Just bought a used 2006 60k miles SS/SC from a private party and had it for three whole days before the engine started making a very loud noise like a vintage lawn mower.

Took it into a dealer for repair because the car came with a very comprehensive extended warranty so I figured nothing would be coming out of my pocket anyway.

Turns out one of the previous owners had changed out the sparks plugs to NGKs and in the process had screwed up the installation of one of them - either they left it loose or cross threaded it into the head. Result: the threads in the head are all torn up by the force of the compression. The coil pack was all shredded up and was flapping around causing the loud Harley-style noise I was hearing.

The dealer tried out a heli coil repair ($600) but said the threads are way too gone for that option. New option is now to remove the head and let a head shop try to repair it or to completely replace with a new head. The first option they said runs to the region of $2k and the second to $3k.

Now of course, because the plugs were changed out, it's considered user error (spoke to the guy I bought it from who denies ever touching the spark plugs) and the warranty company told me to forget it so I'm basically up the proverbial creek without a means of locomotion, but I haven't paid anything yet.

What do people recommend I do? I'd prefer to replace the head if the threads are really as gone as they say, but $3k just seems ridiculous. Where can I shop for a replacement cylinder head for this car?

Any help much appreciated.

 

I would the the guy you got the car from to court.

 

straight up...

 

^^^^ or ... find the guy that sold it to you and beat his ass with a bicycle chain..

 

no no no a motorcycle chain

 

Ok, apart from litigation and violence - any other solutions?

 

buy a head from OTTP for I dunno about 1750 ported etc and be happy turn misfortune into a power advantage and a better beater....

 

agree,if you got to buy a head might as well get a fully cnc ported head. Save all the paper work and cost and take him to court and get all your money back.

 

taking him to court sounds nice, but just because you win, doesn't mean you will see any money. if they don't pay, you have to take them to court AGAIN, blah blah.....its happened to my parents....basically they got a run around through the court and the defendant that they said F it....wasn't worth the time or money.

 

The threads are too damaged for a helicoil repair? bullshit.. They drill out the old threads anyway...

 

QFT, I'd prefer to stay out of court for the same reasons.

Yeah, I was waiting for someone to call bullshit - seems like they're trying to switch me to the expensive option.

You mean like this?

Thanks for the replies btw.

 

Yeap, that would be it.

That one has some better flow numbers than the stock one. Exhaust ports are opened up a bit.

 

Could anyone help me out with recommendations for the available options for the head listed at the bottom of that page?

I'm fairly new to all this so help from anyone in the know would be greatly appreciated.

 

if he sold you the car "as is" you have no legal discourse.

 

I would def take this into the courts hands.We have a lemon law in Ma, if the car wont pass inspection within 60days the seller has to pay for repairs or buy the car back. But, if you decide not to. You can buy a used head off ebay for 200-300 and have a shop put it on for much less than 2k.

Depending on where you want to go with the car it might be a good bet to have that head ported and polished while it's out of the car.

 

Can't win that court case.

Stock Plugs are NGK's.... Just so you know so the guy may have not been lying when he said he never touched the plugs..

Also it seems like your dealership is trying to **** you seeing as GM isn't doing so hot, they're going to try that.. Take it back and make them fix it.. Does the car have any mods on it?

 

Stock plugs are NGKs? Why would the dealer repair shop tell me they weren't stock plugs? The extended warranty isn't with the dealer but with a third party warranty company. The car has an after-market air intake.

 

The air intake shouldnt do anything to your warranty.

Stock plugs may also say AC Delco, but they are NGK made.

 

first off court is a no no. when you buy a car private party, it is always considered "as is", which means that it could run fine now, but 2 mins later it could be broken. tough sh*t, but thats how it works


as for the plug issue, continue to put pressure on the dealer. no way it should cost $3k, you can buy a whole new crate motor for that much. do the reasearch

 

Ok, I think the plugs they showed me at the shop had NGK written on them - wish I had a pic for you guys. AFAIK the stock plug should be a NGK PFR6T-10G or equivalent. Weird.

 

that's what i was going to say. your own fault, basically.

 

there's no way a helicoil job would cost 600 bucks for 4 threads. lol. helicoils aren't 100$+ a piece. and tapping them wouldn't be that expensive.

try to go to a different shop and get a price quote before you do anything. that price is extremely steep.

as for 3k for a new head. no ******* way.

 

The $600 is for one thread! The other three threads don't have any problem. I know the dealer is over charging for parts and labor but I thought that I could do this under the third party warranty I had until they told me the plugs weren't stock. Now I want to know what plugs they did pull out. Something definitely doesn't seem right...

 

Stock plugs are 6e's from NGK. Tell the dealer they are ******* retarded. It will not cost that much money.. You can do it yourself for 500-600

Stock Head for 300-400 and bolts for around 200 with HG..

 

Just got back from the dealer who said the stock plugs on the SS/SC 2005 are AC Delcos. I tried to tell them I've heard it from a number of different sources that the stock plugs are NGK PFR6T-10G and that's exactly what they pulled out of my engine but they said they ran checks against their computers and phoned in to their tech dept who confirmed it's AC Delcos. I agree they must be ******* retarded - I'm not letting them try to put Delcos in my SS/SC!

Can anyone else confirm what the stock plugs should be?