: Nightmare At Dearlership
JaredBT31 12-02-2004, 11:22 PM RE: 02 Silverado 2500HD, crew cab, 4x4. 64,000 miles. Towed my new toy hauler for the first time, 6700 lbs. the check engine light comes on, dealership checks it, injectors. Pick truck up 4 days later, wife drives it 10 miles home, pulls in driveway and coolant pouring out from under motor, steam, the whole bit. Pop hood, radiator hose is off, tech neglected to tighten hose. Next day after tow, dealer checks truck and says truck didnt get hot and was not harmed. 3 days later batteries go dead dealer says replace so I did, $240. Wife picks up again, drives 15 miles and low coolant light comes on. Go back to dealer they say an injector sleeve was not put in correctly, pumped coolant wherever coolant goes when that happens. They get further into it and detect bubbling in one of the thermostats, they pull the heads and find a bad gasket and say it got hot. Wait, first they said it didnt get hot. Anyway, they're saying it was just the gasket and the heads and motor are OK - How can I believe this? I Initially got GM USA involved, said I want an ext. service contract and they said NO, because the dealer says truck is ok. that was before dealer found head gasket problems. Any advise anyone?:(
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LA DMAX 12-02-2004, 11:44 PM Wow, talk about a bad day, that's a bad week. Sorry to hear about all the problems. I would guess now that they say it did get hot, you should be able to get an extended warranty/service contract on the engine. If they say no, how are they to prove to you that everything is ok. There may have been small cracks happen that can't be detected by just looking at it. Sounds like you have a legitamate argument for an extension. I hope some of the legal guys chime in with some advice. Good luck
LA DMAX
On edit: Jared, not to bad mouth your dealer, but where did you take it. That's scarry.
JaredBT31 12-02-2004, 11:52 PM Lake Chevrolet in Lake Elsinore, CA.
Loki_nine 12-03-2004, 12:10 AM Make sure you get everything documented.
Tell them handshakes, winks, & "don't worry buddy, we'll take care of it" just won't do.
Most serious conditions resulting from thermal issues don't take very long to manifest & are usually revealed quickly (ie-cylinder scoring,warpages,lubrication starvation)
IMO-overheating is the #1 cause of major component failure. The problem is, most overheats are due to a lack of coolant. Since most engines (& gauges) determine their temperature via the coolant sensor which measures the temperature of the coolant (not air or steam), without coolant to conduct heat both to the sensor, & away from the engine, it's overheating while the gauge indicates cold so most folks never have a clue to what's going on until it's too late.
I still don't understand to this day why no auto manufacterer installs a surface temperature sensor somewhere (in both cylinder heads maybe) with a separate gauge.
Hope everything works out for you.
socaldieseltech 12-03-2004, 12:33 AM You have got to be kidding me. That is about the biggest load of cr@p I have ever heard. I hate to say it, but I posted about this dealer earlier, I didn't mention the dealers name though. Look up the thread titled "almost costly misdiagnosis". "detected bubbling in a thermostat you say? " what a joke Did you see smoke from the pipe? I doubt it. Low coolant light probably came on because they don't know how to burp one. When they changed your injectors, did they say they changed the sleeves? Is your truck back together? Let me know whats up.
JaredBT31 12-03-2004, 12:40 AM They didnt say they changed the sleeves. Truck is not back together, they're waiting for the head gaskets. I feel my ignorance is allowing them to think they can pull this over me. Don't know where to turn next.
socaldieseltech 12-03-2004, 12:58 AM Ok , there is some serious problems with this "story". Tech neglected to tighten hose? which one? they're on with spring clamps, either they're on or off, no tightening. How did they "incorrectly install a sleeve" if they never removed them? They say it pumped coolant "wherever it goes when that happens", it goes out the freakin exhaust PIPE! thats why I asked if it was smoking. They say its "Ok" and nothing is wrong? They told my buddy they had their best techs look at his truck and they said it had 2 cylinders with 0psi compression. If those are the same techs working on your truck I would be deeply concerned. I would tell GM that of course the dealer is saying everything is ok, their the ones that screwed up your truck, and didn't put a hose on right and ran it out of coolant. THEY are responsible for engine damage that occured because of their workmanship error. I would go down and take a look at your truck and say show me where the head gaskets are blown. Hmmm, funny you never had any head gasket problems until the FREAKIN HOSE BLEW OFF!!! They can't even do an injector job and put the hoses on right, and they're gonna do your cylinder heads? Scary. I will give you my number if you want, PM me. I know the SM over there and wouldn't mind drilling them on your behalf. I owe them one for trying to sell my buddy an engine, now he says he wouldn't even let them wash his truck. Sorry for the rant.
letsgo 12-03-2004, 09:09 AM Was this dealer located in Orland CA ?????????
What a screw up there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good luck
killerbee 12-03-2004, 09:25 AM Start taking photos. And let them see you doing it.
Then be a very squeaky wheel.
Scooter 12-03-2004, 11:30 AM You need someone to oversee this fiasco. Call GM customer service and see if you can get a fax number for them. Write down every detail of this soap opera and fax it to them. Do this after every subsequent visit or contact with your dealer.
Ask that the GM area/zone service manager get involved and get his phone/fax number.
lakingslayer 12-03-2004, 11:44 AM Just an FYI for anyone down here in San Diego County. A buddy of mine took his 2000 Tahoe in to a Chevy dealership in Poway CA. to have a new intake manifold gasket installed. They happened to drop a bold down into a cylinder somehow and put the motor back together. You can imagine what happened when they started it up. The guy got a new engine. Another time he took his 2000 Chevy 2500 into the same shop to get his 60,000 mile service done. He was going on vacation and was going to tow his trailer with it. He went to pick it up with is Ford Ranger. He asked if he could leave his Ranger there until he got back from vacation and the service manager said yes. They put it in the back lot. When he came back from vacation the Ranger was gone. Come to find out they somehow salvaged it and sent it to Mexico. He did get better than BlueBook for it from the dealer when all was said and done.
Diesel-N-Dust 12-03-2004, 10:07 PM Chevy assistance:
1-800-222-1020
I would take my truck to another Chevy dealership right away.
Get a second opinion, sounds like they did more damage to your engine and do not want to admit it.
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