Originally Posted by The_Nuke
The late ‘90's Chevy Tahoes has a real head scratcher built in at the factory as I recall:
the transmission control module/panel had some quirk that would end up causing a short on it out after enough miles/years, and the functionality it dropped as a result directly affected the fluid's ability to circulate and keep the transmission cooled down when it was in operation.
Eventually the transmission would go out, but it was always on the vehicle owner to rectify since the underlying cause wasn't discovered for many years. And even then, GM never admitted it was a factory defect in design, so they wouldn't replace any of the transmissions their poor design choices ended up roasting.
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And one more that bit me personally afflicted late 90s and early 00s Dodge Durangos (and other Dodge models as well, but I only know the Durango for sure):
They all had something wrong with their PCMs or how/where it was mounted that would eventually cause it to start overheating and killing the engine operation without warning. The driver would then be stranded where ever they could coast the dead vehicle and only have the cryptic "No BUS" message displayed on the EVIC as an indication of what went wrong.
The only remedy was to replace the PCM, but that could be an expensive approach since working ones were so rare to begin with.
Ah the good ol' "No BUS" message. Or the craziness that can ensue from a battery that's "mostly" okay, or CTM failures!