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Comments
1) What do I gain by taking my truck to GM to get a quote? I'm assuming it would be at least an hours labor to get the quote so I'm out at least $100. If GM ever gets a clue and does a recall on this obvious defect does that mean I get reimbursed? What if I do the repairs myself, would I still get reimbured for at least the parts?
2) Where have people ordered the parts to fix this. At this point I'm just planning to replace the entire hub assembly for both right and left sides. I looked on autopartswarehouse which has great prices but not sure which hub I need and on partsgeek as well. I have a 2006 Chevy Colorado Z71 4WD truck so I just want to make sure I get the correct hub when I order.
I did call GM parts at my local dealer but other than telling me it was $236 per hub and that was withouth the speed/ABS sensor. So why is GM so much more expensive than the replacement parts you can buy. The replacement parts online are under $200 and they include the sensors. Obviously the GM quality is crap so it can't be because the OE is better made.
Any help on pointing me to the correct hub for my truck would be greatly appreciated. I already have info on how to replace the hubs, I just need to make sure I get the correct hub at this point.
Thanks!
I read someone else's post that they also have problems with the ABS and no lights coming on and that happens to me as well. So far I have not had any problems with the ABS on the highway it has only been at low speeds, thank goodness!
I have to wonder why, if my lights suddenly go on and I pull over to shut my vehicle off why does it reset and then I have no problems for another month or so?? If it truly were faulty brakes wouldn't the warning lights stay on whether you kept the vehicle running or restarted it? This doesn't make any sense and it's sad that GM won't look into this safety matter more for us.
Now a few weeks after the warranty has elapsed, the ABS light and weird peddle shudder is becoming more frequent, and I can't help but think I was scammed by the dealer so he didn't have to deal with a warranty fix that he makes no money on (he offered to work on it if I paid). Does the GM customer service person still monitor this forum? If so, I'd like their advice ... I've never had luck with the GM customer service 800# ... they always seem to defer things back to the dealer. Bottom-line, if this problem is so common, why no tech service bulletin or recall?
1. Warranty work pays the technician at a lower hourly lower rate than customer paid work.
2. The technician is seldom paid for diagnostic time on warranty work unless "the book" specifically lists the amount diagnostic time.
3. The tech is paid for all non-warranty work diagnostic time which is billed to the customer.
4. All warranty work and most customer paid for work is paid by "the book" hours. If "the book" says it takes 1 hour to replace the brake pads then that is what the tech gets paid no matter how little or long it takes.
5. On warranty work, multiple part replacements are only approved in special circumstances.
6. On a customer paid for job if the tech finds and adds additional items to the work, then the tech gets paid additional "book" time to replace those items. On a customer paid for repairs there is no one watching how many parts you replace.
7. On a return repair the tech does NOT get paid for fixing your car with the same time problem a second time.
7. Most younger techs only know how to read the Tech2 scanner and replace parts based on the error codes read. If there is no error code then you will be charged for his time and sent on your way.
Under the above work rules guess where the service adviser and technician wants to steer you when you show up.
There are some specialties like diesels, or transmissions, or engine swaps that get directed to specific techs. Other other than that, all work goes into "the pool" of techs and is usually called drivability issues. A tech in "the pool" who has never worked on a specific low volume model vehicle like the Colorado may well be assigned to work your Colorado.
In the end, all of this encourages people to stay away from a dealership for non-warranty work and causes them to be afraid to bring in potential warranty work because they might be billed $100 or so for diagnostic time. If you bring in a low volume vehicle that requires some diagnostic time, it is a crap shoot on whether the problem will actually be found and repaired. The tech makes more money by spending 15 minutes running a scan and charging you a 1 hour minimum time for a no trouble found repair ticket.
The only way to get these unusual or intermittent items repaired is to keep complaining to the customer service number or the zone office until you get satisfaction. Keep all repair receipts and when your problem finally does get repaired, ask GM, not the dealer, for a refund of all items that you should not have been billed for. It works some of the time.
