EXTREMELY PISSED OFF, car isn't starting.

Antonio · 07-11-2008, 01:29 PM

I can't even begin to explain my disgust right now. I have a friend on the way visiting from Arlington, and I go to get in my car to do a few errands before he gets here.....Car won't start.

No cranking, no nothing. Evertything electrical is working properly. Plenty of gas. At first I thought i wasn't pushing the clutch down far enough, that wasn't it. I thought maybe the chip in the key wasn't working, got the spare and that didn't work.

Before I got any more hot headed i pushed the onstar button, and am now scheduled to be towed to my dealer. This completely destroys my whole damn weekend. My friend and I were going to go to the track with our cars tonight to show off and watch the draggers........not anymore. We were going to go driving around NJ........not anymore.

This car of mine is on its 3RD TRANSMISSION because of the same downshifting problem (one they made me pay for because it was "user abuse")......... In case anyone is curious, the transmission swap with labor is $3300, add in rental car because they didn't have a loaner for me for 15 days and bill came to $3900!

Also remember a few months back when I ran over something on the highway, yep, I had to pay for that too.........which ended up being $2,000.

I'm completely fed up with this car. I really wish I had bought that Z06 last weekend, even if I would've been a little upside down with the sky's loan.

I will keep you all posted as to what the dealer says and what's going to happen. If they claim it's something I have to pay for I'll tell them I'm not taking the car back and calling corporate. Hell, I might even call corporate right now.

In case anyone from GM is watching......YOUR CUSTOMER IS FED UP. I am to the point of getting out of this car and into something else.

I absolutely loved the car when it worked right, but I can't dump 6,000 in repairs on a car with less than 25,000 miles on it. It has just hit the fan big time.......

saab9-3 · 07-11-2008, 01:32 PM

wow that sucks, seems like auto is the way to go with these cars, but manual is just way too fun!

K9ONU · 07-11-2008, 01:37 PM

Antonio,
I'm sorry about all your trouble!! I hope I'm not getting into the same thing!!?? I have an 08 Redline waiting for me at the dealership that I have put a $500 deposit on. Can you tell me a little about your car... Is it an 07 or 08, auto or manual?? Thanks, MAX

compdoc777 · 07-11-2008, 01:44 PM

Wow 6K for repairs. If my car had broken like that I would have fixed it myself in my spare time, but most people can't do the repairs and that would break the bank.

Hell you could have had a great used auto for that amount of dough.

**reedred** · 07-11-2008, 01:48 PM

Oh no!

Hope it's something simple!

kwayne · 07-11-2008, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K9ONU

Antonio,
I'm sorry about all your trouble!! I hope I'm not getting into the same thing!!?? I have an 08 Redline waiting for me at the dealership that I have put a $500 deposit on. Can you tell me a little about your car... Is it an 07 or 08, auto or manual?? Thanks, MAX

His is an 07 black redline manual.

Ant., sorry to hear this after what you been thru the last 2 weeks- good luck brother.

eddf · 07-11-2008, 02:00 PM

"... the same downshifting problem"

I'm trying to understand the transmission issue. What was the symptom?

Ed

**cfjara** · 07-11-2008, 02:04 PM

I take it non of the damage or repairs were covered by warranty??

Bogie · 07-11-2008, 02:37 PM

Hope it's an easy fix covered under warranty.

I do have a question on the tune. How do you handle it when the fix involves a reflash?

xmicro_Redline · 07-11-2008, 02:46 PM

Damn, man, I hope this one doesn't cost you anything. It really does seem like this car just cannot take the racing. I have a friend with the Infiniti G35, if you knew what he does to that car, and rarely has a problem.

The question is, can the SKY take the extra horsepower and "Customer Abuse"...it appears NOT.

I truly wish you luck Antonio, I hope it works out, but if you Love the SKY and want to Race, you should look into the Mallet Conversion.... It is very Solid!

Ruthie · 07-11-2008, 02:55 PM

Hope it's nothing you have to pay for - good luck!

Bogie · 07-11-2008, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xmicro_Redline

The question is, can the SKY take the extra horsepower and "Customer Abuse"...it appears NOT.

Our current gearing is designed for 260 lb-ft. First gear is made strong with that in mind. When you take the vehicle from 260 lb-ft to 327+ lb-ft, you gotta be very carefull.

