Automotive People: I'm Getting Sheistered Again. Help. =(

[ACMESkydiver 0]

2003 Chev Suburban. We took it in for these issues:

LED lights in radio -half work, half are out
LED lights in steering wheel -same problem
Driver's side elect. seat -somehow the controls are backwards -you press forward and it goes in reverse, vice versa (we didn't notice this for 13 months because we only use the automaic seat positions '1' and '2' )
Heater went out
A/C was coming on, but didn't feel super cold like before
Coolant was leaking like crazy.

Shop comes back with:
Radio and steering to be replaced. Can't replace lights only
Driver's side seat needs a program update. $110.
Coolant was due to cylinder head something had holes all over, and coolant was leaking into whatever the head whatever thingy.
Heater was out due to the above.
A/C compressor was acting up; recommend service/replace plus recharge freon

We have an extended warranty, but I pay $250 per item. So we told them not to fix the radio or the steering wheel (was going to be individual items, so $500 out of pocket or cover expense, whichever was less).

We said not to fix the seat.

We had them repair the cylinder head thingy that also repaired the heater in doing that, so that was $250.

The A/C compressor had to be replaced by another dealership when the truck was 10 months old, and was covered w/lifetime warranty. So leave it and we'll take it to them. I ended up having to pay $95 for diagnostic for the A/C, but they wouldn't do the warranty work as the other dealership had installed.

Chevy Dealership #2:

We take it in for warranty repair on the A/C (free, no cost to us because the part was warrantied for life) and a lube/oil/filter (free for life when we bought the truck there.) I mentioned the radio, steering wheel, etc and say that we have Gecio and will eventually repair those items and may bring it back to them for those.

Dealership #2 calls Geico (not me!) and tells Geico that I told him that I noticed oil leaking under the front axle.. I said nothing of the sort. Dealership #2 calls me back and says that it isn't the A/C compressor or freon at all (surprise surprise, not covered) that it is a low pressure switch and I'll need to pay $220 out of pocket for that.

THEN he tells me that oil is leaking out from a seal in the front differential and I'll need to repair that right away. (I didn't ask for any inspection or diagnostic on this; they just apparently saw this incredibly obvious leak when the shop just 7 days ago didn't??) $250 out of pocket for that; Geico will pay the remainder of the $600+ maybe. They are sending an inspector out, per my request and to find out WTH the repair shop guy lied about me telling him that I saw leaking oil and to check it out.

So if it IS a low pressure switch, the $95 dignostic that I paid to Chevy delaership #1 was complete BS and they were wanting me to pay them to replace something that wasn't broken (they didn't know that the A/C was under warranty at another shop. They were just going to get me to buy an A/C compressor freon recharge from them...) If it is the compressor, than Chevy dealership #2 is trying to get out of their warranty work AND tacking on another huge $$ repair job that we had no evidence of needing prior to taking the truck in there.

WTF?

Is there ANYTHING I can do???!?!?! Is there ONE SINGLE F*CKING HONEST DEALERSHIP anywhere in this damn state?? (Both shops have screwed us before; I haven't even told you the half of it. But they are the 'authorized' dealerships. )

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[MrFreefall383 0]

No car dealerships are honest. They're all out to f*** you. That's why I stopped going to my dealership and found a good local mechanic with an ASE certification standard. ASE is short for Automotive Service Excellence, which is supposed to always meet warranty standards for all manufacturers. I know because I want to start a performance tuning shop, and want to get ASE certified. So find a good-guy shop with ASE techs, and all that shit will cost you far less, and half of it probably won't have to be replaced.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[turtlespeed 226]

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Is there ANYTHING I can do???!?!?!

Yes, there is. Sell the Chevy and DON'T buy another one. I have never had any trouble with either dodge I have owned, well . . . Other than, after pulling out a CONCRETE TRUCK (5 Months ago), the clutch on my 98 1/2 ton 4x4 started going out.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[downwardspiral 0]

stop going to dealerships for repairs unless it's under warranty or is a recall. Not only do they do shoddy work but they'll charge you 30%-50% more than a small certified repair shop.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[DougH 270]

x2... find a good local mechanic. A good local mechanic should have refrences of people that will be happy to tell you about the great services they have recieved in the past.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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stop going to dealerships for repairs unless it's under warranty or is a recall. Not only do they do shoddy work but they'll charge you 30%-50% more than a small certified repair shop.

