re: What were the engineers/designers at GMC thinking when they built the Acadia?

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THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LUDACRIS!

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I buy, sell and trade a lot of vehicles and the biggest POS I ever had was a 2001 Chrysler Cirrus. It only had 100k miles so I traded a ATV for it as I needed a car that didn't hurt my back and was comfortable. Never would have considered paying cash for a Chrysler but it felt nice to ride in and I couldn't drive the ATV anymore so I did the deal... big mistake. Over the next 4 months that bastard hurt my back so bad making repairs I wont ever own another chyrsler even if given one based solely on principal.

When I first got it I did my usual maintenance. Well it turns out the fuel filter was not in the engine bay and there was no access port under the back seat. So I had to run it out of gas and drop the gas tank just to replace the filter... which of course hurt my back. To replace the bad battery I had to remove the left wheel and liner. You couldnt even see the battery from the engine compartment.....lovely.

It started missing so I checked the spark plugs.. the wells were full of oil due to bad gaskets. This POS had a mitsubishi engine and the back valve cover was a bitch so I had to crouch on top of the engine to get the back bolts. which of course hurt my back. Next up it sounded like it had a gang of midgets in the trunk swinging hammers because the strut mounts went bad. All I found where the strut mounts should be was a pile of dust. Where did all the rubber go you ask?? Well there never was any rubber as the mounts were made of FOAM... no shite..freaking FOAM!! What idiot said.. nope.. rubber is too expensive.. lets use fricking foam instead. I would seriously like to punch that guy in the face.

Next it left me stranded in a parking lot... bad fuel pump. By this point I was so pissed I wasn't about to drop the tank again so I cut a hole under the back seat to access the pump and bolted down a plate in its place. Gee.. wonder why the engineers couldn't spring for four screws to accomplish this amazing marvel of ingenuity. Thought I was real smart and had finally whipped this flaming POS........NOPE.

Through all of this crap not one single time did the check engine light come on. I even checked for ghost codes...nothing. Apparently this car is incapable of simply recording a fault and letting me know what it is.

On my very next trip the car died out at speed.. which isn't very safe if you have ever tried to stop/steer a dead car at 60mph. It recorded nothing from the incident on the computer. After 30 minutes it restarted... and it did this several other times but of course never when I would take it into the shop to have them drive it. Imagine multiple long trips in which the car just decides to die and wont restart for 30min-an hour. I ended up having to buy a freaking computer program for my laptop (which turned out to be awesome), OBD cable and a host of other crap to have a live view of all the cars nearly 200 sensors. Well I finally found the problem.. TPS.. throttle position was getting stuck at 80% thus not allowing the car to restart until it slipped back into place. New throttle body and yay.. I was on my way to finally having a comfortable, reliable car.

Nope. On a four hour trip a week later it died out AGAIN. OF COURSE I did not have the lap top hooked up so I just sat there like an idiot banging on the new throttle body thinking that was the issue. Thats it, from now on the lap top stays connected to this flaming POS 24/7. Well a few days later the god damn lap top dies.. the ACC plug shorted out and you guess it... the car stalled at speed again with no laptop to record the data that the cars ECU was apparently incapable of recording on its own. Jesus Christ I nearly set this SOB on fire and walked home. I'd have a more reliable and painless ride if I took the damn ATV I traded and drove it like a car.

Finally got a reading on what was wrong with the laptop. CPS... cam position sensor. That was the final straw... I took the bastard to a car dealer friend of mine and traded it for a Jetta. My friend asked me if it was a POS and I said.. well I call it the CRAPler if that tells you anything. And now here I am on TD listening to you whine about having to take a wheel off to replace a freaking light bulb. OMG... my light bulb went out.. I'm never buying another GM..... what a baby back bitch.

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Yeah, it was a bitch to replace a driver side bulb in my Sierra. I hear the passenger side is much worse.....

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You are supposed to replace them in pairs.

In my 2007 Silverado, I completed the task in about 10 minutes. I did have to enlist my wife and her tiny hands to help with the passenger's side bulb. You can remove the headlight assembly itself and access all of the bulbs there, but I didn't have to do that.

I had a 1977 model GMC Sierra once. I actually sat on the wheel well under the hood when I changed the spark plugs on that beast. You could fit a manhattan apartment under that hood. Changing the bulbs was a matter of unscrewing the fixture (from the outside....in those days exposed screw heads were common) and replacing the bulb.

Everything is flush mounted these days and more challenging to work on.

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This one is a '12

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I would be pissed at the bulb manufacturer as well. My 2014 GMC Sierra has a front running light filament burned out (the signal works, just not the running light)so now you have me scared. Did you use Yoga and/or liquor and/or drugs to calm down after this incident?...just trying to prepare myself.

Have you ever replaced the battery that's under the back passenger set on that thing? Now that truely is a bitch because of the tight squeeze, awkward angle, and weight of the battery.

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GM

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I think I may have found your problem.

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In my old QX4 you had to remove the air filter or battery to replace the bulb. It was some bullshite. It shouldn't take longer than 1 minute to change a bulb.

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You had a Qx4? I always liked the late model ones with their Oval projector HIDs and two tone paint jobs.

All this shite is done so you have to take it to the dealership and get raped.

That headlight probably would be $435 and then they would find three additional items which "had" to be fixed.

This and those damned Check Engine lights

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You had a Qx4?

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For a short while I had a 2001 as my every day car. I had no real complaints about it other than the damn headlight replacement and the gas mileage. I was blown away when I went to change the driver side light and it ended up taking me two hours, not to mention the bulb was expensive. Now it sits at our shop and I use it for muddy job sites and deliveries. Still running fine with 200k+.

This is why I Uber