Odd question for you. Discovered through an Onstar call that I have a 100k Powertrain warranty. Guess buying a used 2009 from dealer gives you gratis Onstar and even XM trial for a bit. Anyway, I'm reading ALOT about the CV joints, transfer case and other issues. I'm paranoid and might be hearing binding or crunching every now and then. The reverse for >30+ feet trick after switching back into 4 High seems to clear but I'm not 100% sure.

With this warranty, which I believe expires in January, would it be worth my time and possible $$$ to make a dealership visit to have a Powertrain "inspection" so to speak? I'd love to get free fixes now rather than pay later but wonder if this proactive approach is even possible or worth the gamble should nothing be wrong. Does this make sense the way I've outlined it? Bottom line I really feel like taking in to have fluid and lube change across CV, Xfer, Differential and any other just to be safe as a "new" used car. Probably like a 60k service, which happens to be my mileage.

Would this be worth it or advised? Is there even such a thing as "lube me up everywhere" or would I need to specify exactly what and where I want?

Thoughts?

 

Not a bad idea if you go to a good dealer. Make sure you can duplicate the noise on demand. A good dealer will take a more detailed look and one that doesn't have a clue will say that is normal for the vehicle. In some cases that is true, but if it is something that has not been occurring before, it is worth looking into. Good Luck.

 

Your general idea is not bad, but like my grandfather said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

So you pull in to the dealer and say..... nothing is wrong, everything works, but I hear a crunching noise (as described by you), they take it in find nothing and charge you for your piece of mind inspection.

You can't pre-fix something. Kinda like shoveling your driveway the day before it snows... you pushed the snow shovel around, but the next day it still has snow on it.

Moral of the story, chit happens, fix it when it does, enjoy it while it works.

 

1., taking it to a dealer for lube is a giant $ exposure

2., you need to determine the noise/crunch cause,find out if you are actually in lock mode.its ez to do a positive test.

 

Depends on the dealer. See if you can find a way to make the sound appear on-demand, that could help a ton.

 

, once more,you need to know if its really in lock mode, not hard to do.
then you can make intelligent decisions.

 

Yes, just what they said, and also, if you take it in and it's still under warrantee and there's something that needs replaced at least it will be covered.
Other than that. dont fix it if it ain't broken, just like doc says.

And the fluids. You can save a lot by changing yourself.
I have not brought our h3 in to a shop since we bought it. I have fixed everything and done all services myself. which on this vehicle I never thought I would be able to when we bought it. But There's a wealth of info on this site if you do some searching you can find out how to do it yourself. You will find posts where people took pictures and tell you how to do something step by step.

I try to return the favor whenever I fix something on ours by taking pics while I'm doing it to help others out like I've been helped here.

Just to give you an idea. Before I found this site I was having an issue and had no idea what it was. Took it in to the shop. they told me it was one of the coil packs and it was going to cost me $187 to fix it. I told them I'd have to wait to fix it because I didn't have enough money to pay for that fix. Went straight to advance Auto and bought the coil pack for 45 dollars, went home, took 10 minutes to replace the coil pack.

So you see it really saves money doing things yourself. So they were going to charge me $142 in labor for a 10 minute job. Just terrible. And a lot of shops will do that to you. And yes, a lot of shops will treat you right, but I would have been really pissed if I would have had them fix it and then found out later that I could have done it a lot cheaper. But since that day, I found this site and haven't taken it in to anybody to work on. and fluid changes are easy. You can do it yourself. But I guess if money isn't an issue then have them do it.

The other reason I like to do things myself is when I do it myself I know what's been done, and how I do it. and I know it was done right.

My sister had her tires rotated by some shop last year. Of course while working on that they tried to tell her several things were wrong with her car. And that the air filter needed replaced and also the pcv valve. Both of which I had just replaced the week before. So you see how dishonest these shops can be. It gets better.....................The next day while driving to work her tire just falls off of the car. Ruined all 4 studs. Dented her fender and bent the tie rod. They didn't tighten the lug nuts when rotating the tires. She could have been dead because some idiot didn't know what they were doing. The policeman that came to file the report checked the other tires and he loosened the lug nuts on the other front tire with his fingers. He was immediately pissed because he knew they forgot to tighten them, and said she was lucky to be alive. So that's another reason I do everything I can myself. You never know what the quality of work is.