GreenDen07
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Posts
- 11
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Well, hello ladies and gentleman - this is my first GM forum.
I hope I don't have too much to talk about. I do a lot of my own maintenance. The most fun I had on our Villager was replacing some A/C lines, including the 4 coolant & A/C lines to the back unit and recharging it, and, replacing the 3 "rear" injectors buried under the intake manifold...only #3 was bad, but it was such a pain I did all of 'em of course. Motor mounts and a left front axle and ball joint were pretty easy.
I've read about the rear window heater cord needing re-soldering (so does mine - bought it that way), and battery problems. Experienced that Fri evening after playing with the radio/DVD, NAV, other stuff inside for 3 hours, and then noticed the dome lights had dimmed...and the starter hardly moved. To be fair, all the electrical items shut off 3 different times while I was playing. It did start the next morning, however, so after reading about the battery problems, I'll just be careful not to play with it much with the engine off.Don't know if it's had the TSB fix yet, or any for that matter. When I take it in for the cord, I'll have them check it all. My Army son is real good friends with the sales manager, so I'm not expecting any problems dealing with them.
My dad had a lot of Chevys, mostly 2-4 years old when bought, and all V-8's :
1) his 1st car was a new blue '52 Plymouth (6-cyl)
2) 2nd was a white/blue '58 Olds
3) 3rd, a white '60 Bel Air with airliner-style seat belts
4) 4th, a black '65 station wagon w/out A/C (in Nebraska, so the summer's weren't too bad), but fancier seat belts with the GM logo on the push-to-release buttons
5) 5th, a brand new gold '69 Kingswood (not the Estate). No power windows yet, but A/C !!! And an FM radio!!! I'd learned how to play drums, and was in a 4-H concert/marching band, so we carried a lot of drum equipment. Loved that 2-way tailgate - Ford had a similar 2-way, then 3-way, gate for more years.
6) '74 Chevelle Wagon
7) Fuel Crisis - '76 Datsun of some kind (plus I was now married and out of the house)
8) finally, about 3 different Chevy trucks and 2 Buicks until he was told to quit driving
Many uncles also drove Chevy's when I was a little kid. I still recall seeing, in the early 1960's, during family get-togethers, a '55, '56 Wagon, '57, '58 Biscayne, cars like that. My mother's folks had a '54, '60 Belair, '65 Chevelle (learned to drive a stick on that one, as well as on a '49 they acquired from an Aunt that passed away in 1970) and '72 Nova, which they drove until they were 87 (small town) in the mid-90's...and all sticks.
Me:
1) My first car was a '63 Chevy II Nova, in 1970.
2) My next was a fairly new '74 Duster (slant 6, 3-speed) a couple years out of high school (and I never should have let that one go, sorry y'all).
3) The 2nd car I got since being married, with some kids now at that time, was an '84 Celebrity wagon, 4.3L diesel, 3rd seat. Had that for 10 years, and ~130K mi. I did learn how to replace head gaskets on that one. We got 40.0 mpg driving from Ft. Worth to Topeka on our way to Omaha - 20 mph tailwind, and 2 suitcases on top, with A/C running. We had to stop for a bathroom break in Topeka, so filled it up there, otherwise we could've made it to Lincoln. The family were real troopers lasting that long...me and wife and 4 young kids.
4) a 4-yr-old '89 Aerostar - engine was great, but what a transmission and A/C nightmare.
5) a 4-yr-old '95 Villager - still own
Fast forward a few years, and the first car my Army son bought by himself was a Geo Storm. His future wife had one too. Later on, after getting married and now with 3 kids, they've had Pathfinders, a Nissan crew cab, big Jeep, and a Dodge crew cab. 4 years ago they joined the Chevy world - their Suburban's now 4-yrs-old, and also now a new Silverado just this month.
I've always kept my ear out for how GM vehicles have been doing, especially since the '80's, and started liking what I was hearing lately. Our Denali has 73k mi, and is what my daughter and daughters-in-law said my wife wanted. I bought her a used really nice non-GM sedan last year, which we love, but her '95 Villager's getting old (really a Nissan - it's been good to us, hope the Denali is too) and so is my '84 sedan, but I think I'll keep the Villager. And although my wife wanted a mini-van with two side-sliding doors, electric if possible, she basically fell in love with the Tahoe-Yukon / Suburban family after driving our son's Suburban whenever we visited them, or they us.
Tonight, after getting home from something, and checking out more stuff (w/out the engine running again, but only for a few minutes this time) I heard some weird chirping-type sound that seemed to often coincide with some of the selections I was making on the NAV screen. Turned out to be a frog...outside, near the right front tire.
