That's very different from "proactively ask many dealers, at regular intervals, to find out the general consensus on what new maintenance window or interval must be met to keep your ******* warranty", which is what we have now.

Again, class action lawsuit the minute they deny ANYone warranty because maintenance not specified in the owners manual was "missed".

 

Can you show me any case where the BBB has done anything other than notify the business and close the complaint?

 

Yes, it's a long story but my BBB arbitration resulted in my C7 being a buyback. This is a different process than a regular BBB complaint. There is a lot of paperwork and review involved that is submitted in a formal process and a telephone "hearing" is set up between you and GM.

 

It is a discussion that has resulted from the fact that information provided verbally by GM representatives, information that is found in tech link articles that are made available to dealers, and dealers use as guidance, and in the Service Procedure for the DCT filter change, all indicate that GM's intent was to have the filter changed the first time very close to 7,500 miles regardless of any earlier filter changes, and that information is not as clear as it could be in the Owner's Manual. Yes, GM has created this confusion - and I agree - see post 10. Forum members that are tired of reading about, or frustrated with the discussions, or disagree with information can avoid reading it. But new forum members join every day, and some of them may wish to be made aware of the issue. I'm glad it was brought up. Because of it, I am aware of the information that is provided to dealers - the information that dealers use (or should be be using) when they advise customers regarding service and when they perform said services.

The +/- 500 mile window was added only this year to the procedure (the date at the bottom of the page from the service manual says 2023). Prior to that we have verbal statements from GM reps at public forums that if changed early (3000 miles) it needed to be changed again at 7500, but with no statement of the grace period on either side. It then appeared in tech-link article, again without the grace period. Some suggested it was a mistake, or member were reading too much into it -etc. The addition of this information in the procedure seems to indicate that GM is doubling down on the requirement to be done very close to 7500 miles. And the additional note in the new procedure about changing the filter first, if past the service interval, before doing the hydrualic system flush, suggest that GM thinks those filter are really, really close to full when changed at the specified intervals. Again, I am glad this info was posted and discussed here.

No one has reported a warranty denial related to this issue being discussed. But it still might be relevant to the health of the transmission. I think it is.

 

Perhaps you misunderstood my post in part. The information is great.

What I object to is the implied (and apparently real) possibility that I'd have a warranty denial on the DCT because I maintained the DCT thoroughly and more frequently than specified in my owners manual that was supplied with my car upon purchase, but didn't complete one between 7000-8000. There's been no formal notification from GM to owners.

👉 Ostensibly, from the information presented thus far in the discussion, I could pay a dealer to do impeccable DCT maintenance at 3000, 6000, 9000, and get a warranty denial at 10,000 "because you didn't do it between 7000 and 8000". Without formal notice from GM to owners, that would be ridiculous, and therein lies the "bullshit".

Until or if there are warranty denials for the scenario above, I hope this all becomes moot, and they do the right thing. That even dealers are a little confused by this, says everything.

 

 

I changed my DCT filter/flush and oil change at 3300 miles on my 2020 since the freebee time limit was 1 year at that time. At 7700 miles and at the 3 year mark I had my dealer do a DCT hydraulic flush, filter change, DCT fluid replacement and engine oil/filter change too. Even though my car will never make the mileage in the next 3 years for another DCT filter replacement I still will have the DCT flush and filter change done again at the next 3 year mark along with the fluid change. I'll also have them do a engine oil/filter replacement since the car's in the air anyway. It just goes against the grain with me on leaving an old DCT filter in there with brand new fluid. That's just me being old school though. In addition and every year I'll do an engine oil/filter change myself, except at the next 3 year mark.

FWIW, my dealer did the DCT flush/filter, fluid replacement and engine oil/filter for $880 total, parts and labor. That was with me providing all GM parts/fluids and they did the labor.

 

Good for you! If you read what I posted in post #35 you’ll see why I’m not taking a chance. It may cost me more but in reality GM would most likely win any arbitration with what is printed in my owners manual.

 

Sweet and Simple.

Follow your manual in regard to maintenance! Don't try to be an expert and change the maintenance schedule because u think u know more or because of some post on Facebook or the Corvette Forum.

if u change earlier ir more open fluids/filters it's your decision but still follow the manual in regard to maintenance

 

I disagree. There is nothing in the C8 owner's manual that states it needs to be interpreted differently than the owner's manuals of other cars. It is accepted practice to be able to perform maintenance early and not have to repeat the maintenance at the specified intervals as long as the time between intervals has not been exceeded. I have not heard of a warranty denial from any manufacturer because maintenance was performed early ant not repeated at the specified intervals. If someone has an example I'd like to see it.

 

So, your position is that, once the first 7500 mile DCT filter change has been performed, people that change their DCT filter every 3 years along with the DCT fluid but don't hit the 22,500 mile and subsequent DCT filter change intervals within +/-500 miles aren't following the manual and are risking warranty denial?

