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Dealership: Now with morons!

real diehl

real diehl

New member
I got a letter in the mail for a recall notice, (engine compartment fire), and I scheduled it last week. The appt. was for 8:30 in the morning, and I went there. Not having another car, I waited for well over two hours until finally I called a friend to pick me up. I left my number, and told them to call me when it was finished.

If was 2:00 PM when my friend (who works at a sister lot), told me he thought my car was finished. I got a ride across town, went in, and they claimed it was good to go. I hopped in the car, started it, checked the gauges and left.

It didn't take long to realize the car had no power when it would normally be under boost. Then I noticed a smell. I was only half a mile from the dealership when I pulled over to take a look. Here's where it gets good. The first thing I notice is a big, red, oil-soaked rag laying on the biggest part of my headers. It was smoking and close to catching fire. Then I noticed a plastic piece they had left off laying on the radiator support.

I still didn't know why it wasn't running right. I knew part of the recall was a spark plug wire separator, (they took off my separators and put on ones that that put the wires right up behind the fan), so I assumed they put a wire on wrong. Then I saw the SC belt wasn't routed right. They had it on the SC pulley and the crank pulley but it was caught in the tensioner, ruining my belt. I called the service desk to chew some ass and went back. When I arrived, one lady from the service desk said sorry...and it wasn't her fault.

Then some dumb bastards in polo shirts come out there staring at it, and are convinced my tensioner is the problem. They spend 30 minutes pulling it off...and I told them all I needed was a new belt. Then I said the belt was shorter because the SC pulley was smaller. To no avail, they continued to prod at my engine like 'tards. Finally, they found a belt that seemed tight enough, (even though I think it's slipping now), and I left. The only thing they accomplished was changing a front valve cover gasket.

Long read...but gawd I was ticked off.

\rant
 


I tell myself to never take for granted the great delaerships I have around here. I always hear these horror stories, but whenever my cars go to the dealer...(for recalls ONLY), my car is done quickly and correctly the first time.

No wonder GM has issues. Maybe they should have closed the dealerships based on performance, instead of taking the pinata approach. Too many good dealerships around here closed last year due to GM killing off some of the good ones, instead of the bad ones.

Sorry about your bad experience. Like I said, I know of many good dealerships here, and my friend and 2 people I knew worked as GM techs, but Im willing to bet most GM techs in dealership shops read the repair book word for word, and when a modded car comes in, they ***t themselves, as seen here... :th_shakinghead2:
 
I honestly told myself they wouldn't mess it up. I thought there was no way they would. Most of the people I know haven't had trouble with them. They make their money selling cars though...right next to a military base.

The car isn't very modded by looking under the hood. I had the engine cover on, the only real variances over stock were the headers and the intake...nothing else is visible. What gets me is now I'll probably need another belt and the back cover gasket still needs replaced. I thought the recall was for both front and rear.
 
wow i would have shoved that rag up someones a$$. so sorry to hear that the machanics in your dealership have a combined IQ of -6. hope everything is running good now
 
CTKGP09 said:
wow i would have shoved that rag up someones a$$. so sorry to hear that the machanics in your dealership have a combined IQ of -6. hope everything is running good now
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All I really got out of the deal was a free front valve cover gasket. I thought the belt they supplied was okay at first, but now I think it's too long and it might be slipping.

Funny how I bring in it for possible "Engine compartment fires" and leave with a bigger fire hazard. Man I was steamed. I really work on my own stuff though, only did this for the recall.
 


right, i had the recall done last summer and all they did was give me the plug wire retainers that i ripped the next week and used for the new MSDs i bought
 
matt5112 said:
if they offered that i'd roll up and ask for the gasket.

Imagine if they popped the hood and saw a turbo? :D
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lol there reaction, "im sorry sir but this recall is for grand prix's and this here isn't a grand prix. whatever u brought in here has a turbo on it and im convinced its something other then a prix."

lol or "grand prix's came stock with turbos???"
 
do yourself a favor and do your own work on your car
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yeah seriously? why would you take your car in for a recall like that? its either you change your valve cover gaskets if your not lazy, OR you take off the retainer yourself so oil doesnt leak on the headers.

GM fails for 2 reasons in this case: They cheaped out fixing the real issue with oil leaking AND the kids working there don't know s***. Sometimes I feel like they send you these recalls to purposely screw something up on your car so you have to pay them to fix it. Generating income for poor GM.


do stuff yourself next time dude. I can't tell you the last time i took my car to a shop. anytime i do for tires or alignments, its just constant headaches.
 


Bio248 said:
do yourself a favor and do your own work on your car. the techs at dealerships are all morons.
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realdiehl said:
Funny how I bring in it for possible "Engine compartment fires" and leave with a bigger fire hazard. Man I was steamed. I really work on my own stuff though, only did this for the recall.
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Warbeaver said:
yeah seriously? why would you take your car in for a recall like that? its either you change your valve cover gaskets if your not lazy, OR you take off the retainer yourself so oil doesnt leak on the headers.
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I'm not lazy. The guy told me first that the recall fixed the valve cover gaskets, and I knew mine needed replaced. Why not get something done for free when you can? I'm working full time now and taking summer courses so I'll take all the help I can get. I didn't know until after the fact that they only replaced the front VC gasket, and obviously they ****ed my sh!t up.

I work on my own cars, but the logic was in place to get something fixed for free, and it turned out bad.
 
I'm working full time now and taking summer courses so I'll take all the help I can get
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hey...me too

This free thing they are doing is super easy though. It takes like all of 5 mins to remove the retainer and re-route spark plug wires. And yes, the first recall was for valve cover gaskets. But now, they aren't doing that anymore. They are taking the easier/cheaper route of just redirecting the way the oil goes, basically redirecting the issue but not really fixing it.

If you have new valve cover gaskets, no need to take it in for the new recall. I get a notice every month to take it in. still havent.
 
Warbeaver said:
This free thing they are doing is super easy though. It takes like all of 5 mins to remove the retainer and re-route spark plug wires. And yes, the first recall was for valve cover gaskets. But now, they aren't doing that anymore. They are taking the easier/cheaper route of just redirecting the way the oil goes, basically redirecting the issue but not really fixing it.
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Is there a tutorial somewhere on doing this? I'm not sure if my car has had recall work done.
 
all you gotta do is remove dogbones, the dogbone brackets, and the black retainer that sits along the bottom side of the valve cover. Then remove the valve cover and put on the new gasket, then reverse to put back together.

The retainer you can get out by just undoing the passenger dogbone and bracket and it comes right out. at least, this how it is on my GT
 
wow, this really inspires confidence in me as to taking my car somewhere to have this recall done. i got a notice about it not too long ago and said, "eh, it's free, i might as well." haven't got it done, and after this and how easy i thought it would be/warbeaver said it is, i might just attempt it myself.
 


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