The drivers power seat has stopped working in my 2003 Suburban.  None
of the controls are responding (forward/back, up/down, lumbar,
recline).  The passenger seat is working just fine, as are the power
foot pedal adjustments.

I’ve looked in the fuse blocks (in the panel by the drivers door and
under the hood) and in the block by the floor by your left foot (there
are two relays in there), but I’m not able to find a fuse or relay
that I can identify that is for the driver seat.  A number of the
abbreviations in the legends are quite cryptic.  Can anyone help me
identify which fuse/relay I should be checking?

Thanks.

Okay, dude…
Who’s your favorite?

Kimi is great, but Fernando is still lurking out there.

My Chevy Venture (1999) has a problem with the passenger window when
operated from teh driver side switches on the driver door.  When I
press the switch the window would roll down.  Then when I pull the
same switch the said window won’t roll up.  However I would reach over
to its own switches on the passenger door everything works normally.
That’s how I am able to roll the window up currently, but I fear the
for future, what if suddenly that one on the passenger side fails
too?

Any idea what might be wrong? just so I don’t throw parts at the wrong
area and bark up the wrong tree.
 Thanks in advance

I’ve read online that I’ll have to remove a motor mount to get to it.
How hard is that to do?

The Supreme Kourt has spoken.  Carbon dioxide is now classified as
pollution.  It is a greenhouse gas.  All greenhouse emitters are polluters.
Your dog is a greenhouse gas emitter.  Therefore, your dog or cat is a
source of polution.  Expect Kalifornia to be first among the several states
to exterminate your pets, starting with po’r folks’ mongrels and working
their way gradually up the food chain.

Come to think about it, politicians are greenhouse emitters, also.  I
imagine there will be an exemption in the law for them, but I’m not too
sure about us.

Your best bet is a low mileage used car, particularly a so-called program
car.

Make your selection and take it for a short road test, as the dealer
expects any prospect to do.  If you like the car, then proceed:

Since its a used car, the dealer will not object to your taking it for an
extended road test.  Offer to pay the gas in all fairness and tell him you
want to drive it a couple of HOURS or even a DAY.  You need to put on about
100 miles to really know the car enough to lay down your cash and buy it.

The advantage of a long test run is to really check out the car.  You will
learn if it consumes oil, overheats, loses coolant, has any vibrations at
high speed & check its handling, braking, steering, shifting when warm,
behavior on hills, etc., etc.

Think back.  You don’t know what you have until you’ve owned it a while.
An extended drive will wring out any problems that you will otherwise
unpleasantly find out if you don’t.  The dealer should not object, since
what’s a hundred miles more on a car that already has maybe 15,000 miles?
If you offer to pay gas and he refuses you, go somewhere else where the
dealer has nothing to fear from potential defects being revealed.  

Gas pedal too touchy.
Steering too touchy.

Dealer said all the cars are like that now, regardless of make or model.
He said the solution to the gas pedal complaint is cruise control.  To me,
cruise control is not so much a solution as it is a patch (as in Microsoft
patch) for something that remains fundamentally wrong.

I can live with this imperfect car only because I bought it used.  Cars
depreciate fast, really fast so I bought a not-so-used car for about a
fourth of the cost of new.  If I paid full price, these imperfections would
knaw at me day and night.  Because I didn’t pay all that much, I can live
with them.

But, I ask the manufacturers, why?  With fly by wire throttle systems, the
driver should be able to dial in the gas pedal sensitivity he wants, just
like you tune in your T.V. for your preference in tint, contrast, and
brightness.

The same is true with steering.  The new electric steering systems should
enable variable ratio to desensitize the steering when in the straight
ahead mode.  Instead of 1/16 inch motion at the circumference producing a
vehicle turning moment, I should prefer about 1/4 to 1/2 inch or whatever
feels best.  Let’s have it, GM, instead of bragging about your disappearing
cup holders.

Telescoping, not tilt steering wheels.  I sat in an ’07 Dodge Caliber.
Undrivable.  If you sit close to the wheel, there is negative knee room for
the braking foot.  Move back far enough for the pedals and your arms are
straight out to the wheel. Uncomfortable isn’t a sufficient adjective.  I
advise all GM engineers to go over a vintage 1950′s model from bumper to
bumper, not for the mechanicals, but for the ergonomics.  The industry will
re-learn some important human factors that will go a long way in real
improvements to future models.

I don’t get it.  New cars are supposed to be new and improved.  They’re
not.  A 1951 Chevrolet had a more comfortable driver seating position than
the new GM car you just laid down 30 Gs for.

Ford, GM, Chrysler sales down in March; Toyota, Mazda, Honda post big gains
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/UPDATE/704…

Domestic auto makers continued their 2007 trend, posting lower sales figures
today for March compared to the same period last year. March was the best
sales month in 2006 for the industry.

General Motors Corp. said its voluntary reduction in sales to rental-car
fleets helped account for its 4.2 percent March decline over last year. The
automaker sold 349,867 vehicles in March, compared to 365,375 a year ago.

Ford, which also is withdrawing from the rental-car market, said overall
U.S. sales were down 9 percent to 264,975 vehicles, compared to 291,146 a
year ago.

The automaker’s gains in the mid-size arena — sales of its Fusion sedan
were up more than 47 percent; Milan sales grew by 45 percent — couldn’t
offset declines in the SUV and truck categories compared with March 2006.

Both companies said their new crossovers did well in March. Ford sold 10,915
of its Edge model and 3,054 of the Lincoln MKX. GM said its GMC Acadia and
Saturn Outlook contributed to its 235 percent crossover sales gain.

DaimlerChrysler AG today said March sales were down 4 percent over the same
month last year despite a record number of vehicles sold by its
Mercedes-Benz USA unit.

Chrysler Group sold 206,435 vehicles in March, down 5 percent from 216,412
in 2006. Mercedes sales were 21,612, up 1 percent from 21,417.

However, the auto maker said, sales of its mid-size Dodge Nitro SUV and Jeep
Wrangler recorded their best months ever at 7,532 and 13,397 units
respectively.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said it sold a record 242, 675 vehicles in March,
up 11.7 percent over 217,286 a year ago. The company reported a 133 percent
increase in sales of its Prius hybrid sedan.

Meanwhile, Mazda North American Operations announced a 47.9 March sales
increase in the United States, compared to 2006. Models recording
double-digit gains include the Mazda3, RX-8, Tribute and B-Series truck.

The month was the best ever for Mazda in the U. S., breaking a 1994 sales
record, the company said.

American Honda Motor Co. said it recorded its third-best month in history,
selling 143,392 vehicles — an 11.3 percent jump from 128,806 units last
year.

Percentages are based on actual units sold; because there was one more
selling day in March this year than in 2006, some auto makers also are
reporting "adjusted" comparative numbers to smooth out the effect of the
extra sales day.

Other car companies reporting U.S. sales today include:

Mitsubishi, which sold 12,536 units in March, up more than 22 percent from
10,250 in 2006.

Audi, which posted a 14.7 percent increase for March, selling 8,020 vehicles
compared to 6,994 a year ago.

Volvo, down 4.4 percent with 10,666 units compared to 11,153 last year.

–
"I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends
respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."
John Wayne

I am just starting to have a serious loathing for GM engineers…  I
live in Virginia, and prior to that I lived in Maryland.  Both states,
like most, require a front license plate.  My company car is a Chevy
Impala.  Part of the deal is that I am supposed to maintain the car in
a "reasonably clean" state – I’ve pushed that a few times, but still.
Obviously in poor weather that means going through an automatic car
wash, as hand washing in the driveway isn’t going to happen.  Which
brings us to today’s peeve.  At least 50% of the time, if I take the
car through a car wash, the front license plate gets mangled.  This
appears to be partially due to the fact that the dealer provided me
with only two mounting bolts, and partially due to the fact that the
license plate hangs slightly below the point where the front bumper
curves back underneath into the air dam.  So I bought some fairly
expensive "billet aluminum" (actually do appear to be billet) license
plate frames in an attempt to keep this from happening.  I also bought
some stainless screws – four  for each plate this time! – to hold the
plate in place.  Well when I went to put the front one on what do I
find, but the formed "pocket" in the front bumper for the plate isn’t
a flat surface!  What the hell?  Even with two washers under each
screw, the whole plate/frame assembly is still under stress and is
tweaking the bumper slightly and the whole assembly looks like arse.

Come on, GM.  Other manufacturers can at least design a simple,
functional license plate bracket.  What the hell is your problem?
It’s not like front license plates are all that uncommon.

nate

(hopefully I’ve at least flattened my front license plate for the last
time)

Plants to be pawns in UAW talks
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/BUSINESS01/7…

LORDSTOWN, Ohio — At a massive factory complex not far from Cleveland, most
of the 3,200 hourly workers know they might play a major role in upcoming
national contract talks between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto
Workers.

As the union opens its national bargaining convention in Detroit today, the
5-million-square-foot Lordstown plant isn’t scheduled to make any cars when
the current products, the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5, go out of
production after the 2009 model year.

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GM won’t say if Lordstown will get the next generation GM small car. It
won’t say if the plant will get anything. And it acknowledges that in Mexico
a factory is being built that some analysts think might be the place where
GM will produce small cars for North America. GM spokesman Tom Wickham would
only say the plant’s primary purpose will be to support GM sales in the
Mexican market.

Lordstown, like several other plants without designated future products, is
a bargaining chip for GM as it tries to extract concessions from the union
and stem the billions in losses it suffered over the past two years. The
strategy is repeating itself at Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG’s
Chrysler Group, as they try to cut what analysts say is an average
$2,400-per-car profit disadvantage against Japanese competitors.

"Of course we’re concerned about it," said Dave Green, president of UAW
Local 1714, one of two locals at the hulking Lordstown complex. "It’s our
livelihood."

Lordstown opened in 1966 and remains a major employer in a region battered
by manufacturing job losses. It sits on the north side of the Ohio Turnpike,
about 12 miles west of Youngstown. It cranked out 278,176 Cobalts and G5
small cars last year. Over the years it has made Pontiac Firebirds,
Chevrolet Vegas and Impalas, as well as vans and other vehicles.

In the past, GM and other companies withheld products from plants as a
strategy to negotiate worker concessions and tax incentives from local and
state governments.

But with all three Detroit-area companies struggling, industry observers
expect individual plants to become part of the national talks in the summer.
UAW contracts with the automakers will expire in September.

When 1,500 union members from more than 800 UAW locals in the United States
and Canada meet for two days this week in Detroit, they aren’t expected to
get into the nitty-gritty of what will be discussed with individual
companies. But they will set the overall bargaining agenda.

"These are the most important negotiations in the UAW’s history," said Gary
Chaison, a labor specialist at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "This is
where they have to reset their role as a bona fide bargaining agent. They
have to try to resist concessions."

In the past few years, auto companies have been using threats of plant
closures to negotiate "competitive operating agreements" on a plant-by-plant
basis. They convinced union locals to allow workers to do several jobs and
contracted out janitorial and other traditional union jobs to save money. At
times, the bargaining pitted one plant against another.

"The war of all against all is under way," Sean McAlinden, chief economist
at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said in a recent
presentation.

At Lordstown, a UAW bargaining committee has been talking with GM about such
an agreement, said Jim Graham, president of Local 1112. Graham hopes an
agreement will bring Lordstown a vehicle before the national bargaining
begins.

"If we go ahead with this contract, I’m very confident that we’ll get a
product in 2009," said Graham.

–
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and
comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows the
triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly.
T.R. April 10, 1899