- Posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Looking for Your Input
By Adam Denison
Coordinator, GM Social Media Communications
Hi everyone! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my new daughter (2 weeks old today!) and my family. I also enjoyed picking up a few good deals during Black Friday!
Anyway, we’re working hard on more episodes in the OnStar On Your Side series, but we need some input from our listeners. The topic of an upcoming show deals with auto maintenance. Being new to the car industry, there’s still quite a bit I need to learn about how cars work, so when I go in for an oil change or other minor repairs, it seems the mechanics always try to sell me on something that I “must” have to make my car run better. How much of this is legit and how much of it can be dismissed? Do I really need to have my radiator flushed? What about my engine? How often? Do I really need to change my canooter valve every 3,000 miles?
We’re going to have some experts on the show to talk about what maintenance is necessary and how often you need to do it. They’ll also address what maintenance is completely unnecessary. We’d love for everyone to submit some questions that they’d like us to ask the experts in an upcoming podcast episode. We’ll do our best to have these questions answered during the show. Just submit your questions via the comments on this post.
I’m looking forward to hearing your questions!
28 Comments
Russ
Even if your GM car comes from the assembly plant with standard oil, is it better to switch to a full synthetic like Mobil 1?
My car is rear wheel drive with a limited slip differential. Can changing out the rear diff fluid after a few thousand miles help quiet and smooth out the performance of the rear diff?
Gary Dikkers
Adam,
Of course everyone has to start their careers someplace, but it strikes me as a bit odd that GM would hire someone who admits to a having a deficient knowledge of how cars work.
Were I running a car company, I’d think I’d want to hire only the most knowledgeable car guys who really knew what they are doing.
Are you saying that the service department at your local GM dealer may be less than honest, and be trying to sell unknowledgeable auto owners such as yourself, services and parts you don’t really need?
If you — as a GM employee — get treated that way, don’t you sort of wonder about GM’s dealer service network and how they treat the great unwashed public who are naive about cars and not part of the company?
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
John Nagy
Please let us know the difference between Ceramic brake pads and metallic brake pads. which ones would last longer and which are quiter and stop better?
John Nagy
Gary Dikkers
Mr Denison,
Please correct me if I misunderstood, but you seem to be suggesting that the service department at your local GM dealer tries to sell you parts and services you don’t really need.
To borrow from Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca, I’m shocked, shocked to think an auto dealer service department would stoop to such a practice!
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Adam Denison
Gary,
I think you took what I wrote completely out of context. I was not referring to dealers (never even mentioned it in my post), but rather small auto shops that I have taken my car to in the past. So no, I am NOT saying that my dealer (which happens to be a Saturn dealership) is trying to sell me on services/parts that I may or may not need, but way to try to twist my words to make it sound like that! For the record though, when I do take my 1999 Saturn SL2 into the dealer for routine maintenance I am rarely charged for any services done.
As to your little attack on my “deficient knowledge of how cars work,” I think you have blown this out of proportion too. I’m not a neophyte when it comes cars, but I can’t compete with my engineering colleagues. In my opinion, I’m exactly the kind of person GM should be hiring. I represent a much larger population of car buyers who don’t know a whole lot about how cars work, and as such can offer a unique point of view.
-Adam
Christopher Barger
Gary, you’re kidding me, right? Seriously?
I know that reflexive, knee-jerk disdain for all things GM is your schtick out here. But it’s just wrong to personally attack the credibility and career of a young professional just starting his career path. You distorted Adam’s words to fit your own agenda, making them appear to say what you wanted to hear. His intent was simply to put himself in the shoes of a listener, asking the right questions to try and improve the quality of the podcast he is creating. He said NOTHING about dealers or their credibility. In some circles, it’s considered smart to become better informed before you go to, say, the doctor’s office, to meet with a tax preparer, or yes, your auto mechanic — and that’s what the podcast is intended to help listeners do.
