Mechanics?

[Hydramatic]

Just for info but I know that I had a 2002 Silverado and it had a message panel that would actually let you know if the coolant was low in the reservoir. It happened one time and I brought it back up the the line it was supposed to be at and all was happy again.

Yeah, I've got an '02 Silverado 4.8L V8 and it throws up that warning message if it ever gets low, which has only happened once when I had a gasket leak at the base of my water pump. It was literally dripping out maybe ten drops a day, but over time it added up. I 've been happy with my new one!

I feel like an abusive owner now! My Silverado has 161K miles on it! I've replaced most of the front pulleys, the transmission was just gutted and overhauled with all-new parts(planetary, solenoids, valve-body etc...), my fan clutch just got replaced, and I've been meaning to get to a front wheel bearing that's been howling at me for 20K miles....Oh yeah, plus the water pump and battery! Apart from the obvious things, the truck drives like new!

The thing has YET to leave me stranded on the road however. I'm not a fan of trucks(I like to drive fast, 2-door coupes and sedans...) but this truck has been good to me in every way but fuel economy. I regularly find myself putting forty bucks or more in a week!

[erikharrison]

YIKES! I have an '00 Jetta VR6, and I put in 40 every two weeks! 171k miles and still hauls you know what!

[captexas]

Sometimes cars are too smart for their own good though. At work we have a huge fleet of vans and the newer Chevy's have a change oil indicator that turns on when the computer thinks it needs changing based on various factors. Sometimes it comes on a day or two after you get the oil changed! It's a pain to reset the light/computer as well. One of those things where you have to do three things at once and hold your tongue just right to get the light to reset! lol.

Of course we had some people that weren't too bright and instead of following their scheduled maintanence based on mileage, they waited until the light would come on. A few guys messed up their engines running on low oil waiting for the light instead of taking it in on time.

On a side note, the company I work for did a research study with GM testing vehicles, extending the mileage between oil changes and then testing the oil. They found that due to better engine and oil technology, regular oil lasted longer with no significant breakdown. Instead of changing the oil at 3000 to 4000 miles, we now go 6500 miles on our Chevy vans and GM guarantiees the warranties. Unfortunately, the fleet manager has now changed over to Fords as they are much cheaper and Ford won't make the same guarantee that GM did. Oh well . . .