I bought my 1997 suburban used when it was 3 years old, it didnt have many miles on it so I felt I was getting a good deal on it. The purchase price then was $21,000.00 a good deal for a fully Loaded used vehicle of that nature. Within the first few months there was antifreeze leaking into the engine via a faulty manifold gasket, easy repair we caught it right away and had it fixed.
Less then 6 months from that time the engine "blew" well I luckily had bought an extended warranty on this truck as you will see I really have needed it. The warranty company sent an inspector to make sure I was not abusing this vehicle, all the inspector saw was a brand new looking suburban, with some dust on the engine. After all this is Arizona. But, no rough housing here, my truck looked like it just drove off the show room floor.
They (warranty company) paid for the engine replacement. According to the inspector the engine spun a bearing, not opperator error. Less then 50,000 miles on the vehicle. The repairs were done at Steve Coury buick, pontiac and GMC. It took them 23 days for an engine swap. Warranty company pays 3 days for a rental car. Um 20 days with out your beloved vehicle. Ok, new engine. Ready to go again right? Wrong. Then it needs a new steering box. Nice the vehicle has less then 50,000 miles and still looks brand new at this time. Even to this day.
Lets see whats next on the list of repairs, my AC broke, This is Arizona in the summer its a little warm. Ok we take it to have that fixed also, covered by warranty. AC works again yeah! Opps almost forgot now it needs a second steering box cause the first one was rebuilt and didnt last more then a year.
Then there were the factory recalls one for the mirror switch cause apparently it gets hot and causes fire inside the door. Ok take it to the dealer and they replace the part, opps mine had already caught fire inside the door and melted to the inside panel. Glad it didnt burn my whole house down with that one!
Oh lets not forget the windshield wiper problem, seems there is a short somewhere and when its raining your wipers will all of a sudden choose not to work. Yes agian this is Arizona and those of you who know what its like here you know we dont get much rain but when we do its a downpour and you cant see very far in front of you... Problem fixed tragedy averted...
Lets see now we need a pinion seal cause mine is leaking, no big deal, a common occurance in GM vehicles and an easy fix. No problem cause its still under warranty. Ok by this time there is still less then 75,000 miles on the truck. Well now gas prices are going up. So we park our big truck and drive some economy car. Ok save some money to take a vacation and drive my truck because despite all that has been wrong with it, it still looks like you just drove it off the showroom floor. Dont get me wrong I still to this day love this truck and I want to drive it to the next state over because not only is it large and roomy its comfortable. I love this truck but getting very distraught over the repairs.
We pack up for vacation have the kids, luggage and movies loaded in the truck and we are ready to go! We made it about 150 miles from home and there was such a strange noise coming from the vehicle we had to stop and return to a repair facility, it seems there was now a broken axel and bad bearings in the rear end. Um, there is still under 76,000 miles on the vehicle. Yes I know, I did buy it used and yes it is almost 8 years old but this is Arizona, we dont get snow they dont rust, we do have some light wind and lots of dust. I have trucks with over 250,000 miles and they are still on the same engine and rear ends. I am here because if I can spare someone else the trouble and hassle of the repairs of this large lemon it was time well spent.
Fact: yes the truck is getting old, but still not many miles on it. Right now has 75,358 it still looks brand new, there is a soda stain in the back seat from the kids but other then that it looks brand new. Am I really the only one in the world with this problem???
Well still about 2 years and 25,000 miles left on the warranty. What else can go wrong, the truck is practically new with all the parts that have been replaced it may as well be.
Angela
COTTONWOOD, Arizona
U.S.A.
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