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Or you might buy a vehicle new off the lot and have a catastrophic transmission failure at 60K, or lower intake manifold gaskets at 80K, with no abuse and the schedule doesnt call for tranny fluid change until 100K and a LIM gasket change ever. Some *cough GM* vehicles are just crap. You can't maintain quality into a vehicle if it isn't there to begine with.
Some cars are crappy and I don't like GM cars.
But it is RARE to see someone who maintains their vehicle have their car constantly die on them for no reason.
I've heard that BMW sucks, Honda sucks, Chevy sucks, Mercedes sucks, I mean come on.
I even heard someone complain about their toyota camry....when they have 20 inch chrome rims on it, and he doesn't do a SIMPLE air filter change
The same thing can be said for jerry rigging or not fixing something right the first time. Putting a bandaid on a gun shot wound if you will. Brake pads changed without rotors is a good one. No duh, the surface is grooved and warped to no end. Those fresh pads will be toast in no time. Adding rims and tires that are way oversized seems to be a popular trend among young folks these days. Don't you know the vehicles suspension was never designed for "big 'o 24 fos"! That is hard on the CV joints, spindles, A arms, tie rods, ball joints, pitman arm and end links. Could be hard on the shocks too. Many install fart cannons on the exhaust. They remove emissions equipment while doing so. That may make the engine run in a lean condition if it isn't retuned and or recalibrated. The O2 sensors and check engine light don't tell lies. Something is wrong or out of spec. Buy wisely, not everything is intended for on road use. You used to have blown intake gaskets and head gaskets because someone mixed the green with the red antifreeze at some point in time without flushing and converting it properly. The list goes on and on here.
You're wrong about the intake gaskets. GM put out the DexCool coolant and told it's customers they don't need to change the coolant for 100,000 miles (per my owners manual!). The coolant becomes acidict and eats away at the gasket. This happened so frequently that a group of GM customers took GM to court in a class action case. GM ended up paying out. GM knew of the problem and had issued a service bulletin to it's dealers when a vehicle comes in with this problem, they're to use this new gasket and torque tightening specs. It was cheaper for GM to continue using the same bad gasket and the same 100,000 mile service coolant change than to make the necessary changes on the production line as soon as the problem is discovered. It was also a bonus to dealers because the leaking intake gasket usually happened right after the factory warranty expired. I know this because I went through this personally with my 2003 Chevy Malibu, the last year of this body style with the GM 3.1L V6 engine. This car came out in 1997 and so I trusted GM to make corrections and improvements to their product as they went along through the years. Boy was I wrong. All the problems I had were the same problems others have had going back to the 1997 model. That's why I'm not buying GM for a long time. I gave them my trust and they betrayed that trust. Oh, and as for my brake rotors, I had my brakes worked on at a Chevy dealership. Few years later the rotors were warped. No, I did not go back to the dealership. I went somewhere else and haven't had any more problems since. I guess it's also my fault that three separate AC control panels were faulty. Bump in the road would turn off the compressor or switch from recirc to vent. On the fourth try I got one that works.
You're wrong about the intake gaskets. GM put out the DexCool coolant and told it's customers they don't need to change the coolant for 100,000 miles (per my owners manual!). The coolant becomes acidict and eats away at the gasket. This happened so frequently that a group of GM customers took GM to court in a class action case. GM ended up paying out. GM knew of the problem and had issued a service bulletin to it's dealers when a vehicle comes in with this problem, they're to use this new gasket and torque tightening specs. It was cheaper for GM to continue using the same bad gasket and the same 100,000 mile service coolant change than to make the necessary changes on the production line as soon as the problem is discovered. It was also a bonus to dealers because the leaking intake gasket usually happened right after the factory warranty expired. I know this because I went through this personally with my 2003 Chevy Malibu, the last year of this body style with the GM 3.1L V6 engine. This car came out in 1997 and so I trusted GM to make corrections and improvements to their product as they went along through the years. Boy was I wrong. All the problems I had were the same problems others have had going back to the 1997 model. That's why I'm not buying GM for a long time. I gave them my trust and they betrayed that trust. Oh, and as for my brake rotors, I had my brakes worked on at a Chevy dealership. Few years later the rotors were warped. No, I did not go back to the dealership. I went somewhere else and haven't had any more problems since. I guess it's also my fault that three separate AC control panels were faulty. Bump in the road would turn off the compressor or switch from recirc to vent. On the fourth try I got one that works.
