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Comments
This Pioneer unit looks really great and seems to work wonderfully in the TrailBlazer. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to install it myself if I bought the Envoy. The thought of having an independent retailer install it gives me nightmares...too many things to go wrong, including screwing up the integrated electronic systems in the Envoy.
The Envoy would be my first choice if only a DVD navigation system was offered. Too bad GM isn't competitive enough to give its potential customers this choice. (And, I'm giving up thousands of $$ in GM employee family and GM card discounts by going with a non-GM vehicle...but a navi system is a "cool, gotta have it" toy for me.)
Thanks again for posting this information. I just hope the optional systems in the 4Runner and XC 90 are half as nice as the Pioneer system is.
I've said it on this forum before, and I'll say it again. I am very, VERY happy for the lucky folks that have had really good experiences with their triplets thus far. Unfortunately, I don't fall into that category. My 2002 LTZ TrailBlazer has generated a whole lot of unnecessary stress in my life. And yes, I am working diligently at exercising my state's Lemon Law policy. If I'm not successful in my quest for a 'buy back', GM has already agreed to giving me a warranty extension up to 100,000 miles due to all of the problems that I've experienced to date. I have to give them credit for that. They were good about this aspect of my situation with the TrailBlazer LTZ.
In summary, I will say that the triplets have LOADS of potential. But based upon my own personal experiences, along with the negative ones that I've read about on this forum from other owners of problematic triplets, I have to believe that GM really blew it on this one. When a company produces SUVs of poor quality roughly 50% of the time, that's not very good at all by my definition. But then again, maybe I'm expecting too much out of Detroit. Lastly, I will say that I FIRMLY believe that Ford and Daimler-Chrysler are no better than GM. This post most definitely is NOT intended to be a turgid diatribe against GM and its products when compared to Ford and Daimler-Chrysler. The post is basically intended to express my major disappointment in GM for MY particular TrailBlazer experience.
I wish the 'satisfied' owners continued luck with their triplets, and also best of luck to the 'unsatisfied' triplets owners. Hopefully we will all get the problems rectified without too much grief.
Regards,
Ron M.
http://www.trailblazer.homestead.com
as mine is in the shop over the weekend. This will
bring me up to at least 24 days in the shop in the first 6 months. Getting close to the 30 days of the lemon law. I'm trying to get GM to buy it back, but now luck so far. Just he usual be patient, we want to help, etc. Overall, a miserable experience so far.
GAM
As for the number of problems each car has, a statistical bell curve would show a few cars will have no service problems, most cars will experience some problems, and an unfortunate few people will have cars with many problems. It's a roll of the dice that determines where you will be.
Frank
I can't go into details per the lawyers request, so please don't ask.
If anyone out there falls into their states lemon law guidelines, go talk to a lemon law lawyer. They should be FREE to the consumer since they get paid directly from the vehicle manufacturer upon settlement, and not from the consumer.
I was told that these laywers don't take cases that they can't recover for since, under law, they are not allowed to bill the consumer.
I guess a good place to start would be www.lemonlaw.com and see if there is a link for your state.
After both changes, I've noticed a pretty nice boost in throttle response! Gas mileage has stayed about the same in city driving, and increased slightly (up about .3mpg) for highway.
To put things in perspective, a few years ago I bought an '86 Honda Accord from my neighbor. He told me what a great car it had been, and it was a decent running car. He gave me a folder with all the "maintenance" records over the 12 years he had it. During that time the Honda had more unscheduled repairs for brakes, suspension, emissions, etc. than my '93 Jeep GC, '95 Jimmy, '96 Stratus, and '02 TB combined.