As for your dig at Adam and his fitness to work here… he doesn’t need defending, nor do I owe you ANY defense of who we choose to hire into communications. But your attack was so out of line that I’ll do it anyway. Adam is at GM to be a communications professional — not an engineer, not a designer, not a mechanical technician. He’s more than qualified for this gig; in fact, he’s won several PR industry awards as a rising star in our field. GM needs more people like him; he’s done outstanding work for my team, and I am proud to be associated with him. Ordinarily we don’t publish personal attacks like the one you directed at Adam, but in this case your attack was so egregious that I am choosing to respond publicly.
If you want to keep hating on GM no matter what we do or say, or to keep twisting facts to fit your own agenda, that’s your choice. But when you stoop to personally attacking someone for the simple “sin” of working at GM, taking aim at his credibility and professionalism simply because you don’t like his employer, it’s pretty sad. Pathetic, actually. And I won’t tolerate anyone taking unnecessary personal shots at members of my team. Go ahead and be as irrationally critical of GM as you want. But even one more ad hominem attack on ANYONE in the GM blog community, employee or commenter, and you will force us to block you from this blog — not for criticizing GM (as I am sure you’d position it), but for violating the terms of use and engaging in personal attacks.
In the immortal words of Joseph Welch, “Have you left no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
Christopher
Joe
How accurate, honestly is the Oil Life Indicator on GM vehicles. Should I wait for it to go down to zero before I change? or should I change at 10% to be safe?
And when comparing Tremec’s manual transimissions to GM’s new 6-speed automatic, under similar circumstances, and barring the clutch -disk in the Tremecs, which will last longer? I’ve had a mechanic or two tell me to forget GM’s autos because they die too soon. (not that I believe them)
And I want to make it known that I find it disgusting that this Gary Dikkers person insists on the personal attacks. I didn’t think someone could stoop to such a low level. If you hate GM so much Gary…then leave - I for one, am tired of reading your obsessively negative comments all over the GM blogs.
For what it’s worth, Mr. Denison…Consider me the anti-Gary. And I think it’s pretty cool that you’re asking the public for questions. I’ve submitted mine above.
Thanks for your work, and keep it up!
Talis
Why will GM not equip any car with Bluetooth integration? Yes, I understand that GM developed OnStar and all that goes with it, however; I have a feeling that GM is being its old self again by refusing to admit that there is a better way of doing things.
BMW (the target for at least one GM division) has two systems; Bluetooth integration and SOS. SOS is the BMW version of OnStar, minus the phone.
SOS does everything else, unlocks the car, calls the police if there is an airbag deployment… the whole 9.
So, GM, will there be any luck of using my cell phone WITHOUT having to forward my number to OnStar each time?
Bruce
Just bought a new GM with 5.3/AFM and of course it says to use only 91 octane, I have heard of people using 87 octane and 89 octane with these engines, so does it hurt these new LSX’s to drink a little 87 from time to time ? Thanks and by the way I have enjoyed the 5.3 AFM so far, addicted to the 4/8 mode messages.
Bruce
Darren Jones
I think it would be helpful to understand how the actual vehicle diagnostic system works and what systems and subsystems it checks. Are there any components it does not check which we should be aware of? If the dealer runs a diagnosis are they checking the same data points in the car or different data points?
Thanks Adam.
Gary Dikkers
Mr Barger,
A tip of the hat to you. Adam is lucky to have a boss who will so agressively cover his back and come to his defense.
I’m sorry you perceived my comment as an ad hominem attack against Adam. Although perhaps awkward, I meant it as a comment on the decades-old debate of whether car companies should be organizations primarily of “car guys” or instead beancounters and public relations flacks.
Back in the day when Will Durant, Ransom Olds, the Chevrolet brothers, and Alfred Sloan were laying the foundation for what became the world’s premier auto company, of course the answer would have always been “car guys.”
