Chevy repairs (bullshit! rant!)

I have an 08 chevy and the steering column is fucked. The wheel has not been locking in place after shutting the car off and now the tumbler doesn't turn with the key. Cannot turn key or even turn backwards to engage radio. Cannot be put into gear.

Dealership wants $420 to replace the steering column.

The car is an 08. It's 42 months old with 36k miles.

I'm so livid right now. My car should not be going in for any major repairs like this.

Fuck you general motors. Fuck you chevrolet. Fuck you both right in the ear.

Look on the Web.

There should be a release button under the console, usually requiring the removal of the plastic covering

Here is a guide for 08 Cheveys.

http://automechanics.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/addressing-auto-problems-ignition-key-refuses-to-turn/

Found one on my wife's Chrysler, the real problem was that the mechanics, didn't tighten the battery cables (located in the trunk).

Good Luck

There is a release to get a key out (like when the car thinks you are not in park), but not to turn the tumbler. Something is malfunctioning for sure. It started happening a couple weeks ago, but it would usually turn after a couple minutes. This time I don't think it's going to fix itself.

I think it's totally shitty of them to not cover something like this. The bumper to bumper warranty period is over, but a failure of the steering column at such low miles seems more like factory defect than wear and tear on my part. I will remember their inferior quality product when I am in the market for my next car.

My family has had 5 Cavaliers, every one of them a dream.... until mine.

Under the warrenty I went through three drivers seats, there's a weak spot in the upper left section of the springs that tends to pop, I found hundreds of those complaints on the web.

At around 60,000 miles my wife came home and informed me that she was doing 115 on the way to work that morning, and that while in the car port it was doing 68. Now everything on the instrument panel is reading insane things, like having a tank and a half of gas and a starting temp of 190 degrees on the engine.

About 5 thousand miles later the stereo ate my wifes Supertramp CD. There's only so much Breakfast in America I can take before I loose my mind.

Everything else has been okay, but the instrument panel worries me, right now as far as I know the computer is fine just the step-motors of the dials are f'ked up. So the alerts and engine issue lights should still work normally (I hope.) Chevy wants 250 to diagnose (get the serial number off the panel) another 200 for the instrument cluster, and then 250 to reinstall it after they get the part ordered and clone the computer chip.

I found a guy who will fix the step motors on Ebay for $50, I haven't had the guts to dismantle the dash and send it to him yet and my wife has the GPS to tell her the speed anyway.

Now that GM is owned by the best of our government, I won't be purchasing anymore GM's. Breaks my heart as my grand-dad always said, "Chevy cars, Ford Trucks and John Deer tractors, anything else is a waste." If he saw Chevy today he'd roll over in his grave.

Buy American : Get Cali-Weed it's all we produce anymore.

Go buy a Japanese car/truck. They seem to last long.

Out of all the cars/trucks my family has owned, the foreign ones run WAY longer than the domestic ones before shit starts falling apart.

I drive a chevy, had to get the shift linkage replaced a couple months ago, and it's an 04

Hell most American cars are a combination of Tiwanese and Korean. They might be assembled here, but the majority of the parts are made over there. The only American things you can honestly buy anymore are Cali weed and guns. Everything else is either made in whole or part overseas.

My granddad would have said, "I didn't survive Pearl Harbor by a day to buy an enemy car. People don't realize they're still fighting, they just changed weapons."

RetiredToker76 said:

Hell most American cars are a combination of Tiwanese and Korean. They might be assembled here, but the majority of the parts are made over there. The only American things you can honestly buy anymore are Cali weed and guns. Everything else is either made in whole or part overseas.

My granddad would have said, "I didn't survive Pearl Harbor by a day to buy an enemy car. People don't realize they're still fighting, they just changed weapons."

Click to expand...

You're not gonna find me in a Kia or a Hyundai. But I got a 93 Honda that's still running strong. Fun little car.

We used to be a Chevy family, switched to Chrysler, had a great run with our Chrysler Sebring and then it died. I found out about so many engine problems that Chrysler refuses to fix in a 2.7, bad engine design! At the moment I prefer not to get involved in a car payment but I think our next new car will be a Honda, Nissan or Toyota. I'm currently driving an older Jeep and anyone who's ever owned a Jeep knows what a pain those can be!

On another note, being that GM and Chrysler both took our tax money because of bad corporate practices that led them down a hole, I'll no longer purchase from either. I feel Ford is head and shoulders above the American car manufacturers. I'm talking the Big 3 here, not the foreign manufacturers that produce their vehicles here.

guy incognito said:

I have an 08 chevy and the steering column is fucked. The wheel has not been locking in place after shutting the car off and now the tumbler doesn't turn with the key. Cannot turn key or even turn backwards to engage radio. Cannot be put into gear.

Dealership wants $420 to replace the steering column.

The car is an 08. It's 42 months old with 36k miles.

I'm so livid right now. My car should not be going in for any major repairs like this.

Fuck you general motors. Fuck you chevrolet. Fuck you both right in the ear.

Click to expand...