To put things in perspective, if you can deliver 327 lb-ft from the Ecotec, and the gearing remains unchanged, a SKY will produce 7% more torque at the wheels in first than a stock 505 HP Z06 Corvette and will be only 3% shy of the new 638 HP ZR1. And if that 327 is a wheel torque value (already factoring in drive train loss), then it's very possible a 327 lb-torque (at the wheels) SKY will out torque the 638 HP ZR1 (at the wheels) in first gear.

Edit: A mitigating point depends on the tune, since torque limiting (increase or reduction thereof) can be part of the tune. Hence, the above analyitcal comments are based on the spec'd torque provided from a dyno, which is a 4th gear measurement, and might not reflect the torque being delivered in first, if the tune torque-limits the low gears.

vfx · 07-11-2008, 03:33 PM

You might have a lemon. I have similar HP numbers and have tracked the car with Zero problems. I have a bit over 10k miles on the car without one issue. (finding wood to knock on).
Ok I'll ask it: Could it be your shifting habits?

c

marlboromike · 07-11-2008, 07:26 PM

Antonio...u have a stick..did u ever think of pushing the car to start it. Works all the time.

deluke · 07-11-2008, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antonio

I can't even begin to explain my disgust right now. I have a friend on the way visiting from Arlington, and I go to get in my car to do a few errands before he gets here.....Car won't start.

No cranking, no nothing. Evertything electrical is working properly. Plenty of gas. At first I thought i wasn't pushing the clutch down far enough, that wasn't it. I thought maybe the chip in the key wasn't working, got the spare and that didn't work.

Before I got any more hot headed i pushed the onstar button, and am now scheduled to be towed to my dealer. This completely destroys my whole damn weekend. My friend and I were going to go to the track with our cars tonight to show off and watch the draggers........not anymore. We were going to go driving around NJ........not anymore.

This car of mine is on its 3RD TRANSMISSION because of the same downshifting problem (one they made me pay for because it was "user abuse")......... In case anyone is curious, the transmission swap with labor is $3300, add in rental car because they didn't have a loaner for me for 15 days and bill came to $3900!

Also remember a few months back when I ran over something on the highway, yep, I had to pay for that too.........which ended up being $2,000.

I'm completely fed up with this car. I really wish I had bought that Z06 last weekend, even if I would've been a little upside down with the sky's loan.

I will keep you all posted as to what the dealer says and what's going to happen. If they claim it's something I have to pay for I'll tell them I'm not taking the car back and calling corporate. Hell, I might even call corporate right now.

In case anyone from GM is watching......YOUR CUSTOMER IS FED UP. I am to the point of getting out of this car and into something else.

I absolutely loved the car when it worked right, but I can't dump 6,000 in repairs on a car with less than 25,000 miles on it. It has just hit the fan big time.......

I really feel bad for all your problems that you've had. I remember when you had it on order. What is GM saying about all the problems ?

mbeardsley · 07-11-2008, 07:56 PM

I would think that the new non-starting issue would be unrelated to the transmission...

But, as for the transmission issue(s), isn't that what you risked by installing a non-GM tune? Yes, you got more HP and torque, but you've thrown away your warranty to get it - and in this case, it came back to bite you.

And yes, maybe some Skys can handle the extra power without problems, but I'm not surprised that if you push the drivetrain past the specs that you could have failures.

I'm sorry that you've had these transmission problems, but I don't really see that it's GM's fault. Why aren't you blaming Westers instead?

As to the non-starting issue, it will be interesting to see what that is, and how that plays out. Hopefully, it's something minor and/or simple.

Antonio · 07-11-2008, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbeardsley

I would think that the new non-starting issue would be unrelated to the transmission...

But, as for the transmission issue(s), isn't that what you risked by installing a non-GM tune? Yes, you got more HP and torque, but you've thrown away your warranty to get it - and in this case, it came back to bite you.

And yes, maybe some Skys can handle the extra power without problems, but I'm not surprised that if you push the drivetrain past the specs that you could have failures.

I'm sorry that you've had these transmission problems, but I don't really see that it's GM's fault. Why aren't you blaming Westers instead?

As to the non-starting issue, it will be interesting to see what that is, and how that plays out. Hopefully, it's something minor and/or simple.

