many defections over the last 25 years...
It is the car company who cried wolf...we simply do not believe you when you say your cars are quality, because we heard "Quality is Job 1" for years and the cars were anything but...
Boil it down...Big 3, because of poor UAW workmanship and lousy quality in many vehicles (not all), has lost our trust...and, while not all vehicles are poorly made, enough of them over the years has caused a large portion of buyer to abandon the Big 3 forever...and the UAW is still not smart enough to figure out why they don't sell as many cars as they used to sell...DUH...
There is no law I know of that says employees can't be "part time" but "permanent" forever. McDonald's and scores of others do that.
I got hired by McDonnell-Douglas Space Systems when I was still in college. It took about 6 months after I got out of college, before they put me on full-time. During that time, they wouldn't let me work any more than 39 hours per week, because anything above that, I would be considered full-time, and eligible for benefits.
That was ages ago, though, as I got hired full-time back in February 1994. I guess the laws may have changed since then. Plus, they could vary from state to state.
My current company calls 32 hours and up "full time", and you still get benefits. The company I'm about to transfer to calls anything less than 40 to be part time. But from 32-39 hours, you still get benefits, just a reduced leave accrual. So I guess it's all just a matter of semantics.
all of you with 10 year old Big 3 vehicles, enough of you do not exist to keep the Big 3 afloat, at least in the size they have been back in the 80s and 90s...if everybody was a lemko, GM would be on top and Honda and Toyota would sell as much as Aston Martin (10 a year???)...
I guess another problem is that, if we're driving around in Big Three vehicles that are 10 years older or more, we're not helping them anyway, because that means we're not buying new ones! Well, at least not often enough to make much difference.
I guess Lemko's doing his part, though, since he bought a new DTS fairly recently. And his girlfriend bought a 2005 or so LaCrosse.
Unfortunately I'm outta the market for awhile. The Intrepid's still running well, and when that goes, I have the '85 Silverado and a few other old cars to fall back on. Plus, I just don't drive all that much anymore. I think I went about 6,000 miles last year. I just don't drive enough these days to wear a car out. Heck, at this point, even if I had an Aveo, it would probably last forever, unless I abused it.
That brings back memories! My friend had purchased a new Pontiac Fiero. Excitedly she called me to give me a ride. As we pulled out of her driveway, her drivers side window plunged sideways into the door! She noted this wasn't an ucnommon occurance, she had an appt. with the dealer...
Don't remember if her Fiero caught fire, I'll have to ask her.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
No, you are confusing "Part Time" with "Temporary". Microsoft was taken to court because they were employing staff 40hrs/week as "temporary" employees and not giving them benefits. There is no law I know of that says employees can't be "part time" but "permanent" forever. McDonald's and scores of others do that.
I'm sure your right. But, can you have a part-time, 40 hour/week employee?
My current company calls 32 hours and up "full time", and you still get benefits. The company I'm about to transfer to calls anything less than 40 to be part time. But from 32-39 hours, you still get benefits, just a reduced leave accrual. So I guess it's all just a matter of semantics.
My company is similar, though I think you can go down to as few as 24 hours a week and still maintain benefits, though at a somewhat reduced level. We even have some relatively new work concepts such as job sharing (2 people doing one job). Not sure how the benefits work in that case.
"I guess another problem is that, if we're driving around in Big Three vehicles that are 10 years older or more, we're not helping them anyway, because that means we're not buying new ones! Well, at least not often enough to make much difference."...economically, I see your point...I was just referring that for many buyers, the long term quality of Big 3 simply was not there, and they did not need but a short time before problems began...
Bottom line...American buyers, in increasing numbers, have been buying imports for years, to the market share detriment of the UAW made cars...THERE IS A REASON for deserting UAW cars, and it isn't because Honda has nicer colors...the Big 3 have shrunk because an increasing number of Americans do not believe that the quality is there, whereas they feel the quality is there in Honda and Toyota...rocky can argue all he wants, but a great number of Americans will not buy Big 3 cars, and place that blame squarely on the UAW lack of workmanship and "skilled" floorsweepers being paid over $25/hour for a job that should be paid 75% of minimum wage...of 1983!!!...they aren't worth it now, and they weren't worth it then...
I'm sure your right. But, can you have a part-time, 40 hour/week employee?
Not sure about that one. I know my previous employer made a rule that no temporary employees could stay with the company more than six months. This was due to the precedent set by the Microsoft case.
THERE IS A REASON for deserting UAW cars, and it isn't because Honda has nicer colors...the Big 3 have shrunk because an increasing number of Americans do not believe that the quality is there
And that's their big problem. It took a couple of decades to lose the trust and even a few Malibus or CTS's (ignoring the poor reliability of the CTS) won't restore the trust. It's going to take a long time. Ford is much farther along than GM, partly because even though GM has some decent vehicles there are a lot of turds in there, too. That's why the "good company/bad company" idea is a good one if they will prune the deadwood vehicles properly and then rename the company to make a clean break.
Honda sold the 2-cylinder 600 sedan and 600 coupe east of the Mississippi River as well. In fact, Twin City Pontiac-Honda in Champaign, IL was the first Honda dealer east of the Mississippi, and it sold quite a number of Honda 600 sedans and coupes.
I can confirm this, as I bought a new 600 coupe from them in 1971.