Not sure if I am thinking of the same thing, but with my old volvo if I shut the car off with the wheel in a weird position (not really sure why or what position; only happened like 4 times), the key wouldnt turn. To fix that I put some force on the wheel to turn it a little, and while doing this the key would turn

just dropped like 2k on repairs i feel ya pains

Why would you own a government backed car? If big brother has a hand in it, than you know something aint right.

i drive an '83 lada. (kidding)

Xrtnfx said:

Not sure if I am thinking of the same thing, but with my old volvo if I shut the car off with the wheel in a weird position (not really sure why or what position; only happened like 4 times), the key wouldnt turn. To fix that I put some force on the wheel to turn it a little, and while doing this the key would turn

Click to expand...

No it has already been diagnosed. There are faulty components in the steering column.

PappaBear said:

Why would you own a government backed car? If big brother has a hand in it, than you know something aint right.

Click to expand...

Because i'm not a fortune teller. I bought the car in 08 before it was gubment motors.

government backed car???

lol''

first thing:

the US would be a lot better off if we would just lay off the WW2 anti-jap they're the enemy. it's been more than 60 fucking years. GET OVER IT. we can also learn a LOT of japanese culture.

a wall of water hits japan?? people wait 9 hours in line for groceries. a wall of water hits new orleans??? the police need to call up all their reserves because the looting is out of control....

second:

if you buy an american car, and buy a 4 cyl, you are just asking for trouble.

anybody who somehow understands american cars knows that there's only about 4 engines the US manufactures that are worth it. that's the ford V-8 which is the base for all of their sports cars. their V-8 that goes into the F-150s. the other two are pretty much the same engine, the chevy 8 cyl which goes into chevy work vans and the large silverado type trucks....

american made 4 and 6 cylinder engines have NEVER worked right. that's why the japanese and now koreans are starting to DOMINATE that market. simple.

if you want to buy american, go with a large SUV or truck. other than that, go foreign. Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, all of them assemble a few cars in the US. it's a foreign company but a DOMESTIC subsidiary and therefore buying a foreign car doesn't really mean you aren't 'buying american'.

anyways, pray to god it's not an ECM/security issue...... that's bout 3grand right there....

call some scrap yards and see if they have any...they might and it will be hella fuckin cheaper.

420 is small potatos. I hate to say it but you are lucky it does not cost you a thousand. Anything to do with the steering colume is labor extensive. You can do some of the stuff yourself but you will probaly have to rent a tool or two.

I guess by that logic I should just be ecstatic that i'm not dead. It's got 36k god damn miles. It shouldn't be having major failures like this. Anything less than a fully functioning car at this point in the cars life is just a bad job on chevys part.

$420 is not small potatos. It is nearly 2 car payments. I didn't spend $15,000 on a car to dump money into repairs. I can get that with a significantly cheaper car.

I agree with everything you say. I am just relating my experiances with autos and trucks especially when they hit that 36 or 40 thousand mile warrenty and it pisses you off to no end.

I bought something I liked a long time ago, 97 F250 power stroker The tranny went out at 42,000 miles. A small seal blew and they would not help me any cost.
I was at the dealer who I bought it from brand new and I told them to load up all the parts tranny and all in the bed and I will have a tow truck here in one hour. I was hoping they would cave but they called my bluff. I hauled it to a diesel specialists.

Anyway I love my truck today, 223,000 miles and counting. I got through all the expensive problems and I have a truck that I trust to go anywhere.
PS chevys suck, I was a chevy man for many years untill I had many many brake problems with a new 94 at ten thousand miles and they blamed me and my driving. Got my stroker and have had no brake "issues". Anyway best luck

redivider said:

the US would be a lot better off if we would just lay off the WW2 anti-jap they're the enemy. it's been more than 60 fucking years. GET OVER IT. we can also learn a LOT of japanese culture.

Click to expand...

We could and should learn a lot about Japanese culture, especially the stuff our capitalism and theological influences basically stomped to death. However I still will not support the Nation of Japan if at all possible, which is almost impossible thanks to our short sightedness and short term greed.

The violence ended 60's years ago when the Japanese essentially became a 'pacifist' nation. However, their push for world dominance, which is nothing new, has continued from long before WW2 and will continue long after. They are rapidly becoming the economic super power in the world. They dropped their Imperialistic ways applied Bushido to American Business and have kicked the living shit out of us. Just because blood isn't being shed doesn't mean their war ever ended. Between Japan and China they both have just about 50% 'stock' in the U.S. and we're making ourselves very ripe for liquidation of assets as our debt load increases and production forever decreases.

Maybe I've read too much Heinlein, but look around your house, how much money did you spend on your own country? This computer I'm on, parts mostly manufactured in Taiwan, and then assembled in Mexico. My entire entertainment center was developed, produced and founded in Japan, same goes for most of my kitchen, they're American brands, but as I do repairs and updates on my appliances I find they're mostly Japanese parts. The only things left to buy that's made in America are weed (if you know the right people) and guns; especially since Busch beer got shipped out a year or two ago. The war never ended, the battlefield changed and we were far too short sighted to see it.

Theres no such thing as too much Heinlein