That was the problem...it was extended warranty service through Geico, and Geico would only let me use the 'authorized' dealership repair shops.

Won't matter in another 700 miles it will roll over 100,000.

We can't afford to buy another SUV right now -we have no payments on this damn thing (we paid it off with our mortgage refi, which was a smart thing to do at that time). I don't think we could buy anything else with what we'll get out of this, and we can't afford any more payments right now.

For all those wondering why, we have to have an SUV for our disabled babies. We used to own a mini van and it was just too small for all of their equipment (not to mention a service dog or tow that we'll be looking at in the future), and we frequently end up transporting 8 people around at a time...

I swear we've sunk so much damn money into this thing...it's one of those things that now I feel like we just can't part with it and start over. It has a big surround sound 15" DVD player and fancy stuff we added for the babies. We won't get anything comparable I don't think.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Scoop 0]

Don't buy American crap.

I know I will get flack for this, especially on this forum, but having worked as a mechanical engineer where we had another workshop in Texas and as a vehicle mechanic also, my experience of American engineering is that it's piss poor.

Saying that doesn't help you with your problem of course. Part of the problem comes from modern idiots with little mechanical knoweldge who like to plug specialist computers into any orifice on your car because they lack the skill to diagnose problems themselves. Years ago you would unscrew a spark plug and look at the colour or examine the exhaust fumes to see how the mixture was running. I agree with you going to find a local independent garage. We never used to rip women off (I know alot of women fear that). After all, how could we perve on you again if you never came back!

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Is there ANYTHING I can do???!?!?!

Yes, there is. Sell the Chevy and DON'T buy another one. I have never had any trouble with either dodge I have owned, well . . . Other than, after pulling out a CONCRETE TRUCK (5 Months ago), the clutch on my 98 1/2 ton 4x4 started going out.

We've never looked into Dodge. When we're looking to replace we'll definitely look into it.

The Ford dealership hosed us with our Escort repairs, too! I paid $1200 to fix a problem with it dying for no reason while driving. I literally drove it out of the lot and around the corner after the repair and it died again! I took it back and they charged me $138 MORE to replace one other part! I asked them why the hell they didn't replace whatever it was and spare the $1200 and they told me it all had to be done together...

Bullshit. If they knew what they were doing it wouldn't have been in just as bad of shape as it was when we turned it in $1200 prior.

I sure wish Bucky's did A/C and warranty work. We've never had a problem with Bucky's for brakes, tune ups and alignment.

Other than that though, Lil' Blue has 150k on her and she's still a good car. The red racer (red '93 Escort) that it replaced had 200k on it before it died in front of a Ford Dealership.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[marks 0]

I work in a dealership as a technician, not in sales.
I have customers all the time tell me my diagnisis is not going to fix the car BECAUSE it is too expensive. I have also been told I was lying to them and trying to rip them off. I just walk away and never help them again. I do not have time for shit like that.
I am an honest tech at a dealer, and I make good money doing it, if i did not make good money I would find another job and yopu "the customer" would have some lame ass tech working on your car.
more than likely that is what is happening. you have a lame tech, "paper" technician I call them. and they do not know how to diagnose cars.
it is sad really.

i work with 30 techs. 4 of us are actually techs. there are 15 master techs. the master tech status came because they took a test. ASE. they cant or are to lazy to diagnose a car. you really need to find you a good tech. each dealer has 1-4 of them, if they didnt, they would go under. they cant hire any more than that, because they can't afford it.

[Scoop 0]

Well done mate.

We need less fitters and more mechanics. Especially in a time where the average guy or girl at home lifts up there bonnet and is greeted by nothing but plastic and ECUs for every system on the car.

