cobill1972

Tuesday my Z while driving down the highway started making a noise out of the shifter so I decided to take the next exit. While exiting the rear tires locked up sliding her sideways until I came to a stop. The car would not move forward or reverse and thank god I was in rush hour and all the friendly people that couldn't figure out my hazards were on gestured me the bird among almost hitting me a few times. Come to find out one of the bolts to the coupler in the torque tube backed out and lodged in the torque tube binding up the driveshaft and damaging several components. Now that said a dealership just had the torque tube out not even 1000 miles ago and charged the gentleman I just purchased the vette from $1744.00 to remove the torque tube, remove the driveshaft and locktite all the bolts because of a vibration or noise that the original owner had.

I called the dealership since I am out of state and spoke to the service writer who didn't really give a crap and said he'd have the service manager call me. The service manager called and with in the first two minutes of the conversation he said, "well that car is modified and a high horsepower car and that's what you get when you buy a car like that" plus we have a history of a mile long of problems with that car so it's not suprising that this happened. I also explained to him that two out of the five bolts were missing that bolts the torque tube to the bellhousing and he told me that they are not liable for that either. This guy was an absolute tool and never expressed any concern what so ever. He basically told me to pound sand. I asked him if he wanted me to take it to a local dealership and he informed me it doesn't matter where I take it since they actually didn't replace any parts so there is no "service part warranty" and they don't warranty labor regardless of what happened. He said "do you think top fuel cars have warranty?" At that point I ended the conversation and later called back and spoke to the GM which he was actually concerned and said he'd look into it and asked for photos which I had along with video and documentation of everything. So I guess I'll wait and see if anyone calls back.

So now I'm looking at having to replace the entire assembly because of the damage it did. Thank god I wasn't going 80 through the mountains or my wife wasn't driving it.

Is this the normal experience everyone has with dealers? Any advise?

Thanks guys,
Bill

Wayne O

I'm sorry about your mechanical problem. I sympathize with how you feel but under the circumstances I wouldn't expect the dealership to accept liability or admit negligence....at least initially. It's frustrating but the response you got is pretty much what I'd expect to get. You did the right thing by elevating your 'claim' to a higher level. It may be difficult to prove negligence or faulty workmanship on their part but it's highly unusual for those bolts to have worked-loose especially so soon after the dealership reinstalled the torque tube. I'm also blown-away they would charge $1,700+ simply to do what they did. Be diligent and hopefully you'll prevail. It may just complicate the matter but there's a GM service rep who sometimes posts here on the forum. You might consider contacting him as well. Good luck and keep us posted.

AtomicZ_Eric

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate circumstances. Although, I'm glad you and your vette escaped unscathed. Unfortunately if you want anything from the dealership (that worked on the car) you will have to fight tooth and nail, likely threaten / follow through with litigation. Dealerships just don't admit guilt, give concessions, money back, etc. Plus it sounds like you'll need cooperation from the previous owner, which I bet you're unlikely to receive.

Keep in mind, when dealing with "techs" / service managers you're not exactly communicating with brain surgeons. Their job is to extract as much money as possible from you while keeping their costs as low as possible. I know there are reputable places out there, but for the most part this is true. Also, if they admit liability for this issue then they could open themselves up to be blamed for future problems / accidents, etc. I'm sure the service manager told you to screw off b/c he doesn't have the intelligence to do so tactfully or eloquently. That's why he's a low level manager at a dealership and not a lawyer. He's a "No" guy for the man upstairs.

I'd recommend finding a reputable mechanic well versed in Corvettes and pay to have everything fixed / looked over. Maybe insurance will help? Even if it is expensive it'll be cheaper than potentially wrecking and injuring family / other motorists. If you're not happy with the car, then maybe have it fixed as cheaply as possible and sell / trade it in.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Crowhater

for what it is worth I would not take the car back to them even if they said they would repair it for free. If they did a half **** job on it when they got paid just think what they will do when it is free!!! Take them to small claims court, they will pay up.

Bill Dearborn

Pulling the torque tube involves a fair amount of labor. The dealership's relationship was with the previous owner and it sort of sounds like there was some bad blood between them already. Service Manager was probably PO'd he was getting another call about the car and you happened to get the raw end of the **** storm even though you were just inquiring. Key thing out of the conversation was his comment about lots of issues with that car. May be something to check up on and see what else happened while you are getting the car fixed.

Bill

JCtx

Sorry to hear that OP. If I were you, I'd post what modifications the car has, so you can get advice on what else to check from the experts, to avoid another mishap like that. As somebody else already said, better hire somebody who knows what they're doing, and try to get reimbursed. Good luck man.

Gearhead Jim

If the car really does have mods to the engine or driveline, getting compensation from anyone will be an uphill struggle. Sorry.

