Any car guys know anything about Chevy Impalas?

virtualdean

kuntasensei wrote: »

So two mechanics later, my '05 Impala has new plugs, new wires, new coil packs, a new fuel filter... and still idles rough, is hard to crank, occasionally stalls when sitting still in traffic (unless you turn the fan on, which bumps the idle enough to keep it going apparently), and I got an awesome 15mpg on my last tank of gas. Any ideas, car people?

I don't really expect anyone to have some miraculous answer for me... I just wanted to ****. I guess this is what I get for paying it off 3 weeks ago! :mad:

Too bad...good luck to you.

virtualdean

kuntasensei wrote: »

So two mechanics later, my '05 Impala has new plugs, new wires, new coil packs, a new fuel filter... and still idles rough, is hard to crank, occasionally stalls when sitting still in traffic (unless you turn the fan on, which bumps the idle enough to keep it going apparently), and I got an awesome 15mpg on my last tank of gas. Any ideas, car people?

I don't really expect anyone to have some miraculous answer for me... I just wanted to ****. I guess this is what I get for paying it off 3 weeks ago! :mad:

....

kuntasensei

Got it back this morning. When they pulled the heads, there was an obvious break in the gasket. New head gaskets, no more overheating, no sloshing sounds so far like air is getting in the system. Temp never got past half-way.

Still had a single instance where the idle dropped out at a light, but they couldn't reproduce it... so I'm driving the thing and seeing what happens. If the mileage is still bad, back it goes, but so far it is accelerating better than it was before... so fingers crossed!

silvertuner

good job. glad to see its fixed. good luck on the stalling out

kuntasensei

Yeah... I've learned something from this experience. Mostly that I'm going to drive this thing for 6 more months, then trade it in for a Nissan Altima.

silvertuner

go buy a mid 80's yugo

cnh

Did they explain what TOOK that gasket OUT? Your car has just about the mileage mine had on it when I had all my gaskets replaced with REAL ones! I'm curious in light of the Dexcool problems? Or was it unrelated to that?

I'm not a car guy so my advice is CERTAINLY of no consequence...but I have been on the receiving side of Impala repairs now for a few years too MANY! Don't mind me, I'm just helping the American Economy with my 1000s of dollars in GM repairs!

And I have another 1000 dollars or so coming in June for various rusted lines? You'd think they could house that stuff in some RUST-PROOF aluminum alloy sheathing! lol

Are Nissans still good? Haven't heard much about them in recent years as Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda have overshadowed their sales?

cnh

virtualdean

kuntasensei wrote: »

Yeah... I've learned something from this experience. Mostly that I'm going to drive this thing for 6 more months, then trade it in for a Nissan Altima.

I used to have a Nissan Sentra...worked okay.. Until the timing belt snapped prematurely (32K) and valves crashed into pistons...
I'd take a head gasket failure anytime.

virtualdean

cnh wrote: »

Did they explain what TOOK that gasket OUT? Your car has just about the mileage mine had on it when I had all my gaskets replaced with REAL ones! I'm curious in light of the Dexcool problems? Or was it unrelated to that?

I'm not a car guy so my advice is CERTAINLY of no consequence...but I have been on the receiving side of Impala repairs now for a few years too MANY! Don't mind me, I'm just helping the American Economy with my 1000s of dollars in GM repairs!

And I have another 1000 dollars or so coming in June for various rusted lines? You'd think they could house that stuff in some RUST-PROOF aluminum alloy sheathing! lol

Are Nissans still good? Haven't heard much about them in recent years as Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda have overshadowed their sales?

cnh

Rusted brake lines? I've never heard of that failure..Did you run the car on the beach in the surf? Is it a chinese made Chevy?

U had ALL your gaskets replaced? The mechanic must have seen you coming. CHA Ching!

silvertuner

head gaskets, intake gaskets, oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, etc. all common on gm v6's. my 4.3 needs lower intakes, im just too lazy to do them. along with the diff gasket, trans output seal, pinion seal, and tighten up the drums. im just too damn lazy to do that stuff to my own.

the 3.4 in the chevy/pontiac vans always lost the back headgaskets at or around 100k. too damn hot back there with little room for the heat to go. ive done more head gaskets on gm 3.4 than any other vehicle ive touched. and i will pass on doing another set on a 4.3, too much **** has to come off. 3.4's are cake work, especially having all the room in an impala to work around it.

just wait for that dreaded p1811 code for the transmission. when it happens, let me know, and ill tell you the "quick fix" that will get you an extra 10k out of the transmission potentially, depending on just how bad the slip/jerk is. lol

cnh

virtualdean wrote: »

Rusted brake lines? I've never heard of that failure..Did you run the car on the beach in the surf? Is it a chinese made Chevy?

