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About to be an Armada owner

5K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  devilock138 
#1 ·
We've been searching for a vehicle to replace our Honda Odyssey minivan and the search results from this site have really steered me toward the Armada. I am having a used Armada transferred by Carmax from OH to their Norcross, Ga location so I should be taking delivery in about 2 weeks. I am getting a 2008 LE 4x4 with Preferred, Tow, Technology, and DVD Packages. Black on Black.

There were several other full frame SUVs that were in the running, but the Armada won in our selection.
Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade - eliminated due to interior layout(why put a nav display down at the bottom of the center stack?)
Sequoia - Black interiors are hard to come by.
It's been seriously neck and neck between the Sequoia and the Armada and it came down to the interior color, silly huh?
The Odyssey has been a wonderful vehicle. I've used it to tow our travel trailer for thousands of miles. Upgraded the transmission cooler with a B&M part, added air springs to the back, and tow with a W/D hitch. Never had any issues with it from towing. It just won't ever be able to tow a car, which is what I am going to do occasionally with the Armada. I build and race $500 crap cars in series like the 24 Hours of Lemons and Chumpcar. Also, my wife is a Realtor and the minivan isn't really portraying the best image.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I look forward to contributing to and learning from the discussions here. I am a car enthusiast and have learned so much from Owner forums over the past decade+.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
:D:thumbup: good humor there minivan and realtor observation. Is like a young man early 20's no kids flossing a minivan while the rest of his crew handling mustangs /challengers/maximas and so on.any hoo ,welcome aboard, congrats, the beast is definitely up to the task@hand and then some.
 
#4 ·
Congrats. You will love the Armada. We also upgraded from a Honda Odyssey which we owned for 12 years.
 
#5 ·
Interesting story. Welcome to the club. Would love to see your collection of cars, from the racing cars of $500 to the Odyssey in action and would love to see the new Armada. That is if you wish to share pics.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the warm welcome!
It looks like I've hit the maximum for attachments so I'll post the rest of the pics in a new reply post.
The 1st pic is my W123 Mercedes Turbo Diesel(RIP)
Pics 2-5 are of the sexy Odyssey with some of the modifications I've performed.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
Some more pics, for now.
The 1st pic is my new racecar, an 88 BMW 528e(supereta, for anyone that knows about Bimmers)
My daily driver is the 2008 BMW 335i 6MT. Pretty much stock except for some tuning and intake work(353 whp/ 408 ft lbs)
The Porsche is one that I saved a couple of years ago. This is the project where I learned about Bosch Motronic!
 

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#8 ·
Ok, I like all those pics. Those cars all look awesome. From old to new.

Well, talking about the BMW, that is just a beast. I have always admired that car. When next you take a road trip with the Armada and need someone to watch the BMW for you, let me know. I will race it for you while you are gone. LOL. Just kidding. Great collection of cars there. Enjoy.
 
#9 ·
Unfortunately, the vehicle they transferred did not meet my expectations. I asked several questions about its condition and was assured that it was rust free, while it had some scratches, nothing major, etc.
Well the first thing I noticed was rust on the front and rear control arms, subframe etc. The truck drove well, but I could not get past the rust.
This means that I am back on the hunt. Does anyone have an opinion on the QX56? The thing that prevents me from pulling the trigger on one of those is the requirement for premium. My Bimmer takes premium, but it also averages about 21 mpg around town. Perhaps reflashing the ecu with ignition mapping more suitable for regular would be safe? If I put regular in a QX56 with stock mappings, I am sure that it would just retard timing, but that would probably be based on knock sensor causing it to constantly hit a correction mapping.
 
#10 ·
Sorry you did not like the Armada because of the rust. I hope you find one that will meet your needs.

I think the QX is great too, especially since it is the luxurious version o four Armada. I am sure you will be very pleased. I have heard also that premium is required.

If I am not mistaken, some people on here have mentioned maybe using regular and not having any problems. I may be wrong, but I thought I saw something like that on here. I truly do not remember if I am exactly correct on that. Maybe somebody who owns a QX might chime in about that.
 
#14 ·
Sweet. Congrats on your find.

It is really a great feeling when we find exactly what we want.

It would be nice to see pics whenever you get the chance to do it.
 
#16 ·
Loving the 1st day of ownership. Overall, the truck is in great condition, although there are a couple of issues I am facing.
It is equipped with the Intelligent Key so I don't have to put the key in the ignition. One of the keys in the pair I was provided does not seem to be for this vehicle. I replaced the battery and tested that it is emitting RF, but the doors will not unlock. I took the physical key blade out of the remote and tried to turn the lock, but it is not a match.
My question is whether a dealer would be able to reprogram the remote/vehicle to match each other? I am not too concerned about the physical key working, but it looks like I can order blanks for cheap. Some of these key blanks have a chip and some do not. I assume this is what allows the vehicle to start with the physical key.

The other problem has to do with the climate control. The passenger side vents blow hot air. I have set the Driver and Passenger sides in sync at 65 degrees. The driver side is cold, but the passenger side seems to go full hot. If I take them out of sync and set the passenger side to 60 degrees, it starts to cool off and blows cool, but maybe not full cold. In thinking about this issue, I don't think that it is related to a bubble in the cooling system. My guess is that the door that controls the amount of heat from the heater core is not moving through its full range of motion.

Please let me know if you have any insight into these issues.
Thanks!
 
#17 ·
Assumption is that you bought this from a dealer........take it back to them and get them to fix both of the issues. The fob can be programmed, they would have to cut a new blade key for you. And, when you do that, make sure you have all of the fobs with you, they all need to be programmed at the same time.

Oh, and congratulations. What year is your QX?

Keith
 
#18 ·
Thanks, Keith! I appreciate the excellent information.
It's an 08.
I have been in touch with the dealer and they will work with me on diagnosing the climate control issue. That's great news that they can reprogram the keys. I will probably order a new key blank so that they can go ahead and cut it. I suppose I should order one with a chip in it, although I don't think I'll ever use it. My other car has similar type of transponder key and I've only pulled the key out to see what it looks like.
 
#19 ·
My wife lost one of the key fobs for our Armada (also has the proximity system). Our local locksmith ordered us a new one (Nissan OEM), cut the blade, and did the reprogramming for just under $200. More than half of that was the cost of the new fob. If your dealer isn't going to do this for you for free, then check out your local locksmith. Blank blades are available on ebay for pretty cheap.

Good luck getting the climate control figured out. These trucks do have a habit of sticking or malfunctioning HVAC actuators. Try manually changing the HVAC mode from dash to floor to defrost vents, and see if that all works correctly.

Keith
 
#21 ·
Just following up. The key I purchased from the ebay link arrived and the dealer was able to reprogram it along with my existing key fob. I now have a pair of working keys!
I am having a blast driving the QX56. Being the newest member of the fleet, it offers such a different experience from my bimmer. I've been steadily increasing the mpg from tank to tank. It started at 11.6 and 3 tanks later we are managing 14.1. I calculate based on miles driven and gallons filled.
 
#22 ·
I've also been able to fix the issue with the passenger side HVAC. I pulled the kick panel under the glove box and traced the wire to the lower blend door. This is the door that controls he passenger side temperature. As I was checking for movement of the door, it would barely move. When I pulled the wire from the door servo, it came off with barely any effort. As soon as I reseated it properly, the door moved all the way to cold in accordance with the temperature setting. All in a good days work.
 
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