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Dot Code "UP" - COOPER TIRE & RUBBER CO FINDLAY OHIO US
Reference http://www.harriger.com/tires.htm
Cooper makes it in the standard 255/60R17, but Les Schwab does not have that size. At any rate, I am very happy with the way the vehicle handles with these tires. Went skiing Friday and Saturday. Played around in the Stevens Pass parking lot last night, and it seems to handle well in the snow. Handling is very good and the mushy handling of the Michelin does not seem present with the snow tires. I am going to try 35 lbs all the way around in the spring for the Michelin's.
The road to Mount Baker ski area is a very twisty and the Rainie handles very good with the snow tires. The V8 makes for spirited performance on roads like this, with great passing acceleration when needed.
To review the Rainier a bit:
1. Head light push for highbeam pull for low is really bad. What happen to click high - click low. Wonder if there is a different GM switch that could be installed.
2. Storage and cup holds in the fronts seats in very lacking.
3. Seats could have been more contour ed.
4. Would have liked the cruise control on the steering wheels, but it is already full of buttons.
5. Windshield washer fluid capacity to limited.
6. Folding down the rear seats requires moving the front seats forward.
After having the Rainie for 10 months. I give it a 9 out of 10 rating.
Pluses:
1. V8 smoothness and power.
2. Quiet on the road.
3. Size and turning radius.
4. Looks!
5. Bose Stereo with XM radio.
6. Buick Service.
SNOKING
SS brakes are different pads, calipers, rotors, hoses, according to the parts book. I'll be doing this as soon as all parts are available from GM.
I have Eibach springs, Bilstein HD shocks, and Hotchkis sway bar on my '04 Envoy. They lower the vehicle about 1 1/2 inches and it now sits level, not [non-permissible content removed] high. Needless to say, it handles a lot better, but I'm always looking for more.
Any one else having this problem...Any Ideas ?
Do you have an aftermarket alarm system? That could drain.
Have you considered a larger capacity battery?
Are you still under warranty?
thanks
Either your battery is junk OR it is not being properly charged OR the drain is much higher than they said. I have let my mini-fridge run 24 hours straight and had no starting problems. That thing draws 1 Amp (24 amp-hours total). So it is NOT your alarm!
From an old April 2002 GM Techlink article-
"The recommendation for maximum parasitic drain is around 30 mA (0.030 amps). A typical drain today actually falls into the 7 – 12 mA range, even though some vehicles do approach the maximum. Multiply the drain (in amps) by the time (in hours) the battery sits without being recharged. The result is the amount of AH consumed by the parasitic drain. The actual drain may be small, but over time the battery grows steadily weaker. Here’s an example. A vehicle with a 30 mA drain and a fully-charged 70 RC battery will last 23 days. But if that battery is at only 65% of full charge, it is going to last only 15 days before causing a no-start."
Also if a car battery had been drained down a few times, it's total available capacity will be reduced from doing this. That's why special purpose deep cycle batteries exist. No brand of car batteries like being deeply discharged. I managed to kill an Optima "Red Top" in a vehicle from letting it sit too long between uses. You might want to consider a small battery maintenance trickle charger designed for long term storage to keep on it for extended intervals.
Good luck, hope you are under warranty.
Steve, Host
If you are at all handy with tools, this is a pretty easy DIY. And I would suggest unless you have a warranty that covers this repair, to replace the end links with Moog links, as they can be greased. The OEM ones can't. Moog will last longer because of this. Moog links cost about $25.00 each.
Everytime I make a trip in, I always include the bump/surge/clunk....not w/ great hopes of resolution, but it's interesting to hear the report each time (interesting in an exhausting way that is). Yesterday, the reply was "yes, we felt the car clunk and surge forward, and this is normal operation". I was told this is normal behavior as the car settles into position. WOW....When I asked "ok, so mechanically, what is 'settling' and causing this...." I was told, "the car; it's settling". After a round about of tiring lack of logic conversation; ie, he was frustrated that I wouldn't take an ambiguous "normal" behavior rationale, and I was frustrated that he could not explain the mechanical reason for the bahvior, we quit. I did tell him about the Sun Gear issues, and he would not "authorize performing this unless there was reason". So, I suppose the car will need to completely seize before this will be addressed.
Any solutions to the tiring clunk/surge/normal behavior stuff? I'll just keep noting it on all work requests. But, I do not think this is normal behavior. He told me that all Envoys do it; but stopped short on this when I asked him whether it would occur should I test drive a new Envoy.
I had an '03 Envoy with the air suspension, and it had the problem you describe with the bump etc. Never got it fixed, bought an '05 Envoy Denali that also has the air suspension and 5.3L V8. No symptoms as yet. No one with '05s complaining on other forums. Perhaps GM figured out the problem and fixed it, just not telling anyone what it was.
Does sound like the service person is blowing some smoke to avoid direct discussion and possible repair.
I escalated the issue up the ranks at GM and they said they had people "working" on a fix. That was 2.5 years ago. They sent me a letter extending my transmission warranty to 100,000 miles and called the issue "closed".
We even went through the BBB, but since it didn't fall into their 'safety issue' classification, we were denied buy-back (all I wanted was for GM to fix it!).
I'm still interested in hearing if there's ever a fix for this. It sure is annoying.
"Your vehicle was built with Analog/ Digital-Ready hardware. This hardware is currently eligible for an upgrade to digital hardware. This upgrade will be required for your vehicle to be eligible for service beyond OnStar’s analog sunset date of December 31, 2007. Would you like to hear details about
Digital upgrade kits are now available for some GM vehicles. Upgrades for these vehicles will be provided to OnStar subscribers with the purchase of a non-refundable, 3-year OnStar subscription."
Any way, the mechanic got on the phone with GM tech support, he was told to disconnect the power to the "encoder motor" for few minutes and see what happen. Did not work, then they (GM tech) blamed the tires, the mechanic informed them that I did my maintenance on time and that the tire was rotated on schedule, then the GM tech asked the mechanic to install "new" tires on the truck, he said "hell no, it is the damn encoder motor. Only then GM authorized the dealer to replace the encoder motor with new one, too bad, they don't have it in stock, I'll have to go back on Wednesday to install the new one after they get it from somewhere.
According to the mechanic, there is a clutch (either in or work with the transfer case), this clutch is controlled by a motor, there is an encoder that senses when the wheel is slipping and that it activates the AWD system, the encoder and motor are one unit, therefore I need a new encoder/motor assembly. In my case, the motor is "stuck" and got the clutch to "open" half way which is why I can drive fine in straight line but not on turns specially sharp ones, my revers sucks big time.
Hats off to the mechanic for fighting for me, looks like when you go to the dealer and they say no to a fix it is actually GM that says no, not the dealer - assuming of course you are under warranty.
"Smart Track >> Dump Track" - I am driveing AWD for a month now!
Will keep you posted.
--Robert