Likewise. I don't believe things will be as good in 10, 25, or 50 years. Good thing I will have no heirs who will become slaves to this "New World Order." I believe all productive people all over the globe should refuse to have children so the New World Order oligarchs will be surrounded with nothing but criminal ghetto and trailer trash to forever terrorize them with senseless violent acts and constant theft of their property. They richly deserve it!!!
Things can be better. If GM trims its debt and obligations to the UAW, they can reinvest in their cars. If the Malibu shows anything it is that GM is close. Investment in core products can make GM better. :shades:
First world demographics/birth rates seem to be leaning towards such a scenario. It will all depend on how the globalized thought police are able to subdue the sheeple.
Housing prices so low? Low, or simply now realistic? Just because some idiots bought in to an artificially inflated market 2 or 3 years ago and are now upside down does not mean prices are now too low. IMO they still have a little ways to fall until they are realistic compared to incomes and sustainable debt
You are right on with this comment. What shouldn't be happening is that honest, thinking people should be paying for all the dumb actions of people previous? Like banks folding, etc. So we bail 'em out and get into worse and worse national debt.
And a recession, jobs get even scarcer, then talk of inflation rears it's ugly head.
Do these people buying McMansions with not enough income expect the mortgage brokers and banking loan officers to really look out for them, financially?
"Umm, wait a minute while I read this fine lawyer-eeze here. I don't feel comfortable singing anything until I've read it and have time to discuss it with my spouse."
Instead, are they hoping that a meteorite will drop on their property, and the media will come, and offer $5 million for the rights for their story, all of this in order to pay for their humungous-sized mortgage payment they've agreed to when they went ahead and signed on the dotted line?
Oh, and rocky and others about J.Stockton and K.Malone. Their head coach at Utah, Jerry Sloan, is an advocate of "Sloan-Ball." Basically it means simply this. If you don't have a clear path to the hoop, make one with your grabby-butt arms. Forearms to the face are just fine. If you get caught, I'll sit you for a while, then get ya back out there.
Malone and Stockton were nasty, thugs-r-us NBA players. Payton and Kemp were real honest-to-goodness great NBA ball-players. Gary Payton and Michael Jordan are your two best NBA guards in the history of the game. Everyone knows why I would pick MJ for one of the slots. But I pick Gary because, if he wasn't picking your pocket and sprinting to the hoop to kiss it off the glass for two, he was glued to you strongly, making it tough for you to shoot, much less pass the ball anywhere. Why do you guys think Seattle had the best team record of any NBA team in the 1990's? Gary passed the ball accurately, and could hit a lay in after he blew past you, and he could shoot the 3-ball, and hit a 15-20 foot jumper regularly. GP and MJ are your two best guards ever.
Kemp was the master of the dunk, done furiously to take your morale away. Great, talented players who were fiercely competitive in the fine manner of George Karl. Oh, how I Ioved the glorious NBA 90's in Skiddattle. :P
No, Gary. Anyone not involved in a dispute between a union and the employer who choses to stick their nose in where it doesn't belong is a scab, and worse than a child molester.
I don't think you can get worse than a child molester but a scab is right down there with them.
What does that mean? There was a job offer, a guy with five kids took it. What does he care if some fat union bosses have some dispute with the guy who offer him a job?
He will care when he's headed to the hospital and now can't feed his 5 kids because he was trying to steal someone else's job. :mad: You have to be a complete moral low-life to scab. :mad: :mad: :mad:
Last time I checked it was the company owners who pay the rent or mortgage on those properties and machines. Unless you contribute to those payments, you if you chose not want to work there for the offered pay, it's your privilidge not to, but it's not your business who is allowed on that property and in what capacity. Pick up that mortgage/rent payment and then you might.
That is one flaw in our legal citizen. In other countries it is "illegal" to cross a picket line and if you did you would end up floating face down in some river. The company owner would of never paid the rent or mortgage without the people under he/she. It's called a balance of power.
What? Because I prefer how a Honda Accord v6 handles/drives over a Malibu and appreciate how smooth and refined the engine is I'm brainwashed? Reliability isn't my first concern. The car has to feel right first. To me, that's usually where I part ways with GM products. They just don't feel right to me in a few key areas.
Okay if it feels better to you that is one thing but saying it's a better car by trashing the Malibu based on some biased baught and paid for journalist with an agenda is another.
If you look at every quality reporting agency out there and avg. the scores the Asian cars are still on top overall. That doesn't mean they are better in every category or that the domestics are crap. The difference is small overall. But I appreciate and value those small differences, particularly powertrain refinement where Honda flat out excels whether it's a lawnmower, motorcycle, marine outboard, or car, they are always among the highest rated products in every area they compete.
I will gladly put our Ecotec which was designed by Honda up against Honda's 4 bangers. I will also glady put our Wards Automotive Top 10 3.6 "High Feature" Direct Injection V6 against anything Honda makes also.
That said, I've never owned a Honda anything.
Rock, don't get to high on your high horse, because I know you liked your Acura TL, I think you apprecaited it's refinement, quality, styling and performance. Where you brainwashed?
The Acura TL was indeed a good car. You had to keep her reved up to have any sort of power but it was a good car and fun to drive. It was at the time arguably the best ELLPS car on the market due to the technology you got with it. However that isn't the case anymore because the CTS is the best ELLPS on the market despite Acura making some big improvements this past year to there 2009 model year. I have compared them both and if I had the money to buy a car in that segment it would be the CTS. You get more for your money going Cadillac. I purchased that car because GM, would do nothing to a dealership that ran my credit causing a bunch of inquires to lower my beacon score which took me 3 months to fix. This was before my wife went off her rocker and started robbing me blind.
