,
but My 50th with production date of 5/03
fell victim to fuel tank issues, my Z16 production date of 03/2004 None(knock on wood)

go figure

 

ttt

 

Vette 3800....sorry to hear of your issues. I am a Corvette specialist at a dealer here in Cincinnati. I have seen several of these fuel leak cars including current models. I have done alot of FFS fuel system work since they have came out in the fall of '02 of 03 production and the first one I got to do was my own '03 Z06 (fuel filter clogged and is now located in the tank...bad load of 104 octane unleaded race fuel). I have taken many of tanks out to replace faulty fuel level sending units. FFS fuel system are a major PITA, but I have it down to a science. The rear suspension and transmission does NOT need to come out if someone is skilled and has experience. The manual tells you to take all of that stuff out , though. Probably why warranty time is +7 hours, and GM hates to pay us techs ( the ones that fix their shortcomings).

Unfortuneatly for you, the dealer who attempted repair didn't pay attention to the inside diameter of the tank where the balance tube fits. O-rings dont really change and metal balance tube O.D. will remain pretty constant also......The plastic tank opening has always been the issue on the cars that I have repaired. Car needs a new tank, and more than likely will be getting a new internal tank cross-over line assy (they always break the retaining tabs off in the balance tube opening when removing balance tube. The tech at the dealer is going to hate this if he is not well versed in this repair. BTW, if they had your whole rear suspension out of your car, did they bother to re-align your car after repairs ???? If not you need to tell them to get this handled for you also..

Hope this all works out for you.......PM me if you have issues.......

 

An independent mechanic is doing this work. Do I have any re-course to be re-imbersed for my expense?

 

You spent the money at a dealership for repairs and now you are going to pay someone else ????? I pretty much think that the dealership should be eating subsequent repairs for misdiagnosis.. I dont think you will be getting reimbursement from the dealer unless lawyers are involved, but you may try talking to the dealership General Manager and explain to him politely with no drama your situation. The best potential for reimbursement is to haev the dealer that already performed work , repair it correctly.

I do understand you taking it somewhere else if you have lost your confidence in your dealers ability...

Repairs are still not going to be cheap and unless the individual that is going to repair the car is fluent with the FFS fuel system , you may still end up with some issues....

 

no o-rings, just a hose with hose clamps. The hose fits over a 3.5" plastic barb (molded into the gas tank).

Maybe you are referring to some other o-rings in the tank?

 

Mid '03 and later cars have FFS fuel systems which are different than the earlier design that your are describing. The earlier cars are a piece of cake in comparison.

The FFS fuel system has a metal cross-over tube with internal lines. It installs into the left adn right fuel tank with a rotating retainer. They use o-rings to seal the metal pipe to the tank..........

 

I am guilty of it, I was told wrong,
If you do not own a mid production 2003 You need to read this Info
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...el+Tank+System

 

Cool info! Thanks.

 

Yes, my late production '03 also has the '04 fuel system with the metal crossover tube.

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know the production date, but my 2003 car was originally titled in March 2003.

 

My '03 Z06 with a production date of 12/02 has the FFS.....I believe this was implemented in 11/02 production of 03 vehicles.

 

No, All repairs are being done by an independent. My independent mechanic tried to get the dealer to do the work intially under warranty since it has been documented that GM has issues with this. Since the dealer refused to do it under warranty, then my mechanic did the work. He has no problems with doing the work, but was trying to save me money by having warranty cover it.

 

Maybe I missed something, but if the car is under warranty then why is an independant mechanic doing the work?

 

I tried to get the work done by GM under warranty and they refused due to car being over 3 years old. This is what my battle is about. Date of manufacture is Jan 04.

 

I feel your pain!!!
I read your original post, here is something most people do not understand about GM at least this info
held true at the dealership I worked at. If it was a common problem and you where out of just
out of warranty than more than likely we would have used the "goodwill policy".
GM mainly offers assistance/ goodwill policy for the dealers
and not the independent shop. It all depends on the service
manager and the regional warranty representative. So just because
you think you are out of warranty by purchase date or mileage it would
not hurt to check with a dealership to see if they can "goodwill" it
before you go to an independent shop.
Most of the time they will and you maybe required a deductible.

 

What I dont understand,since the fuel tank is tested under emmission tests (evaporative) why would it not be covered under emmission waranty? Even small items such as your fuel cap are.