Chevy Colorado Vibration

[augdog]

Found another place where it might be helpful to lodge a complaint. WWW.NHTSA.GOV. (National Highway Transportation and Safety agency) It's a pretty cool site. You can search and read complaints filed with them on any year, make and model vehicle as well as leaving your own complaint. You can also seach for service bulletin info the manufacturer has put out on the vehicle.
Noticed my vibration from the very first mile. I test drove two extended cabs at the dealership, cause they didn't have any reg cabs. They both drove excellant. I had the dealer locate mine, reg cab. It was late when I went to pick it up and sign the papers so I didn't have a chance to test drive it. Boy was I stupid!

[mhinkley]

I first noticed the shimmy in mine at about 800 miles, although the dealer is telling me all of them do this, they had me drive another regular cab which only had 22 miles on it and it did it but not as bad as mine. I told them that I would have turned right around if I felt it doing it when i took delivery.

Indysmith - Do you know what they did to determine it was the drive shaft? It sounds Chevy may have gotten a bunch of bad drive shafts from their supplier.

Thanks for the information I'll print this thread as well for use when I go to the dealer this Friday.

[indysmith]

The dealer didn't let me know how they found out the drive shaft was bad but they seemed surprised. I expect GM is keeping this problem to themselves hoping it will go away and not even letting the dealers know that it exist. Since the dealer told me that this part is on national backorder, GM knows that they have alot of bad drive shafts for the regular cab truck.

[mhinkley]

Found this clip on the NHTSA's web site. Looks like the Colorado's cousin (GMC Canyon) also has the problem. No suprise there since they are the same.

"PURCHASED 2004 CANYON CREW CAB WITH 2.8L 4 CYLINDER, AUTOMATIC AND 1SC SLE OPTION PACKAGE. TRUCK APPEARS TO HAVE VIBRATION IN BODY THAT OCCURS AT DIFFERENT SPEED WHEN A STEADY SPEED IS HELD. USUALLY SHAKES/VIBRATION IS MOST NOTICEABLE AT 50~60 RANGE. HAVE HAS TIRES REPLACED TWICE, WHEELS CHECKED AND DEALER HAS BEEN UNABLE TO FIND SOURCE OF PROBLEM AFTER OVER 5,000 MILES. PROBLEM APPEARS TO BE DESIGN FLAW IN CANYON SUSPENSION DESIGN. CURRENTLY IN DEALER FOR THIRD VISIT TO TRY AND CORRECT. TRUCK HAS HAD PROBLEM SINCE DAY ONE AND PER DEALER SERVICE MANAGER ALL OF HIS TRUCKS ON LOT HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEMS. *JB "

[mhinkley]

Got my colorado back from another dealer after Chevy suggested getting a second opinion. They did not resolve the problem. I called Chevy again today so we'll see what happens next.

I noticed that this thread is getting a lot of views so I can only assume that a lot of people have this problem and are hitting this thread when doing a web search. If you are reading this and have the same problem I urge you to go to your dealer and if they can't fix it call Chevrolet at 800-222-1020 and open a case with them.

[Hootiehoot]

Originally Posted by indysmith

I took mine to the dealer the second time for vibration, along with a printout of this thread. They decided to take a look at the driveshaft and called me to say "It really is the driveshaft!". They ordered a new driveshaft but said it is on a national backorder. I suggest anyone with a regular cab Colorado to print out this thread and give it to the service manager and get your truck fixed. If they still don't want to check out the driveshaft, there is always the customer satisfaction survey they send you that gets their attention.

I have an extended cab and it ran fine for 17000 miles and then I noticed the left front tire on the inside was wearing off. Took it to the dealer and they told me there was a service bulletin on it and it seems that the tires are defective! GM has to decide what new tires to put on these trucks and when they do they'll replace em all! Never had any vibration at all. So now i'm waiting for 4 new tires. GM doesn't have a fix and I guess they'll just keep replacing tires eh? Defective tires..he told me that the rubber heats up and then bubbles and wears off..they say its the tires problem......

[augdog]

I got the same story last week from the service manager where I brought my truck from. I called to ask him if he had found out anything from GM on this vibration problem. He told me GM will be broadening its service bulletin, from a previous tire problem with certain Z71 models, to include all Colorados. He said the rubber material in the existing tires is to hard, and GM engineers are scrambling to find a suitable tire for the truck. After showing him this thread, I asked him why he couldn't just order me a new drive shaft since other dealerships in the automotive forum thread were doing that. He told me that the drive shaft was an expensive item and GM would be ticked if he ordered one. I wonder why I brought the expensive extended warrenty, they will take your money but don't want to spend any money trying to fix the problem.

