Faults:
200 miles: noticed vibration at 55 mph. I thought it might be an out-of-balance tire.
400 miles: while removing wax for the first time, notice orange peel, dirt, and fish eyes in the paint of the driver’s side quarter panel.
Took to dealership. Asked if they re-painted quarter panel. They told me no. I asked them for a letter stating I received the vehicle that way. Initially, they told me they would. I took the vehicle to their body shop manager. He looked at it and pointed out there was overspray in the drivers side door jam, under the gas door, and in the wheel well. Also, noticed the glass on the quarter panel window had been taped-off poorly leaving paint on the window frame.
A few days later, the dealership told me they would not give me a letter stating I received the vehicle this way because I could have wrecked it and had it repainted. Unbelievable! This really made me mad!
Checked the tires myself. All wheel weights were present.
10,000 miles: Noticed an increasing drive train vibration at 33-37 mph.
10,500 miles: Noticed the drive train vibration at 33-37 mph, 45 mph, and 55 mph.
11,000 miles: Took vehicle into dealership 1 for evaluation. They had the Blazer for 3 days.
• Installed wheels/tires from a new Blazer and test drove – still vibrating.
• Replaced U-joints – still vibrating.
• Attempted to rebalance driveshaft – still vibrating.
• Replaced driveshaft with new GM part. They claimed it was fixed. However, when I drove away with it, it was still vibrating. Called dealership and they told me “…as far as they were concerned, it was fixed.” And they wouldn’t work on it anymore!
12,000 miles: I took the Blazer to a company that had a $40,000 driveshaft balancer and paid them $80. They removed and checked the new driveshaft for me and it was perfectly balanced. Unfortunately, this was a waste of money. But I had the knowledge that the driveshaft was not the problem.
12,500 miles: Took to dealership 2 for evaluation. They had the Blazer for 10 working days.
• They felt the vibration while the Blazer was moving in gear and in neutral at the speeds I described above.
• Spun balanced wheels and tires – vibration still there.
• Spun balanced 4 disc brake rotors – vibration still there.
• Disassembled rearend and checked for bent axles. Axles fine.
• Replaced clutches in rearend – vibration still there.
• Rebuilt posi-carrier – vibration still there.
While the Blazer was at dealership 2, they had a hydraulic hose brake in an overhead lift that sprayed the hood, front end, driver’s door, windshield, and a little got in the interior on the door panel, seat, and steering wheel because some bozo decided to leave my window down while it was in service. They never washed it and returned it to me in this condition.
During this period, the Service Manager told me the Area Service Manager had driven other used 2000 and 2001 two-wheel drive Blazers that were in for service at other dealerships and he said they were vibrating too.
On the last day at dealership 2, I noticed they had a new 2002 on the lot that was also 2WD. I asked the service manager if we could go for a ride. We did. We accelerated to around 35 mph and guess what – it was vibrating same as my Blazer. This Blazer was new, with only 3 miles on it!
I fought with GM for 3 months and got the BBB involved. Finally, they agreed to buy the vehicle back, but had the audacity to tell me I had to pay my $500 rebate back! You’ve got to be kidding. I get a wrecked and repainted new vehicle with an unfixable design flaw that causes a drive train vibration, and they want me to pay them!! That’s putting the customer first and makes me want to buy another GM car or truck again! Ya, right!
I want to tell you why I didn’t owe the entire rebate back. If you buy a vehicle, you do get a price reduction of $500. But I leased my Blazer. Therefore, the $500 rebate only reduced my monthly payment by $500/36 payments or $13.89/month. I only had the vehicle for about 12 months. So I only benefited by 12 x $13.89 or $166 – not $500. Once I told the GM Rep this, she didn’t know what to say. Probably because she knew I was right.
Unfortunately, at the time I finally got them to agree to buy the vehicle back, I was on lay-off at my job and couldn’t finance a new vehicle. Therefore, I got stuck with it.
The interior panel on the tailgate broke at the top center and was replaced under warranty.
I had the speakers go bad. They sound terrible and the dealership won’t replace them.
I’ve had two seat adjusters on the passenger’s seat break. One under warranty, one out.
The carpeting on the back of the back seats is falling off.
Door panels rattle when the windows are all the way up.
Gas gauge not working properly. It bounces around giving me erroneous readings.
Since the rearend work had been performed, almost every morning its cold, the rearend makes howling noises in both forward and reverse directions until I get moving. This has been going on from about 13,000 miles to now with about 49,000 miles on the vehicle.
2nd Jun 2005, 00:00
I agree with on that comment, I have a 2004 Chevy Blazer, not really happy with it. I noticed the vibration of the vehicle at about 500 miles. Took it back to the dealer, they said it was the tires, second time they said it was the tires were not balanced, third time they said that UV Joints were not turning, Fourth Time they said that they re-balanced the tires again. My lord it isn't that much balancing in the world, so now I'm waiting on a call from the Area Manager. Hope this goes well, I didn't pay 20k for a vehicle to shake like its about to jump off the road.