Rainer Pos Awd In Snow!!!!
01-19-2005, 07:53 PM
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Rainer Pos Awd In Snow!!!!
I'm am absolutly pissed off and need to VENT!
First I need to back up a couple years. We bought a home in Northern Virginia, just outside of D.C. Live on top of a hill, don't know what the grade is but it can't be more than 7 or 8 percent. Our family car was a RWD Buick Roadmaster. Everytime it snowed I basically had to do a kamakazee run up the hill with foot on the gas and lots of steering input fish tailing all over the place. I knew an SUV was in order. So this past Spring we bought an 04 Rainer with V8 and AWD.
Fast forward today.
Weather forecast this morning calls for flurries, well it turns out to be about a couple inches of snow. Before anybody laughs a couple of inches of snow in DC brings this town to its knees during rush hour. I take subway home. Wife calls says she'll be late (took her 25 minutes to go 2 blocks from Tysons Corner). She calls back an hour later says "Honey this SUV is slipping all over the place can you walk down to the bottom of the hill and come get me"? I'm like What?! So I tell her to just drive it up the hill and she says no way.
So I walk down to the bottom of the hill and there she is waiting for me in the passenger side of the Rainer. I jump in all cocky thinking this thing is going to haul *** right up the hill. BULLSHIT!!! The front wheels would not engage, kept making this clicking sound over and over again. Sort of like the computer was turning the AWD system on and off over and over again. Now mind you the Buick is moving forward but fishtailing all over the place. And it's barely moving forward. WTF!!!??? I don't know if it's just the Michelein X Terrain tires or what but this thing sucks. By the time I reached the top of the hill the idiot light came on for the AWD system on the dash. But that's probably due to it hunting between AWD and 2WD over and over again. I'm beginning to think GM really fu*ked up with the AWD system. At least my dad's AVALANCHE has the buttons that let you choose between 2 wheel hi and low. $40,000 for this?!
Sorry guys I know this is a little off topic but I just need to vent. I'm going to take this POS back to the dealership and there had BETTER be something wrong with the AWD system.
First I need to back up a couple years. We bought a home in Northern Virginia, just outside of D.C. Live on top of a hill, don't know what the grade is but it can't be more than 7 or 8 percent. Our family car was a RWD Buick Roadmaster. Everytime it snowed I basically had to do a kamakazee run up the hill with foot on the gas and lots of steering input fish tailing all over the place. I knew an SUV was in order. So this past Spring we bought an 04 Rainer with V8 and AWD.
Fast forward today.
Weather forecast this morning calls for flurries, well it turns out to be about a couple inches of snow. Before anybody laughs a couple of inches of snow in DC brings this town to its knees during rush hour. I take subway home. Wife calls says she'll be late (took her 25 minutes to go 2 blocks from Tysons Corner). She calls back an hour later says "Honey this SUV is slipping all over the place can you walk down to the bottom of the hill and come get me"? I'm like What?! So I tell her to just drive it up the hill and she says no way.
So I walk down to the bottom of the hill and there she is waiting for me in the passenger side of the Rainer. I jump in all cocky thinking this thing is going to haul *** right up the hill. BULLSHIT!!! The front wheels would not engage, kept making this clicking sound over and over again. Sort of like the computer was turning the AWD system on and off over and over again. Now mind you the Buick is moving forward but fishtailing all over the place. And it's barely moving forward. WTF!!!??? I don't know if it's just the Michelein X Terrain tires or what but this thing sucks. By the time I reached the top of the hill the idiot light came on for the AWD system on the dash. But that's probably due to it hunting between AWD and 2WD over and over again. I'm beginning to think GM really fu*ked up with the AWD system. At least my dad's AVALANCHE has the buttons that let you choose between 2 wheel hi and low. $40,000 for this?!
Sorry guys I know this is a little off topic but I just need to vent. I'm going to take this POS back to the dealership and there had BETTER be something wrong with the AWD system.
01-20-2005, 09:45 AM
#4
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awd does involve the front differential. if it's not working, yeah that's bad. the dealer will fix it. since the trailblazer/envoy/bravada/rainer was introduced, problems with transfercase engagement has been a problem. if it's under warrenty you'll likely have it fixed right away.
01-20-2005, 05:55 PM
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the AWD is not the greatest. it is the same thing as my auto4WD on my truck. i found best is to give it alot of gas. see if that works. if you don't move forward by punching the gas half throttle, then something is wrong. you will definitely know if the front wheels are engaged. give it some gas going up a hill, either you are going to spin in 2WD or move in AWD
01-21-2005, 11:03 AM
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Yeah, something is not right... that's not how AWD or auto-trac should behave.
Is it a manual transfer case or engagement or whatever? I'm not sure how things work in those vehicles.
I had a '98 S10 with a manual t-case that would throw fits if you didn't tug it into 4x4 JUST right. It'd click and make ugly noises.