I was aware of the 3.1L V6 intake gaskets and the extended red 100,000 mile antifreeze problems. It ate them alive and most were leaking right after the warranty expired only to need replaced before 80,000 miles. Brake rotors warp all the time. You can warp them with some heavy in town traffic heating them up and hitting a mud/water puddle when it's pouring rain one time. What I was talking about is shady garages and do it yourselfers putting on new pads and doing nothing with the rotors. They won't last, those pads are riding on grooves and rough, jagged edges. You might even feel it in the brake pedal when applying the brakes. They are the first to go storming back to the discount auto parts they bought them at and cash in the lifetime warranty free replacement with a gripe and a b*tch though. Dude...you just put them on 5,000 miles ago. What's wrong...what did you do? LOL Ok, so we'll give you some new ones to shut you up. That idiot left to gripe to everyone he knows how crappy those brake pads were...pretty sure of it. As for mixing the green and the red antifreeze, that's a well known no-no. Unless you get the NEW special kind that was designed to be universal. The regular straight blends are not. All sorts of damage can occur by doing so.
LOL That ^ kids Dad probably said "GD car...the damn brakes are junk and need work already...I just had them done a week ago...can't they build stuff like they used to?" LOL
Idiot! I do what I call mild hypermiling. I do plenty of coasting (though not as much as hard core hypermilers do. See a stop sign, red light, or a light about to turn red ahead, I lift off the gas to coast before braking.
I think a lot of people use their car for things other than what the car was intended for...no I don't think a Honda Civic makes for a good baha in the mud vehicle. Judging by how most people drive I'm kind of surprised that cars last as long as they do now.
There are a lot of POS cars and trucks made too so consider that factor as well.
the ture issue of a car that should be blamed by the car makers are electric issues.
I'm not sure where you live, but up here in Canada most electrical issues on automobiles are directly related to the salt and/or brine they pour all over the roads in winter. If you get your car or truck treated by Krown once a year, you tend not to have these problems. Unfortunately, a lot of people either have the vehicle treated once at purchase for "lifetime" protection or are too cheap to shell out the $100 or so it costs for rust control.
If people are dumb enough to listen to a salesman they deserve to get ripped off.
The internet should be your guide.
If I want a new laptop I just type it in google and read 100s of reviews on it.
A car, a microwave, a t.v. whatever...google.
As a matterfact when I'm shopping I make it known to the salesman I don't want to be distracted by their nonsense so I can get a quality product I can enjoy not a crappy product that I pay the most for.
Yes, because internet is always correct.
Although I'm in sales, I don't consider myself to be a "salesman". But I take offense at your comment. You're lumping all of "us" in together as if the sins of a few dictate how we all treat our clients.
What if I said that all mechanics were greasy stinking toothless illiterate troglodytes who were barely capable of swapping parts randomly and couldn't troubleshoot a broken bulb? And that they all try to oversell any service on a car? While this certainly describes a significant percentage of mechanics I've run across, it certainly does not mean that all of them fit this description.
Something else to consider is that many people aren't buying a box. They're looking for solutions. Can the average Joe put together a sensible upgrade for an entire suspension system, it he knows nothing about it when he starts? Will he understand how all those pieces work together and affect each other? Doubtful. Can he rebuild an engine by watching YouTube videos? Maybe, but I wouldn't want that engine. You can read the internet all day and not even come close to what I can tell you in five minutes in my areas of expertise, but hey, if you think we're all liars, enjoy your mess.
Maybe you've never run across a sales pro, and have no idea of what being a sales pro means. Just like some of the mechanics I've encountered aren't fit to put air in my tires, there are good and bad people in every field. If your experience is limited to Best Buy or Sears, you've never met a true pro salesperson.
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