Remember that jingle about the banks with their hands in your pockets. Catchy little tune isn't it. I can hear it now as I type.

Maybe the reason I can hear it so well is that I have GMC's hands in my pockets. In the commercial I believe it just shows the one hand in the person's pocket but I definately have two!

I just got back home from the local dealership where I took my 2007 GMC Sierra in for service and an ongoing issue with the transmission lines leaking. I fully expected to come out paying for the service and not paying for the transmission issue since this is a well documented issue with the Allison transmission in the GMC/Chevy series truck in cold weather.

Last winter in February I had the local dealer address the issue and they told me it was fixed. They replace one out of the three transmission lines and upgraded the computer program that was suppose to be causing this issue of leaking transmission lines during high idle in extremely cold weather.

Instead I came out of the dealership shaking my head and wondering why I had to pay $593.63 for an issue that GM knows is prevelant in thier line of diesel trucks. Last year the line was fixed for free. It never even lasted a year so in my mind it was not fixed at all.

Here is the kicker in my eyes. The service consultant told me that if last year I would have "payed for the repair" myself, then the warranty would have been a full year, however since I did not pay for the repair and it was under warranty that the coverage of the repair was only 3 months or 6000 kms. Now how the heck does that work? The other comment was that last year the line was replaced with OEM part with the same part number and wasn't tested to see if that would fix the repair, now this year the part has a different part number and has been tested and proven to solve the issue as claimed by the service consultant as he has said he personally talked to GM about this.

So last year, they knew full well that they had a major issue with these transmissions. I have heard stories of 80 or so of these vehicles at GN shops waiting to be repaired. They thought they had a solution but obviously it wasn't a correct or permenant fix, I the customer has to pay? I have to pay because it was under warranty, a warranty that they only cover for 3 months if it is on their dime but a full year if on my dime. How does that make sense. The fix is only as good as the amount of money I pay for it?

So here comes the part about "both" hands in my pocket. They just finished with one hand and soon enough our federal government is going to be helping these poor automakers out with a bailout program. The federal government said that they will be giving at a minimum 3.29 billion dollar bailout. Another dip into my pocket. I cannot see how a company cannot make ends meet by getting my money three different ways is beyond me. The original purchase, the repair, and the bailout!

Now don't get me wrong. This is not a GMC vs X brand issue, this is a GMAC warranty issue. I like the truck and have had good luck with it until now. Allison makes a decent product for the most part, but to only warranty a product for 3 months or 6000 kms because a customer does not pay full price for the repair that was under the original warranty clause is wrong in my opinion. To not have a tried, tested and true solution for a major problem in best selling truck and hoping that it works and telling the customer that now we have a better solution to the original problem but you are going to have to pay for it is wrong too.

I know there are a good many other GMC diesel truck owners out there and would like to hear your story about this issue and what they have done for you.


Greg

Just curious,Are you past your 3/36 bumper to bumper.Secondly did they tell you how much it was going to cost BEFORE doing repair.

Yes I am past the original warranty and no they did not tell me how much it would cost prior to the fix. My issue is that the problem originated prior to the base warranty running out. Their fix was not a fix and they openly admit that their initial fix was not tested and did not know that it would work. So the repair completed initially was just a bandage fix.

The other part of the equation is that they would warranty it if I paid initially for the repair which does not make sense since the base warranty was not exhausted. Why would someone do this and this option was not offered or explained. Why is a repair warranted for a year only if the customer pays for it? Does their quality of work change if I pay full value for something under warranty?

Greg

when a vehicle is under factory warr we are only supposed to fix whats wrong at the time the vehicle is in, not what could be broken in a few months. (gm is more stricy with this now than ever before) with that said when the 3/36 is done all parts and labor warr is gone also, even if the warr work was done at 35,999, drive 2 miles and technically your out now. if the dealer left something loose they should fix it but if a diffrent line leaks later its not our fault, (gm makes junk for parts).

Parts replaced under warranty are covered as follows:
Section 1.2.4.1 of the Policies and Procedures manual

All new or remanufactured GM Parts and Accessories installed by dealer are covered, parts and labor, for any remaining unused portion of the Vehicle or Emissions Warranty or 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever is greater (12 months, regardless of mileage on medium duty trucks).

So if it's been less than a year or 12k, the line is still covered by the parts warranty.

Wow. Now we are the north side of the 49th parallel so I am wondering if the same policies apply in Canada?

Anyway to get a copy of this policy?

Greg

my trucks at the dealer now for some vibration i have in the front when in 4wd. they called me this aft askin for permission to take it all apart. cause they wanna see whats goin on inside. and if the yfind that my lift caused the damage im on the hook for the whole shot. how the hell can they prove its my lift that caused the problem?

Wow. Now we are the north side of the 49th parallel so I am wondering if the same policies apply in Canada?

Anyway to get a copy of this policy?

Greg

They don't send us paper manuals anymore, and US dealers only get access to the US version online. You can talk to a dealer other than the one that worked on your truck and see if they could print it off for you, otherwise I'd call GM of Canada and ask them specifically how the policy reads. It very well could be different up there.

Canadian warranty..seems odd that its different in the u.s? here its if a part is replaced at say 59,999 kms(60k and its over) that part is covered for 3 months or 6500 kms. section 1.1.3

My lines are also leaking. I have 45K on the 2 year 2 month old truck. I just got off the phone with the folks at GM customer care. After three days of them evaluating my request for replacement lines, they declined. I am very disappointed. GM's response to this known problem is anything but honorable. They should sell these things without warranties and save us some up front costs, as we are going to take it on the chin down the road anyways.

3/11/2009
UPDATE: My lines were replaced yesterday under warranty. The service manager, upon further research, found everything that I had explained and promptly offered to replace the lines under warranty. Thank you very much GM and my local dealer. The whole process not the easiest to expedite, I hoping that changes for the better, but be persistent and professional and things should work out.

BTW: I was originally quoted $444.51 by my local dealer for new lines installed.