My father was a market research manger for GM for many years. One thing he told me about the auto market was the way perceived quality affected sales for American, Japanese and German manufactures. This especially applied to US vs. Japan, since the German sales figures were not that high. As most of you know, import cars in the 70's were not of the best quality. But, as the gas crunch hit, people were looking for something more efficient. Detroit missed the boat on this and several foreign cars gained popularity. This gave them the $$ to improve quality, which they did. By the mid 80's, there was a real quality difference between a Toyota and a Ford, for example. However, Detroit finally woke up and focused more on the issue. Both by improving their own cars and starting joint operations with many foreign makers. By the early 90's there was not much in the way of difference in actual quality between Japanese and US makers. Also, many foreign makers were building their cars in the US and Canada. So, if you blame US workers for quality, remember where your Toyota is actually built!
However, because of the reality of the 80's quality gap, the myth of foreign auto superiority has lived on. Take a Toyota owner who has had a whole slew of problems with their car and a Pontiac owner who has had only a handful and both will tell you that the Japanese make a better car. The reality is that the lines are so blurred, you don't really know what country the parts or design of a car comes from. For example, did you know that the auto trans in BMWs is made by GM?
The point is quality is now more brand recognition than reality. All auto companies make great cars and lousy ones. Personally, I prefer my Envoy over all the Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans I have ridden in. And that is good enough for me.
I think I read about some others having similar problems, but rather than try to find the posts, I was hoping someone would refer me to answers about this.
My envoy has about 10000mi on it and this is only the second time this has happened. Always seems to occur on warm day and after the 45 minutes or so sitting around.
I think the biggest thing is that almost any car will have some sort of issues or glitches happen - mostly minor, but sometimes not. More so in the first year of production. That said, working with a good dealer will get the problems solved, and make the experience pleasant. The better the dealer, the better the car.
What is an American car?
And agreed, a good dealer can make a huge difference.
Steve
Host
SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
Ironically enough, I experienced the NO AC issue once again yesterday as well. The temps in Michigan have been around 90 degrees for the past several days. Unfortunatly I was on the freeway, so I just rolled down the windows and drove reaaallly fast to keep cool.
At this point in time, my servicing dealership told me that this was a known problem with GM and they are working on a fix? Have any of you heard otherwise? I do know that we are almost out of the summer season, so my biggest concern deals with WHEN a possible fix will be implemented?
Thanks!
IExplore2000@aol.com
I remember reading some posts from someone in Texas that had this problem and I think it had to do with the heat causing some pressure switch to shut down the a/c or they took some R134 out. I am going to try and find it. I just filled out my survey after this happened, I am glad I waited.
During the trip the a/c went out 3 times. each time it would work the next day.......
This time the service mgr. took it for a drive and the a/c failed for him, so i guess they finally believed me. they finally called the tech line and GM told them that the refrigerant they were using actually expands in high heat (it has routinely been over 110 this summer). the expansion causes the pressure to get high enough to shut off the a/c. they suggested putting in 1/2 lb. less of the coolant. the service report says they recharged the system with 1.4 lbs.
This past weekend we drove down to Phoenix. a 620 mile round trip. the temps were over 105 the whole time. i am happy to report that we had no problems with the a/c.
I hope the solution to the a/c problem is that simple. Except for the a/c problem, i really enjoy driving this car.
POST # 7395
I stated earlier, Tuesday, Our A/C went out. (just warm air)
U1000 was the code Onstar read while it was out. Dealer said that several A/C systems were over charged. They should have been at 2.8 instead of the 3.0. Also, GM is having trouble with the "lift gate module." They want to replace mine. They think this maybe the cause to fussy A/C units
I have to laugh at this domestic/import thing.
A guy at work had a made in Canada Monte Carlo that he called a domestic. My made in Indiana Subaru, and my dad's made in the U.S. Camry were foreign imports. When it came down to it, the ONLY reason that he could come up with to defend his position was that the profits for his car stayed with an American company (of which he had no stock in).
As far as perceived/real quality issues, based on my experiences with 2 domestic vehicles vs. 4 imports, there is no comparision. The 2 domestics accounted for 80% of my problems even though I had 10 times the mileage on the imports!
