I had to swing into my dealer yesterday to make an appointment, a list of items were in need of some attention.
**Heater Blower**
This nuisance has been bothering me for quite some time, that annoying squeak that happens from time to time when using the fan. Sometimes there, sometimes not. Time for a new one!!
**Water Pump**
Over the last few months I've been noticing all the signs that I'm plagued by the issues others have faced and GM even sent a letter about; disappearing coolant, lack of heat, etc. New one please!!
**Head Gasket**
For quite some time I've had to clean up around the head gasket, mainly in the front by the bolt closest to the oil cap. Don't know why, can only assume it's the gasket, so I'll take another of those too please!!
**Ball Joint(s)?**
Just yesterday I noticed a ticking sound coming from my front end, like a kids bike tire with a playing card in the spokes. So while I'm guessing it is a bad ball joint, it could be something else I suppose. Either way, new whatever it is please!!
Just to follow up from my latest dealer visit, it ended up being pretty informative and an overall good visit.
First things first, upon dropping off my very cool Sonic, I was given a thoroughly Unimpressive model from Chevy's crossover TURD-UV line of vehicles, the Chevy Equinox......ish-gross-ick-blah, I feel slightly dirty just from typing it.
(......small break for fighting off the gag reflex and a half bottle of Listerine...)
OK, I'm back.....I'll just simply say, if you wake up one day to find yourself in the drivers seat of an Equinox, I pray for you that somewhere on the outside of the vehicle are the words "Courtesy Car" and you're not permanently in the realm of vehicular mediocrity. If not, well....there are always pharmaceuticals I suppose.....
Here is how things went down.
HEATER BLOWER - This was replaced according to plan, so that's awesome as there is no more annoying squeak. This item however did highlight how important it is to work with only ONE service rep and only ONE mechanic for all the work you need done. Reason being, when the car was ready to be picked up, my service rep happened to have the day off so some other guy called and asked me for my extended warranty info so they could bill this job under that. I said.....ummmm, NO. I mentioned to him that this repair had been needed for quite some time, before the end of the 36K warranty, but as it turned out every time I had the car in to be worked on other matters ended up taking priority and it just never ended up getting done as I never wanted to bring it in JUST for that. Getting back to my point, after this "other guy" got done reviewing my file and telling me that nowhere could he find where the blower motor was brought in to be done previously or even discussed for that matter, I told him that he was just going to have to give my normal rep a call on his cell phone and ask him. The silence on the phone was deafening....then I said as nicely as I could that we all have jobs and responsibilities, and being that it's 2015 and everyone has a cell phone nowadays, there's REALLY no such thing anymore as being "off the clock". At least not if you have a job reliant upon customers, and even less if you actually wish to be successful at that job.....(You would've thought I just raped his dog)....he'd have to call me back. When he did, turns out they got it covered under the factory warranty - NO CHARGE.
WATER PUMP - Surprisingly, didn't need replacing. According to my tech, the coolant loss was due to an "inadequate" hose clamp that wasn't working well enough so coolant was able to mist/bubble out during times of extreme use. I have mixed emotions on this, but I really do respect the only tech at the dealer that is allowed to work on my Sonic AND it allowed me to keep the "coupon" that I got from GM in the mail about their willingness to pay for a faulty one in the future. Bottom line, NO CHARGE.
HEAD GASKET - this is kind of a mixed bag. When the write up was done the mechanic only new to look for an oil leak, no direction was given, so my mechanic actually found that the oil pan gasket was leaking so he changed that out. Also changed out the drain plug that had been wrecked/stripped by previous oil changes and made sure to note on the work order that the oil plug was an o-ring variety that only needed to be lightly turned until tight. So, I took the invoice to the dealer that does my oil changes(different than this dealer, the dealer I bought my car from changes my oil for free but they aren't a Chevy dealer so I don't go there for work), showed them the receipt and made them reimburse me for the $25 oil plug. Bottom line, NO CHARGE.
BALL JOINT(S) - This is the only thing that concerned me after picking up the car, the issue that I was feeling in the handling was not a ball joint whatsoever, it was due to the nut on the strut bolt had loosened after time so the guy just fixed it up tight. This concerned me because if it was loose it could've only been from when I did the Eibach springs, but considering I know damn well that my DeWalt hammerdrill put that nut back on good and tight I'm at a loss for how that happened. I'm just going to chalk it up as a learning opportunity to remember to just go back every once in a while and check up on previous modifications and just double check that everything is in order. - $100 tech time. Could've been worse.
One other good/bad thing happened this visit that I hadn't planned on. I had my official hand slapping for removing my catalytic converter in favor of my catless downpipe and got the warning about federal laws and blah blah blah. More importantly, I had the talk with my mechanic about future visits and if he at anytime felt that any of my modifications could/would impact his ability to fix the car under warranty and/or risk him getting into trouble by not notifying people of importance of the impeding mod that he is to STOP whatever it is that he's doing, call me, I'll come and get the Sonic, and as if by magic he'll have the car back in a couple hours with the problematic dilemma no longer being in the equation. Thankfully, that talk went about as good as it could've gone I think.
Then, having got my car back the Friday before last, I decided it would be a great opportunity to clean and recharge my K&N air filter over the weekend. The clean air along with the new sparks I put in a couple weeks ago, and WOW that Sonic is driving like it's always shot out of a cannon and I am LOVING IT!!!
Now, this weekend, it's time to do some shopping at DDMWorks site and decide what I'm going to buy with the Valentine's Day promotion of 14% off all purchases!! (coupon code: PUPPYLOVE)
Also, any chance to a link for it on Amazon?
