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'03 with Soo Many Problems...

joneric101

New Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2003
Messages
4
Hi, my name is Jon Gibson. I am a new member of this avalanche fan club. Over the past few weeks I have been reading all the different posts of problems associated with the av. I want to tell you about mine and hopefully get some feedback. I bought a brand new '03 Z-71 AV (loaded) from Pete Moore Chev in Pensecola, FL the last day in Jan, 03. Since then I have had the AV in the shop for 39 days for repair work. Here's my list -- its a long one.

Repair Days out Finally
Attempts of service Fixed??
-Keyless Entry Inop. 3 3 yes
-Power/Mem/Heated
seats Inop 2 3 yes
-4wd Inop 1 1 yes
-Rattling/Squeaking
Noise from the fuel
tank straps 7 24 NO!!
-Horn Inop 2 2 yes
-A/C problems...
compressor/fan
clutch/cycling switch 4 24 NO!!
-Brakes squeak 0 0 NO!!
-Headlight broken
internal 1 1 yes
-passenger window
vibration 1 1 yes


Basically, the AV has given me Hell since I bought it. Don't get me wrong.....I bought the AV because the moment that I drove it, I fell in love with it. Everyone else that I talk to has said that they have had almost 0 problems and nothing but love for the truck. Why is mine such a pain. I pamper everything I own and I just don't understand this truck.
Just recently, the A/C started blowing smoke..took it to the service dealership (btw, which is Preston Hood, and without them, I don't know how I could deal with this) took 7 days for a new to come in. It was bad out of the box, took another 7 days for another one to come in...and as of today, it is not blowing cold. I have filed the Fl. Lemon law paper work and am waiting for the BBB to set a final repair date with GM. GM is not being very cooperative. They want me to take off my few aftermarket accessories (brushguard, billet grille, and the muffler that I replaced with a dynomax) I installed these items after my problems started thinking that they could all be fixed. My mistake. Ok, enough with the novel................feedback???
 
Sorry to hear about all your troubles. Looks like you were one of the unfortunate people who get the bad apple every now and then.

I have a 2003 Z71 loaded. Manufactured in 9/02. I bought it in 1/03 and have no problems at all. I know it does nothing for your perdicament. I really hope your deally can either fix it or get you a new Av.

Good luck.
 
We had a problem sith our AV an it took 7 trips to the dealer to get it fixed. But they did fix it. Gas Tank had a crack in it. Nothing like your problem but it took starting a "Spat File" (GM's phrase) to get the thing fixed. Maybe you already started one. It's the first thing you have to do to get GM to take the vehicle back. They fixed it the next time I took it in. I had nearly all the fuel system components replaced before they replaced the tank. Hope things go well for you. I was pretty mad by the 7th trip. I can't imagine how you are feeling.
 
Thanks for the encouragement. Right now I am extremely upset that I paid 43k for a truck that has been in the shop every other week since I have owned it. I have the BBB invovled and hopefully GM will either give me a new AV or repurchase mine. I would probably go get another one though; especially since when they don't have problems, they are great riding, great driving trucks.

-J.E.
 
sorry to hear about your troubles. I've had mine for 60 days and already have 10,000 miles on it. No problems so far...other than installing new stereo... just a pain to get the right face place, etc.

Hope you get a new AV. GM should be happy to give you one....keep us updated.
 
Welcome to the club and keep after the dealer to fix your problems.,......read around on this site for more info.....

Good Luck
 
Hang in there dude, and just remember, yours is the exception not the rule. According to JD power AVs AVerage about one problem per unit. Mine was that the side storage wouldn't latch. I guess you got a few people's :6:
 
I just recently picked up my 03 AV Z-71 and traded in a 97 Dodge Ram which was nothing but a hassle the entire time I owned it. As some of the other members stated perhaps you just got a bad vehicle, during the time I owned my Dodge I knew plenty of other people who owned them and no one had as many issues as mine. I could not get the lemon law to work for me because most of the problems were not the same, each time it went in for service it was usually something new. Hopefully Chevy will do the right thing and take care of you.

Here is a brief list of what went wrong with my Dodge, it has been a while so this list may be missing a few things but you will get the idea.

Windshield Fluid bottle cracked
Cat convertor clogged
Upstream 0/2 sensor bad
Front U - joints replaced
2 steering column issues - replaced both times
Power steering box replaced - leaking
Brake master replaced - leaking
2 Intake manifold gaskets - misfires and ping caused Check Engine
CD Radio stopped working
Drivers side power window switch bad
Front stabilizer bar not working - replaced
Rear drums seized - cleaned and replaced
Front 4 wheel drive seals leaking - replaced

I took excellent care of the truck and traded it in with only 67,000 miles on it.

This is not everything but I honestly can not remember them all, needless to say each time something broke it was never fixed in a timely manner and in some cases required more than one dealer trip.

