We already knew that turn signal DRL's were a bad idea...

N8N · 2007-11-02T18:04:31+00:00

but DAYAM.Had Vlad the Impala in the shop today to get the brake job done thatit needed to pass inspection (apparently all pads were worn out atonly 50Kish miles, as well as front rotors below wear limit...sheesh!) and I needed to visit a job site. Ended up taking my boss'old car which was due to be turned in, which is an '04 Malibu. Firstof all, I really liked the 'bu. Much tighter ride than the Impala,flatter cornering, quieter, and the thing felt like a littlerocketship compared to the Impala. I guess it should, with a largerengine (3.5 vs. 3.4) and smaller body. Since my house was on the wayto the job site, I even stopped at home and pulled into the drivewayto check ground clearance; while it is near impossible to get theImpala in my driveway without dragging the front air dam, the Malibucan be pulled straight in with no issues. Really, the only fault Icould find with the car was that it pulled to the left and also had adisconcerting "pop" in the front end when making slow speed turns,which I attribute to a worn out ball joint or strut bearing, which onecould consider a normal wear item.And then, on my way back to the office, one of the turn signalsstopped working. I had my toolkit with me, out of habit, so I justpulled into my FLAPS and pulled the right front headlight assembly.Holy crap, what a POS. Not only did I need a 10mm nutdriver to R&Rthe headlight assembly (would it have been too hard to stamp aPhillips recess into the bolt heads? It's not like most driverstravel with a full toolkit...) but both headlights showed obvioussigns of heat damage due to the bright filaments of the park/turnbulbs being on all the time. This is an '04, mind you. The amberlens over the bulb was browned and bubbled near the little vent slotsthat were cut into it, and both the "chrome" backing of the lightcluster and the polycarbonate lens itself showed obvious discolorationfor a large area around the turn signal bulbs. The driver's side wasno better.Someone please...

Nov 02, 2007 42 Replies

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Brent P 18 years ago

My 'new' car turns 11 in a month and half.

Probably the most collectable car I've seen like that was one of these:

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Early 70s skylark convertible... looked like it was a fairly solid and clean car. By the time I saw it, it had been stripped to the bone. A red one, factory red (I know for sure because there was no interior left at all, just nice red painted sheet metal), at that.

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Daniel J. Stern 18 years ago

I'd agree with you if GM weren't dumb enough to cover bulbs under the vehicle warranty, but they are exactly that dumb. I called my local Chev dealer's service department today, claimed to have a 2006 Cobalt with a burned-out DRL/turn signal bulb, and asked if it was covered under warranty. Response was "Yup, as long as you're within the 3 years or 60,000 kilometres, bulbs are covered."

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Arif Khokar 18 years ago

I guess it then depends on how many times bulb failure would occur within the three year period and, out of those times, how long the owner waits before replacing the bulb.

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