That is the problem with you and marsha7. Both of you guys are gullible enough to believe everything you read and hear. I could put in the National Enquirer how Toyota and Honda are making automobiles that fly like Dr. Emmitt Brown's DeLorean and you both would believe it. If "Star" said it can really travel back into time you both would believe it. Now in gagrice's case it is anything "Rush" says is the gospel truth!!!
How much is Toyota paying in pensions to it's retirees in Japan. Just because you think you have the world by the [non-permissible content removed] living off of the hard work of others (UAW) you can now trash them. If the UAW goes away well so will your pay and benefits. Good Luck!!!!
I have been reading a book about Warren Buffet. One of the stories relates to his buying of a newspaper - the Buffalo Evening News. This was back in 1982, I believe. After he had control of the paper, it was struck by the drivers' union - all 38 of 'em. What were they demanding? Overtime for work not performed. Who does that sound like?
Then, the pressmen walked off also pulling the page plates off the presses as they left. Sound familiar?
Buffett thought he was sunk, so he closed the doors to the paper, and told the union that the paper "has a limited amount of "blood", and if it bleeds too much, it will not live anymore", and that "he would not reopen unless there was a reasonable prospect of a viable operation".
Well, the union blinked, the strike ended, end the paper was delivered. The workers kept their jobs, and Buffalo continued to have daily paper.
It is is lesson the UAW should have learned before it struck GM.
That's a super-stupid recall. Geeze, ANY engine could catch fire if you drip oil on the manifold. It's not likely. More likely it'll just evaporate in a wisp of blue smoke.
That's a super-stupid recall. Geeze, ANY engine could catch fire if you drip oil on the manifold. It's not likely. More likely it'll just evaporate in a wisp of blue smoke.
Just that GM's engine WILL for sure! You do not recall an engine for "not Likely". The brakes are the culprit and spark plug retention channels need to be replaced. You should check out the recall before you blindly defend the junk GM builds.
Obviously there are multiple problems.
Here is another recall for your review.
In August 2007 the government recalled 20,594 Buick Rendezvous, Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Aztec and Montana, all from the 2002 to 2004 model years because the fuel tank check valve could fracture, presenting a fire hazard.
This is a small one but just shows major issues are involved on the junk models they build...fewer models, less recalls. Simple. :shades:
Shoot, if I had Dr. Emmett Brown's DeLorean, my girlfriend and I would go back to 1955 and stay there, live out our lives and hopefully be dead before 2009. She'd be driving her new blue 1955 Buick Special while I'd look forward to purchasing a new black 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood sedan in a year or so. Oh, I might also have a 1938 Buick Roadmaster and 1939 Cadillac Fleetwood V-16.
true, let's think here, let's not strike and keep our jobs and whatever high wage we already make, when our Company is losing sales and revenue, or strike GM and make them bleed further.
The business model for a Union is not on hallowed ground as a "yes" come hell or high water. There are other, actually more crisp and stately methods to make a living.
The fact that there is no way to distinguish yourself from all the other unionites is pitiful, too. Thing is, at Boeing, there's always some set of raspberry jelly donut eating, Starbuck's swilling, neanderthals that are willing to can your [non-permissible content removed] and put somebody there who will take half your pay to "do the same work."
In my group Boeing kept the two 767 Technical Illustrator-Eng. leads to "oversee" this group's efforts to do our work. While my wife and I were tooling along in our '01 Kia Sportage 4X4 with our willing-to-tote life's belongings heading to mid-Missouri's Ozark region the people left behind at Boeing must've been going nuts. Like rockford always says regarding GM-UAW work, "you can't just learn it in a couple a days."
Well, guess what, those people probably gave it their best try to do that illustration work accurately, but it is my certainty that the amount of rework required and the baby-sitting my ex-lead had to do would've curdled our collective stomach's. Back when I started, In late Oct. of '79, we started a 6-month training program, to at least get us in the Boeing Illustration way of business thinking. Then we were sent where we were needed the most. Have fun, good fortune trying to satisfy the Boeing Executive god's who rule your futures.
Conservative only starts to describe them. Off-their-overpaid-rocker's does them much more justice. I love it when people that just sit around and BS all day, eat donuts and gossip about people have the authority to just off-load someone's work statement for cheaper workers. Boeing has no work ethic, no loyalty to their workers. Here's a quick, sucker-punch for ya, morons.
If Airbus didn't make just as many boo-fu's as Boeing they would still be eating their lunch. If Boeing's Everett Widebody Jetliner Division just slid off of the Mukilteo bluffs (one muddy, rainy NW delightful day) in to Puget Sound and all the stupid high-fulitin' think-too-much of theirselves management had to wrestle with some large octupii on the bottom of the Sound, I would hardly bat an eyelash of concern here in the hot and sunny desert Southwest. Good riddance, you can have all of your light-in-the-loafers, professional Seattle-sports hating constituency; Christine Gregoire, Governor, who always has something else to do besides get back a world-class NBA Sonic's franchise. They vote for their own to keep things "under control" to their tightly-drummed-shut brains. Fight over your ghastly high taxes and honk the hell outta each other on your overcrowded roads. Yes, since all of you Seattleites already know-it-all, I wish you only the best in your futures.
