Well, the dealer fixed under warranty. On direct questioning the service desk man said "yes" the truck problem is a known problem, but"no" there is no general recall out. I guess that's because the problem isn't life threating. The job took longer than I expected, it was on the lift for over two hours. I was in the waiting room, but I could see from there when they brought the truck into the shop. On the work order I see to that they also turned the rear drums, may have said "polished". They then gave it an extensive test drive, about 6 miles worth. So, people with a 2005 Colorado, keep ears and eyes open for any parking brake noise and lock-up, especially on first backing after a parking for more than a couple of hours. I'll look at the Consumer Reports experience on the 2005 Colorado, it may show brakes as a problem area. One nice change, I looked at an Impala on the floor and reading the sticker I see Stainless Steel exhaust standard. I had SS exhaust on a 1990 Mitsubishi and after 15 years it was still factory original. For those of us who keep a car that long, SS exhaust is worth at least $1,000 in exaust work in 15 years, 150,000 miles.

Yes my 2001 Montero Locked Up out of the blue while idling. No oil light whatsoever. I just notice it suddenly lost power as I was about to park it. Then engine died in a way like it locked. Tried cheater bar to turn engine no luck. Recently though I charged the battery full and it budge a bit so I turned again with a cheater turning opposite direction and it did. It turn about half way. There is hope the engine can be fix while on the vehicle. Maybe bad camshaft or broken valve spring which bent the vavle. Worn rod earing would have thrown oil light or any bearing that is worn. I may add too that I recently rebuilt the head myself so there is a posibilty I may have Installed the valve train rod backwards which would cause the oil hole not to line up causing oil starvation on the cam shaft, I did notice loud valve noise when starting the engine that diminish once it start but gets loud when raising rpm. I also want to mention it also had broke valve spring on piston 1 but I fixed it amd ran like a champ before it locked up in me.

Hey Socal. Do you want to try again to help? First, a fuel gage problem can indeed be a fuel pump module issue. Test and find out before anyone starts replacing parts! The first step in doing ANY electrical diagnostic is to verify proper system voltage, and while the earthworm didn't say it exactly the way we would like to see it, he is actually correct! The correct system voltage is essential to having evey circuit operate correctly. Whats more, a battery that is failing, or especially noted with a failing alternator, or bad cable connections is the AC voltage produced by the alternator which can and does cause erratic operation of many of the computer controlled components. Which BTW includes the dash on this car! As far as her problems go, if she wants to try a silver bullet, the 4-way flasher switch includes the flasher relay inside it for the turn signals as well as the 4-ways. I've seen a number of these fail. But again, test first, and replace it if it's confirmed bad. The fuel gage though is something that needs to be diagnosed while the gage is confirmed to be innacurate due to how much fuel should be in the tank. At the same time when I read what she wrote, I'm not sure if the gage works fine when the tank is full and then stops at about 1/2 while the fuel is being used, or if it wont go above 1/2 when the tank gets filled. Believe it or not this is also an emissions control problem. The PCM (fuel injection computer) needs to know how much fuel is in the tank in order to run the evaportative emissions monitor. With the readings faulty, the PCM could attempt to run the monitor when it should not. Which BTW, if she takes this to a properly equipped technician, he/she will have a scan tool that will display the fuel sender input voltage for both the PCM, and instrument panel, and allow for the diagnostics to progress much faster.

The first car I wanted to get was a '64 Ford Falcon. Not a lot special about it but I knew it was in good shape and should be economical to operate and easy to work on. I wanted to buy it from the estate of my great-uncle but my Dad wouldn't hear of it. "someone was saying 'dem Falcons are only good for about 50,000 miles!" That car was babied by my great-uncle and only had about 60k on it IIRC. It ran like new, was in perfect condition and sold for something like $660 at the auction. First, my dad didn't want me driving because my older brother had gotten into so much trouble once he got a car (which BTW, my dad BOUGHT for him! LOL) and his poor grades got even worse and he figured my good grades would suffer. I asked him how I was supposed to get to the vo-tech I was going to start in a couple weeks and he finally came to his senses (I was the only one to go to post HS education so he just didn't think I "needed" a car), but he decided I should buy the neighbor's Buick, which I did just to have something to drive and didn't have much time to look. '67 Buick LeSabre. That thing was huge, gulped gas, but was a nice enough car I guess but he had it repainted from sort of a gunmetal color to a hideous light blue and it was a terrible paint job on top of it. It would start when my dad's car wouldn't and I guess that means a lot. Drove it a couple years then bought a new Ford Courier pickup and sold the Buick. A friend of mine had a '62 Chevy II and I think it was the Nova too. What a great little car! And later I had a '62 Impala which probably was one of my favorite vehicles ever. I bought that from my GF and would be driving it today had I not been hit by some dumb b*$%# who didn't realize that ice is slippery. She t-boned me at an intersection doing about 50-60 mph. 40 mph zone, but the cops wouldn't come out unless there was a death or injury since there were so many accidents that day, they said we'd have to handle it ourselves. But that car was built solid. I still drove that car for a couple months after the accident! With the caved in side and the (what should have been a convex) B-post bent in concave! But that solid steel saved my life, no doubt so for those who hate me so, blame that Impala for being so structurally sound! Quiet as could be on the road, got 22-25 mpg on the road and just a relaxing, roomy vehicle.