Good Luck
I apologize for your frustrations. Can you email me your VIN? Have you discussed this with GM Customer Assistance? If so, please include your case number in your email. I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
I would recommend asking the dealer about installing a recorder. Give them a call. Let me know of any updates!
Christina
GM Customer Service
Tricia, GM Customer Service.
Thank you for your offer of assistance. I have since e-mailed to you my truck's VIN and GM Customer Assistance case #.
My original phone conversation with the GM customer assistance was a bit disappointing ... they were leaning on the fact that I live in NY State as the problem (road salt in winter) so it would not be covered under warranty per their reasoning. I explained to them that the ABS fault was my primary concern, the tendency for the rotors to rust is secondary. They apologized that even though my mileage at 19k is low, I'm a month out of warranty and they "couldn't help me". I reminded them that the vehicle was looked at by the dealer before the end of warranty, and they reluctantly agreed to pass the case onto a district guy for follow-up ... hopefully that will lead to a better outcome than I've had so far. I'll keep you posted. :confuse:
I feel your pain. I have a 2005 Chevy Colorado Z71 4x4 (120,000kms) and just had the pads and rotors replaced. 2-3 days later ABS fault lights comes on. WTF! I've had my truck for 3 over years and never once has that light come on... I'm reading the posts on here and sounds like im going to be spending some money on new Hubs w/ Senors....Good Times! Oh and my driver's power window motor is starting to die which is also a common problem with this truck. Is there no recall for this crap???!!!! I still have extended warranty for a few more months ($100 deductable) , but I'm assuming hub/senors is not covered??
This might be the last GM this guy buys.
Can anyone offer some advice.
Also the sensor is a low voltage pickup. It's clearance is critical. Most of the time the sensor is not bad and you can make it work again by simply tapping the sensor into the back of the hub slightly with a plastic tipped or a very light hammer. The GM tech does not make much money doing this 10 minute fix so they will not try it.
Best,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
They scanned the codes, found the source of the errors, and replaced the right front ABS hub & sensor; I only paid the NY State sales tax ($30) for the work. So far so good ... thank you Paul at Heinrich Chevrolet! It looks like I can still consider a Chevy for the future (just not my old dealer)!
Every once in a while the "ABS" light will come on, the breaks might go into that ABS slipping thing... tho sometimes it is only the light.
Took it to the Chevy Dealer.... diastonic check... $75.00 ...which I paid...... results...
quote "Scan tested abs systems "fond" both hub assemblies and wheel speed sensor failures Vehicle needs both front wheel speed sensors and wheel hub assemblies"....
cost (Are you sitting down?) $1,500.00....This is a crock of BS.... Can anyone HELP????
Had planned to purchase a 2013 Colorado (new design... looked great).. Even talked my wife into a trip to Wentzvillle, MO. to see it being built ... now GM can shove it. Been a Chevy person my entie life... have a "Bow Tie" neon, a Chevy Clock, and Bow Tie shirts...
Loved that Colorado... now it's going to be traded for a Tacoma.....
Usually the sensor is not bad, it is just out of adjustment. Since you paid the the dealer for diagnostic work, they should have given you the error codes they read on the ABS. The codes will tell you which sensor is reading bad. Usually the sensor is just out of adjustment and all that has to be done is to tap on the back of the sensor with a plastic hammer and seat it back in position in the hub. It is a 10 minute fix. If you do not have the codes on your receipt, go back and ask for them for the codes. I seriously doubt there were codes for both sensors stored.
Oh yes, find another service location. There is no reason to take it back to some dealer who was trying to rip you off.
Fm: martinpaul
Thank you for the advise/direction; will keep you/and this message board updated as to the progress made.
martinpaul
If you are experiencing steering wheel pull with a grinding noise from one of the wheels then the hub need to be replaced. If not, then this is a sensor problem not a hub problem. Do not confuse tire noise from poorly worn ties with a grinding noise. Many Colorados and Canyons came out with the front ride height set incorrectly (there was a service bulletin released on this). With the ride height set incorrectly, the front tires wore on the insides. When the wear is bad enough tires make noise sounding similar to a bad hub bearing.