FYI, my Bravada has been in the dealer another 6 days, still waiting for parts.AAARRGGHH!!!
GAM
Since I drove mine hard and steady all summer in a lot of heat and never had a problem, I'm not sure I want anybody tinkering with it. So far it has only happened twice and there was a lot of time and mileage in between.
-mike
1. Replaced 4WD selector switch
2. Repaired chaffed wire in circuit #1296 that was grounding to chassis intermittently
3. Replaced ignition switch due to the mulitple failures of ABS, 4WD, no A/C, etc.
I hope this helps.
Thays exactly what happened to mine. I have the manual system. Before the switch went bad my ac worked flawlessly.
Seems to me that a failure while the unit is in service might be a different phenomenon. I also think I remember that someone reported a "low (or high) pressure cutout switch being the cause. An intermittent switch type failure would seem to fit my circumstances better than excess refrigerant, because it always goes away when you shut down and restart.
1) Service 4WD Light: When the TV/DVD player was installed they cross-wired the ACC 12v with the full-time 12 volts. This caused the vehicle to "diesel" or run-on. All the dash lights flickered quite a bit while the run-on was happening. After this, the "Service 4WD" came on and stayed on for a while. The dealer found diagnostic codes logged but was not able to duplicate the problem. We wrote it off as being part of the miss-wire.
2) 4WD: I would look down at the selector switch and notice that it was in the 2HI position but the indicator light would either be A4WD or 4HI. This one happened after the miss-wire listed in 1. This was fixed by replacing the 4WD Selector switch. I did not have the multi-failure indicated in some of the other posts.
3) AC: I live in Phoenix and have not been happy with the AC issues. My dealer did some kind of "pressure switch splice" as he called it and reduced the charge a bit. It is better but there are many times when the vehicle is heat-soaked that the AC doesn't start working for a while. The service manager says he has done all he can do. I plan to place a complaint call with the Chevy Customer Assistance Center.
4) My fuel ecomony SUCKS (12-14 MPG). My 1990 Suburban did 14 MPG). I did some initial complaining but have not been able to push the issue yet because I have been towing my trailer up the big hill (to Flagstaff) every weekend and haven't calculated the MPG without the trailer tow part recently. I was also more concerned with getting the other stuff fixed.
Hope this helps people.
Any more advice on fuel economy would be nice!!
I will have pictures and part #'s on my website.
We have the auto A/C and "knock on wood" have not had another incident since they recharged the unit. I hope I did not jinks it. We are expecting a cool down tonight after our 85th straight 80 degree or above day in a row with 35 days above 90. This is Indiana. Our rear A/C control is suppose to be replaced, but the right unit still has not come in. (Post 7211). I did have to replace a tire due to road hazard. The inside side wall was punctured. Not off road, just Delaware County roads in Indiana. After hearing it was not a warranty issue I took it elsewhere for replacement.
Still have the vibration issues at 57-60 mph.
With all the good and all the bad and fun we share here regarding our vehicles, life gave us all a reality check just one year ago.
Pet your dog, hug your kids, thank a fireman or even kiss your SUV goodnight tonight, but take a moment of silence sometime Wednesday for those so dearly missed.
I found this slideshow on the web back then in a photography forum I visit and while it is 7mb in size, it's well worth the wait. Thanks to the author who's credits appear at the end.
http://timlauro.com/911-Tribute/tribute-to-911.htm
tim
http://timlauro.com/
thanks in advance.
Brendan
if you want it email me.
enkrypted at hotmail dot com
A higher number means the engine is geared lower so it is better for towing and will accelerate quicker off the line.
The penalty for a higher ratio is that the engine will be revving higher during highway cruising. That is less efficent leading to worse gas mileage.
Hoever, I would think that the speed you drive on the highway is a more important factor in gas mileage than the gears you have. Being that SUV's aren't very aerodynamic, if you drive 80mph you're not going to get good has mileage period.
I know it is probably staring me in the face but would someone mind telling me. Thanks!