Thinking about buying a GMC Jimmy, but the dealer said "the brakes work, but the anti-lock brakes do not."
Is this only a problem if I stomp on the brakes really hard?
If I drive like a grandma will this problem affect me?
Is the vehicle totally unsafe until I get this problem fixed?
Will postponing the repair hurt other engine/tire components?
Thanks for all you great answers.
p.s. Is $4000 dollars a good deal for a 2001 GMC Jimmy two-door, two wheel drive with 91,000 miles and the aforementioned anti-lock brake problem?
Other than the anti-lock brakes, the car runs good.
Thanks again.
Brakes will still work like every time you use them, the only issues your will have is that if your tires start to skid. Your ABS will not work which means that your going to have to let off on your foot again regain control of the Jimmy on ice or wet slippery conditions. I personally disabled the ABS on my wifes Montana, since she found it better for her to drive it without ABS.
Any one wheel that would lock up would activate the ABS and let the wheels to roll again and the brakes would reapply them self again as long as you keep your foot on the brakes. Without the ABS, the wheels would stay locked until you have let off on the brakes to regain control.
As for the V6 and V8, as long as you do your maintenance you should be fine. Just warm up the engine before you start driving it hard and here something about the famous gm piston slap that for some reason did not effect the 4.3 V6 as much as the other engines.
Not all of GM engine knock and the ones that do knock don't typically knock on more than 1 or 2 cylinders. It is a manufacturing consistency problem. The new piston designs make the allowable piston to cylinder bore clearance much more critical and GM has yet to figure out how to hit within tolerance consistantly.
Piston slap is not a new problem. It recently got notariety in 1999 Ford (I don't remember the engine size) and they promptly replaced entire engine assemblies. Daimler Chrysler had some and treated them the same way by offering to replace engine assemblies. GM's latest round first gained notariety on the 6.0 with a TSB they released in fall of 2000. Other TSBs on other engines have followed since then. The piston slap defect now exists on 1999-2002 3.1 , 3.4, 4.8, 5.3, 5.7 (LS1), and 6.0 per TSBs from GM themselves.
Gm's quick fix to this issue was to retard the timing when the engine is still cold and will not advance till it has reached it normal operating temperature. That is why they say that the engine runs it's best at 195' thermostat,and there are the old school guys that say a colder thermostat will get you more fuel and timing. This is true, but the game changed when piston slap has become an issue as noted the timing is set to be retarded and will be advanced by the PCM when engine is warmed up.
P.S 2001 2 door 2wd Jimmy is a bit on the high side, for that price , you should have a 4 door with leather interior and all the goodies. I can see $4000.00 being good if it was the Blazer Extreme, but was not an option for the GMC Jimmy