If David Stern would stop taking kickbacks and realize he took away a storied franchise in the Sonics, that it was not done ethically, and that there are a lot of people that realize that Key Arena is just fine for continuing NBA ball there, it would help.
And as long as the Pittsburgh Stealers still feel fine about stealing the 2006 Super Bowl from the Seattle Seahawks, fine. And the set of referees who are BTW no longer allowed to ref another Super Bowl, ever, are fine with making no-calls and wrong-calls all game long during that Stealer victory, fine. I mean, what's more important, playing an honest Super Bowl game that year in Detroit, or, making sure that the 'Bus' gets his SB Ring? The guy is stricken with asthma, better artificially "get" him a Ring. And, you banned ref's, you don't wanna turn down all of the Lost Wages incentive money, do you? That Super Bowl 40 remains the most obviously thrown NFL game in NFL history. Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks players and coaches, and all of their many loyal fans knew we had the best team in the NFL that year. But, sadly, greed and corruption was too tempting to not take full advantage of. Pitiful job of Commish-n-ing, yep.
GM engines will for sure? I have NEVER seen an engine fire in a GM car. Now, Fords on the other hand...
Blindly defend? First of all, GM does NOT build junk cars! Just saying that is an insult to me as I consistently buy GM cars! I guess you think I'm a prodigal fool who just throws his money away? I can defend GM cars with a Mount Everest of evidence! My 1989 Cadillac Brougham and 1988 Buick Park Avenue are exhibits A and B!!!
tlong: " It took a couple of decades to lose the trust and even a few Malibus or CTS's (ignoring the poor reliability of the CTS) won't restore the trust. It's going to take a long time."...that is why, when UAW lovers tell me how "out of date" the 70s and 80s are, I must disagree...the junk started in the 70s and 80s, and, IF IT ENDED, then it WOULD be ancient history to be ignored...but it continued into the 90s and beyond, and THAT is the "decades of lost trust" that are haunting them now...telling a family man who maybe bought 3 or 4 clunkers between the 80s and now, that he should "forget those bad years, we are different now" is not sufficient, not when you have the far better improved imports (not perfect, but better) to compare them to...the UAW hasn't changed, it has become worse, and even the ignorant public is catching on, now, with the information revealed thru the bailouts...
lemko: as I have said before, your love for your well-built GM cars is great, but, like it or not, ten thousand posts from you will not change the fact that YOUR experience, if not unique, is totally insufficient to convince those millions of buyers who have deserted the Big 3 forever...they did NOT buy cars like yours, because if they had, Honda and Toy would be unknown brands today...you lucked out with cream puffs, but don't think for a minute that the entire nation agrees with you...lots do, because Big 3 still sell millions of cars, but lots don't, because Big 3 has lost multiple millions of sales, and the most likely culprit is poor vehicle quality, fit and finish, and that goes back the the source, the overpaid, unskilled, UAW worker who cannot figure out how to tighten his bolts properly..."skilled"...yeah, right...
rocky, the recent books I read about the auto industry, heavily footnoted and referenced, discusses how a few Big 3 engineers saw the quality differences between Japanese and Big 3 over 25 years ago, but the automakers chose to ignore it...it is well documented, so it isn't reading the Enquirer where I get my references, it is documented sources...plus, owning 4 Hondas gives me ample experience and knowledge to tell you that the Japanese make a better car...you, OTOH, have only a UAW biased background, and all they ever told you was that they make the best cars, but if ANYBODY is unqualified and ignorant about product, it would be your UAW family and the entire membership, as they only know what they make, and have no idea at all how well the imports are made...it would be YOUR narrow-view experience in the auto world, knowing only UAW cars, that you would be so unknowledgaeable about how well the imports are constructed...try reading some legitimate critiques of the American auto industry, other than the monthly UAW bulletin, which probably still tells you that GM's market share is growing, and the UAW membership is growing, all thanks to the buyers lined up to buy UAW products...yeah, right...your family sold us crap for years, and someday they will actually get drunk enough to drop the facade and admit it to the world...
If the rest of the world bought the cream puffs like lemko, it might be different...but lemko telling us about his vehicles has not stopped one buyer from defecting to Honda, simply because no one believes that THEIR UAW car will be like his, and they have decades of junk to support that view...
GM engines will for sure? I have NEVER seen an engine fire in a GM car.
Trust me they are out there. A friend of mine's MIL had an 02 LeSabre burn up and took the garage with it. I believe it was a known manifold issue that caused the fire.
I guess I just haven't lived right. I had a 3800 with 150K on it and didn't notice any atypical leak. I have one with 165K on it and don't have a leak.
I guess it is not. It's a cleaner motor than the Toyota motors a neighbor who curbstones gets. He had one 4-cyl that was a blown head gasket and 10 years old. Bought it from the owner who didn't seem to know they blow heads. That junk doesn't last. Neighbor does have a cleaner motor now but that's because the 4-runner had a blown motor. So the replacement motor is cleaner. I told him it probably blew because of sludge. Those junk things just don't last no matter how the Toyfans try to spread their propaganda.
I've got a 3800 with 90K and don't have any leakage around the valve covers. The UAW does a good job with quality parts. If the leaks are a problem it's the fault of the suppliers providing the gaskets that were used. AT least GM does recalls instead of hiding problems as TSBs or telling people they're supposed to run that way!!!
Blindly defend? First of all, GM does NOT build junk cars! Just saying that is an insult to me as I consistently buy GM cars!
