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Good for you Eric. Seems that dealers are way too often trying to just rid the cars off their lots these days. My brother with his 2003 Impala, that was a case of a bad salesman as well. Extremely pushy, we said “we’d think about it” and he’d keep going “wait a minute wait a minute”, run off, then come back, “ok, here’s what I can do”. This happened a few times before I begged for my license back and said I was late for work. He ended up buying it, they didn’t detail it, leaves in the engine, LIMs leaking, leaking radiator hose, bad battery, laundry list as well. Brought it up to them, they fixed most of it [go figure] and sent him on his way. Well, fast forward a few years, it ended up blowing the transmission twice, and I think a cab company finally bought it.
Couple years later, my mom brings in my dad’s 05 Cobalt in for an oil change and tire rotation, and while it was there, the recall. She picks it up after back and forth [first they forgot the oil change, then the rotation]… gets about a block down the road, lights pop up and engine siezes. They must have forgotten to refill it… After waiting a week, they put a “rebuilt” engine in it, couple months later, it’s overheating and though I haven’t investigated yet, minor signs of a leaking head gasket.
Car my mom just bought, 11? Impala, same dealer [after I told her don’t go there, but she did this behind my back], $13k with trade in for 50k miles, poorly installed aftermarket alarm with bare wires everywhere [one of the selling perks], random wires hanging under the dash… not fantastic, didn’t even look at the engine. I found, granted 2008, a few years older, same car with 15k on it for $12k…Just seeing the poorly installed aftermarket equipment drove me nuts since that’s what I do for a living, almost tempting to just gut it and redo it all.
I guess my gist of it, that dealer sucks now, and my mom doesn’t listen either..heh. It seems anything they can do to get you to buy their car, they’ll do it if you don’t know what you’re talking about. On the cheap too. No one seems to care about the quality in it anymore. That quality experience of buying that car, knowing that you’re buying something that’s going to last a while before problems arise, and creating that experience of “hey, this truck was and still is kick ass, and I need a car now, I’ll go back to XYZ Motors!” Instead, it’s time and time again, I bought from ZYX, 2 months later I had to spend $750 on brakes. I understand, they aren’t CPO, but still, it should be safe to drive if they are selling it.
In regards to the truck search, if you go the fixer upper route, my only concern would be, depending on miles, etc, how worn out is it? Some used trucks, they are just a machine that does point A to point B their whole life. Some, they are pulling those 10k lb campers every weekend and forgetting to swap out a pan of trans fluid once in a while. And we know how honest people can be about things, who knows how much wear and tear and maintenance were done on it. Personally, if it was just for the sake of the videos, go for it, a little local hauling here and there, sure. I think that if you’re going to do family vacations and whatnot with it, pulling campers or whatever, I’d consider something newer, just for that peace of mind. And if you trade that Element, you should be 100% happy with what you receive, which that truck clearly wasn’t.
Good luck on the hunt, SD
Actually, now that driving 35 miles one way to work everyday is a thing of the past, cars have been doing good mechanically, just need to change oil on both… Only major things I need to do eventually, paint on the one car, and something with the exhaust on the beater….
Kinda hard to do anything now with the new place, “No vehicle repairs unless it’s to get the vehicle off the property”… I miss having a garage, and being in the corporate world, kinda hard to utilize the work garage 🙁
Actually, now that driving 35 miles one way to work everyday is a thing of the past, cars have been doing good mechanically, just need to change oil on both… Only major things I need to do eventually, paint on the one car, and something with the exhaust on the beater….
Kinda hard to do anything now with the new place, “No vehicle repairs unless it’s to get the vehicle off the property”… I miss having a garage, and being in the corporate world, kinda hard to utilize the work garage 🙁
Check cooler lines, granted it’s a different model, but friend of mine had a 96 9C1 Caprice (4L60E), one of his lines rusted out, blew, and first thing to go was 4th…except his just went neutral instead of hitting 4th. 1 rebuilt transmission later…
Throwing spaghetti at the wall…
Check cooler lines, granted it’s a different model, but friend of mine had a 96 9C1 Caprice (4L60E), one of his lines rusted out, blew, and first thing to go was 4th…except his just went neutral instead of hitting 4th. 1 rebuilt transmission later…
Throwing spaghetti at the wall…
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=68272][quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=34927]I don’t think you have a grasp of my workload. 6-7 days a week, 12 hours a day give or take. Not too much time to sit and watch videos, especially ones that I’ve produced. Once I’m done producing them I need to move onto the next ones. I do 3 shows a week after all. How many TV programs can claim that?[/quote]
Wow. Eric you really work hard to bring us this network. I thought that you had a team of people behind the scenes working for you. Hats off to you.[/quote]
Yeah, he really puts forth a lot of effort and has a passion for what he does. Takes a lot of effort to produce what he does, let alone the whole teaching aspect of it, I know I have a hard time telling someone how to do even the simplest things sometimes….
