The 1994 Jimmy Saga

uhlhazard · 06-03-2008, 11:01 AM

I don't know which forum to post this topic in. I feel like warning potential owners about doing the recall on their cars. I am only aware of this recall on 4wd 1993 and 1994 Chevrolet S10 Blazers, and GMC T15 Jimmys. At least you guys will have a headsup in regards to what you are getting yourself into.

I am also considering emailing this to people at GM hoping they can see reason and use their franchise power to force Beck and Masten to fix my car.

It's not like I want money for the hassle, I'm not asking to be compensated for wasting my time taking off work, I don't want gas money for the multiple trips up and back from there, I don't want a rental car. I just want my Jimmy back how she was.

There is an ABS recall on my truck. Switching between 4wd to 2wd potentially screws up the abs. This is a failure in the differential actuator unit.

I take the truck to Landmark Chevrolet. They laugh because my truck has a GMC grill and they won't do the recall on it. I take it (with [UHL]SCOAT) to Beck and Masten GMC off of 1960 and Jones road. They say "Ooh it will have to stay with us for an entire day because we don't have the part and will have to order it from Landmark.

I say "just order it and let me know when you get it, I'll bring the truck over and you do the 1.5 hour job so I can drive back home".

The guy (Steve Sherman) says "We don't do that because people may never bring their cars in and we are stuck with a part."

Fine, I leave and come back roughly 6 months later. I call in advance and they tell me to bring it by anytime no big deal. I bring it in, again talk to Steve Sherman and he says "Well, the part is out of state, it will take about 1 week to get it in here", I say "screw it, keep it as long as you have to" assuming of course that they won't order it in advance:

The guy (Steve Sherman) says

Quote:

"We don't do that because people may never bring their cars in and we are stuck with a part."

So, 1 week later they call me (Friday I think, before memorial day weekend) I spend money and time to head up to the Stealership and pickup my Jimmy. Being excited to have my baby back after not having her for so damned long I jump in, start it and drive home. We make a few stops but everything seemed normal.

I drop the truck off at [UHL]WOOGI's mothers house because his Blazer was down getting some intake work done. I test the 4wd in his front yard and spin only the back 2 tires in 4 low or high. Get sad and go over checking out the work done on my truck. The front differential actuator has incompatible pins compared to the wire harness hanging via zip ties in front of it. It has nothing connected to it. I figure this is why it won't lock into 4wd. Wireless technology even in 2008 is pretty far off.

I offer [UHL]WOOGI to drive the Jimmy while his truck is down because he is changing jobs and losing the company geekmobile.

He drives my car roughly 50 miles (putting a total of 81 miles on the odometer) and calls me on the cell stating "The truck has no power and the service engine soon light is on."

Great, the truck is screwed up AND the 4wd doesn't work.
I head over the next day and hook up my scanner to it getting nothing but "please connect the scanner to the car" or whatever it says.

I assume the scanner is faulty or something, check the pins and everything looks good. I plug it into Woogi's Blazer that has half of its connectors unplugged with no issues. Move it back onto my Jimmy and get nothing.

Great, the ecu is probably bad. I check fuses, all of which get tested twice and work.

This is where the conflict of interest must be explained.

I contacted some mechanics I know and they just recently had an incident similar to this occur to them. They said "Bring it back to the dealership because if you bring it to us, they will simply shift blame on us and avoid responsibility by doing so" The obvious defense to that is that I don't want the same mechanic working on my car again operating with incorrect procedures. Unfortunately that is where I am stuck.

Tuesday, I wake up at about 10am and call the dealership who tells me to bring it in first thing Wednesday morning. I show up 5 minutes before they open at 7:55. I hang out after talking to the guy who did my recall explaning the situation. He says very little short of drooling on me and then proceeds to take it into the work area.

Roughly 2.5 hours and 3 coffees later I watch someone else pull the Jimmy around. I walk up and Steve Sherman tells me the problem was the guy plugged the new switch into the front differential instead of the transfer case. (in mechanic speak that is the difference between China and the USA) I understand this information as a solution to my problems. However upon hearing the Jimmy lope when the kid pulls it around to the ready bay, I am sure the ecu is still out of commission. I ask if the 4wd works but the kid doesn't know.