One of the service bulletins is 06-03-06-002 There are several other SBs that apply.
None of this applies to your problem if you do not have front wheel noise or abnormal tire wear.
Now my 2006 43K is in the delaer, seems to be a broken transmision.
Can you send me Cynthia's information? My husband and I are having the same ABS problem with our 06 Chevy Colorado. We have been told we will most likely need the wheel hub and sensor replaced but the dealership is unsure how to fix the issue?
If you were to click on the link to my username, you can find an email address there. Or, if you would prefer to work by phone, please call Chevrolet Customer Assistance at 800-222-1020. They're open 8 am - 9pm EST Monday through Saturday.
Best,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
Read posting #4
http://coloradofans.com/forums/67-technical-questions-tips-how/146173-question-a- bout-blower-motor.html#post1876908
I got tired of answering the same question over, and over, and over again on this problem so I put that posting together. I have not figured out yet how to imbed all of the pictures due to that site's size restrictions, but the verbage should do it for you.
Good luck
Have been through the GM Customer Service "Mill", very nice people, BUT no real help in fixing the ABS problem; either for free (design fault/recall) or at a reasonable price.
Heck, they will not acknowledge a problem exist with these trucks.
The ABS acts up very infrequently, so I'm going to ride it out with no repair.
Thanks to n9cv for the advise on repairing the problem... will try your advise if the situation gets worse...
Have contacted my U.S. Congressman re this problem/issue... they have advised me to contact the "U.S. Office of Defects"...WOW!
Oh yes...I now approach other Colorado drivers in parking lots, and ask if they have any break issues... funny... so far.. three out of three have or had ABS problems.
Will post updates to this poll.
GM has offered me a rebate against the purchase of a new GM vehicle... I've taken the offer, but don't know if I'm going to use it or not.
Really don't to buy a Tacoma... and the 2013 Collie's are really sharp.
Good Luck All.
My '05 with 51,000 miles has been a trouble-free vehicle except for the occasional ABS fault alerts and low-speed activation of the ABS. I really love this truck! Funny how I haven't had any ABS faults for a couple of weeks after getting them at least every other week all year! Crazy.
I'm hoping to get a re-designed Colorado when they come out. I am retired from GM and would NEVER cut my own throat by buying Japanese, even if the [non-permissible content removed] truck is built in the U.S. the money goes back to Japan.
Agree with you about the Colorado.... love the truck... want to buy a 2013 (please see the end of my post #225).....My wife thinks I'm crazy.... but you have expressed my feelings... about not buying a Tacoma.... about keeping our money here... and supporting the company that pays the pension.
Maybe we will see you in Wentzville next summer.
martinpaul
In a attempt to reduce production costs, everything was cheapened up wherever possible. The failure to put tooth type lock washers on electrical ground connections has lead to multiple intermittent electrical failures. GM put them on the previous North American designed S-10. The failure to use cadmium type fasteners has lead to rusted mounting bolts and adjusters for headlights. North Americans drive their vehicles many more miles and in harsher conditions than most other countries. Road salt is an issue in the northern 1/3 of the US and most of Canada. NA designs take that into account and protect fasteners against it. Unfortunately these protections were not incorporated in the Colorado design.
The biggest design short comings was in the electrical area. Wire diameters and connector surface sizes were used that just met requirement. The biggest single complaint has been the electrical connectors in the heater / AC fan circuit. Let's not forget the brake switch problem.
Other common failures were the evap vent solenoid and the cam solenoid. Unfortunately the evap vent solenoid was mounted under the bed where it get's dirt and salt in it from road spray. A good cleaning of the solenoid / valve fixes this problem. Finally there is the ABS sensor problem being discussed here which affects braking and Traction Control. A permanent fix for this should be released by GM
All of these items could have been found and production changed after the first model year so following year vehicles would not have these problems. Unfortunately GM chose not to do this and the reputation of this vehicle has plummeted accordingly.
The point of all of this is it is not necessarily the location of he manufacturing plant, it is the the initial design and the following corrections to problems that also counts. For a couple a dollars per vehicle and good follow up, this vehicle could have been a very good truck with a very good reputation.
Will the Asian designed and built follow on truck be any better? All we can do is wait and see. I hope so. If it proves reliable I'll buy one.
Sarah
GM Customer Service
As far as the Asian design flaws, what else can we do if we want a small-sized pickup? I understand GM and the others have global operations and must accomodate different design specifics and parameters. My hauling needs do not require a full-sized gas-hog truck so I choose the smaller ones.
I've owned an '87 S10, '95 GMC Sonoma and this '05 Colorado and have had very good service from all of them. I must confess that I am particular about car care and do not abuse my vehicles, so maybe that's why mine have given me very little trouble.
I will state that all 6 of our 4 and 6 wheel road vehicles that we currently own are GM vehicles. We (my wife and I) have also owned a few Toyotas and Fords, but not many over the years. I too have owed two S-10 pickups and now a 2005 Colorado. As to the head light fastener problem, you will not notice it until you go to remove or adjust them. I just gave that as an example of poor fastener quality where they saved 5 or 10 cents per vehicle. The evap solenoid usually shows up as gasoline spitting back up you when you fill the tank rather than an error code. It will show up as an error code is it sticks open rather than closed.
By far the biggest complaints have been electrical, followed by ABS / Traction Control (optional feature) issues. These ABS issues almost always turn out to be sensor related which we can call electro-mechanical problems.
In the first years GM only offered the whole hub with sensor as a replacement part. Now you can get just the senor or the hub as separate parts. These parts are also available on the aftermarket. The issue is these are seldom defective. They are usually only dirty or out of adjustment but the GM maintenance procedures tells the tech to replace the item(s) rather than repair them.
It is hard to gather exact "mean time to failure" or "failures per 1,000 vehicle" statistics on these parts when GM just blanket replaces them whether they are really defective or not. Also because of the high expense of parts and labor, owners take them to non-GM repair facilities after the warranty expires and use non-GM sourced parts for repairs.
Good luck with your Colorado. I like mine over all. I use my extended cab Colorado as a truck for hauling, towing, and as a personal vehicle on a daily basis. I also live in the midwest and I try to stay off of freshly salted roads in the winter time. I seldom my other cars.
Your loyalty to GM products is much appreciated, and I am pleased to hear that you are overall enjoying your current Colorado. If, in the future, any concerns arise and you should need customer assistance, please feel free to contact us via the email address available in my profile with more information.
Regards,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
I also had problems with my blower but it would only work on the highest setting and I brought it in and they replaced the heater blower resistor and connector and told me that the wiring had actually melted. Every once in a while I have ABS problems but when I shut the vehicle off and turn it back on it clears and good for another 3+ months... I figure the next time it occurs and ABS light ACTUALLY comes on I will drive it to the nearest dealer and then see if they can diagnose it before I shut the vehicle off. A new problem arose last week....two times now when I go from Park to Reverse reverse does not engage until I return to Park. I also think that there are major electrical problems with this vehicle from the amount of bulbs I have replaced to the wiring (I can't remember what they were for) that travel thru my rear door and they told me it was from opening the door too much!
It sounds like you have replaced everything that I had done and I know I haven't been much help to solving anything but just want you to know that you are not alone in wondering what the heck is going on and feel like we are not getting the best answers for our problems. Do the dealers really care about the satisfaction we have or just the sale of the vehicle? I personally have never spoken to our dealer after the purchase. I would never send anyone in the market there unlike the service we were provided with my husbands Jeep. Good Luck and keep us posted.
PS My husband has 2 words to share with both of us... SELL IT! I couldn't do that to someone!
LIST OF REPAIRS WITHIN 2 YEAR:
new transfer case.
2 thermostats.
2 wheel hubs and sensors. ** hubs still make grinding noise periodically**
remote starter screwed up power locks and eventually wouldnt start anymore and oddly enough it screwed up the key fob so the doors wouldnt lock, or they would get stuck in lock position.
constantly replacing parking lap bulbs and turn signal bulbs.
factory radio burned out and was forced to use after market radio.
leaf springs squeak depending on size of bump.