So, I may be new to this forum, but certainly not to Chevrolet / GM.
I hope I don't have too much to talk about. I do a lot of my own maintenance. The most fun I had on our Villager was replacing some A/C lines, including the 4 coolant & A/C lines to the back unit and recharging it, and, replacing the 3 "rear" injectors buried under the intake manifold...only #3 was bad, but it was such a pain I did all of 'em of course. Motor mounts and a left front axle and ball joint were pretty easy.
I've read about the rear window heater cord needing re-soldering (so does mine - bought it that way), and battery problems. Experienced that Fri evening after playing with the radio/DVD, NAV, other stuff inside for 3 hours, and then noticed the dome lights had dimmed...and the starter hardly moved. To be fair, all the electrical items shut off 3 different times while I was playing. It did start the next morning, however, so after reading about the battery problems, I'll just be careful not to play with it much with the engine off.Don't know if it's had the TSB fix yet, or any for that matter. When I take it in for the cord, I'll have them check it all. My Army son is real good friends with the sales manager, so I'm not expecting any problems dealing with them.
My dad had a lot of Chevys, mostly 2-4 years old when bought, and all V-8's :
1) his 1st car was a new blue '52 Plymouth (6-cyl)
2) 2nd was a white/blue '58 Olds
3) 3rd, a white '60 Bel Air with airliner-style seat belts
4) 4th, a black '65 station wagon w/out A/C (in Nebraska, so the summer's weren't too bad), but fancier seat belts with the GM logo on the push-to-release buttons
5) 5th, a brand new gold '69 Kingswood (not the Estate). No power windows yet, but A/C !!! And an FM radio!!! I'd learned how to play drums, and was in a 4-H concert/marching band, so we carried a lot of drum equipment. Loved that 2-way tailgate - Ford had a similar 2-way, then 3-way, gate for more years.
6) '74 Chevelle Wagon
7) Fuel Crisis - '76 Datsun of some kind (plus I was now married and out of the house)
8) finally, about 3 different Chevy trucks and 2 Buicks until he was told to quit driving
Many uncles also drove Chevy's when I was a little kid. I still recall seeing, in the early 1960's, during family get-togethers, a '55, '56 Wagon, '57, '58 Biscayne, cars like that. My mother's folks had a '54, '60 Belair, '65 Chevelle (learned to drive a stick on that one, as well as on a '49 they acquired from an Aunt that passed away in 1970) and '72 Nova, which they drove until they were 87 (small town) in the mid-90's...and all sticks.
Me:
1) My first car was a '63 Chevy II Nova, in 1970.
2) My next was a fairly new '74 Duster (slant 6, 3-speed) a couple years out of high school (and I never should have let that one go, sorry y'all).
3) The 2nd car I got since being married, with some kids now at that time, was an '84 Celebrity wagon, 4.3L diesel, 3rd seat. Had that for 10 years, and ~130K mi. I did learn how to replace head gaskets on that one. We got 40.0 mpg driving from Ft. Worth to Topeka on our way to Omaha - 20 mph tailwind, and 2 suitcases on top, with A/C running. We had to stop for a bathroom break in Topeka, so filled it up there, otherwise we could've made it to Lincoln. The family were real troopers lasting that long...me and wife and 4 young kids.
4) a 4-yr-old '89 Aerostar - engine was great, but what a transmission and A/C nightmare.
5) a 4-yr-old '95 Villager - still own
Fast forward a few years, and the first car my Army son bought by himself was a Geo Storm. His future wife had one too. Later on, after getting married and now with 3 kids, they've had Pathfinders, a Nissan crew cab, big Jeep, and a Dodge crew cab. 4 years ago they joined the Chevy world - their Suburban's now 4-yrs-old, and also now a new Silverado just this month.
I've always kept my ear out for how GM vehicles have been doing, especially since the '80's, and started liking what I was hearing lately. Our Denali has 73k mi, and is what my daughter and daughters-in-law said my wife wanted. I bought her a used really nice non-GM sedan last year, which we love, but her '95 Villager's getting old (really a Nissan - it's been good to us, hope the Denali is too) and so is my '84 sedan, but I think I'll keep the Villager. And although my wife wanted a mini-van with two side-sliding doors, electric if possible, she basically fell in love with the Tahoe-Yukon / Suburban family after driving our son's Suburban whenever we visited them, or they us.
Tonight, after getting home from something, and checking out more stuff (w/out the engine running again, but only for a few minutes this time) I heard some weird chirping-type sound that seemed to often coincide with some of the selections I was making on the NAV screen. Turned out to be a frog...outside, near the right front tire.
So, I may be new to this forum, but certainly not to Chevrolet / GM.
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