1) Replaced brakes twice within 3 years and with less than 30,000 miles.
2) Replaced rotors and battery.
3) There is a clunking noise when making left turns only.
4) There is a creaking noise in the front end when you hit a bump.
5) Replaced A/C compressor.
6) Replaced fuel pump.
7) Emergency brake doesn't work.
8) Ticking sound in engine while running idle.
9) Only front speakers work, but all speakers work if there are 2 or more days of dry weather (no rain or snow).
10) Replaced blower motor resistor.
11) Driver door module is broken.
12) Check engine light constantly on.
13) Rear windshield wiper only works on 3 sometimes not at all.
14) At least 4 times a year the brakes fail for a few seconds (even after replacing with brand new brakes and rotors).
15) Recently experiencing power failure upon starting almost to the point where it wants to stall.
16) Oil ascending unit leaks.
I have easily spent over $3000 in repairs on this vehicle already and there are still problems that need to be fixed.
I am a middle age female who maintains this vehicle on a regular basis and doesn't drive it hard. I put a little over 10,000 miles a year on it. There is no reason why I should be experiencing so many problems.
Many of the features of this vehicle is what made me purchase it (3rd row seating, 4WD, power windows and locks, key-less entry, and appearance).
This SUV is comfortable and rides nice.
Other than that, it is a piece of crap and money pit.
You obviously got an incredibly abused USED Envoy. We purchased our 2003 SLE 4.2 brand new in early 2003. It now has close to 80,000 miles on it. So far it has had one battery, one set of tires and one light bulb.
I'm a mechanic and I put the car up on jack stands last weekend, checked everything from bumper to bumper and found NOTHING needing attention. The brake pads are original and still have wear left on them. All hoses, the drive belt and all suspension components are showroom fresh. It has never had a tune-up, as no new domestic requires one before 100,000 miles.
I seldom ever have to replace brake pads on ANY of our domestics before 100,000 miles (our Honda was a different story, it went through them like a kid eating candy).
Our Envoy is one of the most solid, well-built vehicles we've ever owned. I suspect yours was either wrecked or horribly abused by its previous owner.
I have to agree with original poster this vehicle is a total piece of crap... Here's why.. I owned a 2002 Envoy 4x4 SLT (basically top of the line available) bought it at one year old.. 38,000km. The vehicle has a nice ride, but that's where the good ends. Here's my maintenance for a two and a half year period.
Brakes were replaced twice, cost $1400.00.
Attenuator motor seized, wouldn't flip into X, $1200.00.
Sway bar links caused a constant clunking in the front end at slow speeds, $600.00
Upper and lower ball joint were replaced, $1200.00.
Rear wiper had a mind of its own, problem - salt caused the arm to seize, $400.00.
Gas tank regulator seal rotted out. Caused a strong stench of gasoline outside the vehicle, because when the vehicle took turns, it would slosh out... $700.00.
Door bands that connect the door to the body of vehicle cracked. 400.00.
Both wheel bearings had to be replaced. $1200.00.
Battery failed while sitting in a parking lot with the radio on for 20 minutes. $125.00.
This covers the money out of my pocket. There are numerous other problems..
Front bumper on these things are very loose.
Mirrors are totally useless in the memory position.
Back of heated seat didn't warm up even when you pressed the back on button... actually only the seat part ever warmed up.
Leveling system never leveled the vehicle; one side was persistently 1.5 inch's higher!! (sensor failure) (I never fixed it cause GM said they would have to change the leveling shocks! cost 1700.00).
The engine was also in a constant misfire mode, finally found out that one of the cylinder coils was gone, cost 300.00.
Does this sound like a vehicle that was rode hard? Sure sounds like it to me, but the truth is that this vehicle was babied from day one, it is just a dismal failure of engineering.
The out of pocket cost on this vehicle over a three year period was $6800.00; that is just repairs, not counting tires, oil changes.
