RNOcommctr From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 825 posts, RR: 4 Posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 999 times:
Has anyone besides me noticed how many GMC/Chevy trucks of model years roughly 1998-2003 have at least one of their daytime running lamps burned out? Ever since I noticed the first couple, it seems like every day I see a few more with just one light burning. Now, this is not such a huge build quality issue, but it certainly is a visible one-- one that reinforces GM's reputation for poor build quality and reliability.
B757300 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 4114 posts, RR: 25 Reply 1, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 987 times:
Uh, did you ever stop and think that light bulbs are designed to eventually burn out. It is the owner's responsibility to change the bulb or take the vehicle somewhere and have it done.
It has nothing to do with the quality of GM vehicles. Which BTW, where I work we have a fleet of over 50 cars, vans, and trucks. Our worst maintenance hogs are the Fords followed by the Dodges. Our GM/Chevy vehicles are the best and longest running.
RNOcommctr From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 825 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 985 times:
B757300-- hmmm... let me see if I have this straight... GM designs these bulbs to burn out after a year or two? A rather unusual engineering program. Must have something to do with marketing?
Goose From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 1840 posts, RR: 17 Reply 3, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 975 times:
B757300-- hmmm... let me see if I have this straight... GM designs these bulbs to burn out after a year or two? A rather unusual engineering program. Must have something to do with marketing?
All vehicles have planned obsolescence built into them. Why do you think they bring out a new model every year?
And actually, GM doesn't design the light bulbs. They're usually built by a sub-manufacturer, who GM then buys from..... and those manufacturers don't make money if your light bulbs last for 20 years.
Theiler From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 633 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 974 times:
It's a common issue with the GM pickups - They aren't actually the headlights, they are the Daytime running lamps (seperate bulbs). It is a design problem and I don't think that it was worth the money for them to fix it, though it isn't a big problem with the 2002 -forward models.
North County From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 712 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 942 times:
What is the cost to replace the bulb? - less then $5.00?, less then $3.00?
New Mastercard Ad:
Spending the time to look and count the Chevy/GMC pickup trucks with burnt out running light bulds on a daily bases: $ 5.00 a day.
Time spent worry about the burnt out bulbs: $4.00 a day.
Time it took to enter the post on airlines.net: $3.00
Startvalve From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 929 times:
My moms 96 lumina has yet to have a bulb burn out. Much to our dismay we have found it impossible to turn the freakin headlights off EVER. The car is truly a piece of shit otherwise, last GM vehicle my family or myself will ever buy.
As was previously said. It's just a lightbulb which is made by some third party manufacturer. Don't worry about it, there are other things to indicate the vehicle is a POS.
Flight152 From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 3292 posts, RR: 7 Reply 7, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 919 times:
Cfalk From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 906 times:
I think most people who drive around with burned out lights simply haven't realized that a bulb has burned out.
BMWs and other cars have had a warning lamp or some other kind of display on the dashboard which tells you immediately when a bulb has burned out, and it stays on so that you don't forget to pick up another one the next time you go by a gas station. Later versions even tell you the exact bulb. I don't know why GM has never installed this in their cars - it's a very simple device.
BWIrwy4 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 940 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 876 times:
It isn't very cheap to replace. We have a 2002 Trailblazer, and had a headlight burn out on it. The bulb is dirt cheap, but to replace it involves removing the grill, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case with all Chevy trucks.
Marcus From Mexico, joined Apr 2001, 1721 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 869 times:
I have seen GM's with burned out daytime running lights (DRL's), not the headlamps per se since as mentiones before those are another set of lights.
What I have seen in recent models from various car manufacturers are burned out tail lights and brake lights on recent models, from what I have seen it is Ford and VW who have this problem the most, maybe the supplier is the same for both companies.
Car companies don't build every single piece that goes in to their cars, a car company usually builds "heavy" items like the power train, sheetmetal, suspension systems, steering systems and such......the rest of what goes in to the cars are bought from suppliers.......I don't think there are a lot of car manufacturers that make radios, cloth seats, ashtrays or tires.
Kids!....we are going to the happiest place on earth...TIJUANA! signed: Krusty the Clown
MD-90 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 8418 posts, RR: 13 Reply 13, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 862 times:
I'm more worried about all the Trailblazers and such that I see with no brake lights except the center mounted light. I've noticed it several times. I have a friend witha fairly new Cavalier, and he's had the same problem.
My Toyota has the idiot light for when a light burns out. If it comes one when you step on the brake pedal, it's one of the brake lights. If it comes on when you turn on the headlights, it's a headlight (duh). When you put it into gear and it comes on, it's a parking light.
Startvalve, my mother also drives a 96 Lumina (gift from a great aunt who stopped driving). I agree, it's an absolute POS.
The worst thing was our motorhome which had a bunch of little lights. It looked nice when all of them were lit but often one or another of them were burned out.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38512 posts, RR: 80 Reply 14, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 841 times:
Cfalf: BMWs and other cars have had a warning lamp or some other kind of display on the dashboard which tells you immediately when a bulb has burned out,
My 1987 Chrysler LeBaron actually TOLD ME when my headlamps were out.
Those Chryslers of the 1980s were so advanced, it would even tell you which light was out.
"Please Check Your Head Lamps", "Please Check Your Tail Lamps", "Your Headlamps Are On", (this is if you opened your car door with the lights still on.
Lincolns have had the "lights out' indicator feature since the early 1960s.