U had ALL your gaskets replaced? The mechanic must have seen you coming. CHA Ching!

There was a class action lawsuit on that? DexCool ate away the INFERIOR gaskets that GM decided to install on some models. It's a fact. And my mechanic actually handed me the paperwork to apply for a 'refund' when he told me about the repair. Unfortunately the refund only covered half the repair costs?

I live in Maine...SALT, SALT, SALT and MORE SALT. IT's EVERYWHERE. It's in your house, it's on the driveway, it's on the streets, it's on the sidewalks and it's on ALL of your SHOES! Almost no car can survive. Though our Camry lasted a FULL 15 years before its linings went?

cnh

silvertuner

can honestly say i have never heard of dexcool "eating away" gaskets. but i suppose thats a theory for why the lower intakes always seemed to come apart in pieces. moreso just not able to live up to the extreme heat and cold and clumping like clay in the engine and blocking the passages. far too many times ive had to flush a system because of dexcool, and the issue with the 3.4 lower was it was made of PLASTIC, hence why the CORRECT replacement is metal and when you run the bolts back in on the four corners be sure to triple check your torque AND use RED loctite lol. GM gaskets from the factory were total ****, but it appears they have figured that out already.

gdb

Might just be cheaper to have a Jasper remanufactured engine installed.:eek:

http://www.jasperengines.com/index.php

kuntasensei

cnh wrote: »

There was a class action lawsuit on that? DexCool ate away the INFERIOR gaskets that GM decided to install on some models. It's a fact. And my mechanic actually handed me the paperwork to apply for a 'refund' when he told me about the repair. Unfortunately the refund only covered half the repair costs?

How long ago was that? Because from what I've read of the DexCool class action, the class closed in 2008 and anyone after that was just screwed.

kuntasensei

silvertuner wrote: »

just wait for that dreaded p1811 code for the transmission. when it happens, let me know, and ill tell you the "quick fix" that will get you an extra 10k out of the transmission potentially, depending on just how bad the slip/jerk is. lol

You should just go ahead and tell me that. My transmission hasn't thrown a code, but it occasionally slips going into 1st. I didn't do the filter at 60k though, so I'm hoping I can just swap that out and all will be well. Doesn't happen often enough to be a problem, and usually only when cold.

silvertuner

you will get a nice long shift into second, and when it goes, it will SLAM into gear hard. p1811 is long shift adapt. the only QUICK FIX to buy you some time is a trans flush at a shop that uses an actual flush machine, and be sure they use WYNNS additives and a quality fluid. when it is flushed using their chemicals, it will often times free up the piston that is becoming frozen in the valve body and lubricate it long enough to atleast save up for a new trans or a rebuild (or to sell, shh!). i have done this numerous times. but i will warn, if it doesnt help the issue, you will be paying for a rebuild, or at minimum a trans shop to do the 1811 kit and possibly a new valve body if they dont have the bore tool for that piece or know how to get the kits with the sleeves to basically oversize the bore and resleeve it. ive done probably atleast 40 of these kits and they work like a charm! got one guy another 100k out of his trans before he had any other issues.

you basically replace the bad solenoid and piston in the valve body on the side of the transmission, replace the springs in the valve body on the bottom similar to an old chevy "shift kit" to firm up the shifts, clean the **** out of it, do a filter kit, and run the piss out of it after its full and warmed up. again, ive done more of these than i care to think about, but i doubt you will run into this issue having the 3400 in yours now that i think about it. when you have issues, just replace the s-o-b lol. u will pay around $1k for this job at a "normal" shop. our shop was different in the way that stuff worked though so it was less than half that. do yourself a favor and get a flush and fill and a filter kit in that thing, and be sure they use a QUALITY trans fluid. not all are the same by any means, similar to engine oil.

just wait for the lower control arm bushings and engine mounts to start giving you issues. there are so many COMMON issues on those cars idk why GM doesnt recall them all and give people new cars lol.

kuntasensei

silvertuner wrote: »

just wait for the lower control arm bushings and engine mounts to start giving you issues. there are so many COMMON issues on those cars idk why GM doesnt recall them all and give people new cars lol.

