Friday June 18, 2010

Our terrible experience with the Uplander has ended. Prompted by the need for a whole new suspension and the fact that we actually had built some equity in the vehicle we decided to trade and start anew.
At the time of trade these are the things that were wrong and threatened to add more expense. Cracked third taillight, peeling paint around this cracked third taillight, non-working rear wiper, alignment issues, brake issues, suspension issues, both key fobs were non-working, weatherstripping had fallen off both sliding doors.

We're hoping our new VW will bring us better luck.

Approaching 100K

As we get closer to 100K miles more and more problems.

The rear wiper has stopped working. This was fixed once under a warranty. Obviously an issue but now it's our responsibility.

Both Sliding doors have problems with the weather stripping. It keeps falling off.

August 2009

I have to admit that 2009 has been rather uneventful for the Uplander. We've switched to a none GM dealer for maintenance. I feel much more comfortable with this change.

The third brake light has caused more paint to peal and the Chevy Bowtie on the front is even more tarnished. (how ironic)

Yet another full set of brakes and third set of tires - with 80K miles. We have one year left on the payments (fortunately it's at 0 APR)and we'll drive it until it becomes to much to maintain. I recently received a letter from Chevrolet's VP Brent DeWar stating my Dealer will no longer be an Authorized Dealer. This should have happened 4 years ago. Other than the poor quality of my van they are the mane reason my family will never buy from GM again.

2005 Chevy Uplander - 09/15/05 - Present

In September of 2005 my wife an I purchased an Uplander minivan. A few days later we took it on our first family trip. The molding around the windshield became loose and the lights flickered several times during the evening drive. This was just the start of what has become a 33 month(and counting)nightmare of several problems with our minivan.

After very poor dealer service (this was from the dealer I purchased it from, the current dealer has been very helpful and accommodating)several brake problems, alignment issues, premature tire wear, several electrical problems and now a pealing paint problem I decided to document every thing and present it to the world.

I am post dating the posts to keep them as close to the actual order of service.

07/07/08 - Called dealer to speak about lens/paint and brake sheilds

On Sunday 07/06/08, about a week after the last dealer visit, I drove to all the chevy dealers and used car dealers I could find in the area and found several other vans (not all chevys but hey were the same body type) with the same problem. Some were as bad as ours and some were just starting to have the small crack in the paint. See side bar for a link to the photos I have taken of several other vans over the last few weeks.

I called the dealer back to tell them that I'd like the tail light lens / peeling paint problem documented since the paint/corrosion warranty ends at 60K miles. They only told me the body shop would give an estimate. They hadn't put it in writing.

I also spoke to the dealer about TSB# 07-05-23-003 again. He said he was still looking into the shields and the paint problem.

The dealer SM was trying to get the district service manager to look at our vehicle history. He said the DSM did not think it was out of the ordinary and didn't think he woudl do anything. He hadn't heard back form the district service manager regarding the paint issue or the brake shields yet.

Peeling Paint

Look for peeling paint near your third brake light (top of rear door)

See the link in the side bar for pictures of other vans with the same problem.

06/27/08 - 56247 Miles - Tires Rotated - More Brake Pulsation - Left Control Arm

Tires are rotated.

There is a lot of pulsation during braking again. Test drove to verify. Found front rotors blued (again I tell them we do not drive with left foot on the break or ride the brakes period) Rear pads are at 10%.

Front rotors are re-surfaced, calipers serviced, replaced left rear rotor, resurfaced right rear, replaced rear pads, serviced rear calipers.

Replaced left front control arm bushing under warranty ($100 deductible)

I also had the body shop look at the third brake light on the rear door. The paint is cracking on the left and right edges and the lens is cracked. The dealers body shop response was: "You tightened the screws too tightly on the lens causing the lens to crack and also causing the paint to crack." We have never had the lens off.

The next day I drove to the same dealer and found a Saturn Relay that had the same peeling paint problem as our Uplander on their own lot.

I called the dealer at the beginning of the week (06/30/08) to tell about the Relay and to tell them about a TSB that I found that might explain the rotor problems we had been having.

This was TSB# 07-05-23-003 which talks about the possibility of the vibration and pulsation problems being caused by the front brake shields. The brake pads and rotors may wear uneven due to debris.