C8Jake

CEL musta popped up @ some point

NuckinFutz74

Yes it did, my work schedule was been hectic and I couldn't align my dates with the shop that was going to tune it, it was in the works.

mschuyler

I agree with the first sentence. And MAYBE Magnuson-Moss will help you here, but the second sentence is promoting fraud and is dishonest. There are any number of ways to get caught with this, and if that happens, an owner might be out more than the cost of an engine. If you are up front and honest about what happened (and OP has been), there appears to be some wiggle room in the law. I hope so.

yonks8365

A little different situation, but i had heads/cam and everything else done to my stingray besides s/c and gm still paid to put a new trans in my car. So op there is hope. It all depends on dealership and what the actual failure was. In my experience gm has proven to be very fair.

z06vettewannabe

I'm gonna stay away from what some in this thread are doing, which is espousing their opinion on mods. You asked what you think you should do, so I'll give you my opinion, which as you know are like *******s.

1. Wait to see what GM says. Since you didn't tune the car you might be in luck and they'll replace the motor. I say that not knowing what the dealer sent to them besides the ECM data. If they sent additional information about your mods then they still might not cover the engine, but until you know for sure what GM's position is then everything else is just a guess.

2. While you are waiting to find out about GMs position, I would contact the shop and let them know what happened. It sounds like long tube headers require a tune and if that didn't happen then they might be liable. Not knowing anything about the shop, my assumption would be that they don't want to pay you $12k for a new motor so they'll probably fight this, but again, I have no idea.

3. After you find out from GM what their position is, and if they won't cover it and the shop is giving you the middle finger then really your next option is to contact a lawyer who is smart on the Moss act to see if you have a case to get GM to pay for the motor or separately a case against the shop for blowing up your car. You're going to have to do a cost/benefit analysis to see if this is worth fighting. I have no idea how successful folks have been with this?

The situation sucks and I wish you the best of luck!

Please keep us updated on what GM says.

z06vettewannabe

Just reread all of the posts......it sounds like you are already doing #3, contacting a lawyer, so you're ahead of the game. Again, best of luck.

NuckinFutz74

Thanks for sharing your experience and outcome. Did you do or say anything, specific?

NuckinFutz74

Thank you for your reasonable thinking and opinion. Guys like you, definitely help make ideas more reasonable and visionable.

Newton06

The scare tactics employed by Corvette owners is disgraceful.

"My God; if your put Expel on your car, you void your warranty."

Ridiculous.

Provided the failure wasn't caused by your gross negligence, you should be fine.

It also helps to have a solid relationship with your dealer.

If GM balks, find a good automotive lawyer.

And to those that say 'GM has lawyers by the 100's'; I took on Honda, after my motor failed and the dealership pointed the blame at me, and for a scant $2,000 in attorney fees, I got a new car.

Snorman

So you modded the car, drove it around with a Check Engine Light, broke the engine and are puzzled that GM won't warranty it? Seriously?
And for those of you espousing the opinion that MMA can be invoked...you do realize that the intent of MMA was to prohibit manufacturers from declining warranty coverage if aftermarket or recycled parts were used for warranty or routine maintenance purposes, right? Do you really think a CAI and exhaust that add substantial horsepower and significantly change the configuration of the vehicle as it was delivered from the OEM should be exempt? These aren't tow hooks, "Expel" and billet or CF doo-dads.
S.

Bill Dearborn

You increased the power of the engine beyond GM's design limits. How do you know the existing tune didn't cause a piston to be burned due to the headers changing the exhaust flow and the resulting failed piston came apart resulting in the rod going through the block.

Maybe it was something stock that broke that caused the rod to go through the block but you can't prove any of that because you modified the engine and potentially stressed stock components.

You say you don't drag race or DOG the car whatever that means so why did you do something to increase the power of the car if you were never going to do anything to use the increased power? As for driving it easy how many times did you show people how the car performed with the mods added to it? How many times did you rev it up in 1st or 2nd gear? People don't usually spend money for something just to say they did it.

You are SOL. You could have left it stock and beat the hell out of the car and when it failed they would have replaced the engine.

Bill

Bill Dearborn

So somebody admits that auto companies besides GM have engines fail and deny warranty coverage.

Bill

J3TVETTE

I don't understand this either. LT headers require a tune, the engine was out of calibration. You took a risk, you were not lucky. You had enough time to put 700 miles on the car but not tune it, am I missing something?

Bill17601

I have empathy for you. Personally I never understood the need to modify a factory engine.
You will be lucky if they extend a warranty fix. I am sure you know you never hammered the engine but the modifications speak differently.

Chip E.

Actually, the OP states that he made the mods at 5500 miles, had the install checked after 700 miles, and the failure occurred at 8000 miles. So it was driven around 2500 miles with the CEL.

First of all, I feel your need to "mod" your car. That's what car guys/gals do. Second, I wish you the best of luck with the warranty issue. However, I personally feel that you were negligent in driving over 2K miles without taking the time to have the car tuned properly. The mods may or may not have been the cause of the failure, but I feel that both you and the shop that did the work have a responsibility to make sure the CEL codes were checked and there weren't any codes that would contribute to a failure.

There are some members on this forum that haven't driven their stock, non-modified cars 2500 miles over the same time period you've driven 8000. Perhaps not all, but the majority of those drivers would head straight to the dealer if their car had a CEL, to find out what's going on.

Again, I feel you have the right to modify your car, and I hope some angel at GM decides to help you. But, in the future, and this goes for anyone that gets a CEL, it's negligent per se to continue driving the car for extended periods of time without having the OBD codes analyzed and cleared. Most law decisions come down to "The Reasonable Person Test". How would a reasonable person, given the same information in the same situation, have acted? Both you and the shop should have at least addressed the CEL. Whereas you think it's in your favor, I see it as a liability. The OBD is there for more than just to make sure your O2 sensors are working and your gas cap sealing (yeah, I know we don't actually have caps on the C7, but you get the point).

My apology for the long response, it's a busy weekend and I didn't have time to write a shorter one.

Millerrock

Ur the a$$, and you can buy them both at pepboys!!

PapaLeo67

Sorry this happened to you... Good Luck!

Newton06

You clearly have no clue what you are talking about.

Stick to your coffee & cars events.

Newton06

The CEL could have been from anything such as a cat inefficiency code.

Get a grip.

Go Zaino your car & make sure it isn't being rained on.

vettman96

I hope that the General will work with you, irrespective of the work you did on the motor.
Good Luck.