Vetteman Jack

Sorry you're having the problem with the car. If it is heavily modded, you may have an uphill battle, but IMO that doesn't absolve the dealership from any shoddy workmanship that may have occurred. I would get things looked at by a good shop and then see what your legal options might be. No way I would let that dealership work on the car again.

cobill1972

Thanks for all the advise. Actually the previous owner had the engine build by LME, and installed by the dealer. The reason the engine rebuilt apparently is that the car was overheating for months, and they could not figure out why so they put on water pump, tstat, flushed cooing system, ect and still could not figure out why until finally it overheated enough to cause damage so yeah they were a little PO'ed apparently because they had to eat have the tear down so I guess I get the attitude.

However I understand that it's not a stock car, but in my mind a loose bolt is a loose bolt. If I have a tire rotation done and they leave the lug nuts loose and I loose a wheel it's not because it's a highly modified car and it lost a wheel because of the guy that didn't tighten the nut. Also the bolt I'm holding in my hand was obviously not locktited like the blue locktite I see on every other torque coupler bolt and this bolt is the only one that came loose every other one was tight. Either it wasn't tightened or the treads that hold the bolt were worn and didn't hold the torque (again only on one bolt ). However if this was the concern the first time I would have thought maybe they would have checked both the threads and possibly even used new bolts. According to the Service manager if they would have used new bolts then it could be a service part failure issue and GM would warranty it, but since they reused the same bolts then basically tough sh@t.


I was emailed by the GM though and they are going to have their in house corvette specialist look at the pictures and video I sent them and get back with me. Again there are a lot of high hp vettes out there that don't have their drive shaft coupler bolts back out in less than a thousand miles right?

Again just venting at the end of the day I know whos going to take it in the shorts. lol

The car's mods
LME 429 CI
WCCH stage two heads
Lethal cam
Fast intake 102mm
Nick Williams TB
Kooks, borla exhaust

AORoads

IMO, all the above comments seem correct, esp. the ones re if the car is modified and then the difficulty you might have getting anything from a dealer, or anyone else. I'd also like to see what's on this car that is non-stock.

For all we know, the former owner may very well have added lots of stuff from other places and then tried to get work done on his car "under warranty" which, of course, it may not have on some powertrain parts like the torque tube. And, he may have become somewhat abusive to all he came in contact with in the process.

I guess if you did your due diligence prior to purchase, which would have included checking the IVH, the proprietary GM computer system from a GM dealer, to see what's been done to the car and if it had some kind of warranty block on some parts of the car, this info might have come out before you got it.

It sounds very dangerous, what the car did while you drove it, and that doesn't explain or excuse the responses you got. But, it could be that the car and its prior owner were really not nice to deal with.

Tell us more about the car and what's on it.

Edit: I see your follow up post. I think all we can hope for in this case is that the dealership steps up to the plate for a bit of compensation. Maybe at least some of it was their fault.

Pinky...

Get GM involved and have them help you. The dealer is liable, regardless of modification due to the fact that the work was just performed 1k miles or less, and they knowingly torqued bolts on that component of the car.

FNQWK

Trust me Bill, it sucks to deal with this for sure as I took it in the a$$ for the $1500+ repair bill. This is my old zo6, and for you guys that frequent the c6z section know all about this car and my motor issues. After spending a ton on the new motor, this last fiasco with the dealership I had was enough for me. Dealing with the same vette technician for about 10yrs, I knew I would have to pay out of pocket, but atleast I THOUGHT the job would be done right. This was my first issue with drivetrain(except leaking axles) in my 4 yrs of ownership. It has had 100+rwhp over stock since i bought it. Would i expect it to stress the drivetrain somwhat? of course. I know the car is highly modded. Mods or not, I was not asking for anything but to fix the car and fix it right so I can get on with life. from what ive been told it is pretty tough to get those torqued bolts out let alone having just been locktighted and re-torqued less than 1k miles ago. All the speed shops have closed shop here in Vegas or are not capable of working on a car like this-you cannot own a car of this caliber without having a dedicated shop to work on it. I feel bad that Bill has to go thru this BS.

cdngolfer

Agreed

The manager stated that he knew the car was modded. They did the work and are liable.

Better get some failure analysis done on the bolts. Did they back out or fracture?

redrckt97

100% -- and unless the car was modded After the repair, they should still be responsible for their poor workmanship.

phileaglesfan

Because the car is modded GM or their dealerships is not responsible for OEM parts that break. They may have torqued the tube bolts to standard GM specs which many not be enough for your mods.

I cannot blame the service manager also since they were probably familiar with the car and here you, the new owner is basically accusing them that they screwed up.

I was in the dealership when someone called about a starting problem with their Chevy. The service manager was polite and tried to troubleshoot it on the phone with them somewhat but in the end they suggested that the owner get it towed to their shop so they can fix it. The owner hung up now that his free info was over. They said it happens all the time. They also said a frequent customer will also get more help.

IMO the dealer has a right to decline the claim and is not responsible for the loose bolts due to the extensive mods of the car. Obviously GM specs is not enough torque, but it isn't the dealer to decide if that is the case or not.