Comments: 1-15, 16-21
First off, it was my manifold gasket, with water leaking into the engine, causing the oil to fill with water.
Then, my catalytic converter has gone to oblivion, porcelain parts loose and banging around in my cat and muffler.
Now I just received an estimate for my ball joints, idler arm, and pitman arm, well let's just say it's gonna cost me over 1800.00 to replace it all. I spent 850.00 on the coolant, manifold gasket, and green replacement antifreeze. Yes, DEX-COOL is very, shall I say, "Crap".
I will never own one of these again. Honda, here I come. Bah!!
I think its horrible you'd rather drive a honda...horrible.
I think almost owning any other car is better than owning a Jimmy. If you've owned one of these nightmares you would understand. Thank you!
Ball joints and hub bearing assembly gm should recall these, spent over $1000 and these things are designed to last just over 1 year enough to void the warranty before needing to be replaced again, gm dealer shrugs and rubs their hands toghether what a joke! buy toytoa honda or nissan, no wonder gm is bankrupt!
Oh my I just found some interesting information about the problems you are having with your Jimmy. The first thing is that there apparently is this thing called "preventative routine maintenance" it is very very affordable and prevents (theres that word again) the total destruction of parts on your vehicle. Hey now aren't you supposed to replace the $70 cat every 4 years or 80,000km to insure correct flow and EPA standards are met. as far as the ball joints, idler arm, and pitman arm that is usually caused by lack of greasing, maintenance as well as severely abusive driving, load limit overages and bad tire alignment, another contributing factor is usually the spindle or hub assembly witch costs $85 per side (oh no I'm going broke here) a bad bearing in the hub assembly would cause a mild wheel wobble and put excessive pressure on the ball joints, tie rods, wheels, rims, struts, sway bars and various other components... so you see by doing the "preventative routine maintenance" both me and my uncle have had no troubles with our and we both own 1996 GMC Jimmy SLT's his has 231,843km and mine has 187,927km.
Honda's are decent cars, but your jimmy could have given you years of great driving if you just take care of the thing. I will never understand why people will buy a car then spend the next 5 years beating the hell out of it then complain when it breaks, but like my grandfather always says "make something idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot". Enjoy spending another $30,000 on something you won't take care of.
Daughter's family own a 1997 Jimmy and the thing is always being worked on. I won't say fixed as there never seems to be an end to problems. Ball joints, idler arms, pitman arm, air conditioning, radiator and CD player to name a few.Don't say it's lack of preventative maint. as it's always been greased and lubed and oil changed. Just a very poor vehicle.
Just had another shocker from the garage - this time the water pump and manifold gasket. the jimmy has always been serviced and looked after, but has had a history of expensive failings, starting with a new transmission at 70k. bad design always seems to make even the most simple repair much more complicated - if your fuel pump goes you'll know what I mean. if you're reading this to see if a jimmy is for you, i'd advise you to take your hard earned cash elsewhere.
Two friends of mine have a 1996 Jimmy and a 1996 Blazer. All they do is put money into these things. They both say to avoid them like the plague.
Look at Consumer Reports, they're junk trucks. Get a Jeep if you want to go offroad and get a Honda/Toyota/Ford/or anything else if you want something more reliable.
I have a 1996 GMC Jimmy with 160,000 miles and it's a total piece of crap!!! I have had nothing, but problems since the day I bought it!!! I have ea family of mechanics and they recomend never purchasing a jimmy!!!
My GM Jimmy is a poorly designed vehicle. The problems never seem to end. If you are considering buying a Jimmy, you are making a mistake. Talk to someone who owned one. I am waiting to meet someone who has not had a list of problems with a mid-size Jimmy. I really do understand nothing lasts forever. I will never own one again. My next SUV will be a Toyota. People who own a Toyota claim they are reliable. They also say they will buy another one. I wish I could say the same for the GM Jimmy. It is no wonder the American car makers are broke. Look at the mileage the foreign vehicles have on them. It really is common sense.
I have a 95 jimmy, do all the preventative work and actually take care of it and have never had a problem with it...180k miles and all happy times sad to see no one else shares the love.
I am a mechanic in the united states marine corps. I have touched everything from imports to boats. I myself own a 95 gmc jimmy slt. I have 160,000 miles and the truck runs like a champ. At a mechanics perspective, I will tell you that the Gmc jimmy was not as bad as you claim it is. Truth is that cutting corners and human error happens a lot at shops. And when you take your vehicle in for a oil change, don't always think that your joints are being greased. Accessibility for ball joints, tie rods, idle arms, pitman arm is a pain sometimes. I would not doubt that it doesn't get done, or the hard ones to reach get skipped. Point is that your water pump costs 30 dollars. And you can buy at least 4 for the price of one Honda pump. So if you take the time to grab a chilton's manual, you would see that the gmc jimmy has less steps then a import for replacing parts. Parts are cheaper, time spent on replacement is a lot less. I have hit a house with my jimmy at 60mph. I drove it home without a tow and a scratch. The front sheet metal unbolted and I threw the damage in the garbage. No frame damage and I spent 1,200 to bring it back to stock. Damage for a body shop was 5,600. Call it luck, but your future purchase of a import would never stand a chance. Because when you crash a import, it's like crashing a motorcycle. It's never the same and it remains a lemon. So I would do the research before you jump to conclusions. If you don't do the work on the car yourself, then you will never know what is being done behind closed shop doors.
Poor Tranny's? Look at the part number its the exact same tranny as whats in the 96 corvette except for 1 part, the vette has an aluminum sprag gear and the jimmy has a nylon, I've replaced mine with the aluminum part and I bang second gear all day. I have 180,000 on it with lots of perf upgrades and the only problem I've have thus far is the water pump.
I have a 96 Jimmy and am very sad to be getting rid of it. It has 180,000 miles on it and still runs fairly well. I have had problems with freeze out plugs going out, replaced the radiator, fuel pump and water pump... and that's it! I think that's pretty good for such an old truck. At 180,000, I'm beginning to think I'm on borrowed time and need to get something new. I'm hoping to find something that will go and go like my Jimmy.
Hey guys, I got to admit I was scared to buy mine for 2500 when I saw it had 230,000 miles on it. So far I've wrecked it. And it cost only 400 bucks to pull the frame out 2 an 1/2 inches. Bought some new tires for two hundred and other the the minor maintenance, I've had no problems. Now I'm at 274,000 and going strong.
I bought a '96 Jimmy in Dec 2005. I had nothing but problems. However I am getting through them. Whats left to fix? Hmmmm, let me see; ball joints are worn, and steering wheel had 4 inches of play on it. Brakes have been replaced, shoes and all. AND they still make a noise. Its heavy on gas; could do with a tune. My Jimmy refuses to go over 110k per hour. Is this right? It should go faster than this... The air con is just mildly cold. The battery lasts 5 minutes, then I need a jump start... This has already had a new engine block and rad.
I cannot afford anything else... what should I do? Please keep it real.