2008 Pontiac G8 GT: Unreliable Compass

That, or get yourself a new mirror before Pontiac goes cheeks up.

you can recalibrate the compass.

I wish the compass was standard on more vehicles. It seems like it should be a cheap enough thing to include.

Just tap it a couple of times to unstick the needle.

;)

Cute brn. My compass works fine, but my radar detector always thinks I'm heading SW. I think it is fun.

I have found the OnStar Directions & Connections - Turn - By - Turn feature to work quite well in my 2009 G8 GT. . .

My G8 GT compass had an issue from the get go (only one). I couldn't find ANYBODY else in the G8 forums with the same issue, but yours is closest to mine. Another person had a stuck compass, but that's not the same thing as mine. It would sometimes randomly flip North and South on a drive. East and West was always correct, so it would say I was going SE when I was in fact going NE. Sometimes it would start up that way, others it would start correct and then go bad after driving a little bit. The only way to fix it was a restart. Calibrating multiple times did nothing, and I'd set the region/calibrated before this even appeared. Sometimes it would be days before it would appear, sometimes it would happen several times in a day. Anyway, my dealer replaced the mirror and it's been 100% ever since.

On the plus side, I had a CTS loaner when the car was in for service.

Funny that pretty much the only part that comes from the NA market is the part that sucks. Give up making cars America.

Maybe it doesn't work because it was installed in Australia and now is in the northern hemisphere. A straight line to magnetic north in the southern hemisphere would pass deep through the Earth, while we have a more direct path to it here. The calibration could be different for those situations? I am talking out of my butt here, it's just a hypothesis I thought of...

"Thank goodness I just installed the Google Maps app on my phone."

That app is only marginally helpful. Ya know, many other non-iPhones have full turn-by-turn navigation with voice prompts, travel info, traffic and gas prices. These phones have been availalbe since at least 2007 or ealier...

Wow. My mother had this exact problem on her Pontiac about 15 years ago. The dealer told her to recalibrate it. Mom got so sick of driving in circles all the time that she deemed the compass useless and gave up.

benson: "Funny that pretty much the only part that comes from the NA market is the part that sucks."

Isn't the motor made in the US?

L76 is made in MEXICO! a real world car the g8!

The airbag-off light glowing right there on the mirror face is an absolute joke. Seriously GM? What's next to go on the mirror, the steering wheel?

I always hated how so many GM cars in the 90's had their map lights on the rearview mirror. It seemed like such lazy engineering (the map lights sucked to boot).

On the topic of the compass, I'd try recalibration first (maybe it thinks it's in Australia?) as it's possible the dealer missed that step when prepping the car for delivery.

s197gt, you might be right. I was thinking of the LS3, which is in the G8 GXP, not the G8 GT.

"I always hated how so many GM cars in the 90's had their map lights on the rearview mirror. It seemed like such lazy engineering (the map lights sucked to boot)."

What exactly was the problem with that set up?

G8 is one of the few cars with the airbag off light in that location and its related to the fact that its a US only indicator. The G8 wasnt designed with this light in mind hence the retrofit.

"What exactly was the problem with that set up?"

Because they lit your knees. It was a cheap and crude way to use one dome light for every vehicle and swap the mirror with map lights when equipped. I can understand doing this on a convertible but it was just lame on everything else.

"G8 is one of the few cars with the airbag off light in that location and its related to the fact that its a US only indicator. The G8 wasnt designed with this light in mind hence the retrofit."

I'm astutely aware of the reason it's there. That doesn't excuse the fact that it's poorly placed. BMW's don't get excused for having poor "US-only" cupholders that aren't fitted in the home market, so the G8 shouldn't get excused for an obnoxious "US only" SRS-off light placement either. Double standards.

I honestly don't even notice the airbag indicator, but I'm good at tuning things out (just ask my wife!). That being said, I had a G6 GT rental once (what a horrible interior, but I digress), which had an auto-dimming mirror. What gives with the manual one on the G8? I mean really. However, tinting the windows has made my complaint moot.

Mine was working well. That being said, my mirror did not look like yours.

I guess the '09s got a different one.

It's the same mirror for 2008's and 2009's, manual dimming--no change.

As to the problem, it either needs recalibrated or there is something specifically wrong with it. Try the calibration and take it from there. Simple.

Otherwise, yes, it should be an auto dim mirror, but as those of us in the G8 world know, as with most GM cars, you can swap in an auto dim mirror with the same Onstar controls and have it working perfectly with no modifications. It's not setup to read the Temp up there, as some of the GM mirrors have, but will continue to have the Compass and you can either also have or skip the Airbag On/Off light with a replacement. I skipped it, have a dimming mirror, and it's a nice improvement even with blacked out back windows--and was done cheaply and easily.

If you spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror, or that light bothers you, here's a hint.

You are not driving fast enough!