Upset but with little recourse I get into the Jimmy and in 4 high and low I power brake producing a set of 11's in the parking lot. Then I do 4 very tight very bark free circles on some very clean very nice concrete. I pull back to the ready bay satisfied the 4wd is in fact not working. I talk to Steve Sherman who is clearly mystified why my truck is no longer working properly post recall. He promptly calls for the recall mechanic to come around and explain the situation.

10 minutes later he calls again. This time the kid who brought it around says "ooh hes gone, he left" Steve Sherman elevates the situation to another mechanic. 10 minutes later he comes out and explains essentially to me that "The 4wd system is independent of the ecu".

This part needs to be clearly understood:

Quote:

"The 4wd system is independent of the ecu"

I say "If the 4wd system is truely independant of the ecu then my 4wd should work regardless of weather or not the ecu functions properly." I hear a resounding "yes".

So that means the 4wd is in fact NOT fixed and needs to be returned a 3rd try. I was then told by this guy I am talking to now that he is the only one that can work on cars older than 1996 at that dealership and he lacks the tools to adequately diagnose the 4wd problem. I ask him if there is another dealership that has the mechanics and tools to diagnose my 4wd problem. He says "I am the only mechanic that really works on cars older than 1996 at GMC dealerships, everyone else handles 1996 and up."

It is at this point that I feel like I am dealing with a person who knows less about my car than I do. While I can understand a certain amount of this, I still know my Windows 95 cdkey by heart and can install it in my sleep. Windows 3.11 has no key and can be installed by my corpse. Lets not forget the subtle but mentionable differences between Windows 95 OSR A, B, and C. (mainly related to firewire (for C) and usb (for B)

Lets also keep in mind that Windows 95 came out when I was 10. Ooh and 3.11? I WAS 7 YEARS OLD.

I explain to him and Steve Sherman that I feel like it is very reasonable of me to allow them a 3rd chance to fix my 4wd system AND diagnose my ecu issue for free as I am still not convinced of my responsibility. The mechanic acts as if I am incorrect and Steve Sherman immediately says that it is in fact a reasonable request.

Steve Sherman gets me a ride home with the previously mentioned kid that brought my Jimmy around.

I think about 2 days later Mr. Steve Sherman calls me and leaves me a voice mail that my car is ready. He says the 4wd system does not work because the ecu is bad. He says the mechanic recommends I replace the P.R.O.M. before replacing the ecu because it will save me money.

I wait a few minutes to calm down because I know full well I will be speaking to Steve Sherman who seems like he is mediating the situation very well and I know he is not the mechanic.

I then determine that if the ecu and the 4wd system is related, plugging the wrong thing into the wrong place has the electrical ability to cross over.

Lets not forget that my car worked and performed flawlessly in 2wd, 4wd low & high, and the ecu talked with the scanner prior to the dealerships shoddy recall work.

I also know that people often accuse the dealership of breaking things after the dealership does work on the car. Those people however generally lack the mechanical knowledge of their own cars unlike myself and I feel like I am being treated as such.

In my line of work, I get calls occasionally from customers because their computer won't boot after I did work on it. They genuinelly feel as if I caused the problem and it is possible. I feel like it is good business to rectify the situation and at the very least explain to them that the problem stemmed from faulty hardware or perhaps I installed the wrong sound driver.

I call Mr. Steve Sherman back and explain that I feel if the two systems (4wd and ecu) are in fact interrelated then the possiblity of cooincidental failure on the two is simply unacceptably low.

The second mechanic has proven himself wrong and now has little defense beyond cooincidence against my belief that the dealership caused the failure of my ecu due to the incorrect installation of the differential actuator unit.

MARS2878 · 06-04-2008, 11:57 AM

that sucks
hope it works out in the end for you

baggedzq8 · 06-04-2008, 10:22 PM

i say carb the bitch and do a solid axle swap...screw the dealer

uhlhazard · 06-24-2008, 01:58 PM

I called the dealer about 1.5 weeks after hearing crickets. They told me they installed a P.R.O.M. and that did not work, so next they are ordering me a complete pcm. So a little sunshine however it has been 1.5 weeks since that news and I have not heard a thing from them.

