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Chevrolet Impala: Problems & Solutions
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Now for a car to go that far between oil changes goes against conventional wisdom! After all, everyone tells you to change your oil every 5000km/3000mi. But wait. Just who tells you that? Think about it. You see a commercial on TV for motor oil and the message is "change your oil every 5000km/3000mi" Same thing with the outfits like Mr. Lube and Jiffy Lube that change your oil. Of course they would say this, they have so much to gain by encouraging people to change their oil more often. In reality, the 3000mi interval is for SEVERE driving conditions. But the kicker is that 75% of drivers fall under the severe category. Refer to this page for more info: http://www.goa-northcoastoil.com/tips/oilchange.html
So the bottom line is that each driver must assess their driving situation and change their oil accordingly, and not rely on the oil life monitor alone. Personally, I do not fall under the severe category, but your "mileage" may vary.
I'm a religious 3000-4000 mile oil changer and I've had 3 cars that went nearly 200k miles all with strong engines that didnt leak or use oil the whole time, so I can only suspect that I must be doing something right. I'm also one of those beleivers in synthetic oils. Read some of the tech articles on what makes synthetic oil so superior to conventional petroleum based oils sometime, they are very interesting reading.
being unreasonable if I make the effort to have the dealer change the oil that I
should expect him to reset the thing? Mine just lit at over 8,000 miles and the oil
has already been changed at the dealer twice. Now I also have the low tire pressure
indicator. Spouse checked the pressure. Added 2 lbs and still reads low- after
driving another 60 miles. Hi ho- hi oh no- it's back to Chevy I go!
Last, don't expect the dealer to reset these warning messages for you. You must do it yourself.
Just another example that the belief by some that dealer service is better than private shop service is really just a myth.
More expensive maybe, but not better in most cases.
The dealer did this as well as reportedly checking tires for leaks and reset the
oil change- which I argue really should be done by them if they are changing the
oil.. Everything back to smooth working order. My main concern was that I not
encounter a problem that I could have intercepted now- on my trip next week.
I also asked about the On Star functions- running diagnostic- the service reps
state that only a major problem would be detected with the On star check-
minor stuff like above would not show up in their diagnostics.
career but something like checking the tire pressure while you are on the road is not as easy as it sounds. I can only hope the next Impala owner that runs across this can learn from my experience.
Most of the air gauges at service stations (the ones who actually still have air hoses) I wouldn't trust to be even close to accurate. I'd rather spend the effort to properly equip myself to deal with situations instead of thinking that gas stations should. The days of the "service station" are about over, now most of them seem to treat gasoline sales as a secondary income to the sales of candy, pop, cigarettes and lottery tickets, and "service" is a forgotten word.
I treat the tire pressure monitor feature as a nice safety feature. If a front tire is going down you can usually feel it in the steering but sometimes rears are harder to feel until they're really dangerously low. In those cases the pressure monitor might give me enough warning to let me get to a safe place to deal with the leak instead of being forced to change a flat that caught me by surprise and left me on the shoulder of an expressway.
If, when you say on the road, you mean you are in a rental, I have to agree that checking tire pressure isn't easy. Sure you could pack a gauge, but you could also pack flares, fix-a-flat, extra coolant, etc. If you are talking about your own car, I agree with Dennis that you should have a pressure gauge. They are pretty cheap ($5) and I trust them more than the one attached to the service stations air line. Don't bother with the dial ones. Drop them and they will lose calibration. Go with the stick type.
On a similar point, not too many stations have air anymore. All service stations had compressors for their shop. The self-serve convenience ones don't need them. The one old-time service station by my house turned their compressor off. I had to go and buy a 12V one to fill my tires. Sign of the times I guess.
On the Dealer resetting the Oil Moniter, It seems moot. If you change the oil every 3000 miles (even if they do re-set it) it most certainly will not come on anyway, it would, if you re-set it every other time and allowed 6,000+ miles to accumulate, Resetting it every 3,000 miles will asure one thing, It will not come on...I think the only way to utilize the Oil Life moniter is to Re-Set it, and drive until it comes on, that may be 6,000+ miles, then change the oil and re-set it again and so on...... It would be different if it were like an odometer and once it was re-set (would make sense if it were done by the dealer, would replace the little reminder sticker on the windsheild) it would illuminate when it clicks to the 3,000th mile...That would be alot more user friendly, like a 3,000 mile reminder that would definatly get your attention to get your oil changed. Don
Don
out they painted the darn thing the wrong color and then didn't have the mounting
brackets for it! When I finally called the service manager he couldn't have been more
helpful or willing to make things right. I was ready to do the call to Chevy on my cell
while physically at the dealer but told him I was willing to try him first. Everything
rolled out great after that! Now they know me on sight- not sure if that's good but at
least I get the car fixed right.