The reason I don't blame the tune is because the first transmission had this problem occur wayyyyyyy before the tune, as well as several of the other mods. The first tranny went even before I got my intercooler, and the same issue came up again, so I don't believe it was a power issue. Also, there's people with LS2 swaps on the stock tranny, so I think my measly 327 lb ft of torque compared to the 400 of a small block wouldn't cause an issue either. Either way, I'm not connecting the non start issue with the tranny.

All in all, i have a bad taste in my mouth and it's going to take a lot for me to receive just satisfaction for me to keep the car.....

I'm kind of reminded of Pitcom right now.....

MidniteBlues · 07-11-2008, 09:40 PM

Well I for one am veeerryy sympathetic to Antonio's plight. HOWEVER, Antonio, your problems have absolutely nothing to do with Pitcoms problems, after all, he had the very first R/L that we ever knew of was delivered, I think his issues were unique to a first off the line R/L, more so because he had absolutely NO mods on his car. His was stock if I recall. Still it was a POS.

Back to your car, altho many have had these "unauthorized" mods done to many many kappa cars, not ALL cars like these mods or took to them, each is a unique machine IMO. Some give problems right away tells ya right away, no not me, take that crappy "thing" off, other cars suck it up. My advice to newbies? You want warranty repairs after non-GMPP mods? Keep the dam car stock, then no worries. People are mishing & mashing parts form several vendors then are expecting the car to rock your ass off, you install the stuff, car runs & initially rocks your azz off, then weeks, perhaps many months later shlt happens. Car won't start, car won't shift, weird electrical things like SB green sicko baby.. Electrical issues from unauthorized modifications.. Yea, I guess it is Saturn's fault..

You mod your car, while under warranty, the risk is on YOUR azz, not GM or Saturn, apparently my friend, you have had a run of bad luck.. So sorry.. Pay the price, you wanted to play, don't blame the car for errors made, it is just reacting to perhaps abuses that it was NOT designed or intended to be had from the original process.. Bottom line IMHO respectfully, is to judge this car in "stock" form, not from these many many post from those that have modified, AND in many cases heavily modified their cars, then expect unfortunately for it to run "normally" & "forever" without issues, problems, tranny, LSD's, motors not starting.. THEN expect Saturn "to figure out WTF is wrong with it & WTF has been done to this car" and THEN tell ya whats wrong & fix it for FREE..It ain't gonna happen folks..

SteveSky67 · 07-11-2008, 09:45 PM

Antonio,,,Hope everything gets better sorry to hear about your misfortune...SteveSky67

xmicro_Redline · 07-11-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MidniteBlues

Well I for one am veeerryy sympathetic to Antonio's plight. HOWEVER, Antonio, your problems have absolutely nothing to do with Pitcoms problems, after all, he had the very first R/L that we ever knew of was delivered, I think his issues were unique to a first off the line R/L, more so because he had absolutely NO mods on his car. His was stock if I recall. Still it was a POS.

Back to your car, altho many have had these "unauthorized" mods done to many many kappa cars, not ALL cars like these mods or took to them, each is a unique machine IMO. Some give problems right away tells ya right away, no not me, take that crappy "thing" off, other cars suck it up. My advice to newbies? You want warranty repairs after non-GMPP mods? Keep the dam car stock, then no worries. People are mishing & mashing parts form several vendors then are expecting the car to rock your ass off, you install the stuff, car runs & initially rocks your azz off, then weeks, perhaps many months later shlt happens. Car won't start, car won't shift, weird electrical things like SB green sicko baby.. Electrical issues from unauthorized modifications.. Yea, I guess it is Saturn's fault..

You mod your car, while under warranty, the risk is on YOUR azz, not GM or Saturn, apparently my friend, you have had a run of bad luck.. So sorry.. Pay the price, you wanted to play, don't blame the car for errors made, it is just reacting to perhaps abuses that it was NOT designed or intended to be had from the original process.. Bottom line IMHO respectfully, is to judge this car in "stock" form, not from these many many post from those that have modified, AND in many cases heavily modified their cars, then expect unfortunately for it to run "normally" & "forever" without issues, problems, tranny, LSD's, motors not starting.. THEN expect Saturn "to figure out WTF is wrong with it & WTF has been

