very well said...they need to start putting better parts on when it comes to this stuff

like the intake problem they're just putting the original gaskets back in again so the problem is gonna happen again in 40k or something close to that...why not spend the extra $$ and put good stuff on...and make your customers happy and have them keep coming back

do it right the first time!

 

 

LOL...you are quite the comedian Space. Yes, they buffed out all those yellow and orange "rail thingie" bumps that you were talking about.

As for shiney, I used one of those 'micro' fiber towels I bought at AutoZone. Brings out the clear coat very well doesn't it?

 

Sorry I didn't follow up with this till now as I've been a bit busy.

I can see where you can blame the dealership for alot of those things... I didn't read it close enough the first time, the cockeyed steering wheel for instance would be a dealership thing. The actual causes for these problems should go back to the manufacturer in the end. If the manufacturer told the dealership what the specs are,the equipement was in specs, then the actual specifications aren't correct.

EG: If a bolt is supposed to be torqued to 125ftlbs +/- 20 lbs( 105 - 145)but the bolts snap at 115 ft lbs it isn't the repairers fault for that. It is the manufacturers responsiblity to know that the bolts they use snap around this pressure. They shouldn't throw the specs at the dealer say "well don't goto 115, 110 is in spec.

Hell, when I owned my 96 Saturn, there was a known problem with cracked heads that caused oil consumption problems. I saw smoke coming out of the tail pipe - in fact to the extent where you couldn't see the buildings behind you or even see out the rear window - and it consumed 3 quarts of oil every 1000 miles. According to GM though it was inside there specifications. WTF!!!6 quarts of oil needs to be added between oil changes and thats normal?!?!

 

Acutally, let me ellaborate this futher. Dealerships are tied to a certain amount they can repair under warrantee. I'm not sure if they get a kick back bonus or something, but they have a finantial responsibility to investigate and repair the problem, not just swap parts until they fix it. GM probably dictates they swap out bulbs on their own (professionally) first before swapping the headlight unit assembly to make sure it is done right. I'm not saying your doing it wrong, but if you've ever worked customer service you know there are way too many "informed" people out there.

Heck when I did PC repair I had a customer that became violent because A. I wouldn't swap out a floppy drive for freefor him that he replaced on his owntwice, and B. I wouldn't swap out the motherboard that he was certain was the problem. His evidance was that there couldn't be anything wrong with 2 floppy drives in a row (that's it's own discussion) and the power supply must be good since everything was getting power. His flaw in the logic was that he wasn't smart enough to connect the power cable to the floppy drive correctly... he kept plugging it in upside down. If you ever work on these, they are idiot proof unless you happen to be an improved idiot. If you put the connector upside down and wiggle it on, the connector mount will actually bend up a bit so it fits. Unfortuneatly it shorts out the drive.

Points being, they A. want to make sure the bulb is being replaced properly with the correct bulb, B. they want to follow their proceedures from GM to document the issues properly to find recall problems, C. they want to save as much money as possible. If they didn't, the dealership would just swap out things like your whole transmission to try to solve the traction control problem. It might fix the issue, but it really doesn't take care of the overall problem in the end of knowing what broke it so it doesn't occur in the future.

 

Oh and if I would have had a foggy head light unit and the other was fine, common sense would say swap out the whole unit as well. I completely agree with you there, but if GM refuses to reimburse me for swapping that out when I just didn't swap out a bulb, tough rocks you're only getting a bulb.

 

This all goes back to what I originally said, but I do need to elaborate on it. You said "do it right the first time" did the dealer put the gasket on originally, nope the would be GM. "They need to start putting better parts on when it comes to this stuff," does the dealership have a Research and Development department? Nope that would be GM once again making sure that inadequate parts get upgraded. "Why not spend the extra $$ and put the good stuff on?" Well, if you're the dealership and GM won't reimburse you for parts and labor since you didn't use their approved materials, are you going to be able to eat up the costs? Hell no, you are going to do the GM approved repairs, and send GM the bill so they give you your money back.

I don't want to come offbeing argumentative here, but there is a whole business aspect that comes into play here and the consumer has to eat it up in fustration. GM makes the equipment and tells the dealership what they can and cannot do. If they do something they aren't supposed to, or don't follow a proceedure properly, they don't get reimbursed from GM. Would you be willing to swap some major parts out and invest alot of time only to find out your not getting paid? EG with the intake gasket, if you have the options of Brand A gasket that is known to possibly go bad, but not on all occations, or Brand B which works 100% of the time you would naturally use Brand B. But what would happen if you just put 8 hours into swapping the gasket and you manager says you are not going to get paid for your work today plus you owe your boss money because you needed to purchase an unauthorized gasket what are you going to do? You take the risk and use the faulty gasket hoping it will be fine.

It's not fair, but thats the way it works. It also makes good business sence as GM will either stop using Brand A due to documented proof, or they will force Brand A to improve their quality. There are also probably exclusive contracts as well involved here that says they can't use other brands as well.

 

Oh yeah, I've put alot into this and don't want to seem arguementative, flaming, challenging, a jerk, whatever. I'm more of a scientist in life and by nature question alot of things and appear that way.

In this case, alot of the work is fixed and working fine. But, (there always in one in science) what happens if the head light goes out again. Is it the dealers fault,what if they replace the unit 3 or 4 times and its still goes bad but all the electrical readings for power and resistance are perfect, then what - dealers fault? What happens if it is an intermittant problem in the wiring harness or a power issue from the sensor for the Automatic Headlight System (turns the headlights on when its dark outside). Is it the dealers fault for that. This is a big no in all cases. It all goes to the quality control or the manufacturer of parts.

The steering wheel being off center is the dealerships fault as that was just laziness though.

Like I said I don't want to start a flame war here or be a jerk or anything.... I guess Ijust to promote a deeper level of critical thinking in the end.

 

But when the gasket fails and it is outside of the warrantly by 5-10,000 miles and it is documented all over the internet that GM used faulty gaskets and people get pissed off replacing it every 40,000 miles then they will go buy a Toyota and GM will lose customers and money in the end.

Pay Now or Pay later...

 

Yeah, if it's outside the warranty, then there is no reason to use a known faulty product.