Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Broken Bow, Oklahoma

Broken Bow, OK Car Consumer Discussions

puckering top

by itsdee on Tue Nov 11 13:09:26 PST 2008

We have a 2003 convertible with a beige top. The fabric on the lower left side is heavily puckered. We had to replace a smashed broken rear glass (vandals.) I've noticed, a year later, that there is some black material showing on part of the window. I brought it to a different upholstery shop and said there is a hole in the bow for centering the window. He checked the dimensions and said it was about 3 inches off. He redrilled a new hole in order to adjust the window. Could this have been a manufacturer problem? Was the original puckering due to shrinkage and the shifting of the bow? The dealer saw it before it was brought to the 2nd upholsterer and was unable to help. Is there anyone else with the puckering problem or any problems with the top as I described?

Trip through Arkansas.

by randydriver on Fri Apr 18 06:08:21 PDT 2008

Well I am back from my Family trip to Arkansas.....whew. Anywho....here are my postings for fuel consumption and and speed. First leg....Segoville Tx to Hot Springs Village,Ar....268 miles- 6.7 gallons....39.8mpg Average speed between 60-65 behind a big truck most of the way.... Second leg Hot Spings Village to Eureka Spings ..plus a extra day of site seeing in the mountains...this was all mountain driving an site seeing in mountainous areas.. :) 326 miles- 10.3 gallons.... 31.65 mpg.... Third leg of trip mostly mountainous driving and site seeing....311 miles- 8.71 gallons 35.70 mpg. (luggage was out of the car). Fourth leg heading home from Eureka Springs Ar. down 540 to Fort Smith and on to Broken Bow Oklahoma. Mostly speed in excess of 80mph....(my mother drove) with four people in car and a trunk full of luggage. 269 miles- 8.67 gallons 31.6 mpg Last leg From Broken Bow, Ok. to Seven Points Tx. ...speed of 70-85 mph....(my mother drove the higher speeds) 231.7 miles- 7.11 gallons.....32.58 mpg.. Remember this was with four adults in the car......a trunk full of luggage and a wheel chair. Lots of mountainous driving.....

Re: Compact> [texases]

by tomica on Wed Jan 30 07:04:18 PST 2008

Yes, I owned a 1963 LeMans. Rear wheels bowed out, made others think the car was broken. Great in snow. You had to climb in trunk to remove plate to check tranny fluid. Had a half 389 engine (194.5) Nothing but trouble but great in the snow.

Re: 98 Blazer Clunking from right front wheel area [geemick53]

by repairdog on Fri Aug 25 05:06:37 PDT 2006

GM has a bulletin 52-15-01 on this and it maybe as simple as adding a little cone shaped washer to the bolt where the hood hinges open - yes it shifts and clunks as the hood shifts. GM part #12383460 and you need 2, 1 for each side. To see if thats it open hood and insert small rag in hinge area between hood and fender, close carefully and test drive - no noise, add the washer. If not then check the brake calipers for sloop and grease the slide pins. If not that loose fender or door hinge pins, etc. Next, buzzing behind drivers side araea could be another simple one - the PCV vibrating and if your throttle cable has a broken plastic holddown at the rear of the intake it now hits the PCV and thats it - add a zip tie to the bracket and cable on the rear of the intake. If pass side could be the problem with the multifunction switch in the steering column and it makes the flasher and blinker relays vibrate behind the glove bow so when it happens if back there carefully bend the top left inside of glove box so it drops past the stop and look/feel/listen to the relays. Last, replace the bulb per your owners manual for the gears.

Re: 110 Years Old [Henry]

by hammen2 on Sun Nov 13 18:57:03 PST 2005

Amen! (Henri, I was wondering where you were lately :-) I put 1000 miles on my overhauled '98 (new shocks, struts, rear rotors, front and rear pads) this weekend (trip to Michigan for my wife's uncle's funeral). Wow, it's amazing how great the car rides with the new parts (my right front strut could be compressed with one finger; it stayed compressed for 5 minutes, only decompressing when layed sideways :-) The car does not have the neck-snapping acceleration of my GTO, but it is still pretty quick/surprises people. Thanks to some boneheaded road construction in Michigan (whose idea was it to completely shut down I-96 west of Detroit?), I got behind and needed to make up some time. Spent a fair amount of time approaching triple-digit speeds on rural interstates, going into 30-40 mph headwinds, and the old girl just kept humming along and offering me more. Only problem I had was that the plastic piece on the outside of each B-pillar, between the windows, was "bowing out" - also had a ton of wind noise. At my next gas stop, I looked, and the 3 plastic tabs that hold that piece in were broken on each side! A little ghetto repair (electrical tape wrapped a couple of times around each B-pillar at the top and the bottom) fixed that right up and reduced the wind noise. I'll be ordering the new parts tomorrow :-) --Robert 96k on his '98 (27k when I got it over 4 1/2 years ago), and still rolling...