[LongWayToFall 0]

$250 per item is allot, unless you are talking about something major, such as the blown head gasket you mentioned. You got a deal on that one. Don't worry about the oil leaking out of the front differential. You could have zero oil in it, and it would not harm anything if you didn't drive it in 4 wheel drive. If you did want to drive it in 4x4, you could always have a little oil with you, and throw it in right before you do go off roading. (there is a little plug on the front of the diff you take out, with the car on level ground, you want the oil level to be even with this hole, ie drips out until it stops dripping) As far as the AC, someone has to be wrong, obviously, because of the 2 different diagnosis. The price does seem right though, because shop rate is about 100 an hour, and there is usually a minimum 1 hour for diagnostics. Usually when the AC stops working, it just because the system leaked out pressure slowly and now it doesn't work, not that anything is broken per say. It would be well worth your time to go to the local auto zone or what have you and picking up a bottle of recharge with the gauge on it, all you have to do it screw it onto the line (it is similar to a bicycle tire valve) and fill the thing up, the bottle will tell you what to do. Ask the dealer #2 what tests they did to establish that the switch was bad, if the system does indeed have pressure and the sensor is indicating that it does not, then it would make sense that it is bad. Go buy the sensor at a parts store, and throw it in yourself. Get a chilton's manual and it will explain a whole bunch of stuff. Oh, one last thing, for the seat switch that is backwards, just go behind the switch and there should be 3 wires, one is going to be the hot coming in, and the other 2 go to the motor (or possibly a solenoid, no matter) just switch the 2 wires, so that when you press forward, instead of it completing the circuit with the energy going to the motor to make it go forward, it makes it go backward. Simple!!!! You can switch it at the motor too, if the switch side is a big circuit board.
Hope your repair troubles get to be smoother with an independent shop. Do some research online though, or talk to people, and find a reputable shop

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Usually when the AC stops working, it just because the system leaked out pressure slowly and now it doesn't work, not that anything is broken per say. It would be well worth your time to go to the local auto zone or what have you and picking up a bottle of recharge with the gauge on it, all you have to do it screw it onto the line (it is similar to a bicycle tire valve) and fill the thing up, the bottle will tell you what to do. Ask the dealer #2 what tests they did to establish that the switch was bad, if the system does indeed have pressure and the sensor is indicating that it does not, then it would make sense that it is bad. Go buy the sensor at a parts store, and throw it in yourself. Get a chilton's manual and it will explain a whole bunch of stuff. Oh, one last thing, for the seat switch that is backwards, just go behind the switch and there should be 3 wires, one is going to be the hot coming in, and the other 2 go to the motor (or possibly a solenoid, no matter) just switch the 2 wires, so that when you press forward, instead of it completing the circuit with the energy going to the motor to make it go forward, it makes it go backward. Simple!!!! You can switch it at the motor too, if the switch side is a big circuit board.
Hope your repair troubles get to be smoother with an independent shop. Do some research online though, or talk to people, and find a reputable shop

I'll get the manual, and I'll ask my sis-in-law's hubby about the switch (he can do those kind of things...he replaced the serpentine belt on our car last year) and see if he thinks he can do it. Only problem is now I'll be paying yet another diagnostic fee...

Wires! Ok, I can do that!
Hooray! Gimme a screwdriver and a sammich! I'm gonna go work on a truck!
...well, when I get it back from the shop, anyhoo.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[downwardspiral 0]

Disconnect the battery!!!!! Ground (Black terminal or - symbol) first.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Disconnect the battery!!!!! Ground (Black terminal or - symbol) first.

I'm afraid of the battery!


I'll have Joe do that, THEN I'll tell him to get outta the way, I'M workin' on the truck!

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[downwardspiral 0]

Nah its easy. Just don't touch both terminals at the same time. If you can pull the right handles when you need to then you can disconnect a battery.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[aresye 0]

I feel for you man. I bought a used Honda 2001 Civic for $9500 with only 88,000mi on it. Knowing Honda's great rep, I decided I won't need a 10,000mi extended warrenty.

Now 7,000mi later, my torque converter decides to fall apart, and I'll need to replace my entire transmission soon because of that.

About $2500

God...dang!

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[kschilk 0]

Most dealers have ASE "technicians". Some are legitimate, experienced and knowledgeable but for the most part, the ASE thing is just a way for inexperienced "techs" to get their foot in the door, without any real prior shop experience. It's a good deal for the aspiring technician but it can be hell on the customer. Ask around for the name of a reputable mechanic or technician.

"T'was ever thus."

