Tranmission completely came apart at 60,000 miles, no warning whatsoever.
Really liked this car when I bought it - in fact, I had driven a rental car the same as this and liked it so much I went out and bought this car.
Car drove fantastic until one day on a highway trip the "check engine" light comes on and goes off a few minutes later. Manual lists a few things it could be, such as gas cap not on tight, etc. Well, checked those things and everything looked good. Came on and went off again, manual says if it does this to get it checked out whenever convenient for emissions. All of a sudden, a loud noise and high revs from the engine, in a construction zone with no shoulder! Luckily I was able to coast up to the next exit, and coast down the ramp into a gas station.
No transmission at all. The dealer codes say that the check engine light codes were overheating of the transmission - funny how the manual doesn't warn you of that.
After a complete transmission overhaul the tranny was beginning to go out again less than 15k miles later.
Other than that, this was a comfortable car with good gas mileage and decent power, and looked good too.
I recently had a Lumina rental for a week. It was an OK car, but I wouldn't run out and buy one. Decent power and handling, poor seating position. GM cheap hard plastic throughout the cabin.
The best rental cars I've had, have always been Camry's and Corolla's.
I don't even own a Japanese car, but these are two of the best vehicles on the market, especially when you take price into consideration.
These transmissions should not easily overheat, especially when in overdrive mode at highway driving. If it overheats like this I'm pretty sure that you have been running low on oil. Smaller amounts of oil means hotter oil, and your trans will slowly but surely die. Unfortunately many of these transmissions leaks oil, my old Corsica does that and I add oil about three times a year. You must regularly check your oil level not only on your engine, but also on your transmission. Also service the transmission every 3 years with new oil and filter.
These transmissions can either pack in at an early stage or go on forever depending on your maintenance effort. You should ask yourself why your transmission went at 60.000 while my transmission is still going strong at 230.000.
At 251,000 miles my tranny still shifts beautifully. I like my lumina work car better than I do my every day car.
I have a 92 Lumina 3.1 with 230000. The transmission still shifts great, and car runs great, and I beat the hell out of it. I LOVE MY CHEVYS.
Joe.
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