[federal]

As the title infers, I’m having an issue with spun bearings and a cracked crankshaft in my 2018 Camaro SS with only 37k miles. The car does have a supercharger on it, but it’s only pushing just under 500hp at Colorado altitude.

The dealer is wanting to say that the supercharger caused the issue, and as such needs a brand new engine - not covered under warranty with the supercharger installed. The only issue is, myself, my mechanic that has the vehicle right now, and all the Chevy techs all say there’s very, very little chance that spun bearings could have caused this crack in the crankshaft. The mechanic is betting that it was a factory defect and that over time it expanded, thus causing the bearings to be destroyed. Everyone except the dealership, who has basically refused to look at it or be willing to submit a warranty claim themselves, believes that before the crankshaft were to crack, I would have bent rods and a plethora of other things before this giant, hunk of metal, would crack in such a clean and parallel way. The service manager for whatever reason is afraid of submitting any claim or basically assisting me in anyway, due to unknown reasons (and he’s also mad I called out the service department for not identifying a very clear knocking noise during their inspection, as well as scratching my bumper very badly).

The story of how it happened was I was sitting at an intersection whilst on lunch break, and the car died on me, puffed a little smoke, then went into limp mode (later found out decreased power due to 7&8 cylinders having less compression due to the knock and bearings). Dealership takes it in, says it’s a boost leak, I fox supposed “boost leak”. Drive it home, notice the clicking/knocking noise from the bottom end, drive it back, and they basically deny me service and don’t contact me back for a few weeks - and they also scratched my bumper very badly whilst in service with them.

Before that, there were zero issues - no over heating, no knocking, no blown head gaskets, etc. Everything in the engine, according to my mechanics are good. There’s no scaring anywhere. No signs of impact on the pistons from the cylinders , lifter roller bearings good, lifter springs good, guides good, basically everything is good except the cracked crankshaft and the destroyed bearings - even the rod connected to everything is perfectly fine, no bends or cracks. All other portions of the crankshaft is perfectly fine, it’s just the one little part with the crack, seen in the photo. All regular, and even then some, maintenance and oil changes were always done.

The vehicle was driven exactly 18 miles between the start of the issue and between it being towed to a different mechanic. During that time, it was not in boost and was driven very very gently, as I knew there was an issue with it. Everyone so far says there’s no way that the supercharger could have caused the issues, and that it was a pre-existing defect that caused issues.

The dealer is basically throwing me to the wind, saying I need to contact GM myself and have them figure it out and tell the dealership what to do. So far, that has proven useless as the phone support is very lacking in the 5-6 times I’ve called.

Are there any higher up personnel here that I’d be able to contact with my problem/get input from? This one seriously has myself and my mechanics stumped, as everyone agrees this is very very uncommon and shouldn’t have happened and I really am not enjoying getting the runaround from the dealership, as fun as circles are.

Any advice or help is very much appreciated. Thanks all!

[kropscamaro16]

warranty? there is no warranty with a aftermarket supercharger or tune man goodluck

[federal]

Originally Posted by kropscamaro16

warranty? there is no warranty with a aftermarket supercharger or tune man goodluck

As far as I’ve been told, GM/the dealership has to have burden of proof that the aftermarket equipment caused the problem. In this case, it seems pretty cut and dry unless we’re all missing something, that the supercharger couldn’t have caused it

[kropscamaro16]

yea ive never dealt with that stuff before but ive always been told once you do a cam or supercharged or tune and you blow up something like that its on you

[federal]

Originally Posted by kropscamaro16

yea ive never dealt with that stuff before but ive always been told once you do a cam or supercharged or tune and you blow up something like that its on you

I’ve been told that’s what some dealerships want you to think, but a service manager at a different Chevrolet dealership says the burden of proof thing is true, and that aftermarket upgrades don’t automatically void warranties, as much as other dealerships may try to say it does. Fingers crossed

[SixgenSix]

You want to play you gotta pay IMO. Go to back to the shop/tuner that installed the supercharger? I wouldn't touch it either if I was the dealer. Sorry.

[arpad_m]

I think you're SOL in this one. It isn't an aftermarket exhaust or torque converter you added, you modified the engine directly by adding forced induction, to an LT1 that wasn't officially designed for it (even though everyone says chances are it won't be a problem at low boost levels).

The dealership understandably doesn't want to risk a rejection and the potential reputation loss with GM.

As you see from my sig, I've done the same, we rolled the dice by not getting a ZL1, and if it's an unlucky one, we implicitly agreed to take the loss. Just my 2 cents'.

[federal]

Originally Posted by SixgenSix

You want to play you gotta pay IMO. Go to back to the shop/tuner that installed the supercharger? I wouldn't touch it either if I was the dealer. Sorry.

Sorry, but that’s not a good mantra for a problem which is very, very likely to be a factory defect according to essentially everyone besides those that would have to “pay” for it. Normally I would very much agree, which is why, while unhappy, I paid for the blown front crank seal when I blew it due to not enough crank case ventilation.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but a crankshaft won’t crack due to bearings, let alone before a rod would break or bend. We’re talking about a solid, big ass chunk of metal cracking, all while literally every casted, weak parts connected, are perfectly fine

[federal]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I think you're SOL in this one. It isn't an aftermarket exhaust or torque converter you added, you modified the engine directly by adding forced induction, to an LT1 that wasn't officially designed for it (even though everyone says chances are it won't be a problem at low boost levels).

The dealership understandably doesn't want to risk a rejection and the potential reputation loss with GM.

As you see from my sig, I've done the same, we rolled the dice by not getting a ZL1, and if it's an unlucky one, we implicitly agreed to take the loss. Just my 2 cents'.

