We’re really starting to miss our beloved h3 and figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

it had been having issues holding oil and transmission fluid. The oil seemed to be taken care of using blue devil. Tried the same for the for transmission but we kept having to refill it on a weekly basis at least.

One evening going to the store it seemed mostly fine until getting back into the car within 5 minutes. Car started fine but wouldn’t go out of park with the messages serv stab sys and serv trac sys serv 4wd. Tried restarting it about 5 times over a 10 minute period. Still the same, called a lift and when it arrived we figured we’d put in some trans fluid and give it one last shot and sure enough all good…
Next morning same messages and won’t go out of park.

With all the issues we thought it might be related to the transmission so had it towed into a transmission shop.
They believed it to be the bcm, they couldn’t get one so ordered one off eBay. They had issues programming it at first but after bringing it by gm they got it successfully programmed.
Car starts with the new bcm but now the radio and I believe some lights are not working. The car is also still stuck in park.
I now realize I forgot to ask wether or not the messages are still showing.

its been a few days since I called and part of me feels like the guy might be getting tired of me and this car.

i had already read up on this forum a little bit and informed him right away about the battery terminals. I had personally replaced one that literally fell apart. This happened after battery plus put in a new battery and I later wanted to put on the anti corrosion pads and spray.
He later said the voltage was fine.

what are things somebody who doesn’t specialize might miss?
I read something about a brake light switch but not completely sure that applies to this situation.

thank you for your time

 

Check your radiator coolant and Transmission for cross contamination. If the cooler loop inside of your Radiator is compromised/cracked/corroded/failed (it has happened to many GM trucks) then you get coolant in the Trans and/or Trans fluid in the Radiator and neither is good at all. If used unchecked while this is happening you will destroy the Transmission.

Where did your Transmission Fluid go? If you had a leak it should be obvious on the ground where it is parked.

NEVER a good idea to mess with a BCM or programming a replacement unless you know 100% absolutely positively that there is a short in the original. BCMs get killed by leaking sunroofs. Does your 08 have a sunroof? Is so, has the passenger side floor been wet?

"He later said voltage is fine." Who is he? What Voltage? The battery could be fantastic, but the OEM Battery Terminal Connectors cannot make a solid consistent connection so the problem is the CONNECTION, not the Voltage. Replacing one is not going to remedy a defective connection.

The guy, as in mechanic sounds like nobody I would do business with. Specialty is not required to work on an old H3, just brains and competence.

Good luck

 

hey thank you for the reply!
will definitely have it checked for the cross contamination. Personally not much of a car guy but I’m thinking that wouldn’t prevent it from going into drive though right ?

Also apart from the leaks the car shifts fast and smooth. The only thing we’d sometimes notice is that it would chug ( I believe it’s called) the rpm would bounce for a couple seconds.

yes lots of transfluid ended up in the driveway

it does indeed have the sunroof, however as soon as we had the (minor) leaks I went on YouTube and did a fix by drilling the connecting grommets that hold all the dirt. Haven’t had issues with it since. This was about 5 years ago.

Yeah he wasn’t clear about the voltage but I presume them to be professionals and checked it at the fusebox or wherever on the load side.
totally agree, but since I had to do it myself and the other one seemed fine (didn’t crumble) I decided not to mess with it.

the shop has been in business for a couple decades and has a close to 5 star rating. Not defending them but hoping it’s something random the mechanic might have missed.

Should I insist on replacing the oem terminal? I think I know the answer

 

Find another mechanic.

 

im getting there for sure. However isn’t there a car every once in a while that throws the mechanic for a loop?

 

Please though, if there’s any h3 issues you know of I can have him check before I incur more costs at the next garage that would be great

 

Are you saying it will not shift from Park to Drive? Or are you telling us it will allow the shifter to move into Drive position, but nothing happens?