08blackHHRSS

Edit: Converter arrived yesterday, car was completed today and picked up (see my other post below )

But here's the teeth grinding ordeal anyway.

Sorry, here's the short(hopefully)version of my dilemma:
Filled up (close to having "Low Fuel" light coming on) one evening at the nearby 24/7 BP station, filled my '08 SS up and drove home after work. Next day i find my car will not stay running and did barely with me feathering the gas.
I find out IF i get it up to operating temp ('puter aided) it ran decent. I spend the 20 minutes of getting to op temp, and take it to my fav(used to work there) Chev dealership'service dept. They think "bad" gas, and then find the car would not run (it's cooled off b4 they looked at it) even with a IV can of fuel straight to the engine. They look further and find that there is DIESEL in the fuel!
I grab a rental and head home. I double check the station in got gas from, and NO diesel available from the pump i was at. I check with the manager and she gave me a number to call (and tells me she was instructed NOT to discuss anything to anyone) I call the owner of the station, he does not claim anything, but bring in my reciepts and he will make good.
The dealership tells me the plugs/o2 sensors , and the converter are bad/plugged and need new.

Bottom line, i have been waiting for now onto 3 weeks
for a converter from GM (their supplier)
I'm told i am on the "list" if/when comes available.
Meanwhile i'm paying out $30 a day for a rental (at least it's a '09 LS) That i know i will have problems with th e station owner paying for , since it's been so long cuz i 'm waiting on parts.

I did check the Magnaflow website, and the OEM grade for my car is not to be found (it shows one and a part # , but no one can tell me if one is around)
I went to my local exhaust guy/buddy, and tell him my dilemma, he states he prob has one on his shelf (nope) calls his "guy" (no luck there either) AND calls the nearby Chev dealership parts guy (not where i took my car to BTW) No luck there either, and left with having the guy tell me he will do some more legwork to see what he can do.

i'm to the point of getting whatever i can (offroad/cheapie) to get my car back and on the road (and get out of this rental (and my wife off my back since she can't grasp why "geez, it's just a HHR, you mean to tell me they don't have one ANYWHERE?")

So bottom line, can anyone here give me some good news as to where i can find either a OEM converter of aftermarket that will play well with my SS, and hopefully last a decent amount of time?

Thanks in advance!

solman98

How about looking on EBay for a wrecked one. Tell the seller you'll pay to have it shipped to you. Look for anything with the delta platform. Can't be much differance in them

08blackHHRSS

Been there, tried that.

I even hinted/begged the service dept to "borrow" a cat off the SS they have in their used car lot (black like mine tho a lil too much extra "stuff added to it for my liking=bad pinstripes and related stickons)

eBay has $88 universal fit ones, but i was kinda told they would not last long and might/prob not play well with the 'puter on the car.

I'm to the point i'll try anything now, just to get my car back (don't get me wrong, i driving a rental '09 LS and like it, )but i REALLY miss driving my SS

08blackHHRSS

Bad timing, i seem to remember a SS on eBay being parted out,,,, prob would made out good if the timing was right

whopper

Call BP Headquarters and make a complaint. Several years ago (maybe about 1994 or so) I had a similar incident at an ESSO station in BC Canada, when I filled up my motorcycle while on a weekend trip, and got a half tank of diesel instead of Reg gas. The bike started running badly about 10 miles out of town, and we finally realized it was diesel contaminatin we were quite a ways from where we got the fill-up. So it was a matter of press-on, and run out as much as we could in prep for a fill-up with gas. The bike had very little power, and was smoking out the pipes pretty good. I ran it down to a quarter tank, filled it up with premium, and it started running whole lot better about another 10 miles down the road. And for several months I kept running the tank VERY low and refilling it with Premium to clean it out. Luckily no convertors were involved.

Anyways, I called ESSO (EXXON to you USA people) the next business day after the bad fill-up, and made a complaint about picking up the diesel from the REG pump - I too didn't have any receipt or proof at all - they took me at my word and asked for a few days to investigate. No problem!! They called me back after two days for their investigation - and sure enough they fessed up. The gas station was in the process of getting their tanks filled when I was there and the driver had in error dumped the diesel in the Reg tank!!!! They apparently had quite a few people complaining about the same thing, and had closed the pump, and were getting the tank cleaned out. ESSO was quite concerned, asked if there was any damage to the bikes engine/fuel system - I was quite sure it was going to be ok once it was all flushed out but the assurred me that if there was ANY cost to me at all, they would cover the damage 100%, and gave me a case number to refer to in case of any problems down the road, and they sent me a handful of ESSO vouchers for free gas/merchandise good at any ESSO station.

In the end, there was no damage incurred, I got free gas for a couple of months - all good in the end.

So give BP a call and raise a complaint. Can't hurt - and good luck.

SmootHHR

IMO, I'd just order a high flow cat from Jegs (or your fave aftermarket dealer). Shouldn't mess with the 'puter.

Snoopy

I agree with whooper....

pursue this issue with the station owner AND the fuel manufacturer. May take a while, but they will more than likely reimburse for their mistake.

I had exactly the same issue about 10 years ago. I pursued my complaint with Atlantic-Richfield (AM-PM) continually for about 3-4 months. They finally resolved by reimbursing me completely for the damages......$1800. I kept ALL documentation from the dealer and GM Engineering and supplied copies to AR. I believe this helped a great deal in resolving this issue.

Good Luck

ChevyMgr

What's the part number?

08blackHHRSS

Well, don't really have a problem with being reimbursed for what happened, i was only saying that i am thinking that maybe the dude might scoff at a month of rental car charges.

Wellbanana:

My car is DONE!!!!!
They called a hr after i posted here (quess i shoulda did my locating/ detective work a lil sooner)

$2300 for the dealership stuff= plugs/drop-drain the gas tank/ clean the lines/injector/combustion cleaning and cat convert and 2 o2 sensors.

The bill for 3-4 weeks of rental came to $1100

So he's looking at $3400(ie:paying me back) for fixing my SS.

Glad it's back, and big time enjoyed the drive home in it:twothumbs .The rental LS was ok,,,,, but really missed what the SS offered (that and the sunroof,,, XM radio)

Well, thanks to everyone that offered up something, and Mgr.,, thanks for replying here.(shoulda asked for your insight/help a lot sooner)


PS: Gonna prob move a vacation week up to next week or so, plans are to treat the SS to a oil change(think it woulda make sense regardless of the oil life remaining now)along with a polish /wax AND some slotted (or drilled) rotors and pads (that don't dust as much as the factory ones).
I DO need brakes soon,,,, the polish/wax is just cuz i got my SS back

ChevyMgr

Glad to read it's over with. Ride On.....