It's been a tuff month of July with the H3

Already had to replace the water pump and fan clutch sometime in May or June. On Thursday this past week the radiator cracked at least 6-7" across the top front driver's side. This is a replacement radiator I installed myself.

This of course sucks because the radiator was an oem/acdelco replacement with less than 25k miles. It failed 60mons. to the day after installing it.
Man not cool!

The biggest kick in the sack was 12/12 warranty. 12months. 12k miles.
If I had purchased the radiator in 2015 it would be life time haha.

I ended up at vatozone and got the life time warranty one for the H3. I'm guessing from researching done that it is a Spectra in disguise???
Part# C2855

I just couldn't justify purchasing another acdelco with it failing with such looooowwww mileage.

I told the Miss' that planned obsolescence is really getting spot on in manufacturing.

Of course all the expensive dexcool that was put in during the water pump swap had to be sh!t canned and new added.

The rust, dust and lack of petc0ck saw to that.:whaa::emb:

I'm just getting worn out with purchasing new products that have such high failure rates.
Battery
Radiator
Belt
Tensioner
Tires
Etc....

Time was you could by a platinum battery and you'd get the 7-10 years of service life for the higher price. Now getting 18-36 months is a stretch.
Radiators used to last year's and thousands of hard miles now they fail rapidly.
Headlights take on water in a few months. Bolts that are stainless steel rust...etc...

And I'm not buying cheap junk.... Lol! We're talking AcDelco, Gates, dayco, Gabriel, gm/oem, Monroe, Timken, Moog, etc....
These manufacturers in my humble personal opinion have ventured over to the dark side.... They have placed cheap look alike products in there boxes to increase there bottom line. The overall value and quality have begun to suffer.
I also believe in mho that the sad excuse that "every body wants it cheaper, so we have to do it" is absolutely without merritt.
Profit is one thing but obscene gouging is something whole heartedly different.
$1 per hour to a Chinese or Mexican labor plus all other associated cost and then turn around and sell the item for 1000% mark up while all the while knowing it is a cheaper look alike is just wrong. I'm unable to find a quality supplier for H3 parts. One because it's a dodo bird and two because the companies I have relied on have changed overall quality and availability.

The cfs and Ron Davis user reviews have not been all that glowing either. At least the limited amount I personally perused.
Plus, 500-1000 dollars is a bit steep. Although if I knew I was going to get high service life for the dollars I would buy in heartbeat.
Ugh!
Rant off
Lol!

Sucks to deal with all of that stuff, and it seems to come in bunches - especially with cooling system parts. I'm curious - you've had high failure rates on belts, tensioners and tires? Honestly, I haven't had a failure on any of those. I have replaced the belt twice just since I was in doing other parts, and same with the tensioner, and I'm at 12 years and 180K.

Batteries are 2 years here in the desert as the heat breaks them down. It's not always a question of how long is the warranty but how many replacements can I get in that warranty.

That's a lot to hit you at once. No wonder it's got you down. Take a deep breath and come back to it after you cool down. Maybe you'll get new energy.

I haven't had any problems with batteries. In fact I've gotten a lot of life out of the ones I've bought. On idler pulleys, I've had premature failures with aftermarket replacements. For some vehicles, they are the OEM products, but a lot of times aftermarket units don't even fut right ...hard to tell what yer getting. I don't buy them anymore. I re-lube the OEM ones at the first howl of dryness and they quiet down and last a long time. Use Mobil 1 grease. Monroe and Gabriel shocks suck too. I don't buy them anymore. I've bought many sets only to see 1 or 2 fail after a couple years. I bet they have like a 1 out of 3 failure rate. It's incredible. I fork out a lot more for OEM shocks ...and other OEM products when it makes sense. Sometimes used parts make more sense.

Can't speak on radiators..

It sucks, usually I replace all related cooling components at ones
T blew internal Transm tank and I replaced all related cooling components and trans for second time
[emoji21]


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Sorry, sounds like a bad few months. I've been there, had to replace belts, pulleys, spark plugs, get broken exhaust manifold bolts extracted, a new manifold with gasket, bolts, and studs. Then a few weeks later had to replace the harmonic balancer, crankshaft seal, transmission cooler lines/fittings, fan clutch, fan blade, and motor mounts. That was a rough few months while still having loan payments, but now rig is paid for and working good so no regrets.

Its alright man, **** happens! Overhere im seeing people ditch 2013/2014 vehicles that are out of warranty for more issues than we get in our H3s. Autos are no longer what they used to be... cheaper built cars mean earlier replacement, esp with how fast the market is currently changing.
I see 60s/70s/80s/90s cars being used abundantly but Its hard to find 00s era cars being used!

