Damn GM POS

Professur

Mushroom at large
Within the last couple of weeks, the missus' van's come close to getting shot. In order of failure.

Rear window wiper ..... crapped out.
Radio ........................... Red LED's not lighting anymore
Heater ......................... Fan only works on settings 4 and 5.


One more and the bitch gets Glocked.
 

Inkara1

New Member
I concur.

My family's had generally good luck with Ford products. I've seen too many GM products eat alternators and catch fire, and too many Chrysler products eat transmissions to trust either company's products.
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
The major factor in buying it was that the missus would be driving it. It has very small blind spots, and a smaller turning radius than Mum's Aclaim.

But now I understand that you have to remove engine mounts just to change the sparkplugs!!??!! A friend with a similar model had to have a coolant leak repaired, and they're gonna have to remove the engine to do it.
 

Deanril

Member
GM cars are complete and utter Junkolla!

I mean really they hit 80-100k and they are literally falling apart.

I jump into a Lexus at 200k and it feels like brand new.

Toyota and honda if you dont want big problems ,GM are about real close to being the absolute worst beside hyndai.

Hydai ofcoarse is junk too ,more so then GM ,but they come close.


What year/model is it?
 

Inkara1

New Member
I'm not much of a fan of the Trans Sport, or any other car that you can't see the front corners of. My mom's '99 Taurus is like that, and whenever I drive it I feel like I'm going to hit something when I park it. You can see the end of the hood in buth the '81 Honda and the '62 Fairlane, so you know if you're about to crunch the front bumper against the light pole or not.
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
It's a '97 (that's the short nose, Inky) with 145,000km on the clock.

BTW add a leaky power steering hose, and a nonfunctional side mirror to the list.

9mm ammo is on order.
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
Help. The bitch is 30 seconds away from becoming roadkill. She suddenly started sputtering and running rough. And the good ol' Check Engine light came on. I took it to the local GM a-holes in case it was covered under my extended warranty. They're saying that the computer reads P0141 and P0300. That is, spark plugs, leads, and the O2 sensor. They want 436.99 plus taxes to change all that. I told them to go fuck themselves, so they charged me 50 bucks for reading the comp. Bastards.

$150.25 for the leads
$87.30 for the 6 plugs
$120.50 for the sensor.
$123.94 labour

So what's the truth. What do I really need to change? I know they were scamming me. I just need to know by how much. They claim that the plugs and leads are original equipment, and they do have 140,000km on them. But punking out so suddenly? On a V6?
 

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
well lets see..
P0300 is "engine missfire detected".. and most likly a plug wire breaking down... with the milage on the truck, I would do the plugs and wires.

P0141 is "HO2S (Heated O2 Senser) heater circuit" senser #2
what this means is the heater circuit is bad in the oxigen senser, or the circuit.. they should have checked the system to find out if its the circuit or the senser.. they say it's the senser if thats what they want to replace...(most commonly the senser goes bad).

so I would have to say you need the parts they are recomending..but I think you can get it cheaper somewhere else.
And only someone with a scan tool can turn off the "service engine soon" light...
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
What are the odds that both would go at the same time? Could the misfire cause the sensor to trigger? Could a sensor failure cause too rich/too lean a fuel mixture leading to misfiring?

I've already found the leads for 55 bucks at a parts shop. Are platinum plugs actually required? Can the old plugs be regapped if their still in good shape?
 

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
dont bother trying to clean\gap the plugs..its not worth it and rarely works....
you can use non-platnum plugs..but they wont last as long..(30,000)miles..
the O2 senser's heater is not working.. the senser itself is probably still doing its job.. but it is keeping the engine from going into closed loop for to long..

I would try to get it fixed fast.. a missfiring engine can destroy a catolitic convertor in no time flat!
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
I see. What about these new iridium spark plugs I've heard about? Are they worth the extra couple of bucks?
 

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
don't waste your money!
Same goes for those fancy split fire plugs, the 2 and 4 electrode bosh plugs, etc
if the plugs are easy to replace, use regular non-platnum.
if it's a bitch to access the plugs, use platnum because they last longer and you won't have to replace them as often...
 

Inkara1

New Member
Only problem with 100,000-mile plugs is that in 100,000 miles they're damn near impossible to remove from the head.
 

UltraLiberty

New Member
Deanril said:
GM cars are complete and utter Junkolla!

I mean really they hit 80-100k and they are literally falling apart.

I jump into a Lexus at 200k and it feels like brand new.
Well I guess everybody should buy a Lexus then, right? Oh wait, I forgot; money doesn't grow on trees.

Seriously though...

GM cars dont' last past 100k, hmm? I guess all those Caprice taxicabs that last several hundred thousand miles are all just in my imagination.
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
OK, I'm changing the plugs and leads. The one's I'm taking our are at.075, so yeah, I guess they're done.



But how the hell do I get the back ones? A mechanic told me to just remove the top engine mount and I could pull the engine forward and get them. Well I removed the mounts. And I'm pulling like crazy, but I can't rock her forward more than an inch of so.


Where am I going wrong?
 

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
The rear plugs are a bitch to get... removing the upper mounts so you can pull the motor forward is nessary.. sometimes it takes a large pry bar for leverage..inserted in the bracket that the mount bolts to..if the motor won't move try taking it out of park.. this is usally a 2 man oporation so get a helper!
The top mount(I call it a dog bone because of the shape)has a loop under it , with a hole through it..the long bolt that goes thru the mount*that you took off to swing the mount free* will pass through the hole.. the way it works is.. someone pulls the motor forward with the prybar.. as you pull you'll notice that the mounting bracket will line up with the hole under the dog bone.. the idea is to slide the long bolt through the bracket and also through the loop at the bottem of the dog bone, this will "lock" the motor forward so you can get to the rear plugs....
NOW I bet you wish you let the shop do it huh?:)
 

Professur

Mushroom at large
Kruz, you are a god.


As for having a shop do it, if I lived in GA, I'd have a mechanic I could trust.

But which dog-bone? It has two.
 

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
I use the one on the left hand side..(drivers side). and pull from the other side..
 
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