07-11-2008, 01:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
Antonio Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: South Plainfield, New Jersey Posts: 1,651 My Photos: (6)	EXTREMELY PISSED OFF, car isn't starting. I can't even begin to explain my disgust right now. I have a friend on the way visiting from Arlington, and I go to get in my car to do a few errands before he gets here.....Car won't start. No cranking, no nothing. Evertything electrical is working properly. Plenty of gas. At first I thought i wasn't pushing the clutch down far enough, that wasn't it. I thought maybe the chip in the key wasn't working, got the spare and that didn't work. Before I got any more hot headed i pushed the onstar button, and am now scheduled to be towed to my dealer. This completely destroys my whole damn weekend. My friend and I were going to go to the track with our cars tonight to show off and watch the draggers........not anymore. We were going to go driving around NJ........not anymore. This car of mine is on its 3RD TRANSMISSION because of the same downshifting problem (one they made me pay for because it was "user abuse")......... In case anyone is curious, the transmission swap with labor is $3300, add in rental car because they didn't have a loaner for me for 15 days and bill came to $3900! Also remember a few months back when I ran over something on the highway, yep, I had to pay for that too.........which ended up being $2,000. I'm completely fed up with this car. I really wish I had bought that Z06 last weekend, even if I would've been a little upside down with the sky's loan. I will keep you all posted as to what the dealer says and what's going to happen. If they claim it's something I have to pay for I'll tell them I'm not taking the car back and calling corporate. Hell, I might even call corporate right now. In case anyone from GM is watching......YOUR CUSTOMER IS FED UP. I am to the point of getting out of this car and into something else. I absolutely loved the car when it worked right, but I can't dump 6,000 in repairs on a car with less than 25,000 miles on it. It has just hit the fan big time....... __________________ HAD - '07 Redline -292 whp & 327 wtq - SOLD :( HAVE - '02 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 - STOCK....for now http://youtube.com/profile?user=talkaboutblue NASSOA Founding Member

07-11-2008, 01:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
compdoc777 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cypress, TX Posts: 609 My Photos: (6)	Wow 6K for repairs. If my car had broken like that I would have fixed it myself in my spare time, but most people can't do the repairs and that would break the bank. Hell you could have had a great used auto for that amount of dough. __________________ 07 SKY Redline Silver Red/Black Leather, JPM Dash Red leather, WDE Carbon Fiber Dash Kit, BSR Tune, Fujita Intake, Dejon IC pipes, Hahn IC, 3" Magnaflow Quad Exhaust, DDM BBK (RED), BlackCatCustom Gauges. http://www.compdoc777.com/Carstuff/sky1.jpg

07-11-2008, 02:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
cfjara Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 261 My Photos: (0)	I take it non of the damage or repairs were covered by warranty?? __________________ 2008 Sky Redline Onyx Black / Black&Tan Interior Spoiler / Chrome Wheels Monsoon Audio w/ 6Disk changer

07-11-2008, 02:37 PM	#9 (permalink)
Bogie Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Northern, VA Posts: 2,483 My Photos: (0)	Hope it's an easy fix covered under warranty. I do have a question on the tune. How do you handle it when the fix involves a reflash? __________________ 2008 Redline Black Onyx Black/Red Leather Monsoon 6 Disc Spoiler French Transmission Born July 2007 Snagged 8/31/07 Belle? That's my car Alizée? That's my avatar Me? Forty something male skydriver

07-11-2008, 02:55 PM	#11 (permalink)
Ruthie Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: WV Posts: 593 My Photos: (0)	Hope it's nothing you have to pay for - good luck! __________________ Ruthie 2007 Black Onyx Redline "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did." "But people will never forget how you made them feel."

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07-11-2008, 01:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
saab9-3 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 105 My Photos: (0)	wow that sucks, seems like auto is the way to go with these cars, but manual is just way too fun!

07-11-2008, 01:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
K9ONU Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 72 My Photos: (0)	Antonio, I'm sorry about all your trouble!! I hope I'm not getting into the same thing!!?? I have an 08 Redline waiting for me at the dealership that I have put a $500 deposit on. Can you tell me a little about your car... Is it an 07 or 08, auto or manual?? Thanks, MAX

07-11-2008, 02:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
eddf Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 105 My Photos: (0)	"... the same downshifting problem" I'm trying to understand the transmission issue. What was the symptom? Ed

07-11-2008, 02:46 PM	#10 (permalink)
xmicro_Redline Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York Posts: 4,500 My Photos: (1)	Damn, man, I hope this one doesn't cost you anything. It really does seem like this car just cannot take the racing. I have a friend with the Infiniti G35, if you knew what he does to that car, and rarely has a problem. The question is, can the SKY take the extra horsepower and "Customer Abuse"...it appears NOT. I truly wish you luck Antonio, I hope it works out, but if you Love the SKY and want to Race, you should look into the Mallet Conversion.... It is very Solid!

