And the Nightmare Continues
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: 09-15-08
Posts: 267
Likes: 1
From: Ocala, Florida
And the Nightmare Continues
If you have already read my thread titled "09 SS/TC - New Engine @ 24,xxx miles" skip the quote and read from there, if you have not, please read the quote to catch up to the problems I have had with my car.
Since I have had the new engine installed, it, just like the original engine has been nothing but problems. To start off, when I received the car back, I immediatly noticed the steering wheel was crooked. After not having the car for two weeks I just went on my way just thinking I would stop by in the near future. Well, at 150 miles on the engine I again got the Low Coolant warning, which was the reason I got the new engine in the first place, and I had also noticed a little bit of clutch fluid on my garage floor. The Low Coolant ended up being bubbles in the system because the mechanic didn't do it correctly, and the clutch fluid was excess fluid from where he broke my clutch slave and didn't clean up the mess, they also fixed my steering wheel and I was on my way.
After about 700 miles on the engine I started driving it a little harder, and noticed it was having about the same problem the original engine had when it was new. It would surge on acceleration and only make a maximum of 200hp on the RPD. This was similar to the early problems on the original engine but rather then intermittent it was 100% of the time. I also noticed during medium braking, my steering wheel would shimmy. I took the car in and the held it overnight just to tell me that they test drove it and, they couldn't reproduce either problem, and there was no codes and that the brakes were within parameters. I was not satisfied, so I complained, and asked for the service manager to ride with me, because I knew I could reproduce both problems. Suddenly the Service Manager disapeared and wouldn't be back until the next day, so instead I took a service writer for a ride. I produced both problems for him, he even held the steering wheel while it shimmied under braking. When we returned he said they would keep it and the service manager would drive it in the morning. When they called me TWO days later, I went to pick up the car to find noone had even drivin it, it was just sitting there and they wouldn't do anything since there was no codes and the brakes were within their parameters.
Dissatisfied I took it to another dealership, and relayed my problems. They refused to take the car, but said they would look into it. They called me a few days later to tell me...well, nothing. Not knowing what to do, I had givin up for a while, and by about 1200 miles the car started getting smoother and starting to feel "right". At 1500 miles the car had full and smooth power and would show 280hp on the RPD like the original engine would when it worked correctly. I now just hoped I would never see the service center again, well, screw me right?
So now I'm at about 1700 miles and I went out for about a 5 mile round trip drive on my way to my destination everyting seems fine although I wasn't driving hard. I get out for about 15 minutes, and when I get back in and leave, I immediatly notice BPV flutter (just like the original engine) the whole drive back home, the car would only give me between 4-5lbs of boost (just like the original engine). I checked all the GMS1 wiring, and everything seems ok.
I love the car, but it really is a headache and I just don't know what to do anymore. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'm open for it.
Like the title says, my 09' SS/tc is at my local Chevy dealership, and is getting a new engine under FULL Warranty, the car has a little over 24,500 miles on it.
Now the long story leading to today.
I bought the car new Aug. 31 2008 with 7 miles on the odometer. Since day one the car had a very dramatic surge on acceleration. This problem was intermittent, but it happened often. Everytime I got the chance to take it in the chevy, it was having a "good day" and no problems. They basically told me I was an idiot, but I knew the car was not correct. I started to pursue lemon law and had an area manager of somesort come take a look at my car, the next step would have been the "big guys" and the the car would have either been lemoned or not. When I dropped the car off that day, it was working ok, so I told them to hold onto it over night, or the next couple of days or whatever because I KNEW it would do it again. Well, they returned the car that night to me saying it was fine
after that day I never had the problem again...for 6 months, but then it did it for about 2 days, and it was fine again. WTF?
Well, as of about 2 months ago, I started having other problems, that a few other people on this site have had similar symptoms. My car started only boosting about 6psi (I have GMS1) and fluttering very badly between shifts (stock charge piping and bpv). This, like my other problem was very intermittent. Sometimes you could turn the car off for 5 mins and it would reset and drive fine, other times it would not. Sometimes it would just "fix" itself sitting at a stop sign or long red light. After a couple of weeks of having the problem it would then only boost the 6psi but it would blow-off normal. About a month in, the car finally threw the CEL. Immediatly I took it to an autozone and had them use their reader, and they came up with the P0101 code (lean code?). After leaving there, on my way to Chevy the CEL turned off. I took it in, and they used there reader, and came up with a different code (I want to say P0229, but I don't remember the code and they have the car with the write-up in the glove box). They tightned all my hoses and clamps, and claimed that my intake was loose. The car has run fine ever since.
