Sent my car to the dealership for 'routine' problems (SS/TC GMS1 2009 with 29k km.)

-intermediate steering shaft (i had it changed in november 2009, it's broken back again)
-rear brakes sticking
-ventilation motor noisy

Got a call today, everything is changed, all under warranty, etc...

But then he drops the bomb, my turbo is found to be defective, the bearing is on it's way out it seems.

What i found weird is that the turbo was working flawlessly... i had no oil leaks, no abnormal sounds, and it pulled very hard (GMS1).

So, at 29 000km, (that is about what, 20k miles ?) i will get a complete new turbo assembly under warranty.

I am starting to think i got a 'friday afternoon' car because everything is breaking up and i spend half the time driving the car and the other half is spent at the dealerships or in a stupid courtesy cobalt automatic...

In the last 8 months i got at least 4000$ of warrantied repairs and that is NOT including the turbo which will cost another 2-3 grand to GM. I think i went to the dealer at least one time a month.

Have anyone else suffered the same fate as i with their cobalt ? I am seriously thinking to sell this thing, but at the same time it's sooo much performance for the money... when it's actually working!

 

Sorry to hear that. Hope they fix her up for you and you don't have any more issues.

 

I'm not commenting in this thread so that I don't cause something to happen.

 

1. steering wheel leather tore apart after 1 day
2. drivers side seat lever busted causing the seat to remain fully forward
3. shift linkage snapped on 2-3 shift
all the stuff that you would never think would bust does but so far nothing mechanical has even made a hint of becoming a problem even my brakes are holding up fine but I hear ya on the sick of having it in for warranty everytime I drive my car on a sunday something stupid breaks but I figure Im getting my money back from GM one tow job at a time lol and it beats the hell out of that POS mustang I had that ford just said NO WARRANTY on cause ya know the ring and pinnion are def gonna fall apart and grind the housing to **** because of aftermarket exhaust and rims.....

 

Question:
When they replaced the intermediate shaft, were you actually having a *problem*? If so, what was it..just curious. Something is REAL fishy on the turbo replacement. There's NO WAY they can tell the bearing is bad without PULLING the turbo and taking it apart. OK then WHY would they pull the Turbo if you weren't having a problem? Makes no sense at all. You would probably be hearing a noise for sure and performance would probably effected. I smell a fishy situation here.
Just my take.

 

I met him tonight, and his car seem fine power wise and i see no suspect smoke coming from exhaust.
The paperwork from GM said the mechanic found a small amount of oil and could hear what look like a bad bearing sound...

may be by removing the airfilter they could look at the turbo if they had to have access to the ventilation for his problem, i dont know just wondering...

his car seem to run good minus a weird sound on cold startup, that was supposed to come from his ventilation... but tonight it did it again, i could hear it for like 2-3 seconds.

 

This is 100% correct.

Here's what likely happened, the car is under warranty... and the dealer is slow.. the techs and the service writers need money so they make up a bogus story and replace a big, expensive part.

Their thought: "We're making money and they're getting free parts. Everybody wins!"

Except it leaves you wondering if your car is going to collapse after it crosses 36k miles.

Cliffnotes: Your dealership is likely defrauding GM warranty. There's probably nothing wrong with your turbo. They'll get theirs when all those warranty parts are called back and found to be in good shape. Audits are a bitch.

Edit: The oil mentioned above is likely coming from the breather tube. Good reason for a catch can.

 

Rest assured, they'll trash the bearings as soon as the Turbo is pulled.

Still didn't answer my question on the steering shaft...was there a problem with his steering in the first place?

One caveat..It wasn't *normal wear* if the bearings *gave out* prematurely. SO.....
anything goes. Can you say* RIP OFF* baby.

 

As far of my steering goes, there is a huge play building in the steering. You can hear some pretty distinctive 'clunks' when turning the steering wheel left to right. Also, you will sway more on the road, to the point where your car seems to steers by itself when on bad roads.

As far as the turbo goes, i am pretty sure it's a gimmick.

But what should i do ? Should i go ahead and let them change the turbo even tho it's good ? Will this make the sell of my vehicule harder ? I mean how can you explain the turbo to go out at 30k km to the buyer...

But still that is a brand new turbo, for free. But will it be installed 'as factory' ? Will the technician cut corners and install it like an ass ?

I really don't know what to do here.

 

Let them swap the turbo..you can't *lose*. Did you know that there was a steering recall recently? Maybe that was your problem there. Anyway, looks like you did have a problem with that in the first place.

 

Do they send the original turbo to GM?

If they don't, ask to keep it.

 

I tried to make them do the steering motor recall at the same time, but they could not since they do not have the parts yet and won't get them until like November.

Since i had the car, last year, at 15 000km, there is a screaching noise (kinda like a screaching belt ) coming out at 2000 rpm and + the first like 1-2 minute i drive the car... i sent it like 5 times to the dealership to get it fixed but they always told me they didnt know / couldnt recreate the sound / etc bullshit... and they told me they check several times my tensionner / belt system and everything seemed ok.

Could my cold start noise be the result of the journal bearing starving oil a bit in the turbo when started ? Maybe because of previous damages ? Maybe the shaft tolerances are fucked in lower temperature / oil starvation... Maybe that new turbo will stop that weird noise... we'll see.

 

I had to laugh when I saw this as my car is at the dealer now - they are trying to get the boost issue to show up again (GMS1/5 psi boost issue ) .

What was the first thing the dealer did ?


CHANGE THE STEERING COLUMN FOR THE RECALL !

Was that a problem I even asked about ?

NO !!

And yet, you can't get parts ....

Sorry for the hijack , and good luck !

Britt

 

The steering recall is not related to the intermediate shaft, i seen that on several GM cars, my Bonneville had that problem too...

Seem like mine is going too, i noticed a slight clunk sound when moving the wheel left right fast.

Id just do the turbo exchange, they already have notes that your turbo is ''leaking'' , so if someone is going to get your car to a dealer for an inspection they will know anyway...

Get a new one and see from there

 

They have to send the turbo back if its replaced under warranty.

to the OP: It won't hurt the resale value of your car. The repair was done by the dealership under warranty so its "like new". As far as install goes, there's no real way to cut corners other than reusing gaskets. Doubt that'd really be an issue at such low mileage anyways.

You'll be fine.