Cracked block resolution, 6 months later...
06-09-2014, 11:40 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 05-14-2012
Location: Colts Neck, NJ
Posts: 57
Cracked block resolution, 6 months later...
So y'all may not remember my thread. Just as a refresher, my car started going through coolant at about a quart per day back in January. It would leak down into the oil and it was pretty evident on the dipstick and under the oil cap.
After MONTHS of fighting and a letter and research, I was only able to get 58% cost assistance on the repair of $5714 leaving me with a $2500 bill. The ONLY saving grace is that they now extended a warranty on the motor for 3 years/100,000 miles. This has taught me a lot:
1) GM doesn't care about their product or warranties. Recall this, recall that..but at the end of the day, "good will" repairs are all about PERSONALITIES and not the problem at hand. I was only able to get the assistance I did by being a "nice guy" to the service manager (who was great through the process, I might add..any local NJ people can PM me and I'll let you know where the dealership is and who to talk to)..but GM basically ignored the issue, likely due to the low production numbers on all of these LNF motors. Mind you I had several conversations with GM's absolutely useless customer service department.. you will never talk to a superior, and "that's all we can do" will start repeating in your head..
2) Don't bother writing to GM. You will get a letter back saying "sorry" and "cars are complex machines that sometimes require repairs". Really GM? You are saying this to a product development engineer who is having engine failure before 60k miles? A power window motor, yes..a broken trim piece, maybe.. not an engine. That is just sloppy engineering as I see it..
3) The part number on the short block assembly has changed 3 times since the car came out. Did I get an updated block? Who knows.. if they are using the LHU block then maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the later blocks had thicker walls (hmm.... if it ain't broke, oh wait it was..)
So all I can really recommend to anyone is that if you don't have a warranty, get nice and friendly with a dealership. GM will side-step you for as long as they can (in my case, why not just offer the end agreement up front? Were they trying to wear me down?)
There it is.. I have the car back, but have become extremely discouraged with GM as a competent auto manufacturer. Their cost-cutting measures and lack of research and due diligence causes serious issues to get out to the market. Once I determine the fate of this HHR, I will NEVER purchase a new GM vehicle again. I will only drive older cars from the days when they actually made a decent car. GET WITH IT GM!! One recommendation: cheap out on anything you want besides safety equipment and powertrain components. We don't like having our cars out of commission for months at a time. That's how the OLD cars were.. the whole thing would fall apart around the powertrain but at least it ran and drove while you fixed it.
That is all.
After MONTHS of fighting and a letter and research, I was only able to get 58% cost assistance on the repair of $5714 leaving me with a $2500 bill. The ONLY saving grace is that they now extended a warranty on the motor for 3 years/100,000 miles. This has taught me a lot:
1) GM doesn't care about their product or warranties. Recall this, recall that..but at the end of the day, "good will" repairs are all about PERSONALITIES and not the problem at hand. I was only able to get the assistance I did by being a "nice guy" to the service manager (who was great through the process, I might add..any local NJ people can PM me and I'll let you know where the dealership is and who to talk to)..but GM basically ignored the issue, likely due to the low production numbers on all of these LNF motors. Mind you I had several conversations with GM's absolutely useless customer service department.. you will never talk to a superior, and "that's all we can do" will start repeating in your head..
2) Don't bother writing to GM. You will get a letter back saying "sorry" and "cars are complex machines that sometimes require repairs". Really GM? You are saying this to a product development engineer who is having engine failure before 60k miles? A power window motor, yes..a broken trim piece, maybe.. not an engine. That is just sloppy engineering as I see it..
3) The part number on the short block assembly has changed 3 times since the car came out. Did I get an updated block? Who knows.. if they are using the LHU block then maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the later blocks had thicker walls (hmm.... if it ain't broke, oh wait it was..)
So all I can really recommend to anyone is that if you don't have a warranty, get nice and friendly with a dealership. GM will side-step you for as long as they can (in my case, why not just offer the end agreement up front? Were they trying to wear me down?)
There it is.. I have the car back, but have become extremely discouraged with GM as a competent auto manufacturer. Their cost-cutting measures and lack of research and due diligence causes serious issues to get out to the market. Once I determine the fate of this HHR, I will NEVER purchase a new GM vehicle again. I will only drive older cars from the days when they actually made a decent car. GET WITH IT GM!! One recommendation: cheap out on anything you want besides safety equipment and powertrain components. We don't like having our cars out of commission for months at a time. That's how the OLD cars were.. the whole thing would fall apart around the powertrain but at least it ran and drove while you fixed it.
That is all.
06-09-2014, 12:39 PM
#3
Platinum Member
Join Date: 04-09-2006
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 7,032
Interesting issue over the verious issues of the blocks.
I am really glad you got it fixed, and I hope it gives you many miles of happy stuff.
But, it was off warranty and that was the issue with GM. I'm glad you got at least some satistaction for sure.
If you had it another 10 years and had the same mileage on it, would you expect that they will cover some of the cost?
I am really glad you got it fixed, and I hope it gives you many miles of happy stuff.
But, it was off warranty and that was the issue with GM. I'm glad you got at least some satistaction for sure.
If you had it another 10 years and had the same mileage on it, would you expect that they will cover some of the cost?
06-09-2014, 01:13 PM
#4
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 05-14-2012
Location: Colts Neck, NJ
Posts: 57
I sure would.. engines should not go bad. Seals? Gaskets? Maybe..but a cracked block is due to nothing but poor manufacturing, and therefore they should be liable no matter what the TIME factor is if the mileage is low. If it blew the motor at 250K I would be upset but at least it could be from wear. And if anyone said "well heat cycles and blah blah blah" I would still come back to poor engineering.
And the "porous block" thing is a bunch of bull.. they used bad castings and the walls are too thin. Apparently two of my cylinders had San Andreas-sized cracks in the water jackets. So not "porous" but "poor US"... and GM sweeps all of these under the rug...if you look at other forums this has happened an ALARMING number of times, as early as a few thousand miles.
And the "porous block" thing is a bunch of bull.. they used bad castings and the walls are too thin. Apparently two of my cylinders had San Andreas-sized cracks in the water jackets. So not "porous" but "poor US"... and GM sweeps all of these under the rug...if you look at other forums this has happened an ALARMING number of times, as early as a few thousand miles.
06-14-2014, 05:40 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: 04-14-2010
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 432
This is what happens when they hire bean counters to run production. They try to get everything made as cheaply as possible with no concern about quality and it's coming back to haunt them. The problem is obviously GM's fault and they should man up and cover it.
