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Mount Desert, ME Car Consumer Discussions

Problems with 2006 Torrent

by scottaudio on Sat Aug 23 20:10:29 PDT 2008

We've had our 2006 AWD Torrent for 20 months (bought new in Jan 2007 as a dealer close-out on the lot). We have loved the car for handling, power, decent gas mileage (28 on the highway) and hauling capacity. However, I notice some of the problems we have encountered seem to be stardard from reading forum entries: 1) Noise from steering- Our dealer says it's a rubber boot on the steering colum and they lubricate it and the noise goes away until the lube wears off. 2) Loose panel sounding noise from front right- this was our radio antenna mount, as if you leave the antenna in place for even ONE car wash, it will break the plastic fender mount and then rattle in the fender. Thank goodness they fixed this in the 2007 models (no big fender mounted antenna!), but for 2006 models it's a problem. 3) Click/clack noise from rear end when backing down a hill (our driveway!). I always thought it was the drum rear brakes, but it ended up being a rear axle/differential problem that, thank goodness (since we currently have 26,000 miles on our car) they fixed it under warranty. Our warranty ends at 36,000 miles and GM thinks I should pay them $1800 a year to extend it....I don't think so, as if this car becomes a perennial problem, it will quickly become someone else's problem! Now, here are questions I'd like to pose to the forum: 1) We just had to have a brake job done. The pedal starting having "feeling" in it (I could really feel the brake [pads on the disks) and they noted we were due for brakes. Said they were worn down and glazed, so at 26,000 miles we had the rotors/drums resurfaced and new pads installed. Yeah, they work great now but I am VERY disspointed in the brake life (mileage-wise). Have any of you encountered this? 2) The automatic headlight sensor seems to be very insensitive. I back out of my garage in the middle of the day and plenty of sunshine (we live in the desert in Las Vegas, NV) and it will take 3-4 miles before the sensor finally turns off the full-on headlights and goes to daytime running lights. Unlike our 2003 Bonneville, the Torrest does NOT provide a method for by-passing the auto headlight sensor-it's always in the circuit and in control of the headlights. I asked my service rep at the dealer if there was an adjustment for this sensor and he said "no." Just curious-any of you noticed this or have an answer as to an adjustment? I have really enjoyed reading this forum since buying our car last year, but this is my first post. Thanks!

Re: Transmission (transaxle) fluid change [jackswammi]

by imjonboy on Sat Apr 12 23:03:08 PDT 2008

Right...no dipstick, but the Equinox tranny is just like the transfer cases that pick-ups have used for decades, having a drain plug and a fill plug. The fill plug is mounted horizontally, so it cannot be overfilled. As for changing the fluid, the owner's manual gives change intervals based upon usage conditions. I live in the desert southwest, where the temps always excede 90, and there are mountains too. So, two of the criteria are met for the severe condition change interval of 50,000 miles as shown in the manual. So back to my question of where is the filter located? Other vehicles that have manual transmissions, transfer cases, and even differentials have fluid that is changed at intervals, none of which have filters. So I'm wondering if these Equinox transmissions don't use filters, similar to the other mentioned drivetrain systems.

Re: Bikini tops. [kels4]

by erickpl on Wed Mar 12 07:55:24 PDT 2008

SD is a perfect place for a bikini top. First off, a bikini top covers the front passengers only. A safari top is a a longer version of the bikini top and covers rear passengers. If you have no rear passengers, a bikini is nice, but I got a safari as I didn't like the sun frying my neck on drives from Tehachapi to Edwards AFB in the high Mojave desert and 112 degree days. Bikini's or safari's (B/S for short :D) require a header to mount to the windshield. There are cheaper versions out there that don't use these, but they flap a LOT. I put my safari top on in April and it stays on until October (I'm in Alabama now). I chose the Bestop no-drill header. This header does not require you to drill any holes in the windshield frame, but instead bolts on using clamps that hook into the factory soft top header holes on the windshield frame. I chose the Bestop safari top and picked the one that used the no drill header. The header and top MUST match. You cannot use a no-drill header with a top that uses the drill-in header. The attachment method is totally different. Assuming you want to go with a black bikini top, you want a top that is for an 03-06 Wrangler TJ. No others will work. Bestop P/N: 51238 is the no-drill header. You will need this. Bestop P/N 52528 is the bikini style (there is an extra number for color. 52528-35 would be the black bikini top. Bestop P/N 52544 would the safari top to work with the header above. 52544-35 would be the black safari top. Shop around for a good price. -Paul