Yeah... my mechanic told me there are 792 TSBs listed for my car. I mean... all cars get TSBs issued, but that sure does seem like a high number.

cnh

kuntasensei wrote: »

How long ago was that? Because from what I've read of the DexCool class action, the class closed in 2008 and anyone after that was just screwed.

I think that's right because I was out of the country 2009-2010 so it probably was the summer of 2008. If I remember the figure, I think they settled for 150 million. And, yeah, anyone applying after that is out of the loop. Unfortunate, indeed!

cnh

silvertuner

my favorite TSB on the gm 3.4 has to be the intake gaskets. GM can do them in 2 hours, pays 6-8 depending on what vehicle it is in. i had done a set of head gaskets on one starting at 3 in the afternoon and had it out the door by 630 lol. its EASY money for the flat-rate mechanics. gm's were my big money maker when i turned wrenches, turn 20 hours in an 8 hour day, work 3 days and coast the next 2 sippin coffee and smokin cigarettes and 2 hour lunches lol.

cnh

Transmissions? That's hard to believe. Are you saying that GM can't put together a transmission that will last more than 100K miles at their PREMIER assembly plant in Canada! Sheeeshhh. How bad can it get. Haven't they been doing 'transmissions' FOREVER??

I wash my hands. I'm at 106K, at the moment--fingers crossed! I already have a 1000 dollar repair coming for inspection in June?

cnh

silvertuner

ive seen hundreds of them in my old shop for transmission repairs and replacements. im not exaggerating, our main money maker for the business was GM, ford, and chrysler. the main GM's were impalas, grand ams, aleros, montanas, all the non supercharged 3.8 vehicles, etc. the low-dollar cheap to buy mass produced family cars. after almost five years at that shop, and a minimum of 300 vehicles in/out of the shop every month between 8 guys, im sure ive seen my fair share lol. you guys could get lucky and not have a single trans issue, but im advising you, take care of that part of your vehicle very well. my 4.3 runs as good as it did 18 years ago new, and its bc of all the regular maintenance. original engine and trans and rear-end. hell i think it has the original ball joints in it too and they are tight as can be. o i had a joke typed out, but woulda been banned, heh

Bababouey

In 2005, there was a problem with the intake manifold gasket.
The material they made it out of did not stand up.
I had 2 Chevy's with the same problem.
You will notice the anti freeze leaking out.
It smells like burnt anti freeze when you turn off the engine.
Both times it cost me close to $1000.00 to repair.
GM would not acknolwedge they had a problem.
The main reason I bought a KIA Forte.
Glen

silvertuner

Bababouey wrote: »

In 2005, there was a problem with the intake manifold gasket.
The material they made it out of did not stand up.
I had 2 Chevy's with the same problem.
You will notice the anti freeze leaking out.
It smells like burnt anti freeze when you turn off the engine.
Both times it cost me close to $1000.00 to repair.
GM would not acknolwedge they had a problem.
The main reason I bought a KIA Forte.
Glen

i still have a hard time believing it was the material not standing up to to the coolant that was used. the problem i always noticed was hot-spots (caused by the coolant turning into clay basically) causing the stock plastic that the gaskets were attached to began to melt and the actual bolts used to hold the lower intake in place were literally backing out. hence why we torqued and checked 3 times after running a tap in the holes and a die on the bolts and using red loctite to assure us they wouldnt back out. never had another one come back, even years after the service and atleast 100k on a few of the vehicles. dexcool was a bad idea, but i dont feel the gaskets failed because of the dexcool. many other tech's who have done those jobs and done a lot of them will agree on that. GM acknowledged the problem of the gaskets and there is a TSB on the lower intake gaskets last i checked (over a year ago), along with updated service procedures and the updated gasket part numbers to be used. and it wasnt just 2005. from about 98 or so on it was a common issue, even for the 3.8.

it has to be the coolant, it couldnt be expansion and contraction of two different metals (steel block, aluminum heads/manifolds) over 100k miles accompanied with crappy gaskets /sarcasm

tonyb

Bababouey wrote: »

In 2005, there was a problem with the intake manifold gasket.
The material they made it out of did not stand up.
I had 2 Chevy's with the same problem.
You will notice the anti freeze leaking out.
It smells like burnt anti freeze when you turn off the engine.
Both times it cost me close to $1000.00 to repair.
GM would not acknolwedge they had a problem.
The main reason I bought a KIA Forte.
Glen

What ?? GM wouldn't admit to a problem ? Where was the press ? No congressional meetings to find the culprit ? WTF ??

Where's JSTAS !!:biggrin: