GM quality issues

[rusty ol ranger]

My father in law just had his 2013 Silverado in for a low oil pressure issue and it was some stupid little O ring that you have to remove the oil pan to get to.



From what I read, Stellantis told them to get bent and that was pretty much the end of it. Now there are rumors that some Chinese company was wanting to buy the Chrysler brand. Great.

I don't know that it would have helped anyway - Chrysler has been a debacle for many years. I think if they hadn't bought AMC and then dumped money into Jeep, they would have been out of business by the late 90's. They were getting "worst car ever" awards in the 60's. My dad worked for the forest service in the 70's and said they were getting brand new trucks with parts spray painted "defective." Lots of junk across all brands in the 80's... Jeep saved them.

Wasnt it the Kcar that saved them? Cause they were bankrupt in 79 or 80. Ioaccoa (sp?) came along with the Kcar and then the minivan which predated their jeep purchase.

Also i heard jeep was hanging by a thread till the GC came out in 93...which it was actually left over from AMC design tables but they couldnt afford to produce it by the time it was ready. If they could have AMC likely would of lived on

Fun fact....when lee worked for ford he pitched a minivan idea..i think in 74. Basically a shorter (height and length wise) Econoline with a 460 stuffed in it.

What coulda been.

 

[Shran]

Yeah, the K cars & minivans definitely brought them back from the brink. But what if they hadn't bought AMC? Everyone else was building unibody cars by the mid 80's... someone else would have ended up with Jeep and I don't think Dodge trucks would have been enough to keep them afloat. Buying AMC was a very wise decision, maybe one of their best.

 

[pentode]

I was just about to post "where's Lee Iacocca when you need him?"

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Yeah, the K cars & minivans definitely brought them back from the brink. But what if they hadn't bought AMC? Everyone else was building unibody cars by the mid 80's... someone else would have ended up with Jeep and I don't think Dodge trucks would have been enough to keep them afloat. Buying AMC was a very wise decision, maybe one of their best.

If they coulda hung on till 94 when the new Ram came out i think they woulda lived

but that said supposdly the new ram was supposed to come out in 92 but they couldnt afford to retool and the V10 wasnt ready yet...so who knows. Im guessing jeep sales paid for the trucks...cause in 93 no one was buying dodge pickups.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Dodge and now Ram pickups and vans were and still are built as loss leaders for fleet and government buyers. For some reason Chrysler/Stellantis kept/keeps going after that business and building "down" the vehicles to suit. The problem was that if you're an individual buying one new, you pay full price for the same poor quality and durability as the fleets get for thousands of dollars less.

For related reasons Chrysler went after the police business, but the cars sold at cut rates to law enforcement were garbage. Note that you see few survivors for the '60s–'80s Dodge and Plymouth police vehicles today, despite past demand for retired police cars from the likes of Blues Brothers fans. The 1979–1981 R–bodies, such as the Dodge St. Regis, are especially rare, as they were poorly built and liked to rust. When was the last time you saw one, even derelict in a field?

Chrysler didn't go bankrupt, but received a guarantee that the federal government would be the backup to repay loans if the company went under, which would have killed thousands of jobs. That guarantee prevented an actual bankruptcy and gave the company breathing room.

The K–car and minivan saved the day and kept Chrysler going well enough to repay the loans itself and be in a position to buy AMC in 1987. The open secret, as some of you mention, was that Chrysler basically wanted Jeep and not the AMC cars. The last of the related cars, some derived from Renault designs, were built under the Eagle brand in 1997.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If they coulda hung on till 94 when the new Ram came out i think they woulda lived

but that said supposdly the new ram was supposed to come out in 92 but they couldnt afford to retool and the V10 wasnt ready yet...so who knows. Im guessing jeep sales paid for the trucks...cause in 93 no one was buying dodge pickups.

They could have spent a little more time making the 94-01's a little better too.

I used to have one guy come in every year wanting to know if there was a way we could find a new dash for his. It crumbled apart so bad his defroster/vents were not really there anymore. I just saw at noon today someone is making metal dashes for them... for a 20-30yo truck there is enough demand to fabricate a whole dash assembly for them lol.

Techs mentioned that they loved that gen, they come in for tires, oil change whatever... there was always something leaking.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

They could have spent a little more time making the 94-01's a little better too.

I used to have one guy come in every year wanting to know if there was a way we could find a new dash for his. It crumbled apart so bad his defroster/vents were not really there anymore. I just saw at noon today someone is making metal dashes for them... for a 20-30yo truck there is enough demand to fabricate a whole dash assembly for them lol.

Techs mentioned that they loved that gen, they come in for tires, oil change whatever... there was always something leaking.

I had a 95...granted that was 20 years ago.

I liked it. Had a V10 with a manual reg cab longbox. Powerwise it was great but it did rattle and squeek and generally just felt wore out. Much more then my 97 Ford feels even now.

Ive always kinda felt bad for chrysler corp. It seems like they can build somethings really good, but other things are shit.

 

[Shran]

My ex had a Dodge Shadow that I kinda wish I still had. That little car was awesome, 3.0 V6 had tons of power. Everyone in the family called it the Land Rocket for good reason.

Had a couple Omnis too, those were fun cars. Seemed like everyone had like 5 of them… and then they were all gone.

I always liked the Chrysler V8’s too… all of them.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My ex had a Dodge Shadow that I kinda wish I still had. That little car was awesome, 3.0 V6 had tons of power. Everyone in the family called it the Land Rocket for good reason.

Had a couple Omnis too, those were fun cars. Seemed like everyone had like 5 of them… and then they were all gone.

I always liked the Chrysler V8’s too… all of them.

It always seemed any mopar i owned or driven ran harder then the comperable ford or GM. Its like they never totally lost that performance mindset from the 60s.

The one noteable exception was the slant 6. It seemed to lag behind power wise next to a 300 or 292. But it also was smaller so maybe not a totally fair comparison

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It always seemed any mopar i owned or driven ran harder then the comperable ford or GM. Its like they never totally lost that performance mindset from the 60s.

The old Magnums were good engines.

The 4.7 was a pile. It might outmuscle a 4.6 before it self destructed but I'd rather have the 4.6, they will run forever.

A 5.7 as set up in a manual Charger/Challenger without the MDS would be an awesome engine. They do run harder than a Coyote. MDS is a big buzzkill for most though.

To completely go into left field... I think a older Wagoneer would be fun. Its too bad one that isn't completely rotted out is worth as much as a older Rover/Cruiser though that actually has good parts support though.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The old Magnums were good engines.

The 4.7 was a pile. It might outmuscle a 4.6 before it self destructed but I'd rather have the 4.6, they will run forever.

A 5.7 as set up in a manual Charger/Challenger without the MDS would be an awesome engine. They do run harder than a Coyote. MDS is a big buzzkill for most though.

To completely go into left field... I think a older Wagoneer would be fun. Its too bad one that isn't completely rotted out is worth as much as a older Rover/Cruiser though that actually has good parts support though.

Im with you on the wagoneer. But yeah they are pricy bastards.

I wont lie though before i bought my BII i was browsing around at Ramchargers. Alot cheaper then a FSB or K5 but there arent a whole lot around anymore. I found one i liked in kentucky..,.it was a 85 with a 360 and a 4speed...but my 97 was broke and i wasnt crazy about driving 7 hours in a 40 yr old rig i knew nothing about lol.

We had a 2019 Ram as a shop truck with a 5.7 and it definantly was stronger then my buddies 16 5.0. But i like the 150 better overall.

I remember reading back in late 98 or 99 whenever GM first started the 5.3...truck trend or one of them tested a 5.3 sierra head to head with a 360 powered ram. The ram ate it on the dragstrip...which i thought was pretty damn cool considering the 360 was basically a 30 year old design.

 

[sgtsandman]

Our family has only had three Chrysler products, a 1970s Dodge Truck, a K car, and a Dodge Intrepid. All of them were horrible. To be fair on the truck, my dad was a carpenter and carried a lot of tools. He had a reputation of destroying trucks.

 

[Betty White]

When's the last time you've seen a neon this clean? Wow sure do miss neon/SRT4.