I bought this Van at 26 000 km for $26 000. After a few months I noticed that the side door to the cargo area started to bind and didn't think much about it. I used Silicone lubricant to ease the problem. The hinges are designed in such a way that it is impossible to use graphite (powder to prevent dirt attraction). The bottom hinge on the right door finally broke and the GMC shop wanted me to pay for this. I insisted that the hinge that broke was designed backwards and was told, at the resulting arbitration meeting, that the GM engineers had designed it very carefully and I should use WD40 on them every week to keep the hinges lubricated. I declined and insisted that this should not be necessary on a $32 000 vehicle (new). I also questioned the engineers (at the arbitration meeting) education and asked him if he knew what WD40 was and does? He surprised me by telling that it was lubricating oil. He finally gave me some kind of white lubricant in a can that didn’t work any better than my Silicone.
GMC was ordered to replace the hinges and did so with the same kind of design, just a bolt on type instead of weld on. Now in 2009/10/11 the “new†hinges bind as bad as the old ones and nothing has been resolved. I keep them sort of working with the Silicone spray, making a hell of a mess down from the hinges. The Van is getting too old to make any issue out of it now. One thing I must say for this Van: The motor and rest of the running gear has been excellent, without any major problems. The only problem with this Van has been the Windshield/Side Window and Mirror design and the quality of the body itself; absolutely bad fitting doors but the Rear Door design was ingenious.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought this Van at 26 000 km for $26 000. After a few months I noticed that the side door to the cargo area started to bind and didn't think much about it. I used Silicone lubricant to ease the problem. The hinges are designed in such a way that it is impossible to use graphite (powder to prevent dirt attraction). The bottom hinge on the right door finally broke and the GMC shop wanted me to pay for this. I insisted that the hinge that broke was designed backwards and was told, at the resulting arbitration meeting, that the GM engineers had designed it very carefully and I should use WD40 on them every week to keep the hinges lubricated. I declined and insisted that this should not be necessary on a $32 000 vehicle (new). I also questioned the engineers (at the arbitration meeting) education and asked him if he knew what WD40 was and does? He surprised me by telling that it was lubricating oil. He finally gave me some kind of white lubricant in a can that didn’t work any better than my Silicone.
GMC was ordered to replace the hinges and did so with the same kind of design, just a bolt on type instead of weld on. Now in 2009/10/11 the “new†hinges bind as bad as the old ones and nothing has been resolved. I keep them sort of working with the Silicone spray, making a hell of a mess down from the hinges. The Van is getting too old to make any issue out of it now. One thing I must say for this Van: The motor and rest of the running gear has been excellent, without any major problems. The only problem with this Van has been the Windshield/Side Window and Mirror design and the quality of the body itself; absolutely bad fitting doors but the Rear Door design was ingenious.
- gancot, Calgary, Alberta, canada