Sorry, but I respectfully disagree. My 2000 Suburban would change your mind, unless you think $4,000 in repairs from 46k-65k miles is normal. Plus the number of people I know that have had multiple trans failures with their 1/2 ton GM products rivals that of the infamous Chrysler transmissions of the late 80's. 2000 must have been a bad year, 'cause my dad inherited a 2000 Park Ave. from my Grandpa that was a complete POS too. Electrical problems, intake manifold failure, head gasket, oil leaks, all well before 100k miles. Now that was 10 years ago, but I do have an 07 Grand Prix in the garage that while reliable is still a POS. It rattles, it looks and feels cheap, drives worse, and IMO represents all that has been wrong with GM.
Anymore, you don't see to many oil leaks develop until after 100k. I can't remember the last vehicle I had the leaked oil. My dad just traded in a 2000 Taurus that had 190k and it was leaking around the valve covers enough to where it stunk, and would spot up the garage floor.
That's a super-stupid recall. Geeze, ANY engine could catch fire if you drip oil on the manifold. It's not likely. More likely it'll just evaporate in a wisp of blue smoke.
yeah, I'd think you'd have to have a very hot manifold and a lot of oil spill on it to catch fire. They must have a good reason for the recall, as recalling 1.4 million vehicles is not small potatoes.
Comments
WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. is recalling 1.5 million vehicles because of potential engine fires.
GM said there have been no reports of any fires or injuries. Some of the recalled vehicles are no longer in production.
The recall includes the 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue, the 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix, 1997-2003 Buick Regal, and the 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala.
The recall involves vehicles with a 3.8-liter V6 engine. The government said drops of oil could fall into the exhaust system and cause a fire in the engine.
GM spokesman Kerry Christopher said it was a precautionary measure for consumers.
Just about every V-8 Mopar I've ever had has the oil filter right above the passenger-side exhaust. It's pretty much a given that when you change the filter, you get oil on the exhaust pipe. Heck, I always just let it burn off! Haven't caught anything on fire...yet!
And just about any car ever made will leak oil onto the exhaust manifold, if the valve cover gaskets start to leak.
I never could figure out why those Honda CR-V's would catch on fire when the oil filter accidentally got double-gasketed. Maybe the oil sprayed out in such a fine mist, that it was more combustible? I accidentally double-gasketed my 2000 Intrepid, once. When I took the old filter off, the gasket remained stuck on the engine and I didn't notice...until I put the new filter on, started the car up, and heard obscene, squirting noises coming from under the hood. At the rate that sucker was losing oil though, it would've probably run dry in under a mile!
GM USED to build tough trucks. That is until about 10 years ago. Now they are just foo foo trucks for wannabe urban cowboys. I am looking for a 1995 or older Ford Power Stroke Diesel for my truck to keep. Ford took on that ugly Dodge look in about 1996-97. Pre Fodge PUs are the last F series I would buy. So keep your Silverado. It will probably outlast you. And will be much cheaper to fix than any of the new ones.
PS
My neighbor drives a 1952 GMC and a 1964 Ford Bronco all the time.
How many ten year old Chevy Silverados do you see in a day?. Sure they ride like hell and guzzle gas but they can take a licking and keep on tickin. :sick:
Just in the last year or 2, Microsoft was taken to court (maybe it was arbitration) over that very issue. They had a number of "part time" programmers that had been on the payroll for years, doing the exact same job and working similar hours as full-time workers, only the part timers were not paid any benefits. I believe the ruling went against Microsoft and they had to start paying the part-timers (which they were in name only) benefits, along with back pay, so they effectively became full time employees with benefits.
No, you are confusing "Part Time" with "Temporary". Microsoft was taken to court because they were employing staff 40hrs/week as "temporary" employees and not giving them benefits. There is no law I know of that says employees can't be "part time" but "permanent" forever. McDonald's and scores of others do that.
No surprise there: Toyota's 1st mass-market offering in this country, the Corona, didn't hit these shores until '66 or '67, & Toyota didn't have a nationwide dealer network until about 1970.
Honda's 1st serious entry in the U.S. market, the Civic, didn't come out until '72 or '73. (Before that, Honda sold a 2-cylinder car in this country, but only through a few dealerships on the West Coast.)
Too many of us have been badly burned, not once, not twice, but MANY times over the years, and that is why they deserted the Big 3 Big Time...the average buyer does not know UAW from USA, but they know when a car is built poorly, and WE know it is a UAW problem...if it is a design or style problem, I assume that is discovered in the showroom (Honey, that car is ugly...or, Honey I can't reach the radio knobs) and the vehicle is never bought...but bolts falling off, windows falling out of track, or hoods that don't close well (may not discover until 1st oil change) is a UAW workmanship problem, and has probably been the cause of many defections over the last 25 years...
It is the car company who cried wolf...we simply do not believe you when you say your cars are quality, because we heard "Quality is Job 1" for years and the cars were anything but...
Boil it down...Big 3, because of poor UAW workmanship and lousy quality in many vehicles (not all), has lost our trust...and, while not all vehicles are poorly made, enough of them over the years has caused a large portion of buyer to abandon the Big 3 forever...and the UAW is still not smart enough to figure out why they don't sell as many cars as they used to sell...DUH...
I got hired by McDonnell-Douglas Space Systems when I was still in college. It took about 6 months after I got out of college, before they put me on full-time. During that time, they wouldn't let me work any more than 39 hours per week, because anything above that, I would be considered full-time, and eligible for benefits.