Hats off to you Eric. As always.
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=68272][quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=34927]I don’t think you have a grasp of my workload. 6-7 days a week, 12 hours a day give or take. Not too much time to sit and watch videos, especially ones that I’ve produced. Once I’m done producing them I need to move onto the next ones. I do 3 shows a week after all. How many TV programs can claim that?[/quote]
Wow. Eric you really work hard to bring us this network. I thought that you had a team of people behind the scenes working for you. Hats off to you.[/quote]
Yeah, he really puts forth a lot of effort and has a passion for what he does. Takes a lot of effort to produce what he does, let alone the whole teaching aspect of it, I know I have a hard time telling someone how to do even the simplest things sometimes….
Hats off to you Eric. As always.
I’ll say, it can be done, old roommate did it to his car, using thinned rustoleum and a foam roller, looks pretty sweet considering. Only issues I see, prep work in some cases is showing through after a years time, and slight orange peel texture.
Good luck
I’ll say, it can be done, old roommate did it to his car, using thinned rustoleum and a foam roller, looks pretty sweet considering. Only issues I see, prep work in some cases is showing through after a years time, and slight orange peel texture.
Good luck
Typically the rule of thumb I’ve seen, if it’s been regularly maintained, go for it. If you wait til say 100-120k mi and then you change it after towing trailers or use and abuse… eh… eh… treading on thin ice in some cases.
Then again, I’ve replaced the fluid on a car with 190k, unknown history since 60k, didnt have any problems aside from the typical P1887 that there was a TSB out for, and it didn’t get better or worse.
Typically the rule of thumb I’ve seen, if it’s been regularly maintained, go for it. If you wait til say 100-120k mi and then you change it after towing trailers or use and abuse… eh… eh… treading on thin ice in some cases.
Then again, I’ve replaced the fluid on a car with 190k, unknown history since 60k, didnt have any problems aside from the typical P1887 that there was a TSB out for, and it didn’t get better or worse.
Fuel pressure is going to be a bit difficult to check on these to be honest. Starting in 2003, they took the schrader valve off the fuel rails (when I was trying to figure out my codes before discovering a cam jumped time I learned this), only 2 ways to check, either get the special T-adapter that goes inline on the connection to the fuel rail, or, scantool, typically looking high 30-low 40 off, mid 30s running. Anything lower, look at fuel pump.
Another common problem on these cars, especially on the P71s due to being in service, the CoP boots deteriorate over time, especially with the high underhood temps from extensive idle time. Replacing those could help clear up the misfire possibly…. tuneup would be best, new CoP boots and plugs, if you’re really gutsy, new CoPs too, stay away from Granatelli….. learned that the hard way.
Lean codes… the hard pipe going to the PCV rubs against the engine cover if you still have it, that could be one cause; plastic intake, high underhood temps, common for those to crack, could be another cause, especially if it’s somewhere you can’t see…
If it was lean on one bank only, running weird all the time, decreased fuel mileage and rattle on startup, I’d say check your timing set, though 04 and up should be safe since it’s past the recall/TSB, unlike mine, stuff can still wear out especially being a retired service vehicle, and if it gets bad enough, chunks fly, timing chain jumps…. Scantool showed about a 25-35% difference in fuel trims with that between banks, and compression was high 190’s on one bank and 140’s on the other when I had my issues… Turns out Bank 1 jumped one notch, and I barely had any guides left. Wasn’t a fun time for me…
Good luck, let us know what you find….
Fuel pressure is going to be a bit difficult to check on these to be honest. Starting in 2003, they took the schrader valve off the fuel rails (when I was trying to figure out my codes before discovering a cam jumped time I learned this), only 2 ways to check, either get the special T-adapter that goes inline on the connection to the fuel rail, or, scantool, typically looking high 30-low 40 off, mid 30s running. Anything lower, look at fuel pump.
Another common problem on these cars, especially on the P71s due to being in service, the CoP boots deteriorate over time, especially with the high underhood temps from extensive idle time. Replacing those could help clear up the misfire possibly…. tuneup would be best, new CoP boots and plugs, if you’re really gutsy, new CoPs too, stay away from Granatelli….. learned that the hard way.
Lean codes… the hard pipe going to the PCV rubs against the engine cover if you still have it, that could be one cause; plastic intake, high underhood temps, common for those to crack, could be another cause, especially if it’s somewhere you can’t see…
If it was lean on one bank only, running weird all the time, decreased fuel mileage and rattle on startup, I’d say check your timing set, though 04 and up should be safe since it’s past the recall/TSB, unlike mine, stuff can still wear out especially being a retired service vehicle, and if it gets bad enough, chunks fly, timing chain jumps…. Scantool showed about a 25-35% difference in fuel trims with that between banks, and compression was high 190’s on one bank and 140’s on the other when I had my issues… Turns out Bank 1 jumped one notch, and I barely had any guides left. Wasn’t a fun time for me…
Good luck, let us know what you find….