If you've got pushbutton, something is definitely wrong.
I absolutely LOVE driving in the snow. I get bored sitting in traffic so I try to find the nastiest hills around and see if I can make it up them. I haven't found a single one that I can't make in AWD or 4 wheel drive. I purposely take "the hard way home" because I know other cars won't be out there on that route. In my old truck I'd purposely try hills in 2wd, and jump into 4 if I needed. There were only a few instance I did - I had to stop once or twice because of someone stuck in my lane. We've got a few good hills around here. Couple hundred feet climb in a 1/4 to 1/3 mile.
The best thing to do in snow (if you're trying to make a hill), is not get heavy on the gas and fishtail, but get a good running start and never let your wheels break loose for long. Start at 40 mph, and slow down to a CRAWL if you have to. The instant you break traction in the snow - the tire spins - creates a bit of heat - melts the snow - snow re-freezes - now you've got ice under your tires instead of relatively tacky snow.
I've seen people make hills by doing 10 minute long smoke-shows with their foot on the floor - they make it up because they're so persistant that they dig right down to fresh pavement or dirt or whatever. That's not the best way to do things...
Driving in ice just sucks. There is little to nothing you can do to make hills and all of that.
Is it a manual transfer case or engagement or whatever? I'm not sure how things work in those vehicles.
I had a '98 S10 with a manual t-case that would throw fits if you didn't tug it into 4x4 JUST right. It'd click and make ugly noises.
If you've got pushbutton, something is definitely wrong.
I absolutely LOVE driving in the snow. I get bored sitting in traffic so I try to find the nastiest hills around and see if I can make it up them. I haven't found a single one that I can't make in AWD or 4 wheel drive. I purposely take "the hard way home" because I know other cars won't be out there on that route. In my old truck I'd purposely try hills in 2wd, and jump into 4 if I needed. There were only a few instance I did - I had to stop once or twice because of someone stuck in my lane. We've got a few good hills around here. Couple hundred feet climb in a 1/4 to 1/3 mile.
The best thing to do in snow (if you're trying to make a hill), is not get heavy on the gas and fishtail, but get a good running start and never let your wheels break loose for long. Start at 40 mph, and slow down to a CRAWL if you have to. The instant you break traction in the snow - the tire spins - creates a bit of heat - melts the snow - snow re-freezes - now you've got ice under your tires instead of relatively tacky snow.
I've seen people make hills by doing 10 minute long smoke-shows with their foot on the floor - they make it up because they're so persistant that they dig right down to fresh pavement or dirt or whatever. That's not the best way to do things...
Driving in ice just sucks. There is little to nothing you can do to make hills and all of that.
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01-21-2005, 03:30 PM
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UPDATE
Took the car in this morning. Hit it off with the service consultant (Dave Palumbo with Peacock Buick in Tysons Corner, VA) cause he own's a Silverado with the HI LO system which we discussed. I filled him in with as much detail as I could and left the car with them.
I just called to see what the status was. Dave said the his 1st mechanic reported there were no problems. So he got in the car with the service manager, found a slippery hill and made the service manager stand outside the car and watch the front tires. The thing was fishtailing all over the place with no engagement of the front wheels. He now wants to hook up the TECH II hooked up to it. He says that it's possible it left the factory with out the PCM being properly configured to engage the front wheels. They are going to check all the 4wd settings in the computer with what the should be. Hopefully it's just a faulty sensor, blown fuse or something like that. If it turns out the PCM wasn't set right from the factory that could explain a lot of problems some of us have experienced. Will post again when final diagnostic comes in.
I'm just glad the dealer actually admitted there was a problem and Dave went through the trouble to find a slippery hill to test the car on.
Took the car in this morning. Hit it off with the service consultant (Dave Palumbo with Peacock Buick in Tysons Corner, VA) cause he own's a Silverado with the HI LO system which we discussed. I filled him in with as much detail as I could and left the car with them.
I just called to see what the status was. Dave said the his 1st mechanic reported there were no problems. So he got in the car with the service manager, found a slippery hill and made the service manager stand outside the car and watch the front tires. The thing was fishtailing all over the place with no engagement of the front wheels. He now wants to hook up the TECH II hooked up to it. He says that it's possible it left the factory with out the PCM being properly configured to engage the front wheels. They are going to check all the 4wd settings in the computer with what the should be. Hopefully it's just a faulty sensor, blown fuse or something like that. If it turns out the PCM wasn't set right from the factory that could explain a lot of problems some of us have experienced. Will post again when final diagnostic comes in.
I'm just glad the dealer actually admitted there was a problem and Dave went through the trouble to find a slippery hill to test the car on.
01-21-2005, 03:40 PM
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Originally Posted by XLR8NSS
I hope you get it fixed soon cause there's alot more snow coming this weekend. 