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Is my 2008 Grand Prix a LEMON???

All of those repairs fell outside of the manufacturers warranty of 3yr/36k except for the catalytic converter which had a 8yr/80k. The car was purchased with slightly less than 10000 miles from a reputable car dealer (carmax) which was diagnosed by them before purchasing.

Yes absolutely all of these repairs were an excessive cost to me. The dealer charged $475 to trouble-shoot the problem and replace the Ignition control module and 3 coil packs.

1yr later they charged $360 to find and fix the electrical short in my door panel that caused half of the electrical system to fail. And now another year later I have another no start condition problem that will probably cost me several hundred dollars to get repaired again.
 


I think BillBoost was right you got a NYC car. Not a lot of miles but it sat running in traffic a long time. The average police car gets something like 8 mpg because they never shut them down.

Maybe find a different mechanic that doesn't charge so much.
 
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dont go to the dealer for car maintenance. wow 500 for coils and a icm? F that crap. you could find a whole used engine for that much money, or less......not kidding.
 
a friend of mine had his cel light up on his toyota, so he just went to pop boys and they charged him $103 to diagnose it, didnt give him the codes either, but went on to list the need for 3,000 in work it needs. intake gaskets, new cats and o2 sensors. wtf?

i catch wind of this, scan his car, then while poking around i found a air baffler laying in the engine bay, and a nice hole in the intake post maf sensor. took all of 1 minute to put that part back int he hole. car runs fine now. he had a maf code and a lean code. wonder why? lol

all thieves, best to try and do as much on your own as possible.
 


$103 bucks for a fake/false diagnosis, is thievery to the 10th power all day long. most of them chain store repair places suck, pep boys is by far the worst out there.
 
mcdavidhome said:
All of those repairs fell outside of the manufacturers warranty of 3yr/36k except for the catalytic converter which had a 8yr/80k. The car was purchased with slightly less than 10000 miles from a reputable car dealer (carmax) which was diagnosed by them before purchasing.

Yes absolutely all of these repairs were an excessive cost to me. The dealer charged $475 to trouble-shoot the problem and replace the Ignition control module and 3 coil packs.

1yr later they charged $360 to find and fix the electrical short in my door panel that caused half of the electrical system to fail. And now another year later I have another no start condition problem that will probably cost me several hundred dollars to get repaired again.
Click to expand...

Electronic throttle module.

Part so crappy Volvo offered a 10 year extended warranty on it. They gave out parts that are still flawed and have a short life. $421 for just the part. 1.6 hours labour at $140 an hour for 224. $60 for software plus $140 to install the software. $845 if you have it fixed at a dealer. Plus whatever they charge to diagnose. These have to be changed out frequently, 50-150 K miles or so. Xemodex sells a better one, but you guessed it, it costs more. The reason they sucked is they used carbon traces for the TPS inside the unit, failed to provide proper protection against corrosion inside the unit, and so on. Just junk. When these fail, your engine does.

ABS module. They typically have cold solders internally which can take out multiple modules on the CANbus. Namely the instrument cluster. So you're driving down the road, and your cluster shuts off, next you know it's back saying you have a brake failure, stop the car and bring it to the shop. 689.23 for the part at the dealer. 1.1 hours to replace, 1.5 hours to diagnose. 364 in labour. $1053.23 for ABS module failure. Very common.

Should I talk about the GXP like transmission situation? Sure, why not. Well, Volvo used the 4T65E behind a 270 horse aluminum turbo engine. So the 4T65E slipped and cooked itself to death. Quite often. Not as much as the XC90 with the same powertrain. 9.2 hours to Re&re. 1288 in labour. Volvo part is worth $3000 apparently. The highest quotes I've seen were $7000 at the dealer, range being 4-7000. 4288 for a rebuilt transmission.

Even for a GM, 7.8 hours at 120/hour, $1750 for a rebuilt transmission with a three year warranty, 2686 subtotal.

