I have a 2009 SS and yesterday as i was driving i heard something dragging on the ground so i was about to pull over to see what it was and the metal part to the intercooler fell off and i ran over it with my tire. I brought my car to the dealer and they said they wouldn't warranty the part cause of the road rash on my front bumper from going in and out of driveways and rocks on the road. Has this ever happened to anyone else out here where the bottom of the intercooler fell off? I am really pissed considering i only have about 10,000 miles on the car and i'm leaking boost so i cant even drive the car that much. If no one had this happen should i take the car to a different dealer and see what they will do? Thanks for the advice in advance Nick

 

If their is signs that it was scraped so much that it could dislodge it you may not have a case,
pics of the bottom of your bumper and whats missing off of the inter cooler may help us give you a better idea of what to do next

 

This has happend to allot of people including me. Some times it's blatant stupidity of the driver for pulling up to close to curbs, and most of the times it points the bad design(IMO). I never pull to close to curbs so it had to be something that may have popped up while driving down the road. I didn't even bother with the dealer because everything I heard from everyone else. Lucky for me I had a friend with a hhr that sold me his stock one for $50. Go with an aftermarket one or find a used stocker. If your insurance deductible is not to bad claim it and take the money and buy a better one. Tell them a racoon or something ran out infront of you and it will be comprehensive and won't jack your rates up.

 

i would send you pics but its still up at the dealer on the lift and they are closed.. and no me and my dad went and looked and there was not real damage accept toward the front of the bumper right on the edge where it turns up .. other then that the car was fine..

 

The issue is that if you broke the condenser off, you probably also cracked the end tanks on the intercooler. I have a thread telling people to just pull that off and epoxy the holes up, but it's not like it's a sticky.

If you end tanks aren't cracked, just epoxy the holes on the bottom. You're lucky if that's all that happened.

 

Is the car lowered? If so, how much?

 

Yeah you just gotta be more careful driving around. take curbs at angles, and slow down over bumps. I kind of have to agree with the dealer, its like taking in your car with a busted clutch and asking them to replace it, Its a part that was worn out by the driver.

 

Pics or ban hammer!

 

shut up queer.

 

no the car isn't lowered and i take curbs careful and speed bumps very slow on an angle but it happens since i live in a very hilly area. there really is nothing i can do personally. but the part should not have just fallen off as i was driving. and like i said me and my dad went up to check the damage and thee only damage was on the part that fell off since i ran it over and the front tip of the bumper

 

Yeah, that won't be warrantied by anyone. You'll have to bite the bullet on this one.

 

The clip that holds the condenser on the driver side of the intercooler is not very strong and that's where I think the design flaw comes in. It should have been beefed up abit if you ask me. It doesn't take much force to break it. The cause is once this clip breaks the driver side of the intercooler hangs down then will rip off if you don't catch it in time.

 

You must have bottomed out the front end so its your fault.

 

I wouldn't have wasted my time taking it to a dealer to try and get it warrantied . If the bottom of the bumper is scraped up it's obviously not their problem . It's kinda like curbing a wheel and wanting it warrantied even thou it has rash all over it.

 

What's your insurance deductible? Get the quote from dealer,order aftermarket pocket the difference.

 

aftermarket intercoolers all go a little bit lower than the factory one if im not mistaken

 

The only one currently out that is cheaper than the $412 OEM intercooler, is the Crazy Steve IC................and he doesn't want that piece of crap.

 

I should have clarified my post, i meant the intercooler hangs lower than the stock one, so it would be even more susceptible to being scraped and damaged

 

that sucks..

 

you shut him down.

 

Thanks guys for some of the input they decided today to fix the car at no charge and warranty the part after seeing that my parents have bought 10 cars from the same dealership and still have 5 of them in our driveway now... if not they were going to charge me like $789.00 to repair the damn thing and i was going to tell them noo and just have bought the hahn intercooler for that price.

 

the hahn intercooler would probably be even lower than that one, i would still like pics of your intercooler, if its not too late, or atleast the bumper

 

yea ill try to take some pics up the bumper tomm when i change my oil ..

 

Be very carefull on bumps and entering driveways that are elevated. I have stock IC with slight lowering on Pedders and the front lip will scrape at times. The stock IC is pretty damn low, but clears with Pedders and slight lowering (1") in front. BE CAREFULL or your IC will get hammered.

 

Anyway to lift the ic, or is their some sort of skidplate, Im kind of worried since seeing this, and i was under my car a few days ago and saw a couple scrapes on the bottom of the ic