Wow..

by iluvmysephia1 on Sat Mar 08 07:42:51 PST 2008

the tension mounts as to which car lovethelancer selects! I think she'll pick the Lancer GTS for 2008. Just a "feeling" I'm picking up from the Pacific NW to the SE Arizona desert, I dunno. :D

RFT + desert(ed) road + nighttime = bogus (long)

by actualsize on Fri Mar 07 17:59:23 PST 2008

The following happened yesterday. The situation is very similar to the RFT incident we had with out long-term Mini Cooper S. Except this time it happened at night and further away from any city. So we were testing a new version of a BMW 3-series in Pahrump, Nevada. Go ahead, make your own joke and get it out of your system. Ready? There isn't much in Pahrump, and there is even less (read: nothing) when you take the two-lane blacktop south toward Shoshone, California, (near Death Valley,) on your way back to Los Angeles. Some miles down the road, the low-pressure warning lamp comes on at 8:30 pm. Shoshone is one of those places where the population is lower than the elevation--by a lot. We could go back to Pahrump, but that's the opposite direction of home. And we've just come from Pahrump, so we know they'll neither have an RFT in this size nor an open tire store. Las Vegas lies a further 55 miles beyond that, but now we're talking further from home, a driving distance close to the assumed 100-mile limit of the RFTs and a guaranteed overnight stay. Going south along our intended path is no better. 70 miles down the road lies Baker, California, another place not likely to have ANY 35-series tires of any sort during broad daylight, let alone a RFT at 10:00 pm or so. There are no towns to the east. Death Valley awaits to the west. Since we are automotive professionals and we're geared-up for track testing, we have an ace up our sleeves: A high-capacity, off-road, direct-to-battery air compressor. We decide to blow the offending tire up to 45 psi (it had been at 20-something) and see how far we can get before the light comes back on. Answer: 35 miles. But now we're between Shoshone and Baker and we still have 240 miles 'til we get home. It's even darker, we're STILL in the middle of the desert, and even if we do find a tire store it's so late we won't find one tonight. At least there are 4 of us in a convoy. More air, back on the road. Another 35 miles, another warning lamp. This time, it should be noted, the warning lamp came on at 33 psi. That's 25% below the 45psi we set the tire to, not 25% below the door sticker. BMW must have some crazy software in their TPMS. We could have gone farther, but it’s still a leaker and we can't see the nail, so we re-air it to 45 psi. We do this three or four more times, working our way closer to home. But the distance between warnings drops to 30, then 25, then 20 miles. We're not getting into the RFT's mileage limit, because, so far, we haven't run below 30 psi for any length of time, let alone zero pressure. When the nav system says we've got less than 100 miles to go, air is leaking out in 6 miles. We're in Victorville now, with tire stores a plenty, but it is 11:30 pm and they're all closed. We decide to go with the nuclear option: After checking three "gas marts" we find one with a can of fix-a-flat (FAF). I know, I know. Here's our logic. If we don't do this, the next 100 miles of airless operation will get us home, but the tire will be junk because it'll have run its RFT distance limit. But we're not sure that 100 miles is the magic number; this BMW has no FM to R (fine manual to read,) as it's a loaner and the prep shops frequently forget to leave them in the car. If we do use FAF, we might save the tire--no run-flat mileage means we might be able to patch it after we scrape the FAF out. We'll need a new pressure sensor because FAF clogs the mechanism, but they're cheaper than a tire. If it doesn't work, we're no worse-off for trying. We just want to get ourselves home. After squirting-in the FAF, the pressure still drops in the next 10-miles. The TPMS sensor doesn't say so, because we couldn't re-set the system on account of it being plugged with FAF, but a precautionary stop to check the pressure manually tells the tale. We top off one more time and drive the last 80-something miles at 55 mph. We finally get back bleary-eyed at 2:00 am--some 3.5 hours later than expected. The southwestern USA is full of wide-open spaces and this could happen many, many such places. The day before we'd driven through Death Valley, where multiple stretches of 70+ miles have nothing more than a simple fuel station. None of them were service stations--they sold fuel and junk-food, that's it. Getting a tire, especially an exact replacement of this RFT, would be impossible in many of the places (city, town or village do not apply) we could have stopped for fuel. We never saw any place with mounting equipment the entire day. BMW engineers just HAVE to know this. We see them testing in great numbers in Death Valley every summer. The same thing must have happened to them. At the very least, they must have imagined the scenario. Why this didn't have an effect on the BMW brass in Germany is beyond me. This would have been such a non-story if we'd only had a spare. Five minutes and we'd have been on our way. If we hadn't had the compressor, we'd have been stranded in some garden spot like Baker. I might still have been there, waiting for a tire, right now. With this state of affairs, I find it impossible to recommend a new BMW (or Mini) to anyone, no matter how much I personally like them and relish what they can do. No more RFT-equipped cars! At least not without spares, that is. RFTs should never be anything more than a stand-alone option, and I'm no longer a fan of spareless running with GFTs and a Conti kit, either.