[PANTHER8]

Originally Posted by augdog

I got the same story last week from the service manager where I brought my truck from. I called to ask him if he had found out anything from GM on this vibration problem. He told me GM will be broadening its service bulletin, from a previous tire problem with certain Z71 models, to include all Colorados. He said the rubber material in the existing tires is to hard, and GM engineers are scrambling to find a suitable tire for the truck. After showing him this thread, I asked him why he couldn't just order me a new drive shaft since other dealerships in the automotive forum thread were doing that. He told me that the drive shaft was an expensive item and GM would be ticked if he ordered one. I wonder why I brought the expensive extended warrenty, they will take your money but don't want to spend any money trying to fix the problem.

A vibration problem is just one of many on my 2004 Chevy Colorado. I printed this thread, and took it to my local dealer and they said I was jumping on the bandwagon. Good Times! Both front shocks went out at 525 miles. I had oil all over my garage floor. The fuel gauge stopped working at 525 miles. Both front tires are cupping. I have a vibration at 45 -55mph . But I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Service bulliten 8/17 says GM knows there is a problem with the tires. The problem is, they don't know how to fix it. They are going to replace two of my tires, people what sense does that make? They won't replace the driveshaft, because GM says it's not a problem. Good Times!!I

[capemike]

Last month I also bought a new Colorado. On the way home from the dealer I had this wierd vibration at 55-60. I took it back two days later, and they said they couldn't find anything, but balanced all the tires. It still does it. But thanks to all of the posts on this, I can now go back and tell them to install a new driveshaft! Thanks!!

[benandkimp]

We bought a 2004 Colorado over Labor Day.... and so far the dealership has had it for 21 days fot he vibration problem. Ours is so bad it feels like a vibrating chair at the mall.

Our dealership has given us 4 new tires & done a radial balance. No help so far. They claim the drive shaft is ok.

We have gotten a claim in with GM, who actually tried to tell us we needed to wait for a recall.

Um, no, I dont think so. We ended up talking to a manager of a manager, who is supposedely talking to their tech people, as our dealership has no clue how to fix the problem.

[PANTHER8]

I feel your pain: I haven't seen my truck for 14 days now! The lastest problem is a water leak under the wiper blades. They forgot to caulk the seem on the body, so now the entire floor of my truck is completely saturated in water. [b] Since purchasing my truck in May 2004:
Both front shocks have been replaced- Leaking Oil
The fuel tank has been dropped twice, to fix a fuel guage problem, and hesitation problem
Front wheel alignment- tires still wearing
Door handle replaced- just came off?
All four tires have been replaced and balanced- to eliminate vibration
One wheel - Paint coming off
Still has a vibration at 45-55 mph!
New body caulk under wipers!
Waiting on new flooring! 14 days and waiting!
The oil is still good, because I don't even have 3000 miles on the truck yet! I'm just thankful that my other vehicle is a Toyota!
I hope to let everyone know how bad these trucks really are!!!

[jmrev]

it seems like this is a factory problem, you guys are better of conplaining to gm motors

[PANTHER8]

Update on my Colorado. When the dealer went to replace the flooring in my Colorado, they noticed a problem with the passenger seat belt. The main bolt holding the belt to the floor was two turns from coming out. After two turns, they noticed that it was broken off at the factory. The dealer could have possibly saved the life of my wife or son. GM must not care about the safety of my family! I have this problem in writing from the dealer!

[benandkimp]

We finally got a GM rep to come see our truck at the dealership.

Just as a recap, we have had the truck since 09/08/04. Truck has been at dealership for 21 days... bad vibration issues. They have replaced all 4 tires & done radial balance & tests. The dealerhsip was refusing to do anything else, because they didnt know how to fix it.

After at least a dozen calls to GM, speaking to 5 different reps at GM, they finally sent someone to see the truck.

The GM rep has ordered the dealership to give us new tires by a different company before the end of the week, and if that doesnt fix it (which I doubt it will) she will come again.

GM really made us mad.... they wouldnt do ANYTHING at first... they actually tried to say that all trucks vibrate, and then they claimed that we needed to wait for a recall or service bulletin. We had to threaten them with the lawyer/lemon law for us to get somewhere.

So, everyone with vibration issues... take note... they KNOW there is an issue... but are not willing to fix it unless you really push them.

[PigPen5150]

Here you see one of the best arguements about not buying the first model year of a new vehicle.