Story Time - Two Warranty Claims and Some Sprinkles

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LT1ZOB

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Glad all ended well OP. Would be very interested in knowing if yours is an 8 speed. Been around Camaros and vettes long enough to know that GM and 15 and up 8speed trans TCs just don't mix. "Triple flushes" and all kinds of TSBs and still, TCs blowing chunks on gen 6 Camaros and C7 vettes. Luckily both mine are manuals and Tahoe is an A6, but lots of POed people out there with TC issues. Hope it's smooth sailing from here. As for your AC, I'm convinced tech undid the line either by accident or needed better access, and forgot to recharge.
 

PG01

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Hi, all - so just wanted to share my recent story with you all in hopes of... well, just getting it off my chest. I love my Denali, so this was a trying six weeks. Pardon the length........

Soooooo, claim number one. In early June, I started to get a wooga-wooga upon shifting. It was very slight at first, then quickly got bad. "Quickly" in this case means about three days of driving about 15 miles per day. Took it to my local dealer and as expected, it was the torque converter. Powertrain warranty covered it. June 19, $1700 repair. My cost: $0. Good to go.

Claim number two. Taking the fam to Boston from DC on the 8th - I get about 3.5 hours into the trip and in the mountainy area, all of a sudden POW a loud, freewheeling whirring sound, not unlike that of a toothless or disengaged starter, only crazy loud. And at 80mph. Lost engine power. Truck shuts off. Texts from OnStar. I pull over, and start the truck back up. I know that it is clearly broken, but it moved smoothly on the shoulder forward and backward, so since it is SUNDAY AFTERNOON, I figured I'll be no less stranded here than if I push it some more and it happens again. So I did, in hopes of getting someplace safe to pull off anf figure out life. 10 minutes later, same sound. Same re-start and subsequent 'test'. So we took off again. I need to stress that I know my truck is broken, and since it's under Powertrain warranty, it was worth the risk of getting someplace safe. Well, this time, it drove fine for two hours! Then of course, it does the same thing again. All this time I expected something transmission related, since I just had the TC done two weeks prior. Sooooooo it craps out this third and final time, this time just before a rest area. Not the type with a service station and rest rooms, a Roy Rogers and a slew of other delectable culinary works of art, but a rest area with parking spaces. This time, the truck moves as though I put it into 4L, so I immediately change my professional diagnosis to the txfr case. So, that was the end of our journey. Got it towed as far as OnStar would take me to the dealer closest to our destination and dropped the keys in the drop box. After the initial diagnosis, they called and said my loaner was approved, and my gf and I took the $100 Uber ride to go back and pick up our shiny new 4-banger base Acadia, of which I was abundantly thankful. Got us around for the rest of the trip, even though on the way back, we were SIX deep, and six people's worth of stuff. Fun fact: I did the math - we were AT weight capacity, and bottomed out a couple of times on the six hour drive back home a couple of days later. So when I got home, the loaner sat in my driveway, rotors oxidizing, while I drove my Infiniti over the next two weeks. Turns out the transfer case did in fact blow up, and they literally replaced everything because when the clutch went out it took the rest out with it. Powertrain warranty covered it. Picked up July 28th. $3000 repair. My cost: $0.

And just to put some sprinkles on this s:favorites68:, we drove the loaner back up to pick up my truck on the 28th, and all was well... until they brought my truck out front. AC was blowing HOT. My high blew quicker than my transfer case. So I asked them if they did anything that in any way impacted my AC since it was 100% icy as we sat on the side of the road with a blown out transfer case, the last time I touched my truck. He said 'nope, sure didn't'. He got side eye from me and my gf both, as I initially became suspicious that they were trying to okeydoke me, but then he told me about a TSB for the AC Condenser. They couldn't do it on the spot, but he refilled it to get us home so I could take it to my dealer to do it. Took it there yesterday and they did the dye test and even kept it overnight - no leak! It was just in need of a recharge. Good stuff, but uhhhhh..... 50,000 miles and AC was empty??? I've run triple that before needing a recharge. Advisor said not uncommon in these trucks. Learned something new that day. Oh, and they didn't charge me for the recharge.

In the end, all is well, and I still love my truck. I just reeeeeeallllyy hope that this was the last of the shenanigans, warranty or otherwise. All that said, both dealers were a great experience, and it's nice to be back in my truck again. :beer:


Thanks for reading.

