ColonelPanic has a nervous breakdown

[Kari]

(The title is his, not mine )Well, the transmission went out this morning when he started it to take it to the dealer...I'm guessing that once it gets fixed, Sir Knocksalot is gone...Apparently it wouldn't go into drive, then when it finally did, wouldn't come out of 1st gear. So I guess we'll see what the dealer says once his dad gets there with the car trailer to take it in to the dealer.

[konabri]

That sucks! How many miles was on it? Hope everything works out. I just got my transmission fluid flushed and changed today.

[Kari]

63,000 or thereabouts

[mcgusto82]

good ting he has the extended warranty. i'm sure he'd be a little pissy if he hadn't.

[jimincalif]

Sorry to hear about that. At least the dealer won't be able to use their standard "unable to duplicate, no problem found" excuse. That car is possessed.

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by jimincalif »Sorry to hear about that. At least the dealer won't be able to use their standard "unable to duplicate, no problem found" excuse. That car is possessed.He doesn't need a mechanic, he needs a priest!

[Petrucci914]

That is quite the bad luck. These trannys are supposed to be strong as hell.

[scherry2]

WOW if there ever was a vibe that wasn't happy its Sir Knocksalot.

[JohnC]

What is the next car going to be?

[Sputnik]

Quote, originally posted by JohnC »What is the next car going to be?I would guess, buy his signature, a Hyundai Sonata.EDIT: Hmmm seems he's changed his signature lately!

[merckx56]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »He doesn't need a mechanic, he needs a priest!No, he needs a shotgun...

[ColonelPanic]

ACK! *twitch* *twitch* Well, I'm back. Luckily, I did not require institutionalization (this time at least.) Yes, it was much fun. I was on the way to the steenkin' DEALER to have them change the transmission fluid when it happened. I tried to shift into drive today and gave it some gas and it just sat there. The parking lot was icy so I figured I was just spinning my wheels, I wasn't looking at the speedo to tell. So, I threw it in neutral and then back to drive, NOTHING. It was taking ~5-10 seconds before it would ever catch, then it finally went into gear.So, I then took it out on the street to see what would happen. It wouldn't shift from first to second, and that god awful goat slaughterin' sound was in full force. Slammed the shifter down into 2nd but it never would go into it. I got it up to 40 but it was pulling 6K so I figured driving it to the dealer was not an option as it was 20 miles west. I called the dealer all freaking out, they couldn't get a wrecker out to me today, and I'm certain that if tried to call 1-800-ROADSID they would want to tow my car to the jerks that are 5 miles away and not the dealer that I wanted the car to go to. I didn't know if I could do any negotiation to get GM to partially foot some of the bill.The screwed up part? I turned the ignition off, let it set for a minute, started it back up and the stupid thing (sorta) started shifting. It still wasn't right, but at least it would leave first fricken' gear! The delay it had when trying to engage into first cleared up too. But I wasn't going to drive this damn thing, I just waited for dad to arrive...Dad has a 4x4 Chevy dump truck and a car trailer that he bought last year. Dad to the rescue, man I tell ya. Loaded this piece of crap up on the trailer and hauled it over to the dealer. Got to the dealer and unloaded the car. Talked to the service advisor about the whole mess, he was more than kind. They are going to have their tranny guy who comes in Monday check it out. I really needed something to get around with in the meantime, I was thinking of bumming something from the folks as they have an abundance of vehicles. But sure enough, he says "ok, we'll get you set up."Gave them my license and insurance,then the service advisor goes to get my car. I figured they still had those Grand Ams that unfortunately, throughout my Vibe ownership, I have had to rely on a few times. Nope, he swings by in a brand new TORRENT with 300 miles on the clock. I'm hoping that the GMPP Major Guard I have will take care of everything... Damn, I hope so... When they tear into it on Monday, they will call if this is something that GM won't cover. If that's the case, I'm pretty well hoed, I'll need to foot the bill for the Torrent *and* any diagnostic fees just for looking at this gem of Toyota engineering... THEN try to figure out how to get a new tranny in it myself. But I'm thinking that this will be covered, good god I would hope it is...I hope this never happens to any of you guys... Especially if that one car is all you have to rely on. It's quite stressful.......Once it's done, yep, I'll be trading. Sounds stupid if they replace the tranny or whatever to trade, but I'm done with this thing. The Vibe has brought something really great into my life and I will always thank it for that. But I think it is time to move on to a different car, as even if they replace the tranny and knocking engine tomorrow, I still wouldn't trust it anymore. I can't bring myself to pay $389 a month for three more years on something that has proven itself to be unreliable. Sorry, Vibe, mechanically even if you CAN make it that long, I can't psychologically deal with you for that much longer. I'll create a new thread about the potential Vibe replacement candidates here shortly.

[Petrucci914]

That's a shame that you got a lemon, man. Usually those trannys can take a lot of punishment. Were you ever hard on it? I know a lot of people put their car in reverse and slam on the gas and put it in drive before the vehicle comes to a complete stop and that is very hard on a tranny.

