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New 09 SS and defrost does not work

5K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  Hersbird 
#1 ·
I just got this car about a week ago and noticed this morning that the defrost for the back windows will not work. Also when turning on the heat full blast even after the car is warm it seems that the heat will come on when it feels like it. It is barely warm and then all of a suddent BAM! you get a rush of heat coming in. Anyone experience this on their Impala? Of course I am takking it to the shop to have it fixed but I was curious if this was an issue with these cars. Also have to have the tires replaced because this was a showroom car and the tires developed flat spots... :-(

The mechanic said one of them is good and they would replace the other 3 but im thinking why not just replace all of them? I want the same tread life on all of the tires not just 3 of them.
 
#2 ·
The mechanic said one of them is good and they would replace the other 3 but im thinking why not just replace all of them? I want the same tread life on all of the tires not just 3 of them.
That would make sense. But it also costs money. And GM doesn't have any of that.

I have noticed people having issues with the 07 and 08 model years and the rear defrost. I'm really surprised that such a new car would have that problem though. Especially being such a simple circuit with relatively few components. Of course being a showroom car, it's been fiddled with more than a few times.

Let us know how the trip to the dealership goes.
 
#4 ·
mykey40- sorry to hear about those problems.. for the heat is your coolant level, where it should be cold/hot levels ? rear defroster not to be a wise guy ,but did you read your owners manual, are you pushing the right button ? flat spoted tires? i have not been able to that, on any newer cars / that has abs brake system..last time i did that was in 1970, in my 1967 corvette missed a gate at a auto-cross event, and you guess it/ locked them up and on way home could feel it, ruined a new set of goodyear tires !! you really do need 4 new tires, so your abs/traction control/ and stabilitrak-stability control wiil work correctly all tires have to be same height/ diameter !!!! my new, red jewel 2008 ss v8 impala with all the options , and have not had, any of these problems.. miles now about 26,000.. tires wear about 50% ..dont you love that v8 engine !! rkvette
 
#5 ·
Thx guys.. Yeah the mechanic said the tires should be in wednesday so I will probably go down thursday and get them put on. Plus have the defrost looked at. I would rather have 4 new tires but seeing how this car was in the showroom i dont know how far off the tread will be by just replacing three. Gonna ask though about getting a 4th one!
I think they got flat spots from sitting in the showroom and not being driven for a few months.

I have read the manual by the way ;-) If I can't figure out how the defrost works at my age i am in big trouble.. lol..

And yes! I love the car! I am trying to find out if I can get a flowmaster exhaust for it but I cant find anything on the 09 models. But i assume it is the same setup as an 08?
 
#6 ·
Carefull who you purchase your MagnaFlo performance exhaust from; shop around! The price difference is the most I have seen on any product ever, over a thousand dollars!

The most I have found so far is $1700.00, not including installation and the least so far is $675.00 (these are in Canadian currency)! One place I called in February offered it for $600.00 but a month later it somehow became $700.00!

So shop around. 2006, 07, 08 and 09 are the same, just make sure you let them know it is for a 5.3L SS, (part #16707). On the link below you will find dealer locations that sell the exhaust system. Ordering direct from MagnaFlo somehow costs more than getting it from a dealer!!?

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopdisplayproducts.asp
 
#8 ·
Same defrost problem on my 2006 SS, no solution yet. sooooo those flat spots. Does anybody know exactly how long a car has to sit to develop them? I'm getting deployed to Iraq soon and am taking the SS to a storage place that moves the car every 15 days to avoid the flat spots. Is that enough? I JUST got new front tires!
 
#9 ·
It really depends on tires. Some are more prone to flat spots than others. I have test driven several new Honda Accords with Dunlop tires and all had horribly flat spotted tires which made the test drive a horrible experience.
I have not experienced any flat spot problems on my '09 LTZ which has the same tires as the SS model.

I would think that moving the car every three weeks or so a little should be sufficient.
 
#11 ·
:WTF:

I've got the same defrost problem on my '08. I've had the car for 2 years now and the problems have seemed to start piling up. I've got an actuator motor knocking in the passenger side of the dash which I can easily fix and not break the bank. The defrost problem started shortly after once winter came. Thanksgiving morning the car was started and we loaded everything into the car while it warmed up, but the windshield wouldn't defrost except for a small section in the bottom center and none of the side windows would defrost either. Right now it's working alright most of the time but takes a really long time to defrost and still the back windows are fogged.

I can't imagine that the actuator motor has anything to do with it as said motor controls the recirculation door, but I could be wrong. I'm one of those people that don't usually ask for help and figure things out on my own, but I'm at my wits end with this one and I'd rather not take it to the dealer and get raped by cost only for them to tell me that they don't know what the problem is. Any help would be appreciated even if its just a suggestion. Anything is a step in the right direction at this point.
 
#12 ·
if the car set a long time it might just be stuck... we have 2004 2500 gmc truck... its only used when something is broken.. it has 12K miles lol... anyway we got tons of snow at christmas, and the impala will not come back up the driveway if you can get it down, My suburban was getting the supercharger installed when the snow hit, so i got the truck out of storage and the heat only worked on feet for a day.. then all the sudden everything worked again...

as for the exhaust some system get real bad resonance when in 4 cylinder mode.. I put a set of race bullits on mine.. sounded like a loud muffed vette if that makes any sence.. think stock vette exhaust note but louder.. until it went into 4 cylinder mode then it sounded like a those military helicoptor that shake your house when they fly over.
 
#13 ·
06 impala ss. Same problem with rear defrost has never work and dealer couldny find problem. With the heat problem also when I took it in because it sounded like I had a water fall in the dash the dealer tld me that a recall was put out for the heater core hoses and it fixed my heat problem. And for the 06 owners a recall was put out for the power stearing lines. The replace with a cooler
 
#15 ·
Personally I have never heard of modern tires that flat spot from sitting. If they did they should go away with just a little driving them getting them up to temperature.

The heater could be an air pocket that needs to be filled in a specific way, or some time running it, it might find it's way out.

The defroster is probably that wire in the truck. But if this is a new car it should have the bumper to bumper warranty in effect so I would just have them fix everything.
 
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