Five days after our Long Term Buick Enclave CX was dropped of at Santa Monica Chevrolet Buick (click the link to rate this dealership) for a complete failure in the power steering system, the Buick's back in our garage.
As we suspected, the power steering pump was at fault and would have to be ordered. The majority of time spent at the dealership was waiting for the pump, their supplier was closed for inventory. vWhen I picked up the car yesterday the new pump had a familiar groan...
They hadn't properly bled the system. It's not a long or difficult process, but it should have been done before I picked the car up. I called them just to hear them out on the issue, the service advisor told me to drive it for a few days and the bubbles will work themselves out.
We're just going to bleed the system ourselves the right way (and add more fluid as the trapped bubbles leave the system -- volume you know) and call it a day.
Total Cost: 0.00
Days out of service: 5
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 19,495 miles.
karjunkie says:
10:33 AM, 06/12/08
you're being wimpy. I would insist the service department bleed the system or at least send a complaint to the regional service manager at GM.
brn says:
10:51 AM, 06/12/08
Most power steering systems are self bleeding. The Service Adviser gave you the correct feedback. The only failure on the dealer's part was not to warn you about it.
joefrompa says:
11:45 AM, 06/12/08
BRN - Most power steering systems are self-bleeding? So they allow air to enter the system? How does that avoid contamination (or if they allow air to exit, how does it avoid the vacuum that'd create?)
What about the volume drop?
How long does it take to bleed out most of the air just driving around? Couldn't the dealer do that as part of the service, and maybe give you a heads up that one or two more weird sounds might occur?
Sub-par.
Joe
actualsize says:
12:00 PM, 06/12/08
brn - yes, and no. You can get 90% of the air out in a few minutes by very slowly turning the steering back and forth a few times, from lock to lock.
This apparently wasn't done, because when I looked at the fluid level this morning with Mike, the fluid was almost a quarter-inch below the "min" mark--almost 3/4 of an inch below the full mark. That's a lot of air.
jdub53084 says:
12:40 PM, 06/12/08
Power steering systems like brakes need to be properly bled. GM has a very involved(but not difficult) bleeding procedure that pretty much error-proofs a p/s pump replacement in regards to purging air from the system. Here's an article I found, its for older model GM cars but the procedure is the same.
http://www.mightyautoparts.com/pdf/articles/tt85.pdf
limeman says:
02:37 PM, 06/12/08
I lived in the awesome Republic of Santa Monica for 6 years and loved it, but car dealers there and their service shops are some of the worst I have ever experienced. Lazy, arrogant and inept.
desmolicious says:
05:30 PM, 06/12/08
limeman you aint kiddin'
I live in the area and no matter the brand, the dealerships bite beyond belief.
prndlol says:
09:05 PM, 06/12/08
I just never trusted the Enclave, and this proves it. I see lots more failing / breaking / intermittent issues in the future.
firstwagon says:
10:17 PM, 06/12/08
You know of a car that never breaks?
cx7lover says:
01:01 AM, 06/13/08
Yes, steering pumps on a GM seem to be great at failing to do their job. A few is ok but steering related issues seem to be a GM thing that can't be ignored.
chavis10 says:
03:44 AM, 06/13/08
On a side note- the Enclave gets 288hp and 270 lbs-ft for 2009.
stephen987 says:
04:57 AM, 06/13/08
You know of a car that never breaks? Well, firstwagon, I know of one that hasn't required a single repair in nine years and 136.5k miles. I'm driving it to work today. Will it break eventually? Sure. But so far it's 117k ahead of the Enclave.
skid666 says:
06:52 AM, 06/13/08
cx7lover
Not that it wouldn't suck to have a power steering failure, but why do you keep insisting that (to paraphrase) "all GM's will have power steering issues"?
A quick scan of the Edmund's forums for lambda vehicles (Outlook, Acadia, Enclave) does not show this as a common problem. Even a quick look on enclaveforum.net or acadiaforum.net doesn't show anything out of the ordinary either.
cx7lover says:
08:47 AM, 06/13/08
I said, GM, not just the triplets.
Clearly, this isn't the first in the fleet to have an issue with the steering(Aura).
http://www.enclaveforum.net/index.php?topic=2834.0
http://www.enclaveforum.net/index.php?topic=1458.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=2769.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=1865.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=2096.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=2717.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=2398.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=2352.0
http://www.acadiaforum.net/forum/index.php?topic=597.0
Didn't even take a glance at the outlook forum
I can link more if you want.... but I think that proves my point(GM's have steering issues).
chavis10 says:
11:37 AM, 06/13/08
skid666- cx7lover's only mission in life is to prove that all GM products are trash. You might as well get used to it...
hondacura4 says:
12:08 PM, 06/13/08
All manufacturers have issues, some more and some less than others. I dont know of any manufacturer who hasnt had a recall, TSB or some sort of somewhat widespread issue. Of course having to take your vehicle to get repaired is an inconvenience.
For me its just as, or more important how these issues are taken care of whether at the dealer or a higher level. Good service keeps me coming back.
cx7lover says:
03:37 PM, 06/13/08
chavis10
I don't need to prove, the proof is in the pudding, they're a lot of people complaining about their new Acadia or Enclave, out of only 6000 members. What am I making this stuff up?
GM has a steering issues that the Aura has, the G6 has, Older Mailbu has, etc, and now these things have it, something tells be they still haven't fixed it, UNexcuseable for them to put a flawed steering system on new vehicles.
Why aren't you complaining now? You love GM too much to realize the error of their ways and criticize them for it?
skid666 says:
04:58 PM, 06/13/08
There are a lot people complaining about their new CX-7 or CX-9, out of only 6000 members. What am I making this stuff up?
Why aren't you complaining now? You love Mazda too much to realize the error of their ways and criticize them fot it?
cx7lover says:
07:27 PM, 06/13/08
This isn't about mazda.
Please keep comments relevant to this blog entry.
skid666 says:
10:51 AM, 06/14/08
As relevant as your posts about GM vehicles other than the Enclave?
cx7lover says:
09:00 PM, 06/14/08
Please keep comments relevant to this blog entry.
firstwagon says:
09:11 AM, 06/15/08
Standard reply when you can't win an arguement?
chavis10 says:
01:23 PM, 06/20/08
When I complained about my lemon Mazda3, cx7lover said I was bitter. So let me get this straight, I'm not allowed to complain about a car that I owned with numerous mechanical issues shared with many other owners, but cx7lover is allowed to let the world no that all GM cars are junk? Give me a break.