[LongWayToFall 0]

The battery is simple. The terminals will look something like this:

http://www.gmccoop.com/images/Battery-terminal-melted.jpg

See that nut on the right hand side of the metal part? That is what you want to loosen. You wont have to take it off all the way, just so its loose enough to spin with your hand. Then take the terminal off of the battery. (You want to remove the negative terminal, not the positive. Although it really won't make any difference) make sure once you take it off, it is not touching any metal parts of the car, wrap it in a rag or something.
So, for the switch, get to the back of it and take a look at what you find. You mentioned that it has programmed settings and whatnot, so there will be a bunch of wires and a circuit board of some type. What you need to find is the direct rear of the switch you want to change. (I cant remember if you said up-down or forward-back) Hopefully you will find 3 wires, they should have a layout looking something like the attachment on this post. If you have a multimeter or light bulb tester, you can try to find out which one is the one coming from the battery, this will always have + juice going to it (but not if you disconnect the battery, so do it after you establish which wires are what) The easiest thing would be to just cut one of the wires, and see what stopped working. If the chair only moves backwards now, you know that you cut the wire controlling forward (and vise versa) if they both stop working, than you cut the power wire, and gotta hook it back up. Once you know which 2 wires are the ones you want, cut and switch them. make sure you either solder them or tape em up real good, you don't want the wire to come apart later.
Don't worry about getting shocked, you can't even feel 12 volts unless its on your tongue.

[LongWayToFall 0]

damn you upload limit. I reduced my picture's image quality so low you can't even see what it is anymore, and its still 5x too big. So basically, what it looks like, is the slide button on the outside of the chair has 3 positions, center, forward and back. when you are not touching it, it is in the center, and none of the wires are connected. when you push it forward, the forward wire and the center wire are connected, giving power from the center to the forward wire. same for the rear. all you wanna do is swap the forward and rear wires, so that it will make it work in reverse. (the correct way, from now on)

[LongWayToFall 0]

A shop should only charge 400-600 bucks to swap the transmission, go on ebay and find a new tranny and torque converter and get it sent to the shop. Should save you some major dollars

[guppie01 0]

I'm not sure what Chevy's HQ policy is, but if Toyota HQ receives significant complaints about a dealership, they will pull/cut inventory from that dealership until they prove they are up to Toyota's quality standards. You may want to check into it.

That shit pisses me off so badly.... Not sure if you remember my rant from about a year and a half ago, but the dealership gave me a slew of crap the NEEDED to be done, or "I was going to be stranded on the side of the road" (load of shit).

Well a year and a half later and I still have not performed any of the crap (including replacing the clutch), and my car is fine.

Oh, and Steve took the car to a different dealership, and they didn't mention any of the stuff that the previous dealer did... AND they gave him a free set of ipod speakers. WTF

I'm pretty sure that I'll need to replace the clutch sometime in the near future - I'm at 180,000 miles on the car with the same clutch (I'm damned proud of this too), and we'll be road tripping in September.

Good luck sweetie!!!

g

"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU
OMG, is she okay?

[Dumpster 0]

Sell the Chevy and buy a Toyota.

Problem solved.

Easy Does It

[Phillbo 11]

It's "Stealership"

[jcd11235 0]

First, find a reputable mechanic.

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I swear we've sunk so much damn money into this thing...it's one of those things that now I feel like we just can't part with it and start over.

Don't chase sunk costs. They're gone, and you're not going to get them back. Whether you've spent $5000 or $50,000 on the SUV so far, it's only worth what you can sell it for. If repair costs are costing you more per month than the payment to replace it with something more reliable (I second the Toyota recommendation, btw), then you're better off buying the more reliable vehicle to replace it, eating your losses now before they get any larger. Car payments suck, but they're better than spending similar amounts on repairs. There is an expression: Don't throw good money after bad.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[squirrel 0]

reading all the responses in this thread is...interesting. i remember back in the day that i rode around in the back of a 74 ford with a camper shell with 5 other brother and sisters. no seat belts, no air bags, no god damn DVD super duper HD surround 5.whatever sound system with 39 speakers and 27,000 whatts. and....we were happy...we, looked out the window for intertainment. we, talked to each other. and even when we got re-ended coming home from the beach, no body go hurt, we didnt call the police.. and we didnt sue, and the diver that hit us just gave may dad $100 for a new bumper...cause the truck was made of STEEL! and did not need a dealer to fix it, we turned screws and changed our our oil and did tune ups, and rebuilt tranny's in the garage on the work bench. damn, where has all the knowledge gone? i drive a 17 year old car....and work on it myself. but then again, i am not into spending a bunch of money on depreciating things. rant over.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?