Well folks, despite the many warnings about going with the early '06 model, I proceeded with the package deal of the '06 H3 Luxury pkg with 69k mile along with an '07 Mariah SX19 with only 34 hours on the engine. The combined NADA value was over $33k for Avg Retail (19,750 + 13,400) and I paid considerably less. It certainly seems to be too good to be true but I did my homework (CarFax, complete maintenance records from dealer, forum research, etc) and believe I am going into this with eyes open. Given the known issues, they certainly would not go for Avg Retail and I know NADA is not a reflection of what H3s are actually selling for but there is a huge buffer between value and paid price that will allow me to pay for repairs and still end up ahead.

I will undoubtedly be a frequent user of this forum for help in solving issues (leak, BCM, tires, brakes, potentially Valve Seats, Shift fork, etc).

Looking forward to getting to know you all better. :-)

LifeIsGood (hope it stays that way)

 

Bro here is what it comes down to.,before you purchase a car from a dealer take it to a mechanic and have them check it out. Look at all the maintenance records that it has and very thing that's been going on with it. I just bought my second hemmer3 but I had it checked out and it needed a new transmission coder motor. They are solid little trucks if they have been taken care of.

Word to your mother
Out

 

Congrats Lifeisgood. Before getting any of the repairs done run the repairs and prices you are quoted by us and we can give you a good idea if you are getting taken to the cleaners. Also, some of those things you may be able to do by yourself and we can walk you through it.

 

Thanks for the offer egroegart. I have good news and bad news. The good news is I fixed the leak! It rained two nights ago and I discovered the carpet was wet in the morning. The H3 was running fine earlier in the morning but in the afternoon, it would not start (did not turn over) with the check engine light on. I knew the issue was with the leak and the electronics on the passenger side floor. I removed a few panels and found the electronics were indeed quite wet so I continued upward to find the drain tube was disconnected where it enters the firewall. Not much space to work but I was able to reach in and reconnect the tube. That's the good news.

I then discovered that although the carpet was just a tad damp, there is a considerable amount of water under the carpet (foam pad is soaked). Today's chore is continuing the dis-assembly to pull up the carpet and try to get it dried out before mold sets in.

If anyone has helpful tips on pulling up the carpet, please do share (ie. links to maintenance manuals, YouTube videos, etc).

Thanks,
LifeIsGood

 

Seats out, trim removed, soaked up a lot with towels, now setting up heaters.....thoughts on spraying something to kills/prevent mold/mildew? can spray bleach solution on the floorboards but not convinced that will help with the foam padding....

LifeIsGood

 

I got pretty lucky wit mine. My rear got wet because the back seal was gone in the drain cup. I took trim off front and back. Then i had an industrial sized blower fan for inflating a huge waterslide i got for the kids. I put it in under the crept and propped it up with the door. Did that for three days after using towels reaching underneath squirming water out soaking five or six bath sheets.
That dried it before mold set in.

 

Delayed update....dry as a bone after hours of heaters....all back together....good as new....very satisfying....

Now it's time for an oil change. Should be simply by comparison....if I plan to change oil every 3k, is there any reason I shouldn't simply use conventional Castrol oil with a Fram filter? This is what I use on my other vehicles....

LifeIsGood....

 

Oh, forgot to mention that I bored out the rubber grommet on both driver and passenger sides as detailed in Broken Halo's Finally, a fix for clogged sunroof drain tubes post. Excellent post! Thanks.

Does anyone have detailed instructions on doing the back drains. Broken Halo mentioned it was difficult and involved removing trim in the cargo area. Which trim and once removed, are the drains clearly visible?

LifeIsGood

 

Glad you got it dry. You should not need to change the oil every 3,000 miles. Reset your oil change alert when you change the oil and it will tell you when you need to change it again. G.M.'s technology is superior with this. We are averaging 9 to 10,000 miles between changes. You don't have to worry one bit. It will tell you when to change. I was worried too when we first got our H3, but after doing alot of reading about the technology, and reading knowledgable people on here I haven't worried since. We do have high miles on ours and we burn a little oil, so I check the oil once a week just to be safe.

 

egroegart, it's going to take some more convincing to get me to go 10k without an oil change. Been doing 3k since I first owner a car. Are you using Synthetic? If so, what specifically? I am considering conventional Castrol with a Fram filter. Any specific warning against doing so? if using conventional, do you still recommend 10k changes?

LifeIsGood