 

I agree its not clear, and no "window" or "grace period" is provided, but it does say "at 7,500 miles" and then "every...". I looked to see if I could find another example of that - and I did in the 2017 Corvette manual for the dry sump engine. It says change the oil at 500 miles and the follow the OLM after that. So, how should that be interpreted? If one changed the oil at 100 miles instead of 500 miles is that ok? I honestly don't know. Was this because of contaminants that seep from the gasket materials? Or, was it special break-in oil? If its just contaminants seeping from the gasket material, then it needs to be changed again at 500. If it was special break in oil, then it would be a bad idea to change early at all. My point though is that there is precedence for certain maintenance items being "at" a particular mileage to be distinguished from those that can be "every" or "at least every".

 

My wife's Avalon manual says to perform engine oil changes "at" the specified maintenance intervals. So if GM expects the word "at" to be interpreted differently than other manuals they need to put that in the manual.

The main difference with the use of "at" in the example above is that is still within the engine break-in period. If "at" is used within the break-in period then it triggers me to know that is a special break-in requirement. There isn't anything in the 2020-2022 manual that indicates the DCT break-in isn't complete after 1500 miles.

 

for what it is worth u may be shooting a dead horse. Your qualifications may be excellent but GM is the score keeper. Why spend this much time discussing an issue that has not occurred. You can chase your dream of maintenance while others can chase theirs.

if u believe in Risk Mitigation you follow the GM maintenance schedule or convince them they are wrong

 

That is sort of my point. As far as I know there has never been a warranty denial because someone performed maintenance early and didn't repeat it as the specified interval. So it is highly unlikely to happen if the specific requirements weren't provided to the owner. It takes more than one person in a discussion. I'm just trying to provide the other side when people chime in and say that you are risking your warranty if the manual isn't clear and/or you follow your dealer's instructions.

 

But in your case, its not entirely hypothetical, part of it already did happen. You can tell it better than I can, but I believe you changed yours early (4or 4.5K) because the free service expired at 1 year at that time. And your dealer I believe told you that it was ok at 4,500 - I'm not sure how far he told you you could go for the next one. But this was before all the info came out - the verbal statements, etc. So, you were doing exactly what the dealer said, and had not info to the contrary, at the time.

But I do agree - there is no evidence yet of anyone that has been denied a claim because of a failure to change the DCT filters within that window. The "warranty claim" concern, of course, is not the only issue. There is real indication (now anyway) that specified interval is about protecting the transmission. I with you that technically, if you changed at 6K you should be able to go 7,500 more miles at least (and more actually).

 

Yes, I changed my DCT filter at 4600 miles and I have written confirmation from GM (twice) that I don't need to change it again until the next service interval is up. And I had it confirmed again after the verbal statements about changing it early came out. But I only knew to do the first confirmation because of the increasing DCT filter change intervals in the maintenance schedule (I asked before I even had my car). Most owners wouldn't delve into the schedule as much as I did. And I got the second confirmation after I actually had the filter changed and had a hard mileage. But anyone that doesn't monitor these forums wouldn't know to do that.

After his discussion I decided to ask GM a fourth time and forwarded them a copy of the page in the service manual that has the 7500 +/- mile requirement. I'll report back on if they quadruple down on their earlier answers or if they change their tune.

 

FROM THE SERVICE MANUAL FOR CORVETTE:

Automatic Transmission Fluid Filter Replacement - External Canister FilterNote:

• If the canister filter is replaced more than 500 miles prior to the 7500 mile break in period, the filter still needs to be replaced again within 500 miles +/- the 7500 mile service interval in the owners manual.

• The transmission maintenance schedule needs to be restarted when the transmission assembly is replaced. The new unit will require the same initial break-in maintenance.

FROM GM TECHLINK: Dual Clutch Transmission Canister Filter and Maintenance Schedule – TechLink (gm-techlink.com)


EDIT. In case anyone doesn't believe:

 

I'm not disputing the requirement in the service manual which was added later. I'm disputing that an average owner would know about the requirement since it isn't in the owner's manual, which is the correct place for the requirement.

 

The warranty also says that failure to follow the maintenance requirements won't automatically result in denial of a claim.

The problem is that for every other maintenance item if you do it early, there's no issue with it. If the DCT issue is different, then GM should make it CLEAR that it is different. And they have completely failed to do that.

That's not the issue under discussion. The issue is that people who don't hang out on Corvette forums have no idea they're supposed to change the filter a second time if they did it "early" the first time. And many people who do hang out on forums didn't learn about this new requirement until long after they passed 7500 miles. My initial "free" DCT filter change was done at about 6500 miles. My car had at least 15K - 16K miles on it before GM changed the service manual to say I should have changed it again by 8000 miles. Neither GM nor my dealer has told me I should bring it back in before 22.5K. How can they hold me to that requirement when it didn't even exist when I hit 8000 miles?

Again, missing the point. Where does the GM maintenance schedule say changing it at 6900 miles is not acceptable, but changing it at 7100 miles is OK?

Yes, we all know that. How many owners have access to the service manual? The point is that the +/- 500 mile requirement isn't documented in the owners manual, and has never been communicated to OWNERS as opposed to service departments.