Are you as unhappy as me?

[jersey]

I've been unhappy the last few months too and yesterday sealed the deal. First in early December my blower motor relay went. This happened twice before during summer months, but now its doing it in winter too! Late December there goes my water pump! Then in January my tensioner stopped tensioning, replaced that and a belt. February came and top of my radiator cracked, replaced that. Car felt a little shaky last Wednesday, Thursday I took it for tire balance & rotation. Seemed shakiness went away. Saturday no noticeable difference on short ride to the market and back. Yesterday left for work at 3pm Sunday and shakiness returned at 62MPH, 3:58 pm.
At 4:03pm I'm on the side of the Parkway waiting for an Onstar tow truck because my Transmission failed miserably and briefly caught fire which forced me to the side of the road.
"I should have sold it when the water pump broke!" was what I said when the Tensioner later went and again when the Radiator went. And after I pay for an out of warranty repaired trans I'll likely say it again. But I wont follow through...truth is, I just like my H3, we've had 143K miles of fun and I can't see a few dollars here or there that'd make sense in me getting rid of it.

Good luck with yours too! I hope things turn out better for you moving forward.

[stagger_lee]

Spospolita, sounds like you've had some bad luck. I have 98k on my 06 and just had to replace radiator and water pump. I did notice a leaky CV joint when I changed the oil last, so thats coming up soon. Overall I have been very happy with my H3. I feel safe in the car and feel the wife and kids are safe in it. The wife and I have looked at other cars thinking about the trade in but we haven't found anything we would consider. I'm a Toyota guy and I know I cant expect 200k trouble free miles like my 99 4runner, but since we don't have a car payment, we just started putting $250 a month into a savings account just for vehicle maintenance. I love my H3 and don't think I could ever sell it. I am starting to see less and less of them on the road and I kind of like that. I'll rebuild it as many times as it takes. We do off road the crap out it and put it through the tests, so shes definitely not a road queen, but we keep her pretty.

Just recently invested in a scangaugeII to monitor engine temps and other vitals. I have been running Waterwetter by Redline and purchased a tranny cooler to take heat away from radiator and help with efficiency. To be installed in the next couple weeks. Cheers all!

[stagger_lee]

The stalling out when braking is an easy fix. Clean your intake manifold with carb cleaner. Sounds stupid. I do it every 25k miles or so. No issues since.