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I know I can't get one from Chevy, but the dealer said he's seen aftermarket kits that would add the rear door to the circuit that pops the front doors........
Any info how to do this would be greatly appreciated.......
Thanks,
John
Also, I have dashboard and headlights that flicker and It's not the alternator or the battery. Any ideas?
If you do not know how to do this but have some mechanical ability, purchase a HAYNES manual (Auto Zone or Advanced parts usually have them). It will give adequate instructions on how to do this.
i had different mechanics tell me that it was caused by the engine mounts or trans mounts, but come to find out, it was just my hood vibrating. all they did was tighten something for my hood and it no longer makes that noise.
i JUST today bought a very pretty white convertible 99 Vitara 4x4 with 135,000 miles on it. Am I crazy? I paid 3500.00. It has new white top and new tires. it was very well kept....hope I am not crazy. I go get it next week. THe prettiest one I ever saw but I wanted one with less miles.
I have a 1990 Suzuki Sidekick JX 4X4. 96K miles. I live in Fredonia, NY which is Western New York, just south of Buffalo. Keep that in mind.
I first started having problems with the clutch months ago. I would push the pedal all the way to the floor and I was like I wasn't engaging the entire clutch. I would have to force the gears in to place carefully, especially first and reverse. I adjusted the clutch cable by moving the two nuts that hold the cable in place right in front of the clutch arm. That worked for a while.
Right around December 20th, the temperature dropped below freezing and I jumped in my Sidekick to warm it up. I pushed down on the clutch and it was insanely hard to push down, almost like the clutch was frozen. At this point, I had no idea how the clutch worked so I pushed as hard as I could and got the pedal down and the car started. I came back 10 minutes later and had absolutely no tension on the pedal. I found where the cable came through the firewall and it wouldn't stay hooked on the top of the pedal. I clearly stretched the cable out. Me and my friend changed the cable the next day (neither of us are experienced mechanics), it seemed easy enough. We still found that there wasn't enough tension on the pedal so we adjusted everything we could. The two nuts in front of the arm, the nut behind the arm and in desperation we loosened up the clutch armed and moved it counter-clockwise a couple degrees just to get that little extra bit of tension. I'm not sure what we did wrong, but I think that may have cause me to burn out my clutch.
On the 23rd, I went to Rochester to see my parent's for the Holiday. We brought the truck to GoodYear and simply asked them to tell me what was wrong with the clutch, if anything. They told me that the clutch was warn out and it needed to be changed. $500 dollars later, the clutch felt better and I assumed all was fixed. (Before you guys rip me apart for bringing it to a GoodYear, my father's friend is the store manager and they were desperate for business.)
Back in Fredonia on January 4th, it was again below freezing. I went out to start my truck and I had the same problem as before. It felt as if the clutch was frozen and would not move with the cable. I once again, like an idiot, pushed the pedal in and assume that I again stretched the cable. I had just a little more tension on the pedal than I did the first time so I tried driving it. I was practically driving with no clutch at all. I got stuck at a red light as I wasn't able to get it in to first. Eventually, I crammed it in to gear and I brought the truck to Ellman's garage in Dunkirk, NY. I asked him about the classic firewall problem and wanted to know if it needed to be addressed. He said it was flexing a little bit but that wasn't causing my big problem. He then continued to say that his garage didn't work on transmissions. He directed me to Bobek's Trans down the street. He said he spent hours looking at it, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. He even set me up with a metal reinforcement on the firewall simply to see if it would help. He concluded that it must be the new clutch that's giving me the problem seeing as, according to him, everything else that was visible looked in order. He charged me $40 for that information.
After hours on the phone with GoodYear, we took advantage of the nationwide warranty and had the truck towed to the GoodYear in Hamburg, NY (about 40 miles away) for the price of.. on the house. They pulled the truck in, took a quick look at it and decided that it was INDEED the firewall flexing that was causing my problem and still does even though Bobek stuck a reinforcement on there. I asked them if that was the case, then how did they not notice that when they were putting the clutch in, and so on. They kept saying that they did what they said they were going to do and they're done with the car. So basically GoodYear does not back up their "Nationwide Warranty" at all, which I guess really isn't a surprise. The problem I have is I originally asked them what was wrong with my clutch and who knows if they misdiagnosed it. They never told me if the old clutch they took out was even warn completely or not.
The guys at GoodYear claim that I can drive the car 40 miles from Hamburg to Fredonia, but I am not confident at all. I feel I might burn out the clutch, or worse drop the transmission. At this point, I've ordered another new cable. My plan is to go to the GoodYear parking lot, tell everyone walking in that they'll scam them out of their hard earned money and get my truck running successfully with in 20 minutes. I'm hoping that the cable is stretched and thats whats causing the pedal to have no tension and therefore causing the clutch to not engage all the way. What do you guys think? I cannot rely on the mechanics at GoodYear to help me, nor does it seem like any mechanic shop wants to take on a 21 year old japanese truck with problems.
Please help.
Oh and if the clutch IS freezing and causing me to stretch out the cable over and over again is it possible to lubricate it to the point where it wont happen? Is that even possible?
I also found the post saying the engine may try to ground out through the clutch if the main ground strap is missing or broken. I haven't been able to check that since the truck is 40 minutes away, but is that possibly my problem?
I'll be heading up with a friend of mine who is a novice mechanic on Friday night, hoping that he can help me. Any information you guys have will help extremely. I've downloaded the kick-fix.com archives and plan to print them out for my friend tomorrow. I have never really worked on cars but I'm anxious to start doing my own repairs on my ZUKI! :mad:
So, two questions, how serious could this be, and also, would you say its probably time to replace the truck....I'm thinking it is...opinions anyone?
Thanks in advance.
awol65
Possible solution:
Insert the key into the tailgate lock hole. Turn it into the unlock position as far to the left as it will go. With the other hand (still holding the key in unlock), hold up the release button (above the license plate). While holding both in said positions, close the door all the way and open it. Repeat a few times without ever letting go of either. Close the door all the way and then let go of the latch and key.
That's what I did and somehow it worked. Probably a temporary solution. I'm sure there's some worn out part behind it, but figured I'd share it.
1- how do i search a forum only, not all vehicles?
2- I have a hose that goes from dead center of the rear of the engine, that is just plugged off with a screw and hose clamp. any idea where that might go?
You can choose by topic, instead of make/model. (for instance, Repairs and Maintenance)
Or, by make/model
There is no search function for words within a discussion.
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