That was ages ago, though, as I got hired full-time back in February 1994. I guess the laws may have changed since then. Plus, they could vary from state to state.
My current company calls 32 hours and up "full time", and you still get benefits. The company I'm about to transfer to calls anything less than 40 to be part time. But from 32-39 hours, you still get benefits, just a reduced leave accrual. So I guess it's all just a matter of semantics.
I guess another problem is that, if we're driving around in Big Three vehicles that are 10 years older or more, we're not helping them anyway, because that means we're not buying new ones! Well, at least not often enough to make much difference.
I guess Lemko's doing his part, though, since he bought a new DTS fairly recently. And his girlfriend bought a 2005 or so LaCrosse.
Unfortunately I'm outta the market for awhile. The Intrepid's still running well, and when that goes, I have the '85 Silverado and a few other old cars to fall back on. Plus, I just don't drive all that much anymore. I think I went about 6,000 miles last year. I just don't drive enough these days to wear a car out. Heck, at this point, even if I had an Aveo, it would probably last forever, unless I abused it.
That brings back memories! My friend had purchased a new Pontiac Fiero. Excitedly she called me to give me a ride. As we pulled out of her driveway, her drivers side window plunged sideways into the door! She noted this wasn't an ucnommon occurance, she had an appt. with the dealer...
Don't remember if her Fiero caught fire, I'll have to ask her.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
I'm sure your right. But, can you have a part-time, 40 hour/week employee?
Horse manure. I've got a great 11-year old and had a 10-year old that I traded.
>Oh and BTW one need not trade in a used Toyota or Honda
I'm trying to figure out what these statements have to do with UAW.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My company is similar, though I think you can go down to as few as 24 hours a week and still maintain benefits, though at a somewhat reduced level. We even have some relatively new work concepts such as job sharing (2 people doing one job). Not sure how the benefits work in that case.
Bottom line...American buyers, in increasing numbers, have been buying imports for years, to the market share detriment of the UAW made cars...THERE IS A REASON for deserting UAW cars, and it isn't because Honda has nicer colors...the Big 3 have shrunk because an increasing number of Americans do not believe that the quality is there, whereas they feel the quality is there in Honda and Toyota...rocky can argue all he wants, but a great number of Americans will not buy Big 3 cars, and place that blame squarely on the UAW lack of workmanship and "skilled" floorsweepers being paid over $25/hour for a job that should be paid 75% of minimum wage...of 1983!!!...they aren't worth it now, and they weren't worth it then...
Not sure about that one. I know my previous employer made a rule that no temporary employees could stay with the company more than six months. This was due to the precedent set by the Microsoft case.
And that's their big problem. It took a couple of decades to lose the trust and even a few Malibus or CTS's (ignoring the poor reliability of the CTS) won't restore the trust. It's going to take a long time. Ford is much farther along than GM, partly because even though GM has some decent vehicles there are a lot of turds in there, too. That's why the "good company/bad company" idea is a good one if they will prune the deadwood vehicles properly and then rename the company to make a clean break.
I can confirm this, as I bought a new 600 coupe from them in 1971.
Investment in core products can make GM better. :shades:
Some car companies decided to circumvent that type of build strategy. They are the more successful companies at this time.
Now, GM and Chrysler are gonners. :P
Regards,
OW
Like GM and C...R.I.P. :surprise:
Regards,
OW
You are right on with this comment. What shouldn't be happening is that honest, thinking people should be paying for all the dumb actions of people previous? Like banks folding, etc. So we bail 'em out and get into worse and worse national debt.
And a recession, jobs get even scarcer, then talk of inflation rears it's ugly head.
Do these people buying McMansions with not enough income expect the mortgage brokers and banking loan officers to really look out for them, financially?
"Umm, wait a minute while I read this fine lawyer-eeze here. I don't feel comfortable singing anything until I've read it and have time to discuss it with my spouse."
Instead, are they hoping that a meteorite will drop on their property, and the media will come, and offer $5 million for the rights for their story, all of this in order to pay for their humungous-sized mortgage payment they've agreed to when they went ahead and signed on the dotted line?
Oh, and rocky and others about J.Stockton and K.Malone. Their head coach at Utah, Jerry Sloan, is an advocate of "Sloan-Ball." Basically it means simply this. If you don't have a clear path to the hoop, make one with your grabby-butt arms. Forearms to the face are just fine. If you get caught, I'll sit you for a while, then get ya back out there.
Malone and Stockton were nasty, thugs-r-us NBA players. Payton and Kemp were real honest-to-goodness great NBA ball-players. Gary Payton and Michael Jordan are your two best NBA guards in the history of the game. Everyone knows why I would pick MJ for one of the slots. But I pick Gary because, if he wasn't picking your pocket and sprinting to the hoop to kiss it off the glass for two, he was glued to you strongly, making it tough for you to shoot, much less pass the ball anywhere. Why do you guys think Seattle had the best team record of any NBA team in the 1990's? Gary passed the ball accurately, and could hit a lay in after he blew past you, and he could shoot the 3-ball, and hit a 15-20 foot jumper regularly. GP and MJ are your two best guards ever.
Kemp was the master of the dunk, done furiously to take your morale away. Great, talented players who were fiercely competitive in the fine manner of George Karl. Oh, how I Ioved the glorious NBA 90's in Skiddattle. :P
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I don't think you can get worse than a child molester but a scab is right down there with them.
