I was returning from lunch, going over the vincent thomas bridge in l.a. Harbor. I looked out at the beautiful scenery, then looked at my speedometer. I was going 90 MPH. I started to panic and went for the brake. My other senses kicked in and said "your not going 90 MPH" . I looked around and nothing was wrong with my speed. The speedometer "said" all kinds of numbers. When I parked, I think it said 40mph. That was two months ago. Since then the speedometer has read all kinds of wierd numbers. Sometimes it is actually pretty close, then it goes off the charts to 140mph. I had the dealer check it out, the vehicle has 79,000 miles. The dealer said that gm would cover it up to 70,000 miles. The dealer wanted $325.00 for the part and $200.00 to install it. I said no so he charged me $45.00 to check the electrical. Besides the safety factors, what really bothered me was two things. 1) the dealer made this seem like an isolated case. This situaton is all over the internet. The dealer should have simply said "it's probally a stepper motor, it is a known problem,$ 500.00 to fix". Instead he played dumb and checked over my vehicle for $45.00. The second thing is, I took the instrument cluster out to take a look. It took me 15 minutes. Where does the dealer come up with $200.00 the vehicle is substandard. Instead of owning up to the situation, the dealer used this situation to make money. There is a class action suit started and it is proper. Gm could fix all these vehicles for less than $50.00 a piece, if they were smart. Instead there are hundreds, maybe thousands of gm customers who have stated on the internet that they will never buy a gm product again. Go figure!
2003 GMC Envoy XL electrical complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 53 of 53, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 gmc envoy xl. The contact stated that the vehicle cranks, but will not start. The dials on all the instrument panel gauges move up and down. The dealer changed the ignition switch, but the failure recurred. The VIN was unknown. The current mileage was 74,000 and failure mileage was 34,000.
Car dash blank at start, mirrors go every direction and must reset every time I start the vehicle.
The side-mirrors, particularly on the driver's side, moved to different positions even with all curb parking features disabled. The happened with almost every use. 2. The speedometer gave false readings and for no particular reason or speed. It may be pegged at 120 while at idle. It will randomly reset or fail frequently.
Dash indicator lights come on and stay on when temperatures are cold, mostly air bag, ABS, parking brake light, all gauges do not work except speedometer. This problem has no trend other than when it is cold outside, could be coincidental. At times the check engine light was on with other lights. My vehicle only had 18,000 miles on it when this started, but the 3 year warranty was over. Gmc will not troubleshoot this problem unless I pay them almost $100 to start, and then a hourly fee. At times, these conditions exist and then later the instruments start working. Does not seem to correlate to vehicle temperature. Lights often stay on during entire trip and gauges are all off. When everything suddenly starts working correctly it does not appear to be because of a bump or warming of the vehicle. In december I took vehicle to gmc, and the service representative indicated problems on work order. He put check battery, of course no troubleshooting took place. Since then I have contacted several gmc dealerships, they all want ridiculous fees to check it out. This vehicle has been kept in the heated garage and barely driven until january 2007. I think this is a safety issue because I don't know if it could cause a fire in the wiring. When the gauges are out, it is not possible to see how much gas you have or if oil/water is low. There is no way to monitor the functioning of the vehicle, or the air bags or the brake system.
Speedometer failure during highway driving.
On 2/15/07 I was driving to work at approximately 50mph when all of a sudden the steering went out, brakes locked up, all gauges went erratic bouncing from side to side and the heater started blowing cold air upon this happening I nearly went into a creek however struggling did manage to safely get the vehicle off the side of the road in a ditch. I had the vehicle towed to the local dealer when upon diagnosis the service manager informed me that the ignition switch had failed and all of the above components were tied into the switch. I at my own expense had the ignition replaced and the RPM gauge still does not work. I contacted gmc the very day of the incident to make them aware of this safety issue only to be bounced around to several different offices, none of which have made this safety issue a top priority. I have notated every conversation with every person that I have spoken to and what was said. I do not want to have to take the legal route, however I am prepared to do so. When ignition switches fail it should not shut down a vehicle in the manner that it does. Although I was successful at not being injured or injuring anyone else that will not always be the case in this type of failure.
Speedometer pegged out, acting erratic...no warning; just started while driving around 35 MPH. Speedometer does not work ! Recall please !
Ignition switch failure 2nd time. The vehicle will not shift out of first gear. Then you could not put the car in park.
Every time you exit the vehicle and close the door or touch any thing that is metal after exiting the car you get shocked....sparks fly. I am concerned that someday I will be pumping gas and one of my children is going to get out of the car and touch something and spark an explosion or fire.
Intermittent electrical problems caused by ignition switch failures. In april 2004 at 15,000 miles and again in april 2005 at 33,000 miles, the ignition switch on my 2003 envoy xl failed. The symptoms in each case were ABS/brake/traction lights staying on, no HVAC fan, and no cruise control. The symptoms occurred once every dozen starts, and finally reached a hard fail.*ak in each case, the dealer mechanic identified codes set for multiple systems and replaced the ignition switch. With the most recent failure, the mechanic commented that they replace quite a few of these switches.
The 2003 envoy we purchased gave us numerous problems, including a number of the ones other owners mentioned here, like the glass liftgate that does not operate properly, various electrical problems, but especially the outside rear view mirrors that move on their own no matter how many times they were supposedly fixed by service technicians. They do not stay in the position we set them in, and the fuel tank leaking is very dangerous as well as inhaling freon because of malfunctioning A/C system. Why is gmc doing nothing to solve these problems? I can't understand how they are getting away with this seeing that so many owners are having the same problems. What do we have to do to get some help?
We have had several problems from the rear windows in the rear of the vehicle. The regulators have broken allowing the window to fall down into the door. This usually happens a bad time such as in a storm. The dealer has replaced the regulator. The brake light has been replaced several times for failure to work properly. The dealer has replaced the circuit board twice. The four wheel drive switch would shut off after you tried to put it back into 2-wheel drive. The dealer replaced a faulty switch. Several times the engine would stall and the instrument panel would go crazy. Now, the car is sitting in my yard and will not start. When you turn the ignition, the instrument panel shows that there is 40 pounds of oil pressure and the MPH is 90 and the car is not even running. The dic says that the brake system needs servicing.
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