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Hummer H3For the Hummer driver who wants the rugged look and off road capabilities of the Hummer, but in a smaller size and with a more fuel economy friendly engine.
So this guy has us. He will exchange for another vehicle on the lot, which means a Honda Pilot or Toyota 4runner, which I can choose and inspect for rust myself - or he can coat the underside of this one. A refund is out of the question. He has taken it to 4 "independent" mechanics who agree the rust will not be problematic once scraped and that on a scale of 1 to 10, the rust on this is a 2 or 3.
By the way - the truck was kept in NY and NJ, the majority in NJ.
It's my fault for not posting this thread earlier!! So now I guess any advice on damage control would be helpful.
Thanks for all the responses.
if they can guarantee it wasn't in a flood I wouldn't sweat it too much
Have you had it checked out by an independent shop of your choice? I'm not as optimistic as others here, especially given the musty smell and how interior components of our rigs are VERY expensive (there is a LOT of floor insulation below the carpet, for example, which is borrowed from Cadillac to address road noise). If that is bad from water damage and mold, you need to pull all of it and install an entire carpet/insulation combo (it is 1 piece). I would also have it checked thoroughly for damage to electrical connections, especially at the BCM because it is so low in the cabin. As someone mentioned earlier, corrosion at electrical connections could become a very expensive fix later on.
So the shop took it back to sand and paint the underside, and gave me a loaner in the meantime. They changed the ignition switch and battery. While they had it, the check engine light came on again. They changed a couple sensors on it, but it turns out the heads were bad. So now they are remachining the heads. I’m still waiting to get it back, but in the meantime they’ve switched out for another set of OEM wheels I ordered off EBay and finished all the requested repairs - along with these new ones.
I’ll post pictures...whenever I get her back!
Got her back on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning - wouldn’t start.
I think I’m done. Thanks to everyone on this thread who shared knowledge and advice. I’ll go be LadyMinivan now.
Hey, any car/truck you buy can be a "problem vehicle", even a new one. By the looks of the pics you posted of the underside you probably should have shopped around some more. Your H3 showed definite signs of being off road/in water/in salt water/in an area of high salt use and even so, frequent wash and wax will head off a lot of that type of corrosion. I looked for my H3 for over 7 months before I made my purchase and I passed on a lot of vehicles with flashy extras because they didn't look mechanically sound.