Certainly I realize that not everyone in GM needs to be a “car guy,” but if I were in charge of hiring, I think my first question at the hiring interview would always be, “Tell me where your passion for cars comes from and describe what you know about cars?” An outfit such as GM that wants to remain No. 1 has to have a shared vision, passion, and knowledge of cars. That’s why I found it odd when Adam said, “…there’s still quite a bit I need to learn about how cars work.”
If Adam felt I was attacking him personally, I apolgize. If I ever run into him, the first round is on me.
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Gary Dikkers
Mr Denison,
Bad assumption on my part. I figured you were talking about GM service departments and technicians. It just flat never occurred to me that a loyal GM employee would be taking his car to small, independent auto repair shops. I apologize for the misunderstanding.
Please share with us the location of this Saturn dealer that doesn’t charge for any services done on a nearly nine year old car.
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Gary Dikkers
Mr Denison,
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t GM already have technical experts writing owner’s maintenance manuals that should answer exactly such questions as what maintenance a car needs and when it should happen?
Unless the operator’s and maintenance manual that comes with each GM car is less than adequate, isn’t a special series to answer those questions redundant?
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Nate
Interesting topic. As someone who has worked on cars a decent amount in the past, I think there are many items you should ask about. In my state they require state inspections, so I wouldn’t bother asking on some of these. Although many times mechanics have suggested parts that are not needed.
I think the real question that needs to be asked is how long you intentend on keeping your car. In my family we typically hang on to cars until they are in the 150K mile range. This being the case we have found that routine maintenence of GM cars is sufficient (for engine and drive train). We change the oil about every 5-7K miles and use Mobil 1, the transmission fluid we change somewhere mid life of the car.
1) How much impact does changing automatic transmission have at even ten thousand mile increments (20,40,60, 80K etc..) have on maintaining the life of the transmissions.
In our experience most GM transmissions we own have gone out between 90K and 150K miles, requiring us to rebuild them.
2)Is this preventable with better maintinence?
3) How much effect does changin the screen and flushing all the fluid out make?
4) Are there any real good ways to keep the seals on the pistons from hardening (vulcanizing) or is this inevitable?
As far as the engine goes we have had minimal problems with them, having 2 GMs in the past 10 years that required engine rebuilds. I can say though that brand of oil and time between changes has an effect on the sludge buildup in engines. Of the two engines I have personally taken apart the one with non synthetic oil had significantly more sludge buildup and slightly more wear.
5) Which oil is the best for the cost (we prefer Mobil 1) what do you mechanics suggest?
6) Are flushes really effective at keeeping the internals of an engine clean?
As to other maintenence, I see additional mechanical items to be minor, some parts develop leaks but most of them hold up well.
Of bigger concern to me on the newer cars are the electronics and interior parts, they are often tougher to get at to fix and usually not repairable, most of the time they need to be replaced.
If there were one question I’d ask GM its why their interior parts can’t be a bit better quality.
I’d also ask a mechanic on things of that nature to see what can be done to prevent interior parts from prematurely wearing out.
Just my thoughts.
gtjeff
Give credit where it is due, you asked for our opinions, something GM is not known for doing.
One important item that is missing from GM maintenance booklets is changing the fuel filter, it is not mentioned at all. Would be useful to add in light of high fuel prices.
Gary, give Adam a break.
JohnP
gtjeff, one thing missing from GM cars is a servicable fuel filter, let alone instructions on how to to remove the fuel tank from teh car-then remove filter from end of submersed pump. We all know how poor gasoline has become over the past several years and how greatly appreaciated an inline- even presserized - fuel filter would be to teh average “car guy” that performs his/her own service and would like to perk up their car’s operation by installing a new fuel filter on an annual basis. It was a necessity less than 20 years ago, I think my 1990 Bonnie was the last car I’ve owned with an owner replacable element.
