2003 S-10 Repairs
All vehicles break down sooner or later. This much is a fact of life. So is
the fact that your vehicle will probably break down in the pouring rain on the
side of an Interstate or when you are already 10 minutes late to something.
;-)
For the most part my S-10 has been very reliable. However, there has
been at least one major problem. The truck has also been involved in a small
accident in a parking lot.
Problem #1 - Electrical
Failure
After coming home from work one day for lunch, I got back in
the truck and started to back out of the driveway only to have it stall. I
didn't think much of it and the truck restarted immediately. I made it down
perhaps two blocks before the whole thing happened again. The second time I
could not get the truck started. It was completely dead. I pushed it back into
the yard and left it there until the dealership could come and look at
it.
The truck came back to life for the dealership mechanic, who could
not find anything wrong. The dealership kept my truck for a few days to see if
it would happen again. I spent those few days driving a red Buick and the truck
would not misbehave for the dealership, so in a few days I returned the loaner
car and took my truck back.
Things were fine for a few weeks and then
there was trouble again. The dealership kept my truck for another few days while
I got a green Buick. Still it would not fail for them.
Finally a
breakthrough came. The truck died repeated times in the parking lot where I
work, just across from the dealership. This time it did not fail to act up for
the mechanic who came to see what was wrong.
The diagnosis? I spent a
week driving a dark green Buick while a wiring harness under the battery was
replaced. I was also told that the engine computer was replaced. All of this was
covered under the GM new vehicle warranty. To date there have been no further
problems with this.
Problem #2
Driver's side door lock is
sticking. Started during the winter of 2003 and has been going to the present.
The problem is far worse in cold weather and the only way to open the door is to
unlock the passenger's side door and pop the lock hanlde manually. The
dealership replaced some parts in the door, which helped, but the problem still
exists. This too has been covered under warranty, but is not completely
addressed yet. The problem is tolerable though, so I will not worry too much
about it unless it should become worse.
Apart from these problems, my
truck has been extremely reliable and so far, only a few trivial repairs have
been made...mostly to the paint, which has been abused a bit from time to time.
Problem #3
The driver's side power window motor has passed away. The dealership fixed this promptly, but until they did I missed my window very badly.
Problem #4
One keyless entry remote has gone loopy and periodically makes the vehicle do crazy things, like sound the alarm. The other (much less used) remote on my spare set of keys doesn't have these problems and I have replaced the battery on the "bad" remote with no change in behavior. I haven't yet done anything about this problem.
Problem #5
Something is rattling in the passenger's side door. Slapping the door makes it go away, but I need to be getting it fixed...