General observations after 1 year of ownership

by vip9 on Mon Sep 10 07:38:34 PDT 2007

About 10 months, 11K miles here on a 3.6 Premium with Nav, 19" Continentals and most other goodies. No steering vibration, but an Oil Pressure light goes on occasionally and the gas tank flap does not flap :) on occasion. Other than that - a great-looking, great-feeling car. There are a few issues though that I want to float and see if you people feel the same about... 1. Various ergonomics issues. Way too many simple operations requre either multiple steps or taking eyes off the road. (in no particular order) Steering-wheel-mounted cruise control too close to turn signal/high beam control - even after that much driving experience, still occasionally flash high-beams when trying to engage the CC Windshield wipers (esp. in winter or on dirt road) - to engage the rear wiper, need to push the lever away. To wash the dirty windshield, need to pull the lever, thus dis-engaging the rear wiper. A simple enough operation that should not require a multi-step process. Climate control - LOVE 6-step bun-warmers, H A T E that their controls are tied to Blower and there is no way to just turn the warmer on by itself. Also, no way to shut off rear climate controls from the front - have to reach back and hunt for the button. And, when both my kids are back there and both child-locks are engaged, even more steps are needed. A wierd "voice-recognition" button on the steering wheel which appears too moody to work consistently. (plus, according to the manual, mine should not work at all, since I do not have a particular package - go figure!) 2. CRAZY head-rests - very uncomfortable according to most/all of my rear-seat adult passengers. Cannot be adjusted. If folded, prevent the use of the seat. Block way too much of the rear view. 3. Hard-to-understand and nowhere-documented info on the MMI - such as MPG, time, speed, etc. - one of them lists mpg at 200. I WISH!!! 4. Non-foldable cargo cover - what a pain when 3rd row is up!!! Of course, the folded cover is only reserved for Europe it appears :( 5. Do-it-yourself spare tire - never had anything like that before, hope never to have to blow one at night on a deserted road. 6. A dealer service dept. in NYC being closed for lunch?!?! In the City that never sleeps!!! And, me having an emergency! Lastly, as I posted in the Maintenance forum, I was taken aback by Audi CS telling me that it was up to a dealer to provide me with a loaner if/when I bring the car in for that Oil Pressure issue. Some posted that the repair took weeks, they had their engines replaced, cars declared lemons, etc... and all of that for a hefty monthly payment and potentially NO LOANER??? WOW! Thanks for reading.