Nate
I’m not sure how the new GMs are but to my knowledge all the GMs I’ve ever worked on have a small metal can fuel filter. Its easy to change on most cars but can be messy, especially if you don’t like smelling like gas for two days. Additionally I’d like to add that in the older vehicles the filter rarely was replaced. Only one of our vehicles a 1990 K1500 had a big fuel filter problem. We picked up a bad tank of gas and while towing noticed a huge lack of power. Changed the filter out and it was fine. The original filter lasted more then 7 years, so I don’t see it as a big deal.
I think GM needs to ask more questions to its customers.
Gary Dikkers
Mr Denison,
If you are sincere about wanting to improve communications between GM HQ and the customers, here are three ideas for you:
—————————-
A GM version of Car Talk
I have no way of knowing if you are familiar with NPR’s radio show Car Talk on Saturday mornings. If you aren’t, check your NPR station in Detroit and listen this coming Saturday. You can also look at their website for archived shows: Car Talk
GM could sponsor a similar show using a couple of your more witty engineers, technicians, or designers (real “car guys” I hope) who would do a weekly on-line radio show answering questions that consumers call in. We could get direct advice on maintenance questions directly from GM HQ — and it might even be entertaining.
For example, I might ask, “Why did the design team make it almost impossible to reach the oil filter on my GMC truck?” Or, “What is your advice on how to reach that oil filter?”
Make it easy to contact district and zone managers
I did an Internet search yesterday attempting to find the names, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of GM’s district and zone managers — those magical guys that are seemingly able to authorize warranty repairs that the dealer always says is impossible. I had no luck. (If they are easy to find, please point me in the right direction.)
GM could do a great deal to improve customer relations if it were easy to contact the zone managers when a dealer’s service department jerks us around.
For example: Let’s say someone takes an Escalade on their annual elk hunting trip to Montana and it develops an annoying rattle under the dash on an off-road trek chasing a wounded elk.
If they took it to your dealer in Billings, and heard something like this: “Sorry, your warranty doesn’t cover that. It’s going to take us three days and we’ll have to take apart the entire dash to find the problem. Oh, and by the way, it will cost you $1200.” they should be able to immediately whip out their cell phones and call your zone or district manager’s office, explain the problem, and the zone manager would then have a heart-to-heart discussion with the dealer explaining how the cow is supposed to eat cabbage.
Why does GM make it so difficult to contact the district and zone managers? Can you do anything to fix that?
If it was easy to contact the zone managers when we have problems getting a dealer to do his or her job, wouldn’t you have made a giant step towards customer satisfaction?
An ombudsman at GM HQ available to GM car owners 24/7
I would really like to see a high-ranking GM official with a staff that is available 24 hours a day to answer maintenance questions about GM cars, and most of all, someone who has the authority to direct that dealers perform or lose their dealerships.
Let’s say I buy a new 2008 Impala with an EPA highway mileage rating of 29 mpg, but the best I can get is 22.7 mpg on a long highway trip. There should be a number at GM HQ that I can call to ask why, and get an immediate answer as to what might be the problem, and if it’s a problem with how the car was built, have a fix (or replacement car) authorized immediately.
Afterall, the Butterball turkey people have a 24/7 hotline to call to ask questions about roasting their turkeys. Contact Butterball
Shouldn’t it be just as easy to contact GM to ask questions about operating or maintaining one of your cars?
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Adam Denison
Talis wrote: Why will GM not equip any car with Bluetooth integration?
Talis,
Here’s an answer to your question from Phil Colley of GM Performance Parts:
The Cadillac STS is currently equipped with Bluetooth technology, and we (General Motors) will offer the broadest rollout of Bluetooth in the industry by making it available on more than 30 models across all eight North American brands by the 2009 model year. We have already set the industry standard when it comes to in-vehicle safety, security and information services with OnStar, and are poised to be a leader in Bluetooth integration in the very near future.
Talis
Thank you for answering my question, I am glad that GM has begun the roll out of Bluetooth equipped vehicles.
Jesse
As someone about to become a new GM owner, I was very unhappy to find OnStar was essentially a mandatory feature of my new car (2008 Pontiac Solstice.)