Sorry about your luck, but I can't get onboard with the nostalgia and longing for the quality of yesteryear. I can still remember as a kid that Dad always packed a full set of tools on family vacations because it was almost guaranteed that you would be in a parking lot somewhere fixing something.

My son just ordered a Timken hub for his Trailblazer, came in clearly marked "Made in China". Industry knows no boundaries, Moog isn't what it used to be, A.C.Delco isn't necessarily the OEM part the factory put in the vehicle...they're all working and willing to spend billions to build plants overseas to reduce the labor cost and increase the profits shown on the books thus building their packages to staggering proportions and all the while crying how union labor is the reason costs are so high. They cut every corner down to material grades and pinch each penny till Abe screams just to give the executives a better check.

Let's be thankful the H3 is pretty easy to work on and parts are not crazy priced yet. I just dropped $4k into my wifes 2011 Traverse for new timing chain and associated repairs. My SAS budget took a huge hit.

Aww I can totally relate.. I've owned my H3 for only a year and a month and already I have done like half an engine rebuild, including performance oil pump, lifters, gaskets, cam shaft, fuel injectors, coils, valves.. (there was something else but it escapes me..)... I removed the Cat as it died... all 4 ... replaced manifold sensors, need to change the right one again.. battery... shocks died so replaced with Fox 2.0 IFP .... had it tuned (doesn't drink as much petrol now which is always nice, shifts better) ... replaced both headlights and fog lights as they all died within 2 weeks, 1 by 1 haha... had to put a spacer between the fan belt and alternator as it was eating it.. replaced the upper and lower arms all with new bushings
And now it has a fight with me when I start it.. I replaced the battery terminals which has improved it but still every now and then it decides not to start so will be replacing the starter motor.
All of that and I still have a long list of other things I need to replace!

It's alright though, I still love her and I am determined to get her to perfect condition

I hope your metal baby is well soon!

I was going to mention in my earlier post, for new Dexcool if and when you need more, if you can find a small town dealership, you might ask if you can get some out of their 55gal drum they use in the service dept ..if you bring in your own clean milk jugs. Larger dealerships don't want to screw with that, but small town dealerships around here will do it. In fact it was THEIR idea. I think I paid like $7/gal. I've done the same with trans fluid. Also the chrysler dealer around here (also a small town) will do that. Don't ask unless it's at least a gallon of fluid, preferably a couple gallons. I think I also saw it on sale fairly cheap at Walmart too.

Just a thought.

My son just ordered a Timken hub for his Trailblazer, came in clearly marked "Made in China".

Click to expand...

That's something I would have been worried about years ago, but, the truth is, they sell a lot more cars (and a ton of SUVs) in China, and they're great cars too, not elcheapo rickshaws. The top cars there are VWs, GMs, BMWs, Mercedes, Japanese names we have (just got back from China a few wks ago). The market for cars is stronger there than the US, therefore the mfgrs 'should' go where the real business is, if for no other reason to stay busy and profitable. It's a global marketplace for all big names. Plants for car parts can be found all over, including the US. I used to work closely with several car part plants including Borg Werner on plant construction projects, and also a Goodyear plant. A lot of the parts they made at both plant were for domestic production, but a lot went to overseas car companies too ...for Honda, GM and others. Timken has plants all over. I wouldn't be overly concerned about where the bearing was made. Timken has a rigorous quality control process.

Another thing too: the plants in many foreign locations, including China, for example, are pretty new, and generally state of the art. Some of the car part plants I've been to here in the US are relecs of the 60's and 70's. That Goodyear plant I mentioned earlier was something out of the 60's but inside it was dingy and horrible (not a tire plant). But the sausage turned out pretty well. The plant mgr who I got to know over the years, would always grumble on how inefficient it was but they wouldn't invest money to upgrade things. His costs were higher than they could be. He was part of a team who helped set up a new plant (different goodyear product -- not tires) in Hungary. Borg Werner did a great job continually investing in their infrastructure and manufacturing processes. Another plant I used to service that was a major gasket company was also a 1960's relec. Terrible inside! But they were bought out by a Japanese company who was investing heavily to bring them up to 'world-class' standards. I was part of those ongoing projects. All new equipment, re-doing the seriously rank plant. The US owners wouldn't invest a dime for many years, ..ran them into the ground, but the new Japanese owners saw value and was dumping a lot of money into that place. That's kind of the problem we have in this country unfortunately. While I wish all the plants were in the US, our general business mindset it to milk the damn cow for all it's worth, but Asian companies tend to plan long-term, continually invest and re-new. That's why China is so far ahead of us in so many areas (I know you all probably hate to hear that but it's true from all I've seen ..hurts me to say it, but can't bury my head in the sand).

All the rotors I've gotten from China in the last few years have been exceptional. I hate to say it, but a lot better than some of the wobbly scabs I used to get. Sad but true.

Thanks to all..