I sure hope the Chevy treats me better.

 
You might consider a GM assisted trade with your dealer...if you still want to work with them. Its not a buyback but the dealer gets compensation from GM to trade you out for a new GM vehicle. They will negotiate a $ amount for the miles on your currrent vehicle + or - any difference in MSRP on the new vehicle. If your old truck was $40,000 and the new one was $41,000 you pay $1000 + $.xx/mile depending on what you can negotiate. If the new was cheaper you get the differecne. I would think the trouble you've had...those miles should be pretty cheap. The dealer doesn't get hurt..he may keep a customer. GM doesn't have to eat an AV. You get a new AV...more than likely a good one. I went through this on an 02. The second 02 was ok. Traded it in on an 03 WBH and love it. Let them know you want to be a Chevy Avalanche owner...but that you have completely lost confidence in this rig for the long haul and want them to get you a truck that will last. On the other hand if you just want out of GM...the lemon law is the only way. Good luck.
 
Sorry to hear about your problems with your AV.

I have had a couple issues as well.

1. 4WD Service light on / 4WD inoperable. This seems to be fixed, but it took 3 tries. We'll see.

2. The infamous pop/clunk when turning. So far the dealer has taken 3 cracks at it. Let's see, first "we can't hear it"/ next "it was play in the driver's door hinges, so we changed them"/ then they had it for 3 days and came up with the driver's side body mount.
No Luck. I think next time I go in I'll have them humor me by greasing the intermediate steering shaft(a tip I got from these forums).
Maybe if you look around some more in these forums, you can get some answers as well. The wealth of information here is endless.

If it wasn't for this group, who by the way care about everyone's experience with the AV, I might be a lot more upset about things.

I think your doing the right thing and hopefully GM "steps up" and gets you back on the road.

Good Luck

chevy03
 
Well, GM is not being very cooperative and will not fix anything else until I take the aftermarket accessories off. I told GM that I was not going to do that for 2 reasons 1) I feel they have nothing to do with the problems I am having 2) I can prove that they were put on AFTER I started having problems. (This was my mistake...I spent more money on the truck because I thought that it could be fixed...I was wrong) So, they said they would do nothing else for me. In response I talked with the BBB and got an arbitration date set for the 13 of August. Wish me luck......any advice??

-J.E.
 
Even though your accessories aren't causing the problem, how hard would it be to take them off? The brushguard and the grill seem easy enough. Don't know what you do about the muffler.
 
The grille and the brushguard are not hard at all to take off. The exhaust is welded on and that would be a pain, although I did keep the factory equipment. The point- GM is trying to prolong this and it seems to me that they are really just trying to get out of fixing the truck. I am not going to let them run me over. Hopefully the arbitrator will side with me and I will either get a new truck or get my money back. I wish GM would just step up and help me out. I want to be a loyal GM owner, but this situation is not helping. Thanks for caring enough to reply though.

-J.E.
 
Unfortunatley, Dodge with there 7 yr. 100kmi warrunty rules all manufacturers. I wish GM would give a nice warrunty as Dodge. But being born a Chevy kid, I still can't own anything else. GM needs a new mission with regard to warrunty.
 
idocpilk said:
You might consider a GM assisted trade with your dealer...if you still want to work with them. Its not a buyback but the dealer gets compensation from GM to trade you out for a new GM vehicle. They will negotiate a $ amount for the miles on your currrent vehicle + or - any difference in MSRP on the new vehicle. If your old truck was $40,000 and the new one was $41,000 you pay $1000 + $.xx/mile depending on what you can negotiate. If the new was cheaper you get the differecne. I would think the trouble you've had...those miles should be pretty cheap. The dealer doesn't get hurt..he may keep a customer. GM doesn't have to eat an AV. You get a new AV...more than likely a good one.
This sounds like a great idea that you might try out before pressing the Arbitration avenue which is probably a "last resort" thing, but not one to rule out. You might end up with an '04 AV for very little more than you paid for your '03.

In the meanwhile take your grill and brush guards off just as a sign of good faith and show them the install receipt for your muffler but that you have the original if they want to swap that out as well at their expense. Regardless, dealers can't refuse to do warranty work because of mods unless they can prove that the mod caused the problem and there's NO WAY a muffler or brush guard could be linked to most all of your problems.

I'm sorry you're having so many problems with your Avalanche. Sounds like it must have been built during the night shift on Cinco De Mayo or something. :(
Good-Luck!

 
I have a squeak in my dask near the light switch have not figured it out yet. If you have had this let me know.

 
Sorry to hear you have so many issues with your new truck.

I'm a union rep and have handled arbitration hearings all of my adult life so I would probably qualify as an expert on that subject.