07-11-2008, 03:33 PM	#13 (permalink)
vfx First 2000 Sr. Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Playa Del Rey, CA Posts: 184 My Photos: (0)	You might have a lemon. I have similar HP numbers and have tracked the car with Zero problems. I have a bit over 10k miles on the car without one issue. (finding wood to knock on). Ok I'll ask it: Could it be your shifting habits? c

07-11-2008, 07:26 PM	#14 (permalink)
marlboromike First 2000 Sr. Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Marlboro, NJ Posts: 7,126 My Photos: (6)	Antonio...u have a stick..did u ever think of pushing the car to start it. Works all the time.

07-11-2008, 07:56 PM	#16 (permalink)
mbeardsley Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Allen, Texas (just north of Dallas) Posts: 801 My Photos: (6)	I would think that the new non-starting issue would be unrelated to the transmission... But, as for the transmission issue(s), isn't that what you risked by installing a non-GM tune? Yes, you got more HP and torque, but you've thrown away your warranty to get it - and in this case, it came back to bite you. And yes, maybe some Skys can handle the extra power without problems, but I'm not surprised that if you push the drivetrain past the specs that you could have failures. I'm sorry that you've had these transmission problems, but I don't really see that it's GM's fault. Why aren't you blaming Westers instead? As to the non-starting issue, it will be interesting to see what that is, and how that plays out. Hopefully, it's something minor and/or simple. __________________ 2008 Red/Red/Redline Auto, Single Monsoon, Spoiler Deposit Placed 05/26/07 Order Number Received 06/08/07 Built 07/20/07 Delivered 08/07/07

07-11-2008, 09:40 PM	#18 (permalink)
MidniteBlues Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 3,586 My Photos: (0)	Well I for one am veeerryy sympathetic to Antonio's plight. HOWEVER, Antonio, your problems have absolutely nothing to do with Pitcoms problems, after all, he had the very first R/L that we ever knew of was delivered, I think his issues were unique to a first off the line R/L, more so because he had absolutely NO mods on his car. His was stock if I recall. Still it was a POS. Back to your car, altho many have had these "unauthorized" mods done to many many kappa cars, not ALL cars like these mods or took to them, each is a unique machine IMO. Some give problems right away tells ya right away, no not me, take that crappy "thing" off, other cars suck it up. My advice to newbies? You want warranty repairs after non-GMPP mods? Keep the dam car stock, then no worries. People are mishing & mashing parts form several vendors then are expecting the car to rock your ass off, you install the stuff, car runs & initially rocks your azz off, then weeks, perhaps many months later shlt happens. Car won't start, car won't shift, weird electrical things like SB green sicko baby.. Electrical issues from unauthorized modifications.. Yea, I guess it is Saturn's fault.. You mod your car, while under warranty, the risk is on YOUR azz, not GM or Saturn, apparently my friend, you have had a run of bad luck.. So sorry.. Pay the price, you wanted to play, don't blame the car for errors made, it is just reacting to perhaps abuses that it was NOT designed or intended to be had from the original process.. Bottom line IMHO respectfully, is to judge this car in "stock" form, not from these many many post from those that have modified, AND in many cases heavily modified their cars, then expect unfortunately for it to run "normally" & "forever" without issues, problems, tranny, LSD's, motors not starting.. THEN expect Saturn "to figure out WTF is wrong with it & WTF has been done to this car" and THEN tell ya whats wrong & fix it for FREE..It ain't gonna happen folks.. __________________ 2.4L Midnight Blue, Premium Trim Package, Automatic, Monsoon Pre Audio 1-CD, Std Rear. GMPP CAI, 3M Clear Bra, Splash Guards, Black Top, Fiam Frwy Blastr 2-horn Opel Ant - WR V2 - Flux Capacitor - Last edited by MidniteBlues : 07-11-2008 at 09:43 PM.