1999 GMC Sonoma from North America - Comments

Third door latch has broken.

Emergency brake doesn't work.

Manual transmission just quit working, at the the tune of $1900.00 to get fixed.

What next?

The truck is nice looking, but that is as far as it goes. GM has a lot of nerve asking the price they do for their product. I have been buying their products for as long as I can remember, this will stop, reason being, they're not getting better, as the years go by they're getting worse.

Not a happy camper...

It is very simple problems here. This individual cannot take care of his truck. I have a 1999 Sonoma with over 150,000 miles on it and its been great and very reliable. Other than some interior problems, there is nothing major wrong with this truck. The windshield wiper module goes out at about 90K miles and that's the biggest interior problem I've had. Its performance is great, as well as reliability and comfort. I have a manual transmission just the same as this person, but for some reason I have about twice as many miles on mine, and I still haven't had anything wrong with my transmission. Other than the usual clutch jobs.

I'm the Original owner of 2 GMC Sonoma's (1999 - Red 2.2L Standard & 2000 - Silver 2.2L Standard)

We (Myself and the Red truck and My girlfriend with the silver) all live together in North Central Florida. Both trucks are subjugated to all terrain conditions; sugar sand, slick mud, dry mud, several thousand-pot holes of various calibers etc.

1999 = 88,000 miles originally purchased in San Diego, CA.

2000 = 62,000 miles originally purchased in Gainesville, FL.

1999 LIST of HEADACHES, ISSUES and "oops... My-Bad":

3 REPLACED Batteries (2 AC Delco)

4 NEW tires (55,000 miles)

12 oil changes

4 Lob / points

2 replaced air filter

1 HOW DID THAT HAPPEN - rear main brake line (snapped it above the axel) -

1 CD Player no longer functions (58,000 miles)

2 Both Right and Left sheet metal split in the rear wheal well connected to the support arm.

1 REPLACED 1st Muffler pipe (from engine block to C. Converter) This Muffler has snapped several welds at the Flange flexible mesh area. I'm beginning to think their may be a design flaw at work. I've purchased a new pipe for $140.00 which is better than GMC $185.00 for just the 1st pipe?!.

1 STILL BROKEN emergency brake. I believe the oil blew out of the pedal assembly under the dashboard. I FEAR trying to fix it.

2 Adjustment handles to the seats Capt. and Passenger hands broke off at the wick!

3 whiter blades

3 sets of spark plugs (I think cylinder 3 has a stuck plug)?

1 new spark plug wire set

3 fuses to my cigarette and auxiliary power thingy's.

2000 Sonoma:

3rd door rung broken. the driver's door is practically hanging on for dear life.

2 batteries (1 a/c Delco)

Snapped welds on the left and right corners of the bed. Had them welded an GM.. Snapped again.

2 Both Right and Left sheet metal split in the rear wheal well connected to the support arm.

1 REPLACED by GMC Fuel sensor... it only took 12 stalls, 3 flat bed removals and 6 trips to the GM Dealer to get resolved over a period of 8 months.

I thought we had a clutch problem so my girlfriend and her girlfriend went to the Dealer in Gainesville FL to ask him his opinion... he took their keys and the ladies returned in 45 minutes later and the mechanic stated that he disassembled, examined and reassembled the Clutch system and believes a new clutch job is in order. The manager agrees with the Mechanic and says that the clutch is not covered under warranty and it will be something like $300 - $400 and a week to repair. Hummm. Well they did not have the time or money to do what was suggested and instead we luckily ran into our friends brother whom happens to be a 40 year Senior Master Clutch Mechanic out of New York. After visually examining the underbelly and laughing about how the nuts had not even been touched he test drove the truck and came back. He said... "Perfect Clutch - Smooth. You're just heavy footed... I'll stake my name on it."

Sorry I digressed.

That's it.

David

DavidWHawley@msn.com.

Me Again... David Hawley and now its 8/21/05.

My 1999 sonoma has over 100,000 now and doing well.

This morning I went after the frozen spark plug... I hesitated to do this project for fear of snapping it off... well it did not snap off... the spark plug came back half smoth... (visualize were the threads should be and instead you have smooth metal gleaming back at you)... yep and then I TRIED to put in a fresh Dual Platinum spark plug in the well and... NOPE... not going to happen... so I did the logical thing... I replaced the other three sparkplugs to get a feel for the well and then as the spark plug was lowerd into the STRIPED WELL I used a hammer on the other end of my 12" ratched and carefully tapped and twist - tap and twist until the threads caught and I was able to ratchet the spark plug down. Yep it worked. I have no Idea whats going to happen when it comes time to replace this spark plug... I'm very fearful. I think it would be wise of me to start saving a few thousand dollars to simply replace my engine... because it's going to have to be removed to fix the problem anyways... I've heard that a 6 cyl will fit a 4cyl truck... ANYBODY KNOW OF THIS???

David of San Diego... No longer in florida.

David,

It doesn't make any sense to talk about replacing the engine for a simple problem like a stripped spark plug thread.

At worst you might need to replace only the cylinder head, but a good engine repair man can replace the insert in an hour or two.

It's no big deal.

You just need to find a qualified person to do it.

Hey, Sounds Like you either are just really bored and have nothing better to do. Cause half the stuff you listed are materials that are common to replace. I HAD a 99 GMC highrider 80 some thousand miles on it. Transmission went out, even though I blew the torque converter and 1st and 2nd were fried it still got me 600 more miles! I was on a trip and had nowhere to stop to work on it. Later on Hurricane Katrina came in and swept it away so I'm looking for a new one. Sorry about your luck. If you don't like em go buy a toyota.

Jared.