Early driving impressions

by rayainsw on Mon Jun 13 11:03:23 PDT 2005

Again (skip if you don’t care about background) I have been driving RWD or AWD cars the past 5 years or so. MSRP on my last 3 has been approx. $38 – 42K. I have enjoyed each of them. I will refer to at least 2 other cars here, 1 – The 2003 Lincoln LS V8 Sport that I traded in, and 2 – The 2006 M45 Sport that I test drove 3 times, and did not buy. (Details below, in case anyone cares.) Given that the GXP is FWD. And given that the MSRP is $33K with everything available except NAV and side airbags. And given an actual transaction price of something just below $27K (my paperwork is in the car) this qualifies as a ‘screaming bargain’, in my book. OK, a ‘deep, throbbing, rumbling, V8 rapping exhaust’ bargain??? The FWD advantages are well publicized. The downsides, particularly for a high power / high torque application (torque steer, front weight bias) have been addressed so well in the GXP that I do not see them as significant. My experience and observations (in somewhat random order) so far: Upon arrival at the dealership in NC (previously only in touch via email and telephone) I was able to take a quick evaluation / shake-down run. Alone. I could have driven longer, but having driven 3 previously, I really just wanted to make certain that there were no issues with this particular example. I did quickly find a tightly twisting side road just off US 441 / 23 (in Dillsboro, NC) to check the steering response and handling (at 6 tenths or so – unfamiliar road, no runoff areas or shoulders) under those conditions. Very nice. Fun. Then I drove home. Trip is about 125 miles, generally south and then southeast, starting with typical NC / North GA mountain (tall hill?) area road conditions. A lot of up then down grades – as much as (posted) 7%. Not great for gas mileage. Some road construction. Some small towns with lowered speed limits. Generally well maintained roads. Then a 50+ mile run down I985 to I85 back toward the north side of Atlanta. Ran at 65 to 75 most of this leg. A couple of blasts over 80. Just because I wanted to . . . Traffic was building as I approached the I985 / I85 split, so I took Satellite Blvd for several miles – see below. Then I drove my typical commute into Mid-Town and (and back) . . Fuel mileage: Based on a VERY limited sample (1 tank, details on the mileage thread), I expect that the 27 MPG highway estimate could be achieved in an “open road, light traffic, steady 70+ mph” scenario. And that is what I was hoping for. For such a performance level, for a car with a (relatively speaking) big honkin’ V8, for a car that I drive to enjoy, I am quite satisfied – and will continue to be even more satisfied, if I can achieve 26 or 27 mpg on long, primarily highway trips! The ride is excellent under almost all conditions. Overall I rate it (surprisingly) actually slightly better than my Lincoln LS. It is clearly better when traversing a set of RR tracks I drive over several times each week. It is as good an my LS in a few other areas, and not quite as good in only a couple. (Fortunately, the ride in not any worse in any circumstances I encounter regularly! Worn concrete surfaces, like long, slightly bowed upward, bridge deck sections, with ridged expansion joints between the slabs, for example, it handles just a bit worse. It starts to set up a slight harmonic that I’d likely find quite annoying if I experienced it very often. And the tires do transmit some ‘thump’ over any short, sharp bump, like on broken pavement. Often, this is as much perceived as noise, rather than much wheel / tire motion pass through. And any such abrupt motion is quickly smothered by the Bilsteins.) Now, I am not suggesting that there is no impression that you are turning fairly hefty sized front tires (255 / 45 x 18) supporting a large percentage of the total vehicle weight. Just that it is an awareness without any real attendant downside. . . The GXP goes where I intend, it deals with application of power while turning with surprising grace. It always feel tied down and very well damped. Coming back from NC, I drove it down a stretch of Satellite north of Pleasant Hill Rd. in Gwinnett County (North of Atlanta, GA) to further evaluate the handling and ride. This is not a challenging stretch because of broken pavement or because you can explore the outer limits of the handling envelope. You can’t, and I would not on public roads, anyway. And there are rather high curbs and no shoulders for the entire length I drive. The challenge here is more because at even the speed limit and a bit above (45 – 50 mph) the almost continual varying radius turns combined with rolling elevation changes and many areas where the pavement has settled, developing sharp dips and longer amplitude drops and rises stresses up / down and side to side damping. This combination really tests the total suspension tuning of any car I have driven here. The GXP again felt extraordinarily well damped and controlled without significant harshness. Kudos. The seats are quite comfortable. Lumbar support adjustability is excellent – the ability to move the support up and down as well is appreciated. And the seat bottom front raises / rear lowers = excellent support when I want it for my thighs. I expect that the wide range of seat adjustability will be useful on long drives, minimizing fatigue. Aside: 1/2 of lumbar adjustment (up / down, I expect) goes away for 2006 – 4 way becomes 2 way . .