Cptkrell From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 2562 posts, RR: 14 Reply 15, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 837 times:
Just returned from a (extended because of a death in the family) "vacation" of two months and am glad to see a few car topics on A. Sfly reminds me that my then-girlfriend's company car (this dates me) New Yorker-clone-of-Lebaron used to piss me off with the talking dashboard. The earlier Corvettes had fibre optic exterior light indicators, too. Not a new idea. I'm sure many others did and more will have a similar feature in the future. As for the burned out DRLs, I've noticed many current and recent generation vehicles of (many) makes experiencing premature failure of all kinds of exterior bulbs. Could be an installation snafu but most likely a supplier problem. As an FMVSS piece of equipment, I should think that an owner could demand no-charge replacement for 50,000 miles/ 5yrs. As a side note, my '67 Cadillac purchased new by my Dad has had one burned-out headlight to date. Surprisingly, that bulb (and I assume many others on the car) were made in Taiwan. Regards...Jack
Jamesag96 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 2095 posts, RR: 8 Reply 16, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 832 times:
I have an 01 sierra...one day light has gone out...here is a tip to save costs, go to Napa, Pep Boys, whatever, buy the bulb for the change out of your ash tray and change the thing out yourself.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38512 posts, RR: 80 Reply 17, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 820 times:
Cptkrell:
Sorry to hear about the death in your family.
You must admit, Lee Iaccoca had a millions of people fooled (including myself) on those front-drive K-Car derivatives. I still miss my 1987 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible.
That was a beautiful car! It was a perfect blend of vintage style and state of the art technology. Chrysler really dressed that car up nice.
The devil was in the details!
Very under powered and caught on fire too much.
The "lights" have been going out at GM for quite sometime.
It started with it's half-a$$ed attempt to make diesel car engines (1978). Rather than using there proven reliable 6.2, they converted the 350cu" gasoline engine in to diesel. The result was a very un-reliable car that had many recalls.
Then the X-body platform (1980). The Chevorlet Citation, Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Pheonix was the most recalled car in history.
To make matters worse, in 1981 Cadillac had the bright idea of the 4/6/8 engine. This V8 ran on all 8cylinders going uphill, 6 on a staight away and on 4 going downhill. The engine would often get stuck on 4 cylinders at all times. Not good with a 4500 pound Cadillac.
In 1996 GM scrapped it's best cars in a generation. The full-sized B-body sedans. The 1994-1996 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, Buick Roadmaster Esate Wagon, Cheverolet Caprice Classic and Impala SS were engineering milestones! These full-sized land yachts got up to 27 MPG, delivered 260HP at a low RPM and could tow a boat. That was unheard off in the 1970s.
What did GM do? They killed it and never put a penny in to marketing these cars.
The final nail in GM's coffin was the death of the F-body in 2002. Getting rid of the Firbird/Trans Am and Camero is an act of evil.
Shame on GM for that!
I guess GM is focused on making more Aztecs, Cobalts and Escalade EXTs. YUCK!
Ford is still a car company that is still living up to Henry Ford's vison.
Cfalk From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 18, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 818 times:
Very under powered and caught on fire too much
Are you talking about the cars in general, or yours in particular (I would have thought once would be enough in that case)
they converted the 350cu" gasoline engine in to diesel. The result was a very un-reliable car that had many recalls.
My parents bought a new Olds station wagon in January '81 with the 350 Diesel, and in spite of its reputation, it ran beautifully. They kept it for over 12 years, as I recall, and never gave any trouble. You just had to keep an eye on the water seperator for contamination. My mother was a very fast driver (for the U.S.) I never did figure out her normal highway cruise speeds because the speedometer (which only went to 85mph) was always pegged to the needle! I think she put about 210,000 miles before they sold it. I spent a few of my teenage years driving it.
One funny story about that car, and a testement that that particular engine will take some abuse. One day I was driving it (the car was only 2 or 3 years old at the time), and the fuel guage had gone out. I thought I had enough to make it home, but sure enough, the engine starts starving and missing, and I barely manage to coast into a gas station. Bad luck - they don't sell diesel fuel. But there is another station a few miles away that does. So I put in about one gallon of regular gasoline. Knowing that gasoline has a much lower detonation temperature than diesel, and being something of a chemistry student, I cut the gasoline with a quart of peanut oil - luckily I had just gone shopping. The station attendant thought I was nuts. I fire up the engine, and drive to the next station. Black smoke obscured any view in the rear-view mirror, and my top speed was only about 35 or 40mph, and the engine coughed and spluttered a bit, but I made it. I then filled the tank completely with diesel to dilute the crap I had put in there, and after a few more miles of smoke and sputter (the gas and peanut oil mixture still being dominant in the fuel line), it started running fine again. I gave the keys back to my parents that night and never said a word about what I had done. My dad would have killed me. Anyway, the car gave sterling performance for some 10 years afterwards.
A few years ago, I told him what I had done, and he was shocked and amazed that it worked and there had been no damage.
So that 350 Diesel wasn't such a bad engine after all.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38512 posts, RR: 80 Reply 19, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 810 times:
Cfalk:
Amazing story!
There Oldsmobile must have been made on a Tuesday, Wedensday or Thursday.
I knew some folks that drove there 1982 Buick LeSabre diesel from Chicago to Atlanta on a single tank of diesel.
The reviews on those are mixed.
North County From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 712 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (9 years 3 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 790 times:
Superfly,
Henry Ford vision was for a simple black car that everyone could afford. Nothing special, nothing different. He was not a fan of the Model A. His vision really ended with the Model T.
He vision also included anti-semitic and social engineering ideals.
He was not in favour of credit for buying a car.
As for replacing a daytime running light...you can do it yourself on that model truck and even Walmart sells the bulb.
Skyway1 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 21, posted (9 years 3 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 767 times:
Recently, the low beam on one of my 9007 bulbs burnt out in my Chevy. The DRL sensor kicked off the service engine light. I replaced the bulb with a new one and the problem was fixed.
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