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I see that the car is still under Powertrain Warranty which should cover these repairs. Other warranty expired already.
What should I know or take with me before I go to the dealership to have them repair/replace the engine ?
I have records of all the oil changes.  Will they give me a rental ?

I don't know what to expect during this whole process, but ultimately I hope they car repair this without any out of pocket costs.
I am not going to complain if I don't get a rental car or if they take around 3 weeks to fix this.
But I just want to know what to expect.

 

I see about a half an inch layer of oil floating above the coolant inside of the coolant reservoir tank.

I read that this means that there is a leak in one of the head gaskets or a piston is damaged or going to be blown.

I checked the dip stick and the engine oil looks good.
I do not hear any loud knocking noise in the engine just a very faint clicking sound which may be normal.
I do notice loss of power in acceleration and sometimes it feels like it misses/slips a gear.
My MPG dropped from 45 to 36.
I have never driven the car longer than half an hour as I make short commutes, and I accelerate lightly.
So I do not see how the engine could have possibly overheated.
Temps here do reach high 90's for many months during the year.
Any advice or feedback would be highly appreciated.
 

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Drop it off at the dealer, if after diagnoatics they find out the repair will take more than a day  and it is covered under warranty you have the right to get a rental. I never had to be without a vehicle any time i took any of the three chevy vehicles i have owned to have repairs done under warranty they even drop me off and pick me up for a simple oil change so i dont have to wait.

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  • 1 month later...

Dealer told me that it was the radiator and that it is not covered in the powertrain warranty so quoted me for $860 plus tax and I had to pay $133 for the diagnostic fee which they will discount if I got the repairs done.
Performance is suffering, makes clicking noises only when I put the gear in and exiting my parking lot at very slow speed.
Also right after I left the dealership it has been jolting me and stalling then kicking me forward when I accelerate or getting up in the speed limit.

So the vehicle got worse after I had them see it.

To top it off they my tire was low on air and they didn't even top it off.


I asked him how sure where they that it was the radiator and they he told me 100%.
What do you guys think ?

My friend is a mechanic, can I just buy an aftermarket radiator and have him install it, flush all the fluids and refill ?
Or is it likely that this damaged something else in the vehicle like the transmission ?

I am not that picky, I just want to get my car working and reliable again.
If I have to spend the $1000 I will, but if I can do it for - $400 I'd be much happier.

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There is no way in the world for you to get oil in the coolant from a bad radiator as there is no oil running trough it.

It may have been the cause for an overheated engine which can cause gaskets to fail and let oil in the coolant  or coolant in the oil, but the radiator alone is probably not the issue.

Edited by Mr.tozzi
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Try taking the car to another GM dealer. It does not have to be a Chevy dealer. Buick or Cadillac dealer will be happy to repair under warranty unless they are very busy already. I agree with Mr Tozzi, that a bad radiator has no way to ingest any motor oil. Most likely it is the main gasket needs replaced which keeps coolant and oil separated. Worse situation would be a crack in engine block. 

 

From my experience with dealers, over 53 years of buying new cars, I have been quoted the WRONG repair diagnosis more than once. Not trying to denigrate mechanics, but they will never be rocket scientists. 

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1 hour ago, Bobby MSME said:

Not trying to denigrate mechanics, but they will never be rocket scientists. 

 

When you bring your car into a dealership, you are bringing it to a "technician" - not a mechanic.

A mechanic is someone that knows how to diagnose and repair a car, not just plug a computer in and replace whatever the computer says is wrong. 

Unless you are driving a rocket, why would you want a rocket scientist to look at your car? :lol:

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5 hours ago, Gossamer said:

 

Unless you are driving a rocket, why would you want a rocket scientist to look at your car? :lol:

 

A rocket scientist does not drive a rocket! She designs the rocket so that it is capable to reach intended destination.  :thumbsup:

Similarly a graduate Engineer does not drive a locomotive, she designs the locomotive. :2thumbs:

 

 

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On 8/24/2017 at 1:05 AM, Bobby MSME said:

 

A rocket scientist does not drive a rocket! She designs the rocket so that it is capable to reach intended destination.  :thumbsup:

Similarly a graduate Engineer does not drive a locomotive, she designs the locomotive. :2thumbs:

 

 

 

That was kinda the point. You aren't driving a rocket, so you don't need a rocket scientist to look at your car since they design rockets not cars! 

An engineer can design many things (electrical engineer, mechanical engineer...etc) or actually "drive" a train, since as far as I know, the train driver is still called an engineer.

"Casey Jones was an engineer...." ;)

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Well can it be transmission fluid in the reservoir tank?


The service advisor was very adamant about this being the cause.
After they returned me the car I asked him was he sure and he replied with "100% sure".

Although he predicted this before they even ran tests on it.
My friend which is also a service advisor at a different dealer predicted the same thing.
But he doesn't specialize in Chevy's

They took the car to the back and I don't even know if the mechanics took anything apart.
I'm sure they just hooked it up to the computer and did nothing else.
All in all I was there around 2 hours.
I'd like to take it to another dealer but I don't want to cough up another $135 diagnosis fee.

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Service advisors are not necessarily mechanics, they can be, but most of them are just a guy behind a desk creating and managing repair tickets.

I find really hard to believe their diagnostics. Ask them what is wrong with the radiator, if they diagnosed it they know why it failed. And I will leave it at that.

 

 

 

Edited by Mr.tozzi
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He said the radiator may have a crack and that the transmission fluid is leaking into it. He never tested the liquid. Looks and feels like oil to me.
He never said he saw any damage, but he did say that the diagnosis came back saying that the radiator needs to be replaced.
I had no check engine light on. And this car has never been in an accident.

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