I haven't even touched the ignition coils ($300), VVT solenoid($160), VVT actuators($300), spring seats($100), sway bar end links($200), control arm bushings($200), subframe bushings($200), motor mounts (there are five, they all fail quickly, and for the cost of just one, you could buy all new motor mounts for a 3800 car), oil seals, flame trap that needs replacing to the cost of $300-500 in parts alone, timing belt($150), coolant hoses (two turbos means many coolant hoses), blower motor ($200), radio ($1000), CEM ($1000), DIM($500), UEM, AEM($300), REM($1000), sunroof rails, fuel door hinge, fuel door solenoid, etc. They are all common failure points on a Volvo produced around 2000-2001, all around 100K miles. Those prices are typically just parts. Labour is extra, software is extra, labour to install software is extra.

Here's a fun one: http://forums.swedespeed.com/showth...d-Heated-Seat-Defect-Recall-(PLEASE-RESPOND)&

Seat on fire: Check.

FRyakzA.jpg


IMAG3437_zpscbbab6dd.jpg
 
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Wow you went to a dealer? They overcharge like CRAZY!! Going to a dealer for out warranty repairs is the absolutely the worst thing you could do. Either do the work yourself or take it to a REAL mechanic who will do the work for a lot cheaper than a dealer. I also agree with Scotty. Chainshops are also a complete joke. Remember the number 1 goal of chain shops and dealerships is to make the most money possible. They don't really care about the issues your having with your car.
 
BrandonHall10 said:
That's not fair. All thieves?
Click to expand...

Well I would say he its pretty darn close to being fair. I have went to several dealerships over the years and all of them at some point purposefully misdiagnosed my car and wanted to charge me a ridiculous amount of money. Its hard to find an honest mechanic shop now days bcuz mechanics can so easily over charge someone and get away with it. If a person doesn't have any knowledge of cars they will always be vulnerable. Just imagine how many women that are out there getting railroaded by dishonest mechanics..
 
Mbeejonhn said:
Wow you went to a dealer? They overcharge like CRAZY!! Going to a dealer for out warranty repairs is the absolutely the worst thing you could do. Either do the work yourself or take it to a REAL mechanic who will do the work for a lot cheaper than a dealer. I also agree with Scotty. Chainshops are also a complete joke. Remember the number 1 goal of chain shops and dealerships is to make the most money possible. They don't really care about the issues your having with your car.
Click to expand...
Believe me the dealer is the last place I wanted to take my car too but most of the mechanics I know can do the work replacing the parts but they have no diagnostic equipment to trouble shoot and find the problem. So that reduces my options to chainshops like car care clinic and pep boys who I have had terrible experiences with in the past and would never go back too..
 


Ya, I won't disagree that you had a bad experience, and so have many others. I guess I just take exception to labeling all people that repair cars for a living as thieves. My grandfather owned a garage for many years that eventually became my fathers. I can tell you countless stories of their good will work. Like them fixing the car of a single mother half knowing they weren't going to get paid, but letting it go anyway. Or plugging a hole in someone's tire for the cost of a handshake. I witnessed that one myself. I think it's safe to say, they were valued members of that community.

I'm just saying, be careful painting an entire profession with one stroke. Like, for example, not everyone that drives a truck pee's in a milk jug then throws it on the side of the road, while snorting No-Doze.
 
i in now mean they all suck. or all just are out to rob you.

we all have a shop where we feel like we are being treated fair. they are just harder and harder to find. with all the corporations taking over everything, and those mechanics just dont give a crap most of the time. likely underpaid over worked, and just out of school, cause who else will hire you? and why else would you suck so much? lol

what your talking about is a privately owned shop, no corporate BS to tell him what to do. hes free to charge what he likes. guys like him im sure had great business back in the day from to only word of mouth. cause that how it works back in the day.


im so guilty of this lol VVVV

Like, for example, not everyone that drives a truck pee's in a milk jug then throws it on the side of the road, while snorting No-Doze.
 
matt5112 said:
Electronic throttle module.