Glad you got things worked out but I wouldn’t put too much faith in them dealers even though you think they ‘treated you great’. The first one that swapped your torque converter prob didnt fill up the trans case or put something in wrong and the second one either let the freon out or disconnected your ‘ice cold a/c’. Im not being a moron here but its just my warped way of thinking.
Like i said, in glad you got it worked out but be careful at them ‘stealerships’ bud.
 

Tonyrodz

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Glad you got things worked out but I wouldn’t put too much faith in them dealers even though you think they ‘treated you great’. The first one that swapped your torque converter prob didnt fill up the trans case or put something in wrong and the second one either let the freon out or disconnected your ‘ice cold a/c’. Im not being a moron here but its just my warped way of thinking.
Like i said, in glad you got it worked out but be careful at them ‘stealerships’ bud.
I agree. The majority of my dealings with dealerships have been sinilar to yours. Once my mother dropped her Ford off to get some service done. Her ashtray is always filled with change, they stole all her change and left it greasy inside. Typical.
 
OP
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Pivot

Pivot

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Glad you made it home safe and sound, thank the lord for warranty. Back in 82 I bought a brand new camaro. I was living in Miami at the time. I had had the car about ten months when I decided to drive to Daytona for the bike rally. About 3 hours into the trip the trans started shifting weird I got to Daytona ok and checked the trans fluid, and it was dark charcoal metallic . Drove it back to Miami and the next day my buddy who owned a towing service towed it to my local dealer. They went through the trans as it was toast, of course it was under warranty. Back then the warranty was 12/12 You new guys are spoiled. Good story you got there and glad it worked out Ok.

Thanks - yea things are definitely a lot better now than they were back in the day. I remember NO warranty and driving with no reverse in a Caddy for about a year (never got stuck) about 25 years ago ha

Glad it all worked out. After reading all this makes me happy I got the extended warranty. Very nice looking Denali!!

Thank you!


Man sorry all that happened so far from home and with the fam. That just adds to the crapiness of the situation!

Glad everything got taken care of and back to normal.

Thanks - yea the fact that it was in the beginning of a big trip as opposed to just knocking around town was the killer. Appreciative of the warranty and Uber.

What year is you’re Denali? You have 50k miles so 2015 or 16...?

16

Bondo, I know the Dealer said no leaks but that freon went somewhere. Do a Google search on the condenser as pics were posted so you can see where it leaks from and take a look yourself or have an independent shop take a look. Peace of mind.

Yea exactly. That was my first response - the odds that that happens overnight are slim. I plan to check it more myself, already bought the black light lol- and it is still under warranty so I can get it fixed if I need to.
 
OP
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Pivot

Pivot

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I'm convinced tech undid the line either by accident or needed better access, and forgot to recharge.

Right - that was my first question to them. Still feel like it's the case.

Glad you got things worked out but I wouldn’t put too much faith in them dealers even though you think they ‘treated you great’. The first one that swapped your torque converter prob didnt fill up the trans case or put something in wrong and the second one either let the freon out or disconnected your ‘ice cold a/c’. Im not being a moron here but its just my warped way of thinking.
Like i said, in glad you got it worked out but be careful at them ‘stealerships’ bud.

Trust me brother - I don't trust dealers. When I say they treated me well, I simply mean I didn't have to fight with them, and that from a process standpoint, it all moved along smoothly without me having to bully and threaten them thru it - which is how I expect to go into each dealer interaction. Since under warranty, I really don't care about fault so much after the issue happens - just fix it. When I'm not under warranty, I don't touch dealers. I have two mechanics who I trust with my vehicles for anything I don't/can't do myself.
 

petethepug

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Dealerships are strange. They are products of the management that runs them behind closed doors.

We have had the same tech at the same dealer owned by the same company for almost 15 years servicing our Audi allroad. They are involved in several charitable events every year and grow their employees.

The GMC dealership has been around longer and churned through more employees than I could ever count. They are loyal to us only because I hold them accountable and aware I know how to present the facts without ever stepping into their spin machine.

One is motivated by fear of failure (lacking excellent service) and the other is motivated by fear of reprisal (by being held accountable for their bad behavior).


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