I had a knock/thump noise in my front suspension that was really bothering me and I think the dealer/GM finally fixed it! During slow turning maneuvers such as pulling in and out of a parking space, or cruising down the road and applying the brakes as you slightly turn the wheel to start a turn onto a side street, I would get a knock/thump in the front end and I could actually feel it in the floor board area. It was like something was shifting under a lateral load. The wheel stops had been lubed, torsion bar mounts checked and lubed, sway bay links checked and lubed, and even the left side ball joints replaced. None of this worked. Then they were trying to tell me it was the body mounts being torqued as the frame flexed. At 2 miles an hour in a parking lot while pulling in and out of a parking stall? I donít think soÖÖ
At this point I entered into mediation with GM, and was threatening them with arbitration under the lemon law, before I really got their attention. I was not happy with many things about my truck like the balance shaft rattle, the unreliable gas gauge, leaking shocks, clogged injectors twice, door weather strip, and mis-aligned doors. The front suspension noise especially concerned me. Something was making metal to metal contact and over time I worried about a failure. I have had it in the shop way too many times. Three attempts to fix the gas gauge did nothing, 4 attempts at the suspension noise did nothing, and never an explanation to what turned out to be the balance shaft rattle. I actually figured that one out on my own, thanks to the post here on the balance shaft service bulletin and further searches of the intranet. Last week they finally sent out a factory field engineer to personally look at my vehicle. This guy told me that there is no fix for the unreliable gas gauge at this time but they are working on it. He acknowledged the rattle at about 1800 rpm under a light load as the balance shaft. He said it is a known condition which is only an annoyance and will cause no long term problems. I guess I will have to live with it even though those type of noises really bug me!
The cause of the front suspension knock seems to have been in the control arms. The right upper arm was not torqued properly and the lower left was the same way. The technician also said he removed all the control arm bolts and lubed them, and found a burr on one of the bushings which allowed things to not seat properly. Been driving it a week now and no front suspension noise. Woo-hooÖÖÖÖÖÖ!!!!
One last item. I told GM up front that I would work with their factory rep and not pursue arbitration at this time. I reserved the right to pursue it at a later date if problems continued to arise. In turn they had to acknowlege/explain the gas gauge and balance shaft problems, and the problem with the front suspension noise had to be fixed. I also requested my money back on the 5 year 75,000 mile Major Guard extended warranty I had purchased, and they had to give me a 6 year 100,00 mile zero deductible Major Guard warranty free of charge. Sort of put your money where your mouth is, and they agreedÖÖÖ
I am satisfied for now and hope that the rest of my time with the Crew is trouble free. I do like the truck but I am still have reservations about it. Time will tellÖÖÖ