It is looking good that I might get a running and driving car back but I won't get excited until I am in my Jimmy with working 4wd driving away from the dealership.

uhlhazard · 08-06-2008, 11:57 PM

Well, the transmission in my pickup went out and I called the dealership. The service guy that calls customers was out having surgery for 2 weeks and turns out they "fixed" my jimmy about 2 days after he was gone.

The 4wd still didn't work but I really don't have much more choice as it is now my only means of transpo.

They did replace the ecu. I found out the 4wd doesn't work because they lost the plastic vacuum connector thingie that sits on top of the vacuum actuator that sits on top of the transfer case. Once I get one of those my 4wd will work (tested confirmed). Anyhow, I'm glad all this bs is finally over. I have no clue what the stupid part even does but ooh well.

mtone132000 · 08-16-2008, 06:51 PM

I hate situations like this. theres a local "performance" shop just like this around my parts.

Outlawz24 · 08-20-2008, 07:51 AM

Sounds like the switch that tells the vaccum system to lock the front axle.
Check this thread out it will help you understand why your 4wd doesnt work..

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f134/t...thread-327817/

uhlhazard · 08-20-2008, 09:24 AM

Yeah that is a pretty good write up, I ended up understanding how the 4wd system works by trial and error. I am missing the connector that has the notch in it to plug into the vacuum actuator. Thanks for the link though, it confirms what I thought to be true.

