Lurching 40 to 50 mph slight hill

[f5fstop]

Your third gear theory is wrong, 4L transmissions will lock in manual 3rd gear, as well as in overdrive 4th gear.
Possibly an engine compression problem, but if it is the cylinder head issue, it would cause a rough idle, and the PCM would pick up a misfire after certain counts and turn on the idiot light.
As for buy backs, is this your first problem? Call your lease company. But if it natural, it is between your lease company and GM.

I really don't know of any heavy vehicle with an automatic and limited HP that will not do some shifting around on mountain roads. But then again, I don't know if it is a shifting problem or a TCC problem, or something entirely different. Good luck.

[Dave LV]

Interesting. I did not realize that the H3's AT would torque lock in 3rd gear. My other cars only did it in top gear.

But I now believe you are right about the torque converter lockup being the problem. Today I kept the speed going uphill below the 40 mph where it locks up and sure enough there was no lurching.

Lease is with GM and it is the first shop visit - but not where I bought it.

Shifting is no problem with the transmission. I expect it to with the H3's weight/power ratio. Seemed fine until lately.

Still surprised that putting on the brakes doesn't release the lockup. My '01 Camaro did and it made it much more drivable.

[Dave LV]

So the dealer said the lurching/lugging was present in their three loaner H3's also and therefore is considered normal. And since the COMPUTER could find nothing (even though the tech felt the shuddering), it was obviously OK per GM warranty process - what ever happened to good old fashioned seat of the pants repair?

So it is becoming more and more noticeable, and I now dread driving my H3 vs the joy I had for the first 5000 miles.

And unfortunately I still have 31 months to go on my lease.

I guess I will try the GM appeal process, but eventually will most likely have to look into buying my H3 out of the lease and selling it for a huge loss.

I knew I should have bought a GX470. Never have problems with Toyota/Lexus, but I wanted to be patriotic and buy American. Boy what a sucker I was.....

[NEOCON1]

Originally Posted by Dave LV

So the dealer said the lurching/lugging was present in their three loaner H3's also and therefore is considered normal. And since the COMPUTER could find nothing, it was obviously OK - what ever happened to good old fashioned seat of the pants repair? since there is about a dozen computers monitoring everything now days seat of the pants is useless

So it is becoming more and more noticeable, and I now dread driving my H3 vs the joy I had for the first 5000 miles. drive it hard till it dies and push the blue button

And unfortunately I still have 31 months to go on my lease. there is a 48 month waranty so dont sweat it drive it hard till it breaks or you get a warning light they can trace to something

I guess I will try the GM appeal process, but eventually will most likely have to look into buying my H3 out of the lease and selling it for a huge loss. drive it till it dies and push the blue button

I knew I should have bought a GX470. Never have problems with Toyota/Lexus, but I wanted to be patriotic and buy American. Boy what a sucker I was.....

now you sound like a hummer hatin tree licking troll and an anti-american one at that

[Dave LV]

Warranty is useless when the local dealer says "it is normal".

[HummerNewbie]

Is there another dealer around you can go to? Just because they don't want to do anything doesn't mean it can't or won't be fixed by another dealer. As far as should have bought the Lexus, go for it. It doesn't matter what type of vehicle it is, there will be people that have problems. I have known people who have bought a Lexus and had more problems than I have had with all the GM vehicles I have owned combined.

[Dave LV]

Drivetrain shuddering problem has worsened in last 1000 miles. Now happens pretty much full time. Feels like miss in engine plus unbalanced tires. After two tries, determined to be "normal".

My present guess is that it is the transfer case since it happens even when the transmission is in neutral.

I am surprised no one else is noticing this since according to the dealership all three of their loaners have the same shuddering.

By the way, lemon laws appear to be somewhat useless in that if it can't be repaired in X times (usually 3 or 4 tries), then the car must be bought back...but what happens when manufacturer says defect is "normal" after 2 repair attempts? A loop hole that needs to be corrected.