Part so crappy Volvo offered a 10 year extended warranty on it. They gave out parts that are still flawed and have a short life. $421 for just the part. 1.6 hours labour at $140 an hour for 224. $60 for software plus $140 to install the software. $845 if you have it fixed at a dealer. Plus whatever they charge to diagnose. These have to be changed out frequently, 50-150 K miles or so. Xemodex sells a better one, but you guessed it, it costs more. The reason they sucked is they used carbon traces for the TPS inside the unit, failed to provide proper protection against corrosion inside the unit, and so on. Just junk. When these fail, your engine does.

ABS module. They typically have cold solders internally which can take out multiple modules on the CANbus. Namely the instrument cluster. So you're driving down the road, and your cluster shuts off, next you know it's back saying you have a brake failure, stop the car and bring it to the shop. 689.23 for the part at the dealer. 1.1 hours to replace, 1.5 hours to diagnose. 364 in labour. $1053.23 for ABS module failure. Very common.

Should I talk about the GXP like transmission situation? Sure, why not. Well, Volvo used the 4T65E behind a 270 horse aluminum turbo engine. So the 4T65E slipped and cooked itself to death. Quite often. Not as much as the XC90 with the same powertrain. 9.2 hours to Re&re. 1288 in labour. Volvo part is worth $3000 apparently. The highest quotes I've seen were $7000 at the dealer, range being 4-7000. 4288 for a rebuilt transmission.

Even for a GM, 7.8 hours at 120/hour, $1750 for a rebuilt transmission with a three year warranty, 2686 subtotal.

I haven't even touched the ignition coils ($300), VVT solenoid($160), VVT actuators($300), spring seats($100), sway bar end links($200), control arm bushings($200), subframe bushings($200), motor mounts (there are five, they all fail quickly, and for the cost of just one, you could buy all new motor mounts for a 3800 car), oil seals, flame trap that needs replacing to the cost of $300-500 in parts alone, timing belt($150), coolant hoses (two turbos means many coolant hoses), blower motor ($200), radio ($1000), CEM ($1000), DIM($500), UEM, AEM($300), REM($1000), sunroof rails, fuel door hinge, fuel door solenoid, etc. They are all common failure points on a Volvo produced around 2000-2001, all around 100K miles. Those prices are typically just parts. Labour is extra, software is extra, labour to install software is extra.

Here's a fun one: http://forums.swedespeed.com/showth...d-Heated-Seat-Defect-Recall-(PLEASE-RESPOND)&

Seat on fire: Check.

FRyakzA.jpg


IMAG3437_zpscbbab6dd.jpg
Click to expand...

So... You're not missing the GP much then? :D
 


coolone said:
So... You're not missing the GP much then? :D
Click to expand...

I miss the 3800. That's it.

So throttle module, they can be built with optical sensors for better than new performance.

LCA bushings: Poly available from multiple companies.

Bilsteins readily available, decent coilovers available , camber plates etc. There are parts, but they just may not be from an American company is all.

Still no roll centre correction, but that one is tough to come across. Also no commercial tuning suites.
 
BrandonHall10 said:
Ya, I won't disagree that you had a bad experience, and so have many others. I guess I just take exception to labeling all people that repair cars for a living as thieves. My grandfather owned a garage for many years that eventually became my fathers. I can tell you countless stories of their good will work. Like them fixing the car of a single mother half knowing they weren't going to get paid, but letting it go anyway. Or plugging a hole in someone's tire for the cost of a handshake. I witnessed that one myself. I think it's safe to say, they were valued members of that community.

I'm just saying, be careful painting an entire profession with one stroke. Like, for example, not everyone that drives a truck pee's in a milk jug then throws it on the side of the road, while snorting No-Doze.
Click to expand...
I totally understand where you're coming from. I know good honest mechanics out there still exist.
 
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