06-03-2008, 11:01 AM	#1
uhlhazard Aquatic Goat Farmer Age: 28 Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 530 Location: Montgomery, Texas User is: OffLine	The 1994 Jimmy Saga I don't know which forum to post this topic in. I feel like warning potential owners about doing the recall on their cars. I am only aware of this recall on 4wd 1993 and 1994 Chevrolet S10 Blazers, and GMC T15 Jimmys. At least you guys will have a headsup in regards to what you are getting yourself into. I am also considering emailing this to people at GM hoping they can see reason and use their franchise power to force Beck and Masten to fix my car. It's not like I want money for the hassle, I'm not asking to be compensated for wasting my time taking off work, I don't want gas money for the multiple trips up and back from there, I don't want a rental car. I just want my Jimmy back how she was. There is an ABS recall on my truck. Switching between 4wd to 2wd potentially screws up the abs. This is a failure in the differential actuator unit. I take the truck to Landmark Chevrolet. They laugh because my truck has a GMC grill and they won't do the recall on it. I take it (with [UHL]SCOAT) to Beck and Masten GMC off of 1960 and Jones road. They say "Ooh it will have to stay with us for an entire day because we don't have the part and will have to order it from Landmark. I say "just order it and let me know when you get it, I'll bring the truck over and you do the 1.5 hour job so I can drive back home". The guy (Steve Sherman) says "We don't do that because people may never bring their cars in and we are stuck with a part." Fine, I leave and come back roughly 6 months later. I call in advance and they tell me to bring it by anytime no big deal. I bring it in, again talk to Steve Sherman and he says "Well, the part is out of state, it will take about 1 week to get it in here", I say "screw it, keep it as long as you have to" assuming of course that they won't order it in advance: The guy (Steve Sherman) says Quote: "We don't do that because people may never bring their cars in and we are stuck with a part." So, 1 week later they call me (Friday I think, before memorial day weekend) I spend money and time to head up to the Stealership and pickup my Jimmy. Being excited to have my baby back after not having her for so damned long I jump in, start it and drive home. We make a few stops but everything seemed normal. I drop the truck off at [UHL]WOOGI's mothers house because his Blazer was down getting some intake work done. I test the 4wd in his front yard and spin only the back 2 tires in 4 low or high. Get sad and go over checking out the work done on my truck. The front differential actuator has incompatible pins compared to the wire harness hanging via zip ties in front of it. It has nothing connected to it. I figure this is why it won't lock into 4wd. Wireless technology even in 2008 is pretty far off. I offer [UHL]WOOGI to drive the Jimmy while his truck is down because he is changing jobs and losing the company geekmobile. He drives my car roughly 50 miles (putting a total of 81 miles on the odometer) and calls me on the cell stating "The truck has no power and the service engine soon light is on." Great, the truck is screwed up AND the 4wd doesn't work. I head over the next day and hook up my scanner to it getting nothing but "please connect the scanner to the car" or whatever it says. I assume the scanner is faulty or something, check the pins and everything looks good. I plug it into Woogi's Blazer that has half of its connectors unplugged with no issues. Move it back onto my Jimmy and get nothing. Great, the ecu is probably bad. I check fuses, all of which get tested twice and work. This is where the conflict of interest must be explained. I contacted some mechanics I know and they just recently had an incident similar to this occur to them. They said "Bring it back to the dealership because if you bring it to us, they will simply shift blame on us and avoid responsibility by doing so" The obvious defense to that is that I don't want the same mechanic working on my car again operating with incorrect procedures. Unfortunately that is where I am stuck. Tuesday, I wake up at about 10am and call the dealership who tells me to bring it in first thing Wednesday morning. I show up 5 minutes before they open at 7:55. I hang out after talking to the guy who did my recall explaning the situation. He says very little short of drooling on me and then proceeds to take it into the work area. Roughly 2.5 hours and 3 coffees later I watch someone else pull the Jimmy around. I walk up and Steve Sherman tells me the problem was the guy plugged the new switch into the front differential instead of the transfer case. (in mechanic speak that is the difference between China and the USA) I understand this information as a solution to my problems. However upon hearing the Jimmy lope when the kid pulls it around to the ready bay, I am sure the ecu is still out of commission. I ask if the 4wd works but the kid doesn't know. Upset but with little recourse I get into the Jimmy and in 4 high and low I power brake producing a set of 11's in the parking lot. Then I do 4 very tight very bark free circles on some very clean very nice concrete. I pull back to the ready bay satisfied the 4wd is in fact not working. I talk to Steve Sherman who is clearly mystified why my truck is no longer working properly post recall. He promptly calls for the recall mechanic to come around and explain the situation. 10 minutes later he calls again. This time the kid who brought it around says "ooh hes gone, he left" Steve Sherman elevates the situation to another mechanic. 10 minutes later he comes out and explains essentially to me that "The 4wd system is independent of the ecu". This part needs to be clearly understood: Quote: "The 4wd system is independent of the ecu" I say "If the 4wd system is truely independant of the ecu then my 4wd should work regardless of weather or not the ecu functions properly." I hear a resounding "yes". So that means the 4wd is in fact NOT fixed and needs to be returned a 3rd try. I was then told by this guy I am talking to now that he is the only one that can work on cars older than 1996 at that dealership and he lacks the tools to adequately diagnose the 4wd problem. I ask him if there is another dealership that has the mechanics and tools to diagnose my 4wd problem. He says "I am the only mechanic that really works on cars older than 1996 at GMC dealerships, everyone else handles 1996 and up." It is at this point that I feel like I am dealing with a person who knows less about my car than I do. While I can understand a certain amount of this, I still know my Windows 95 cdkey by heart and can install it in my sleep. Windows 3.11 has no key and can be installed by my corpse. Lets not forget the subtle but mentionable differences between Windows 95 OSR A, B, and C. (mainly related to firewire (for C) and usb (for B) Lets also keep in mind that Windows 95 came out when I was 10. Ooh and 3.11? I WAS 7 YEARS OLD. I explain to him and Steve Sherman that I feel like it is very reasonable of me to allow them a 3rd chance to fix my 4wd system AND diagnose my ecu issue for free as I am still not convinced of my responsibility. The mechanic acts as if I am incorrect and Steve Sherman immediately says that it is in fact a reasonable request. Steve Sherman gets me a ride home with the previously mentioned kid that brought my Jimmy around. I think about 2 days later Mr. Steve Sherman calls me and leaves me a voice mail that my car is ready. He says the 4wd system does not work because the ecu is bad. He says the mechanic recommends I replace the P.R.O.M. before replacing the ecu because it will save me money. I wait a few minutes to calm down because I know full well I will be speaking to Steve Sherman who seems like he is mediating the situation very well and I know he is not the mechanic. I then determine that if the ecu and the 4wd system is related, plugging the wrong thing into the wrong place has the electrical ability to cross over. Lets not forget that my car worked and performed flawlessly in 2wd, 4wd low & high, and the ecu talked with the scanner prior to the dealerships shoddy recall work. I also know that people often accuse the dealership of breaking things after the dealership does work on the car. Those people however generally lack the mechanical knowledge of their own cars unlike myself and I feel like I am being treated as such. In my line of work, I get calls occasionally from customers because their computer won't boot after I did work on it. They genuinelly feel as if I caused the problem and it is possible. I feel like it is good business to rectify the situation and at the very least explain to them that the problem stemmed from faulty hardware or perhaps I installed the wrong sound driver. I call Mr. Steve Sherman back and explain that I feel if the two systems (4wd and ecu) are in fact interrelated then the possiblity of cooincidental failure on the two is simply unacceptably low. The second mechanic has proven himself wrong and now has little defense beyond cooincidence against my belief that the dealership caused the failure of my ecu due to the incorrect installation of the differential actuator unit.
	[Reply w/Quote]