2 front axle seals. ** still leaking **
and seat tracks on passenger side stick some days.
speaker on passenger side does not work. * new speaker and new wire harness*
and constantly have to clean the throttle body otherwise it runs like garbage. and last, and im sure just for now, there is some sort of evap leak that has something to do with a valve? i was so mad i didnt bother remembering the code. truck is just a lemon and will never buy one again!
Go to the following site and read the posting on how to find your problem. The two most common failures in the blower motor circuit are the ground connection on the right inner fender and burning the resistor connection which is mounted next to the blower motor. Both of these are fairly easy to repair. Other things that occasionally fail are the bower relay and the motor itself.
http://coloradofans.com/forums/67-technical-questions-tips-how/146173-question-a- bout-blower-motor.html#post1876908
As for the ABS, the front sensors commonly malfunction for two reasons - either they fill up with debris or the ring under the magnet separates from the hub and touches the sensor magnet. Debris can be cleaned out once everything is taken apart, however if the ring separates from the hub, you have to either devise a way to reattach it with some sort of adhesive or buy a new hub assembly. Several years ago, you couldn't get sensors without buying the entire hub assembly, but recently, they have been selling sensors separately. It's quite a bit of labor to take the spindle apart to get at this, so it may be worth replacing both hubs for $250 regardless of the cause of the problem depending on how much time you have. If you have both hubs, you know you'll have the parts to reassemble it and that it will work when you put it back together. If not, you might have to wait for the appropriate parts to reassemble or be forced to reassemble without the correct parts only to have to do the job again after the parts arrive.
If you have a scan tool that is capable of connecting to the ABS system, you can actually watch the LF, RF and rear wheel speeds while driving. If you're getting a fault, you'll likely see one or more sensors reporting MUCH slower wheel speeds than it should under certain operating conditions like turns. This morning, I was looking at mine after getting an ABS fault, and the LF sensor indicated 35MPH and the RH sensor indicated 35MPH and dropped sporadically to 5-9MPH for seconds at a time. THis is because the sensor magnet counts the speed at which cogs on the ring pass under the magnet and when the gap gets filled with crud or the ring actually comes in contact with the magnet after separation from the hub, a ABS coupouter counts less cogs then it should in a given amount of time and sets a code if this goes on for too long and illuminates the fault lamp. Timken, the hub manufacturer, also sells an ABS Repair Kit containing a cable, screw, and grease, however I'm not exactly sure what it does.
Regards,
Michael D. Bailey
2005 Chevrolet Colorado Z71 LS
Delanson, NY
I feel for you. You have an impossible job. The engineers designed (or didn't design)and built a loser of a truck and the company doesn't back their products. How many people have an ABS issue?? I traded in a 9 year old Acura with 142000 miles that just started to show mechanical wear (only brakes and tires replaced). My 2006 Colorado has had problems at 32000mi and others since (now at 53000) including rain leaks in at the windshield (puddle on the floor) and back window, ABS with shuttering loss of brakes, short in the brake light assembly, the 4WD locks in and won't go back into 2WD when selected (until it desides to) and premature rear brake wear due to a faulty parking brake design. When I went on disability I traded in my older car to get a new 2006 Colorado for reliable transportation, but got nothing but lip service from service managers and head aches with fear of losing my life on the road. Manager said, "I get hundreds of vehicles in here each week and they all leak somewhere." Now why did Chevy almost go into Bankruptcy and need a US bail out? What a waste of tax payer's money. I thought that I should support the US, but who supports us? Might as well sell out to Japan or Korea; Chevy sold out.
KPO
KPO
I appreciate your empathy, but we really do hope to do the best we can for our customers. I'm sorry to hear about the multiple issues that have come up with your Colorado; if we can look further into this with you, please send us an email with more information (name/Edmunds username, the last 8 digits of your VIN, and the name of your dealership) and my coworker Christina will direct you further.
Regards,
Sarah
GM Customer Service