I’ve already placed my order for the car, and I should have it in about seven weeks.
My problem with OnStar (I’m sure it’s great at it’s intended purpose) is one that many Solstice and Corvette owners encounter with the system; When participating in sanctioned performance driving events (Autocross, HPDE, track days) the OnStar system can and does register the extreme steering input, braking and g-forces as a potential crash situation and generates a call from an OnStar operator asking if a crash has happened or if assistance is needed.
I am buying the car expressly to participate in these activities, and think that it is potentially unsafe to be distracted by such a call while in the middle of a session at speed. I’d also be afraid to ignore the operator on the chance that they’d use the GPS feature to send police/fire/ambulance to my location!
My question is this: Can I disable or remove the system from the car to prevent such calls? I have been informed by those who have attempted to remove it, that taking the “brain” of the OnStar system out of the car results in a non-starting vehicle. Is there a solution for me?
To help you understand how much of an issue this is, it nearly prevented me from buying the car. If this isn’t the proper forum, I’d really appreciate if my message and email address could be forwarded to somebody who can help me. (Or tell the factory to build mine without OnStar!)
Thank you,
Jesse
Rick Theule
Adam - Thank you for investigating the answer to the Bluetooth question posted by Talis. As a GM Sales Consultant I am overjoyed to read Mr. Colley’s information about the mass integration of Bluetooth technology. I field questions about this on a weekly basis. I have many customers waiting for the integration. Bluetooth fits in perfectly with GM’s committment to safety before, during and after an accident. It will certainly help lower the frequency of accidents. With the cell phone being omnipresent in vehicles, I consider Bluetooth integration to be on par with the advent of daytime running lamps and automatic exterior lighting for safety prevention on GM vehicles. Bravo GM!
Wayne
i`m an owner of a 2006 silverado and like many today looking for better gas mileage with the gas prices being what they are $$$ everyone tells me that my 2006 silverado has a cold air intake is this true?? if so how would GM`s intake system on my truck go up against K&N air intake?? because i`ve been told by alot of people K&N cold air intake will give me way better performance along with better gas mileage is this true?? please help
Michael Hachey
Hi Adam,
This may be off topic, but Is there an Ombudsman for GM?
Thanks in advance for your time,
Michael.
Gary Dikkers
Topic: Limited life of overhead cam timing belts
Here’s a question I’ve long wondered about:
On GM cars with timing belts for an overhead cam engine, the service manual recommends replacing the belt at or before 60,000 miles since a broken belt can cause serious engine damage.
If GM knows the belts last only about 60,000 miles, and that a broken belt can lead to catastrophic failure, why isn’t replacing the belt before 60,000 miles included as part of the initial cost of the car?
Assuming GM expects their customers to drive their cars more than 60,000 miles, it seems that replacing the belt at least once at GM cost at a GM service center should be included in the initial purchase cost of the car.
Wear and tear of the timing belt is not the same as wear and tear on tires, which is an expected operating cost the customer must bear.
Without a replacement program for the timing belt, GM is actually selling customers a car with a known limiting factor — an engine with an operational life of not more than 60,000 miles unless the customer pays for expensive preventive maintenance.
Regards,
Gary Dikkers
Trish
I was planning on buying a loaded up Yukon XL/or XL Denali this week (my third) but just found out that no true bluetooth integration is factory installed or available aftermarket. This will definitely make me look at the Navigator this week which has Microsoft Sync. When exactly is GM rolling out Bluetooth for these cars…
Lee Jackson
General Motors needs a new mantra or slogan. GOOD, EFFICIENT, AFFORDABLE. The first new model GM rolls off the line should be the new GEA.
Jim Kenney
i have a 2002 S-10 p-u. recently the radio started having a motor boat sound in the background while the engine is running. the interference is coming from somewhere. we have checked the grounding strap and it is in tact. any suggestions? thanks.
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