Last thursday I went on a 650 mile round trip to GA in one day. About 200 miles into my journey I got a message on the tach stating "Low Coolant". At the next sears I found I got some more dex-cool and mixed it 50/50 with water and filled it back up. The rest of the trip home I had to fill it up 4 more times. I couldn't find any evidence of any leaks anywhere. No smoke or water out the exhaust, so its problably not the head gasket, and no puddle on the ground when I would park it. The next day I took it into my local chevy dealership and told them what was happening. They pressure checked the system hot and cold, and they also did a compression check on the motor, and everything turned out to be perfectly normal. They too were unable to find any evidence of a leak or any problem at all so they put a dye in the coolant system and sent me on my way telling me to return if the Low Coolant message showed up again. This morning, about 5 mins into my drive I get the Low Coolant message. It has been only about 100-125 miles since they looked at it the other day. I immediatly took it back to the dealership. After they let it sit outside for 1 1/2 hours they finally started work. After only about 20-25 mins the mechanic went and sat in the Service Managers office having a conversation...Well about 10 mins later the service write-up guy comes in and tells me that I need a new engine. I chuckled at first not realizing he was serious, but he was. I then asked if it was going to be under warranty, a little nervous because of the mods in my sig. He said it was going to be 50/50, but then he laughed and said it will be completely covered. They already had the engine ordered, and it will arrive here on thursday, and they will have the car back to me on monday. They claim that it is a casting defect on the block of the engine.
I really couldn't believe how helpfull and easy they are being about everything, they are even putting back on my aftermarket mods, and reinstalling the GMS1 on my new engine since, I paid them to install it on my first engine.
I'm sorry about the length of this post, I really just wanted to share my story and possibly help some other people that are having similar issues. And one last thing I figure I might as well throw in, my brakes were turned by this same dealership with about 14,000 miles under the car and they never said anything about it.
Now the long story leading to today.
I bought the car new Aug. 31 2008 with 7 miles on the odometer. Since day one the car had a very dramatic surge on acceleration. This problem was intermittent, but it happened often. Everytime I got the chance to take it in the chevy, it was having a "good day" and no problems. They basically told me I was an idiot, but I knew the car was not correct. I started to pursue lemon law and had an area manager of somesort come take a look at my car, the next step would have been the "big guys" and the the car would have either been lemoned or not. When I dropped the car off that day, it was working ok, so I told them to hold onto it over night, or the next couple of days or whatever because I KNEW it would do it again. Well, they returned the car that night to me saying it was fine
after that day I never had the problem again...for 6 months, but then it did it for about 2 days, and it was fine again. WTF?Well, as of about 2 months ago, I started having other problems, that a few other people on this site have had similar symptoms. My car started only boosting about 6psi (I have GMS1) and fluttering very badly between shifts (stock charge piping and bpv). This, like my other problem was very intermittent. Sometimes you could turn the car off for 5 mins and it would reset and drive fine, other times it would not. Sometimes it would just "fix" itself sitting at a stop sign or long red light. After a couple of weeks of having the problem it would then only boost the 6psi but it would blow-off normal. About a month in, the car finally threw the CEL. Immediatly I took it to an autozone and had them use their reader, and they came up with the P0101 code (lean code?). After leaving there, on my way to Chevy the CEL turned off. I took it in, and they used there reader, and came up with a different code (I want to say P0229, but I don't remember the code and they have the car with the write-up in the glove box). They tightned all my hoses and clamps, and claimed that my intake was loose. The car has run fine ever since.
Last thursday I went on a 650 mile round trip to GA in one day. About 200 miles into my journey I got a message on the tach stating "Low Coolant". At the next sears I found I got some more dex-cool and mixed it 50/50 with water and filled it back up. The rest of the trip home I had to fill it up 4 more times. I couldn't find any evidence of any leaks anywhere. No smoke or water out the exhaust, so its problably not the head gasket, and no puddle on the ground when I would park it. The next day I took it into my local chevy dealership and told them what was happening. They pressure checked the system hot and cold, and they also did a compression check on the motor, and everything turned out to be perfectly normal. They too were unable to find any evidence of a leak or any problem at all so they put a dye in the coolant system and sent me on my way telling me to return if the Low Coolant message showed up again. This morning, about 5 mins into my drive I get the Low Coolant message. It has been only about 100-125 miles since they looked at it the other day. I immediatly took it back to the dealership. After they let it sit outside for 1 1/2 hours they finally started work. After only about 20-25 mins the mechanic went and sat in the Service Managers office having a conversation...Well about 10 mins later the service write-up guy comes in and tells me that I need a new engine. I chuckled at first not realizing he was serious, but he was. I then asked if it was going to be under warranty, a little nervous because of the mods in my sig. He said it was going to be 50/50, but then he laughed and said it will be completely covered. They already had the engine ordered, and it will arrive here on thursday, and they will have the car back to me on monday. They claim that it is a casting defect on the block of the engine.