The very best advice I can give you is GET A LAWYER! He or she will do a far better job than a layperson. Formal rules of evidence don't apply but the submission of documents and eximination as well as cross examination of witness can be very tricky. PLUS whoever GM sends to the hearing will be immediately impressed that you are serious about the matter. It's not the time to try to save a couple of hundred bucks.

Go get em! :E:
 
I am hopefully in the final phases of a repurchase of my 02 2500.....I feel your pain 100%!

The GM customer service rep that I had was a non phone call returning, butt dragging, stone walling, missrepresenting, Slacker!

I think I did OK in my negotiations though...they wanted to charge me almost $4k for usage up until my first problem plus the difference in MSRP between my 02 and whatever GM product I wanted. After going back and forth with him, I got him down to under $1k.... Came out to about $.08 per mile. Also they are going to reimburse me for a car that I rented for a trip I had planned.

I hope to have it wrapped up in the next 2 weeks and Ill post final impressions.

Good luck, throw and tantrum or two and remember, the last thing they want to do is go to arbitration.
 
I have an Service Air Bag problem with my '03 4x4 and qualified under the N. Carolina lemon law. GM said that if they did decide on a "buy back" that I would be charged over $10,000 (.33 per mile) for usage and have to return my $4750 rebate. Woman rep, Mary Lowe-Murphy wasn't co-operative at all. Had no choicebut to inform her that I would be retaining council and would be seeing them in court. Been an on=-going problem since April, '04 and several attempts to fix to no avail. Even GM's Customer Relations admitted to me that in all probability the airbags wouldn't work if in an accident. Lowe-Murphy said "You drove it all over Canada/Alaska on your trip didn't you"? Have to say it was a very nervous two month trip to say the least. Only vehicle I have. What was I supposed yto do, park it? GM sucks and gives lousy customer service. Think I'll buy a Ford pickup. Wife loves the Avalanche as far as comfort, handling looks etc. as do I, but the airbag issues bothers me.
 
There was a bulletin that applied to the fuel tank shield due to particular collisions; they retrofitted or equipped them between the straps and the tank; it sounds as if your's just wasn't done properly!


diverse_guy said:
I've had mine for 60 days and already have 10,000 miles on it.

Damn! :eek:

I put 4500 on mine in one week.. But it rests most of the time.

We sure :love: the Av!
 
I too have an '03 that I have had many probelms with. I also bought mine in January of 03. I have had nothing but nagging repetitive problems. I posted this list in another topic but will paste it in here

Well I have had my 03 since January of 03 and I have about 40K on it by now. I have had several problems:

1. Left rear caliper snapped in two- brake system inop
2. 4wd message (adjusted several times)
3. replace radio
4 replace dash cluster
5. replace altenator and battery
6. replace tailgate latch and hinges
7. replace left foglight
8. sagging #3 panel (dealer won't replace)
9. replace front bumper cover
10.replace rearview mirror and outside air temp sender
11. Heater AC fan resistor replaced
12 Shocks completely worn out at 30K (no offroad)


Yesterday the Service 4wd message came in again (aargh) and one of the tailgate cables has snapped. I know there is a recall, but my dealer says that the replacement cables are nowhere in sight. I too love the truck, but am really really tired of constant problems. My dealership is right down the road from my work which makes drop offs easy.

I have tried very unsucessfully to deal with Chevy on this. The Zone rep refuses to give out phone numbers and I was told via my dealership that" your problems are not bad enough" All I have been offered thus far is a free oil change (no thanks)

I am really interested in this assisted trade idea. How does one begin this process? I am now out of warranty and am expecting bad things to go wrong soon. The piston slap is getting worse and it seems like somethin breaks each week.
 
avalanchecat said:
I have an Service Air Bag problem with my '03 4x4 and qualified under the N. Carolina lemon law.

I have the same problem with the same truck in the same state. My truck has been at my dealer for at least 70 for that ONE problem not to mention the others. Hopefully I'll be driving my new 2004 Black Z66 this Monday! ;D
 
Well since I posted my last reply I have had 3 more problems....
1. Tailgate cable snapped - and even though a recall is imminent, the dealerships and 1-800 Chevy have no idea when the cables will be in

2. Persistent Service 4wd message - sensor has been adjusted and replaced several times - any time it gets wet I lose 4wd

3. Yesterday coming out of the car wash I unfolded the drivers side mirror and had it snap in my hand.

Sorry for venting but it seems like I am having something break every week. My dealership told me that they would help with the assisted trade process, but not to expect too much. The most he has ever seen Chevy "assist" is $2000. I will keep people posted as to what happens. At this point the zone rep will be called by the sales manager and maybe they will speak with me this time. If not I may seek legal counsel.... The saga continues
 
Make this short.

2003 1500 97,000 miles. I have seen the dealer for (1) noise problem--fixed (2) steering column problem--replaced fixed. 

I have recently replaced all four shock absorbers (monroe sensatracs replaced the oe Bilstein's).
 
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