I said that I would never buy another GM, but I have recently bought a GMC Sierra extended cab 6.6l diesel truck, Now, this is a well made vehicle. I am thrilled with its performance... So, I am not a person who is out to diss a particular brand, but I don't accept any brand selling crap and downloading inferior built, so called luxury vehicles to the public..
As for the mechanic that said he couldn't find any problems... my answer is to wait, they all seem to occur at the 75,000km point, and they never let up. There's always some problem lurking.. Bottom line, the Envoy is a piece of crap!!
This comment (14:41) sounds too outrageous to be true.
First off, as a mechanic I can assure you that you can replace every part in your entire brake system for about $200. I just replaced my front pads. It cost $17.
The other costs listed are also totally outrageous. Someone is ROYALLY ripping you off.
Also, I can't imagine ONE brake job on an Envoy at 38,000 miles, let alone TWO. My Envoy is approaching 85,000 miles and has NEVER had a brake job (or ANY repairs).
Obviously this vehicle was horribly abused and doubtless heavily damage prior to this commentor buying it. No NEW GM vehicle that is cared for needs brakes before 75,000 to 110,000 miles.
"Obviously this vehicle was horribly abused and doubtless heavily damage prior to this commentor buying it. No NEW GM vehicle that is cared for needs brakes before 75,000 to 110,000 miles."
Mine did. Needed new pads and rotors at 50,000 miles. Never got a chance to replace them a 2nd time because the engine threw a rod at 60,000.
"Both wheel bearings had to be replaced. $1200.00."
Please call me when you need your wheel bearings replaced again. I did this on an Envoy in 1 hour and the parts cost less than $100. I could service your car and retire soon.
"Mine did. Needed new pads and rotors at 50,000 miles. Never got a chance to replace them a 2nd time because the engine threw a rod at 60,000."
If you continually ride your brakes you can even wear out the brakes on a new GM in less than 50,000 miles. Also, failure to change oil often causes premature engine failure. My GM's are meticulously maintained. Even the oldest (9 years old) has never had ANY problems. The front brake pads were replaced at 70,000 miles at a cost of $17. We also had to replace one light bulb, and that's it. No other repairs of ANY kind.
On a more humorous note, my wealthy brother-in-law traded his 2002 Trailblazer (exact same vehicle as the Envoy) in on a new Mercedes in March. The Trailblazer had performed flawlessly for just over 200,000 miles, but he wanted to "upgrade". He bought the $80,000 Mercedes in March. In August he had to have the engine replaced.
"If you continually ride your brakes, you can even wear out the brakes on a new GM in less than 50,000 miles. Also, failure to change oil often causes premature engine failure. My GM's are meticulously maintained. Even the oldest (9 years old) has never had ANY problems. The front brake pads were replaced at 70,000 miles at a cost of $17. We also had to replace one light bulb, and that's it. No other repairs of ANY kind."
Too bad I never rode my brakes and I religiously changed my oil every 3,000 miles. GM sucks.
"Too bad I never rode my brakes and I religiously changed my oil every 3,000 miles. GM sucks."
The previous owners may have horribly abused the car. Either that or your mechanic is telling you that you need work you really don't need. I'm a mechanic and I see these vehicles all the time with way over 70,000 miles with never a single brake job or any other problems. They are incredibly rugged and well built vehicles. The Envoys and Yukons are some of the highest quality SUV's around. I hated to see GM drop the Envoy, which was a very safe and solid truck-based SUV, in favor of the front-drive Acadia.
"The previous owners may have horribly abused the car. Either that or your mechanic is telling you that you need work you really don't need. I'm a mechanic and I see these vehicles all the time with way over 70,000 miles with never a single brake job or any other problems. They are incredibly rugged and well built vehicles. The Envoys and Yukons are some of the highest quality SUV's around. I hated to see GM drop the Envoy, which was a very safe and solid truck-based SUV, in favor of the front-drive Acadia."