The Service Writers are low level employees that have no decision making power whatsoever.
I also (as always) asked to have the lug nuts hand-torqued to 100 ft/lbs. They agreed without hesitation. Then my brother-in-law (the parts manager) took me to talk to one of the mechan..oops "technicians". He showed me something called "torque sticks". They're extensions that fit onto the air wrench and apparently limit the amount of torque that the air gun applies to the lug nuts. There are various sizes of torque sticks for different sized nuts and different maximum torque. Does anyone know how these work?
Brad
<http://www.procutinternational.com/html/awards/gm_review.html>
Brad
http://www.procutinternational.com/html/torqstik/how_torqstiks.html
I'll stick with my torque wrench.
I suppose for the person who is either too lazy or doesn't know how to properly set and use a torque wrench they are better than just bearing down with the impact wrench. Also, they still allow the use of that air impact gun, the favorite toy of the dealership "technician".
How well do they work as compared to a properly used torque wrench? I have no idea. The idea seems sound enough but I would worry about production tolerances in the sticks making them less accurate than the average Craftsman torque wrench.
I'll stick to my (Craftsman) torque wrench personally.
Going by the description of the problem, I don't think it's the cradle. It may be the way the cradle is mounted, but not the fact that it is aluminum. The '01 cradle has more complete welds and it is made out of box aluminum so the overall structure is pretty rigid. Heck, airplanes are made of aluminum.
I'm gonna take a wait and see type of attitude. I plan to keep this car for a long time, as long as I can keep it running. I am really happy with the features, power, ride, and look.
K-cid
That's al I need. They fix the reception, but knock out one of the rear speakers.
BTW, I was under the impression that these antenna/defroster problems are always fixed by replacing the rear glass, not this module. At least, that's what a few posters here have said, including fatherlavidicus. (I'm sure I messed that name up!)
I'm sure they'll find a way to muck up the left rear speaker, the rear seat, or the pillar/rear deck trim.
I've got a strong feeling replacing the module may not even fix the problem. Do you also remember a couple of folks talking about replacing the rear window. Or, am I imagining things?
I would imagine it would take a pretty powerful "burst" to damage the wiring within the glass.
"Micro-manufacturing-defect" is probably more like it.
Yup. Just as I thought. It didn't make a damn bit of difference. I'll go back and ask for the rear glass, but I know what they'll say. "That's the way it's supposed to work", or "Can't find a problem", or some such nonsense.
They just keep tossin' logs on the ole fire, don't they? It's OK. The bigger the fire, the warmer my file gets.
It doesn't rain here for like 6 or 7 months, so I didn't really start using it until recently, and was very unhappy with it. This morning it cleared the rear window up in about a minute. Wowzers!
I finally got my hands on a"police package supplement" for the owners manual. I have learned that the only mechanical difference from a "civilian" impala and a "police package" is the addition of a power steering cooler, larger radiator, steel wheels and reinforced seats. No suspension upgrades, no performance advantage. There IS included what is essentially a maze of wiring harnesses (see impala radio) to make it easier to wire up all of the electronics that a modern police car needs ie: camera system, computer, police radios, lights and siren systems. I have 4000 miles on my "shop" as we call them and will post from time to time how it holds up to being run by 3 different officers, 3 shifts a day (24/7). It took some getting used to pursuit driving with the front wheel drive (to say the least) after being used to a crown vic, but I love the way it handles and there is more room between the "cage" and the back seat That translates to making it easier for me to extract intoxicated drivers once arrested and transported to the station for processing. (if a drunk prisoner falls while getting out it would be my liability)
Thanks for your time.
The CHP officer that stopped me for going a wee bit too fast was very polite. It made it a pleasant experience, except of course for making me even later for the airport, the huge fine, and the point on my license. ;-)