Mine had the same exact problem on the day i bought the car it broke but i was extremely fortunate that the dealer somehow had the part in stock and got it fixed when i brought it in

 

Verdict is in they won't cover it even there is no signs of physical contact with the intercooler or it's support structure. They say I obviously ran over something and it caused the damage. Well yea I told them I had run over something 3 - 4 months ago but no problems with that till now and I don't think it is related.

Here is the part that makes me shake my head. I pulled in there this morning and popped the hood, showed them where the crack was. What do they do? Take it to the back and hook it up to the diagnostics machine, call me and tell me that my MAF is bad. I just laughed and said I don't think so the friggin IC is cracked and I showed it to you this morning. The guy says let me check on that. I had told them first thing this morning that if it is not going to be covered that I'll just fix it myself. They wanted to charge me for diagnostic service. What a bunch of incompetent bafoons.

Now what to do? I could take it to another dealership and see if they tell me the same thing. Or I could order an after market unit or even replace with a stock unit. (anyone have a pull off IC that they want to sale cheap) Looks like I'll be doing the repairs myself.

Russ

 

First, I think that is BS. I would go to another dealer or raise hell. For one, the part could not have been damaged by running over something. it's tucked away.

On the other hand, get the aftermarket one and have an awesome day.

 

i say get an aftermarket hard pipe kit. seems like this part will fail again. hrc will be releasing a kit before the end of the month.

 

I may be wrong but I think he stated the IC had the crack, not the pipe.

 

Dealers wonder why people go to other brands. My friends Cobalt had a clutch quit working. The college girl driving it had never rotated tires, so the fronts looked pretty bad. They claimed abusive driving, (a standard 4 cyl) haa, and when I went to look at it I found the slave cylinder that operates the pressure plate had a seal go out, hense no clutch disengagment. A Clutch Slave cly, and they STILL wanted to claim abuse!! The bad part is GM isn't the one denying coverage, its the dealer, and its not out of their pocket. Except if they get the poor customer to to pay for it while they claim it too. DOn't even ask me about that story.

Go to another dealer and try to get it fixed.

 

Russell, how far are you from the San Antonio area? If that part can be had from GM, we might be able to help. The damage on your undercover is on what side of the car, the left or right?

 

I'm east of Dallas in Rockwall. SA is a pretty good haul from here. The damage is on the driver side (inlet side of the IC) the crack runs horizontal in the center of the back of the plastic goes over the top of the junction where the rubber inlet hose connects and ends on the other side (outermost side of the inlet. I'd be intereste in what you have in mind :-)

 

Folks I want to be clear, I'm not upset with the dealer or the shop guys. I think they made the wrong determination on this but I myself can not say 100% that the IC was not damaged when I ran over what ever it was on the road. I can't prove it was a part failure anymore than they can prove that what I ran over caused the IC to break. In these cases I think you err on the side of the customer but it didn't go that way with this dealer.

 

My local dealer's service manager said they don't receive any reimbursement from GM for diagnostic procedures, only for covered repair procedures (which are supposed to include the time required to diagnose the problem). I guess if I wasn't being paid for diagnostic time I might start fixing random things too... If GM's diagnostic machine says the MAF is busted, GM will pay the dealer to repair it (assuming it's under warranty). I suspect real-world GM vehicles end up with a lot of unnecessary repairs due to this bureaucracy, though I don't have the stats to prove it. It's a shame to put the dealers in a position where they have a financial incentive not to spend time correctly diagnosing the problem, as the dealers must and will do what it takes to get paid in lean times.