I bought it brand new! And I brought it back to the Chevy dealer that I bought it from each time something went wrong! The final straw was when it threw a rod at 61,000 miles. Yeah, you're right, that doesn't require a repair. Not.
AND, if they really are so "rugged" then why was mine constantly breaking? And even if I had bought it used, if it was so rugged, wouldn't it have survived the previous owners neglect?
Comment 17:44 makes a good point. However a major clue may be found in the statement "I brought it back to the Chevy dealer every time something went wrong". Dealers make huge amounts of money even off warranty repairs. It is not AT ALL unusual for them to tell owners they need all sorts of things they don't need. On occasion, a dealer service department may even deliberately sabotage a customer's car to get them to bring it back for yet more expensive repairs. A local Ford dealership in my area is notorious for telling customers they need repairs they don't need and sabotaging their cars. It happened to my neighbor, who is a jet-engine mechanic and who meticulously services his own vehicles. A transmission line was loosened on purpose. Fortunately he discovered it before his transmission was ruined. I have bought cars from that dealership but drive 20 miles further to get my Fords serviced at a dealership that is honest.
As a mechanic myself, I find the Trailblazer, Envoy and Rainier (all are the same vehicle) to be some of the best built vehicles on the road. None of these vehicles should require brake pads before 50,000 except under the very most severe driving conditions (towing or constantly riding the brakes). A very common practice of many dealers and shops is to tell people they need brakes when there is a good 50,000 miles of wear left on the pads. I've never even heard of one of these vehicles having a rod bearing failure. I'm definitely NOT saying that the commenter is not being truthful, I'm merely suggesting that he may have been the victim not of a bad car, but a very dishonest dealership. Sadly, it happens all too often. I always shop more carefully for service than I do for the car itself.
"As a mechanic myself, I find the Trailblazer, Envoy and Rainier (all are the same vehicle) to be some of the best built vehicles on the road. None of these vehicles should require brake pads before 50,000 except under the very most severe driving conditions (towing or constantly riding the brakes). A very common practice of many dealers and shops is to tell people they need brakes when there is a good 50,000 miles of wear left on the pads. I've never even heard of one of these vehicles having a rod bearing failure. I'm definitely NOT saying that the commenter is not being truthful, I'm merely suggesting that he may have been the victim not of a bad car, but a very dishonest dealership. Sadly, it happens all too often. I always shop more carefully for service than I do for the car itself."
Is that what this was all about? This has been a big misunderstanding. I'm am the writer of the comments stating I had an engine rod failure at 60,000 miles. However, this was NOT a Trailblazer (or similar) that I owned. It was a 1995 Chevrolet Lumina. Biggest hunk of junk I ever owned.
I posted that on here because it put me off of ALL Chevy vehicles for good. It was also a response to the fact that somebody stated the GM vehicles never needed new brake pads before 70,000 miles. I was stating that my GM vehicle (that Lumina) DID need brake pads before 70,000 miles.
And it DID throw a rod at 60,000 miles. Happened as I was driving down the interstate. Not rushing, actually going fairly smoothly and was probably only going about 60 MPH, when the rod shot through the top of my hood and was launched sky high. I actually laughed at the time.
And maybe the dealer was just ripping me off, but the fact that they would do that STILL gives me a bad feeling about Chevy.
"I was stating that my GM vehicle (that Lumina) DID need brake pads before 70,000 miles."
Sometimes smaller cars DO require brake pads more often due to the use of much smaller pads. Our Honda required brake pads every 30,000 miles in very mild driving conditions. Of course it was a very poorly built car designed to require far more maintenance than any domestic. Our Ford, GM and Chrysler vehicles have never required any repairs of any kind before 70,000-100,000 miles. In 240,000 miles our Dodge only required 2 brake jobs. Our current GM vehicle has over 80,000 miles and has never had ANY repairs of any kind.
"Of course it was a very poorly built car designed to require far more maintenance than any domestic."
Right, so that's why my Honda went 400,000 miles with zero repairs while my Dodge required 2 transmissions within 70,000 miles?
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