Faults:

The car has been a pretty solid car with few minor issues.

Thermostat housing replaced at 57k with revised metal unit.

Timing belt and idler pulley serviced 4 times in the 53k-197k period, which is normal maintenance

Front ABS sensor went bad at 98k, which was not a big repair.

Rear brake shoes separated at 102k, requiring lining replacement.

196k which is the most recent issue, the oil light began to flicker at idle. I replaced an oil switch and changed the oil with a slightly thicker 10w30 weight; hopefully this cures the issue as with the car's age it won’t be getting an engine due to possible oil pump or bearing clearance issues.

General Comments:

Has been a decently reliable car; can’t complain for small repairs at almost 200k.

Faults:

The thermostat housing blew at 37k and overheated the engine; the head had to be resurfaced and head gasket replaced. GM would not warranty it, only being 1k out of warranty and the housing that blew was plastic. A new revised metal unit was installed.

The timing belt broke at 47k and bent 10 out of 16 valves, which required the head to be removed again and sent for a valve job.

The timing belt broke again at 99k and put a hole in one of the pistons, which required replacing the engine with a used unit; this cost 2 grand.

At 135k the driver's side axle snapped going into the splined hub, which required replacing the axle and wheel bearing. The shop said the wheel bearing was bad and caused the axle to fail; this repair was 350.00.

At 143k the blower motor stopped working and that unit under the dash needed to be replaced. 123.00 to repair.

At 155k the idler pulley broke apart on the timing drive system, which bent all 16 valves in the cylinder head. This engine has a severely poor design and a lot of costly belt failures; GM should recall this engine, the head needed to be rebuilt on the replacement engine; 1,200 to repair.

At 171k the A/C compressor failed internally, sending metal through the entire A/C system. The garage wanted 800 to fix; I opted to leave the car without air conditioning and live without it.

At 187k the serpentine belt tensioner grenaded under the hood, causing the car to be stranded in the middle of nowhere. This required the tensioner and belt to be replaced; this was 250.00 to repair.

At 198k, all the belts including the timing belt flew off the engine going down the road, because the crank pulley fell off the engine. I was told the bolt wasn’t tightened properly. At this point I donated the car to a local vo-tech for automotive teaching as I was not going to rebuild the engine again, because valves were bent again. The garage wanted 3 grand to fix, I got rid of it.

General Comments:

The car is severely flawed with its engine. The timing belts won’t even last 60k, which is the service interval. Failure with it will cause catastrophic engine failure, which will exceed the value of the vehicle.

Faults:

My timing belt broke only 19,000 miles after the dealership replaced it. They were supposed to have done the timing belt kit, but I don't understand how at only 19,000 miles it could break and ruin the engine. I had to beg and beg, and finally they accepted, but no agreements have been made. I love this car, but seriously only 19,000 miles after it was supposed to have been replaced at a dealership. This really blows my mind.

I have invested all I have into the car, and I only got 19,000 miles and the new belt broke, destroying the engine. That is not fair. I followed all recommended maintenance. There is something not right about that; a car should get more miles than that before the timing belt breaks. Is there a defect in this motor?

Recommended maintenance was all completed by the dealership. I see so many posts about this, and it is a shame to take money from people that already don't have much, and can't afford to get it fixed. If there is a defect, please take care of your customers. 19,000 miles is all I got on a new timing belt before it broke after being replaced. So all the money I spent was for 19,000 miles, and for me I paid a fair amount for mine. Now I have no car because of this. This is not fair to a consumer, especially if they follow the recommended maintenance and it still occurs.