I really couldn't believe how helpfull and easy they are being about everything, they are even putting back on my aftermarket mods, and reinstalling the GMS1 on my new engine since, I paid them to install it on my first engine.
I'm sorry about the length of this post, I really just wanted to share my story and possibly help some other people that are having similar issues. And one last thing I figure I might as well throw in, my brakes were turned by this same dealership with about 14,000 miles under the car and they never said anything about it.
Since I have had the new engine installed, it, just like the original engine has been nothing but problems. To start off, when I received the car back, I immediatly noticed the steering wheel was crooked. After not having the car for two weeks I just went on my way just thinking I would stop by in the near future. Well, at 150 miles on the engine I again got the Low Coolant warning, which was the reason I got the new engine in the first place, and I had also noticed a little bit of clutch fluid on my garage floor. The Low Coolant ended up being bubbles in the system because the mechanic didn't do it correctly, and the clutch fluid was excess fluid from where he broke my clutch slave and didn't clean up the mess, they also fixed my steering wheel and I was on my way.
After about 700 miles on the engine I started driving it a little harder, and noticed it was having about the same problem the original engine had when it was new. It would surge on acceleration and only make a maximum of 200hp on the RPD. This was similar to the early problems on the original engine but rather then intermittent it was 100% of the time. I also noticed during medium braking, my steering wheel would shimmy. I took the car in and the held it overnight just to tell me that they test drove it and, they couldn't reproduce either problem, and there was no codes and that the brakes were within parameters. I was not satisfied, so I complained, and asked for the service manager to ride with me, because I knew I could reproduce both problems. Suddenly the Service Manager disapeared and wouldn't be back until the next day, so instead I took a service writer for a ride. I produced both problems for him, he even held the steering wheel while it shimmied under braking. When we returned he said they would keep it and the service manager would drive it in the morning. When they called me TWO days later, I went to pick up the car to find noone had even drivin it, it was just sitting there and they wouldn't do anything since there was no codes and the brakes were within their parameters.
Dissatisfied I took it to another dealership, and relayed my problems. They refused to take the car, but said they would look into it. They called me a few days later to tell me...well, nothing. Not knowing what to do, I had givin up for a while, and by about 1200 miles the car started getting smoother and starting to feel "right". At 1500 miles the car had full and smooth power and would show 280hp on the RPD like the original engine would when it worked correctly. I now just hoped I would never see the service center again, well, screw me right?
So now I'm at about 1700 miles and I went out for about a 5 mile round trip drive on my way to my destination everyting seems fine although I wasn't driving hard. I get out for about 15 minutes, and when I get back in and leave, I immediatly notice BPV flutter (just like the original engine) the whole drive back home, the car would only give me between 4-5lbs of boost (just like the original engine). I checked all the GMS1 wiring, and everything seems ok.
I love the car, but it really is a headache and I just don't know what to do anymore. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'm open for it.
Take it to a new dealership for starters.
If the brakes are pulsating, its not within tolerance. They're feeidng you a line of BS. I don't know where your mileage is, but brake pulsation is usualy warrantied until 20k miles or so.. Not sure on the exact figure.
As for the engine problems, I couldn't begin to tell you what's going on, but I'd return to the origional point and find another dealership to talk to. Explain your situation to them. If they're even halfway smart they'll jump through their ass to make you happy (and a returning customer).
If the brakes are pulsating, its not within tolerance. They're feeidng you a line of BS. I don't know where your mileage is, but brake pulsation is usualy warrantied until 20k miles or so.. Not sure on the exact figure.
As for the engine problems, I couldn't begin to tell you what's going on, but I'd return to the origional point and find another dealership to talk to. Explain your situation to them. If they're even halfway smart they'll jump through their ass to make you happy (and a returning customer).
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: 09-15-08
Posts: 267
Likes: 1
From: Ocala, Florida
Well, I drove the car again this morning, which was the first time since I had the BPV fluttering yesterday. Immediatly pulling out of the driveway I noticed the flutter. About 2 miles into my journey I stopped at a stop sign for no more then one minute, and when I pulled out, the car was fine, boosting normal, and no flutter. These symptoms are exactly the same as with the original engine, could this mean it has something to do with the computer since, the original computer is in the car still even with the new engine? Also I checked and made sure that my IC pipes, and intake were on tight since that was appharently the problem on the original engine, but everything seemed fine. I get lost pretty easily when it comes to this car so any help is appreciated.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post