-Rocky
He will care when he's headed to the hospital and now can't feed his 5 kids because he was trying to steal someone else's job. :mad: You have to be a complete moral low-life to scab. :mad: :mad: :mad:
Last time I checked it was the company owners who pay the rent or mortgage on those properties and machines. Unless you contribute to those payments, you if you chose not want to work there for the offered pay, it's your privilidge not to, but it's not your business who is allowed on that property and in what capacity. Pick up that mortgage/rent payment and then you might.
That is one flaw in our legal citizen. In other countries it is "illegal" to cross a picket line and if you did you would end up floating face down in some river.
The company owner would of never paid the rent or mortgage without the people under he/she. It's called a balance of power.
-Rocky
-Rocky
Okay if it feels better to you that is one thing but saying it's a better car by trashing the Malibu based on some biased baught and paid for journalist with an agenda is another.
If you look at every quality reporting agency out there and avg. the scores the Asian cars are still on top overall. That doesn't mean they are better in every category or that the domestics are crap. The difference is small overall. But I appreciate and value those small differences, particularly powertrain refinement where Honda flat out excels whether it's a lawnmower, motorcycle, marine outboard, or car, they are always among the highest rated products in every area they compete.
I will gladly put our Ecotec which was designed by Honda up against Honda's 4 bangers. I will also glady put our Wards Automotive Top 10 3.6 "High Feature" Direct Injection V6 against anything Honda makes also.
That said, I've never owned a Honda anything.
Rock, don't get to high on your high horse, because I know you liked your Acura TL, I think you apprecaited it's refinement, quality, styling and performance. Where you brainwashed?
The Acura TL was indeed a good car. You had to keep her reved up to have any sort of power but it was a good car and fun to drive. It was at the time arguably the best ELLPS car on the market due to the technology you got with it. However that isn't the case anymore because the CTS is the best ELLPS on the market despite Acura making some big improvements this past year to there 2009 model year. I have compared them both and if I had the money to buy a car in that segment it would be the CTS. You get more for your money going Cadillac. I purchased that car because GM, would do nothing to a dealership that ran my credit causing a bunch of inquires to lower my beacon score which took me 3 months to fix. This was before my wife went off her rocker and started robbing me blind.
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
Then, the pressmen walked off also pulling the page plates off the presses as they left. Sound familiar?
Buffett thought he was sunk, so he closed the doors to the paper, and told the union that the paper "has a limited amount of "blood", and if it bleeds too much, it will not live anymore", and that "he would not reopen unless there was a reasonable prospect of a viable operation".
Well, the union blinked, the strike ended, end the paper was delivered. The workers kept their jobs, and Buffalo continued to have daily paper.
It is is lesson the UAW should have learned before it struck GM.
That's just plain bullsh!t
Just that GM's engine WILL for sure! You do not recall an engine for "not Likely". The brakes are the culprit and spark plug retention channels need to be replaced. You should check out the recall before you blindly defend the junk GM builds.
Obviously there are multiple problems.
Here is another recall for your review.
In August 2007 the government recalled 20,594 Buick Rendezvous, Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Aztec and Montana, all from the 2002 to 2004 model years because the fuel tank check valve could fracture, presenting a fire hazard.
This is a small one but just shows major issues are involved on the junk models they build...fewer models, less recalls. Simple. :shades:
Regards,
OW
The business model for a Union is not on hallowed ground as a "yes" come hell or high water. There are other, actually more crisp and stately methods to make a living.
The fact that there is no way to distinguish yourself from all the other unionites is pitiful, too. Thing is, at Boeing, there's always some set of raspberry jelly donut eating, Starbuck's swilling, neanderthals that are willing to can your [non-permissible content removed] and put somebody there who will take half your pay to "do the same work."
In my group Boeing kept the two 767 Technical Illustrator-Eng. leads to "oversee" this group's efforts to do our work. While my wife and I were tooling along in our '01 Kia Sportage 4X4 with our willing-to-tote life's belongings heading to mid-Missouri's Ozark region the people left behind at Boeing must've been going nuts. Like rockford always says regarding GM-UAW work, "you can't just learn it in a couple a days."
Well, guess what, those people probably gave it their best try to do that illustration work accurately, but it is my certainty that the amount of rework required and the baby-sitting my ex-lead had to do would've curdled our collective stomach's. Back when I started, In late Oct. of '79, we started a 6-month training program, to at least get us in the Boeing Illustration way of business thinking. Then we were sent where we were needed the most. Have fun, good fortune trying to satisfy the Boeing Executive god's who rule your futures.
Conservative only starts to describe them. Off-their-overpaid-rocker's does them much more justice. I love it when people that just sit around and BS all day, eat donuts and gossip about people have the authority to just off-load someone's work statement for cheaper workers. Boeing has no work ethic, no loyalty to their workers. Here's a quick, sucker-punch for ya, morons.
If Airbus didn't make just as many boo-fu's as Boeing they would still be eating their lunch. If Boeing's Everett Widebody Jetliner Division just slid off of the Mukilteo bluffs (one muddy, rainy NW delightful day) in to Puget Sound and all the stupid high-fulitin' think-too-much of theirselves management had to wrestle with some large octupii on the bottom of the Sound, I would hardly bat an eyelash of concern here in the hot and sunny desert Southwest. Good riddance, you can have all of your light-in-the-loafers, professional Seattle-sports hating constituency; Christine Gregoire, Governor, who always has something else to do besides get back a world-class NBA Sonic's franchise. They vote for their own to keep things "under control" to their tightly-drummed-shut brains. Fight over your ghastly high taxes and honk the hell outta each other on your overcrowded roads. Yes, since all of you Seattleites already know-it-all, I wish you only the best in your futures.