[ColonelPanic]

I always made sure it was fully stopped before shifting from forward to reverse... I don't think I was hard on it to the point where it would damage the tranny... There are probably many here that put theirs through more hell than I. For the majority of its life, I drove it kinda like grandma. I didn't keep the accelerator buried too deep usually. I won't say that I haven't gotten on it, but I haven't gotten on it to the point where I feel it would be dangerous. There was an incident over the summer where I lost a bunch of power (ended up being a plugged cat.) During that time, that thing would do nothing but downshift and upshift, the slightest change in the accelerator or elevation would prompt the tranny to take action. I had difficulties in getting the dealer(s) to take me seriously about it and make an honest attempt at fixing it. So thanks to that runaround, I had to drive it like that for a while. That wasn't good for it, I'm sure. But that was probably the worst it has seen.I hope they don't try to pin it on me and do what is right, which is to cover the repair. If they don't, I'm pretty much screwed as I don't have enough money for any of this. I'll have to fork out something like $1500 just for a replacement tranny from the prices I've found so far... Yikes.

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I hope they don't try to pin it on me and do what is right, which is to cover the repair. If they don't, I'm pretty much screwed as I don't have enough money for any of this.Yes, clearly you should move on, life's too short to go what you're going thru. I had a similar experience with a Ford Aerostar, dumped it after 2.5 years and 22K miles. You have the warranty contract, it clearly covers the powertrain, and you've followed the maintenance schedule. Can't see how they could manage to weasel out of covering it. From the GMAC website:Quote »Major Guard is a GM Protection Plan that covers virtually every electronic, electrical, and mechanical part of your GM vehicle, including failures caused by ordinary wear and tear. That means, if a covered component on your GM vehicle breaks or wears out, it's covered by Major Guard. Coverage details are available at your GM Dealer.Obviously the devil is in the details of these things, but a transmission at 63K miles is a pretty blatant failure. And if it was caused by the abuse it took due to the plugged cat, well, that was also a warranty item, and you certainly were proactive about getting it fixed, if anything they caused the problem by blowing you off for so long. I really doubt they'll try to blow you off on this, but if they do, don't take no for an answer. Stand your ground, be polite and in control at all times, but be firm. Good luck. Hope you can find a way to swing the Sonata, I saw one on the road the other day, very nice styling, looks better than the accord.

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks for the advice. I'll do my best at standing my ground, I have to not be a pushover like I nomally am.

[joholste]

as far as standing your ground goes, when dealing, one of the best things you can do is walk out after you have made your offer and they make their counter offer. They want the sell sooo they will more than likely call you a day or two later and give you a much better deal. also i don't know if consumer reports still does it, but if you know the VIN of the car you want you used to be able to find out how much the dealer paid for your vehicle. and so you can pay like 30 bucks find out that information and print it out. walk in with that and you have much better leverage. Good Luck CP

[ToolGuy]

Just found this...How crappy CP!!! I used to work at GM Roadside; I could tell you stories...At any rate yup seems it has to go now! Bid Sir Knocks a Lot a Fairwell! Goodluck!

[goodvibe]

I suspect that you've used the Dealer for all your service. I'd take a close look at the fluid they used when they changed your tranny fluid on it's normal interval. I've found that GM mechanics are a bit below the curve when it comes to Toyota based Vibes. Auto's are very fissy about using the right fluid for the correct service life, friction, lubrication ratio and I think the fluid here is specific to the Vibe and not a common GM fluid. Should be AC Delco T-IV. It should have cost about $8 a qt. If they used the wrong stuff, you're home free since they won't warranty the vehicle with any other fluid. ie: He who is responsable should pay.

[Kari]

He hadn't had the fluid changed yet...the transmission went out when he was on his way to have it changed.In any case, the owner's manual is very vague about when or if the fluid should be changed at all, and it seems to think it should only be changed at 60K if you do a lot of towing, driving in hilly terrain, or city driving. And he does mostly highway.

[konabri]

I was told by a Pontiac service manager that the tranny fluid on a Vibe should be changed every 30K.That doesn't seem like much to me, but my fluid was very dirty at 30K and has needed changing at those intervals.Best of luck,Brian

[Petrucci914]

As long as the tranny fluid is Type-T IV certified you should be fine. Doesn't have to be the AC Delco stuff. Many of us have used the Valvoline Dextron/Mercon III that is certified for Type T IV and have been fine. If you get it flushed I'd do it once ever 50k or so, but if you drop the pan and remove the 6 quarts then I'd do it like every 30k.

[goodvibe]

The point was that if he got it the the dealer it would be that particular fluid. Wow, 60K seems like a long interval. Good luck with the dealer.

[Charlievibe]

Has he had any feedback from the dealer as to what is going on? Or have I missed that posting somewhere?

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by Charlievibe »Has he had any feedback from the dealer as to what is going on? Or have I missed that posting somewhere?Sounds like you dont want to miss an episode of this on going soap opera "Days of Our Vibe"

[Charlievibe]

Quote, originally posted by Boxgrover »Sounds like you dont want to miss an episode of this on going soap opera "Days of Our Vibe" Guilty as charged!!!

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by Charlievibe »Has he had any feedback from the dealer as to what is going on? Or have I missed that posting somewhere?I think this show had a spinoff, with some of the same cast, in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=20573

[Kari]

Yeah it's somewhere around here and I'm too lazy to get the link but they replaced the transmission...$4,500 in parts or something like that.