06-04-2008, 11:57 AM	#2
MARS2878 Registered User Age: 35 Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,083 Location: attleboro, ma User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga that sucks hope it works out in the end for you
	[Reply w/Quote]

06-04-2008, 10:22 PM	#3
baggedzq8 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,036 Location: User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga i say carb the bitch and do a solid axle swap...screw the dealer
	[Reply w/Quote]

06-24-2008, 01:58 PM	#4
uhlhazard Aquatic Goat Farmer Age: 28 Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 530 Location: Montgomery, Texas User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga I called the dealer about 1.5 weeks after hearing crickets. They told me they installed a P.R.O.M. and that did not work, so next they are ordering me a complete pcm. So a little sunshine however it has been 1.5 weeks since that news and I have not heard a thing from them. It is looking good that I might get a running and driving car back but I won't get excited until I am in my Jimmy with working 4wd driving away from the dealership.
	[Reply w/Quote]

08-06-2008, 11:57 PM	#5
uhlhazard Aquatic Goat Farmer Age: 28 Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 530 Location: Montgomery, Texas User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga Well, the transmission in my pickup went out and I called the dealership. The service guy that calls customers was out having surgery for 2 weeks and turns out they "fixed" my jimmy about 2 days after he was gone. The 4wd still didn't work but I really don't have much more choice as it is now my only means of transpo. They did replace the ecu. I found out the 4wd doesn't work because they lost the plastic vacuum connector thingie that sits on top of the vacuum actuator that sits on top of the transfer case. Once I get one of those my 4wd will work (tested confirmed). Anyhow, I'm glad all this bs is finally over. I have no clue what the stupid part even does but ooh well.
	[Reply w/Quote]

08-16-2008, 06:51 PM	#6
mtone132000 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 84 Location: User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga I hate situations like this. theres a local "performance" shop just like this around my parts.
	[Reply w/Quote]

08-20-2008, 07:51 AM	#7
Outlawz24 Drifting Nomad Age: 29 Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 413 Location: Lloydminster Sask Canada User is: Online	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga Sounds like the switch that tells the vaccum system to lock the front axle. Check this thread out it will help you understand why your 4wd doesnt work.. http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f134/t...thread-327817/
	[Reply w/Quote]

08-20-2008, 09:24 AM	#8
uhlhazard Aquatic Goat Farmer Age: 28 Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 530 Location: Montgomery, Texas User is: OffLine	Re: The 1994 Jimmy Saga Yeah that is a pretty good write up, I ended up understanding how the 4wd system works by trial and error. I am missing the connector that has the notch in it to plug into the vacuum actuator. Thanks for the link though, it confirms what I thought to be true.
	[Reply w/Quote]

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