If David Stern would stop taking kickbacks and realize he took away a storied franchise in the Sonics, that it was not done ethically, and that there are a lot of people that realize that Key Arena is just fine for continuing NBA ball there, it would help.
And as long as the Pittsburgh Stealers still feel fine about stealing the 2006 Super Bowl from the Seattle Seahawks, fine. And the set of referees who are BTW no longer allowed to ref another Super Bowl, ever, are fine with making no-calls and wrong-calls all game long during that Stealer victory, fine. I mean, what's more important, playing an honest Super Bowl game that year in Detroit, or, making sure that the 'Bus' gets his SB Ring? The guy is stricken with asthma, better artificially "get" him a Ring. And, you banned ref's, you don't wanna turn down all of the Lost Wages incentive money, do you? That Super Bowl 40 remains the most obviously thrown NFL game in NFL history. Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks players and coaches, and all of their many loyal fans knew we had the best team in the NFL that year. But, sadly, greed and corruption was too tempting to not take full advantage of. Pitiful job of Commish-n-ing, yep.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Blindly defend? First of all, GM does NOT build junk cars! Just saying that is an insult to me as I consistently buy GM cars! I guess you think I'm a prodigal fool who just throws his money away? I can defend GM cars with a Mount Everest of evidence! My 1989 Cadillac Brougham and 1988 Buick Park Avenue are exhibits A and B!!!
lemko: as I have said before, your love for your well-built GM cars is great, but, like it or not, ten thousand posts from you will not change the fact that YOUR experience, if not unique, is totally insufficient to convince those millions of buyers who have deserted the Big 3 forever...they did NOT buy cars like yours, because if they had, Honda and Toy would be unknown brands today...you lucked out with cream puffs, but don't think for a minute that the entire nation agrees with you...lots do, because Big 3 still sell millions of cars, but lots don't, because Big 3 has lost multiple millions of sales, and the most likely culprit is poor vehicle quality, fit and finish, and that goes back the the source, the overpaid, unskilled, UAW worker who cannot figure out how to tighten his bolts properly..."skilled"...yeah, right...
rocky, the recent books I read about the auto industry, heavily footnoted and referenced, discusses how a few Big 3 engineers saw the quality differences between Japanese and Big 3 over 25 years ago, but the automakers chose to ignore it...it is well documented, so it isn't reading the Enquirer where I get my references, it is documented sources...plus, owning 4 Hondas gives me ample experience and knowledge to tell you that the Japanese make a better car...you, OTOH, have only a UAW biased background, and all they ever told you was that they make the best cars, but if ANYBODY is unqualified and ignorant about product, it would be your UAW family and the entire membership, as they only know what they make, and have no idea at all how well the imports are made...it would be YOUR narrow-view experience in the auto world, knowing only UAW cars, that you would be so unknowledgaeable about how well the imports are constructed...try reading some legitimate critiques of the American auto industry, other than the monthly UAW bulletin, which probably still tells you that GM's market share is growing, and the UAW membership is growing, all thanks to the buyers lined up to buy UAW products...yeah, right...your family sold us crap for years, and someday they will actually get drunk enough to drop the facade and admit it to the world...
If the rest of the world bought the cream puffs like lemko, it might be different...but lemko telling us about his vehicles has not stopped one buyer from defecting to Honda, simply because no one believes that THEIR UAW car will be like his, and they have decades of junk to support that view...
Lots of good UAW made choices that year.
Trust me they are out there. A friend of mine's MIL had an 02 LeSabre burn up and took the garage with it. I believe it was a known manifold issue that caused the fire.
car fires
I guess it is not. It's a cleaner motor than the Toyota motors a neighbor who curbstones gets. He had one 4-cyl that was a blown head gasket and 10 years old. Bought it from the owner who didn't seem to know they blow heads. That junk doesn't last. Neighbor does have a cleaner motor now but that's because the 4-runner had a blown motor. So the replacement motor is cleaner. I told him it probably blew because of sludge. Those junk things just don't last no matter how the Toyfans try to spread their propaganda.
I've got a 3800 with 90K and don't have any leakage around the valve covers. The UAW does a good job with quality parts. If the leaks are a problem it's the fault of the suppliers providing the gaskets that were used. AT least GM does recalls instead of hiding problems as TSBs or telling people they're supposed to run that way!!!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Sorry, but I respectfully disagree. My 2000 Suburban would change your mind, unless you think $4,000 in repairs from 46k-65k miles is normal. Plus the number of people I know that have had multiple trans failures with their 1/2 ton GM products rivals that of the infamous Chrysler transmissions of the late 80's. 2000 must have been a bad year, 'cause my dad inherited a 2000 Park Ave. from my Grandpa that was a complete POS too. Electrical problems, intake manifold failure, head gasket, oil leaks, all well before 100k miles. Now that was 10 years ago, but I do have an 07 Grand Prix in the garage that while reliable is still a POS. It rattles, it looks and feels cheap, drives worse, and IMO represents all that has been wrong with GM.
yeah, I'd think you'd have to have a very hot manifold and a lot of oil spill on it to catch fire. They must have a good reason for the recall, as recalling 1.4 million vehicles is not small potatoes.