So far it’s just one dealership that doesn’t want to play ball, one other dealership is at least trying and putting in a request. You cracked a crankshaft as well? I get the whole mantra of yeah it’s a supercharged car, but when you have multiple GM techs, independent mechanics, and input from other mechanics from different shops that it’s almost impossible for this crack to have come from anything other than a factory defect, it’s decent grounds for a warranty claim.

Had it been literally anything else, such as the rod coming loose and smacking into the crankshaft somehow, I’d have no arguments and would accept it. But when it’s a situation of literally everything else is in perfect condition with no issues (all rods, pistons, rings, etc) besides the two bearings where the crack is, it’s pretty compelling in our opinion

[Mark114]

My experience has been that all significant warranty work on my Camaro had to be approved by GM before the dealership would proceed with the repair. GM will not reimbursed a dealership for unauthorized repairs.
If GM denies a warranty claim then you have options to escalate with GM. If GM denies the warranty claim after the escalation and appeal process then you’ll have to decide if you’re going to pay for the repair or pay for a lawyer. Maybe your next move is to discuss this with a lawyer that specializes in lemon laws and warranty claims. They should be able to give you a more informed opinion of your options based on the applicable laws in your state.

[MrChrisLS3]

Originally Posted by Mark114

My experience has been that all significant warranty work on my Camaro had to be approved by GM before the dealership would proceed with the repair. GM will not reimbursed a dealership for unauthorized repairs.
If GM denies a warranty claim then you have options to escalate with GM. If GM denies the warranty claim after the escalation and appeal process then you’ll have to decide if you’re going to pay for the repair or pay for a lawyer. Maybe your next move is to discuss this with a lawyer that specializes in lemon laws and warranty claims. They should be able to give you a more informed opinion of your options based on the applicable laws in your state.

This is exactly correct.

The idea that a manufacturer must prove that an aftermarket part caused a failure comes from the Magnussen Moss Act involving warranties. In that legislation, it states that a company cannot force you to buy a specific brand of replacement part by voiding the warranty, so long as that part meets factory specifications. In other words, they can't void your warranty for not using AC Delco spark plugs or air/oil filters etc.

However, when you put a supercharger on an engine, and then tuning the ECM, that engine is no longer factory spec, thus no longer the engine that came from the factory, thus no longer covered by the factory warranty.

Even if the crankshaft was faulty, at this point there is no way to actually prove that. There is a very solid argument that had there been no supercharger, that the crankshaft may not have failed. You will lose that case every single time.

I'm sorry man, but the moment you bolted that supercharger on the engine, your powertrain warranty evaporated.

[federal]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

This is exactly correct.

The idea that a manufacturer must prove that an aftermarket part caused a failure comes from the Magnussen Moss Act involving warranties. In that legislation, it states that a company cannot force you to buy a specific brand of replacement part by voiding the warranty, so long as that part meets factory specifications. In other words, they can't void your warranty for not using AC Delco spark plugs or air/oil filters etc.

However, when you put a supercharger on an engine, and then tuning the ECM, that engine is no longer factory spec, thus no longer the engine that came from the factory, thus no longer covered by the factory warranty.

Even if the crankshaft was faulty, at this point there is no way to actually prove that. There is a very solid argument that had there been no supercharger, that the crankshaft may not have failed. You will lose that case every single time.

I'm sorry man, but the moment you bolted that supercharger on the engine, your powertrain warranty evaporated.

Thank you both for actual insightful replies. While all good points, I’m really hoping big GM and an appraiser from them will be able to see there’s literally no other damage to the engine or components, besides the aforementioned items- which I’m hoping is enough to have enough cause for a warranty claim. Replacing the whole engine is just what the dealership wants, as I was going to trade it in for a ZL1, but in reality I can probably get away with just a crankshaft and those two bearings being replaced for around $4000.

The only reason dealer 1 was freaking out and saying I would need a whole new engine is because they saw “water” in one of the photos of the oil pan from my mechanic, when in reality, it was just coolant from when they pulled the head off. They just took it at face value and assumed more was wrong than what is

[MrChrisLS3]

Originally Posted by federal

Thank you both for actual insightful replies. While all good points, I’m really hoping big GM and an appraiser from them will be able to see there’s literally no other damage to the engine or components, besides the aforementioned items- which I’m hoping is enough to have enough cause for a warranty claim. Replacing the whole engine is just what the dealership wants, as I was going to trade it in for a ZL1, but in reality I can probably get away with just a crankshaft and those two bearings being replaced for around $4000.

The only reason dealer 1 was freaking out and saying I would need a whole new engine is because they saw “water” in one of the photos of the oil pan from my mechanic, when in reality, it was just coolant from when they pulled the head off. They just took it at face value and assumed more was wrong than what is

I understand where you are coming from. But the hard fact is that the modifications cause the engine to operate outside of the factory engineered specifications and tolerances.

The only thing you can really do is to forget about trying to GM to cover this, they won't. Just move on with replacing the rotating assembly, and I would suggest forged crank and rods designed to handle the boost.

[LiqTenExp]

Likely too many variables here for them to proceed in your favor. I don't think you will run into someone willing to understand your whole setup, tune, and history to making a convincing story to cover this under warranty. Move on, build a 427 or at least build the bottom end on that thing and crank that SC!

You likely had some form of lubrication failure on that journal. You'd literally have to regular oil analysis reports and regular oil temperature recordings saved away to prove it wasn't something you had caused to happen to even start form any kind of case. You likely don't.

If you head down the metallurgical path with them they will likely have a case that there wouldn't have been an issue with a stock configuration. A quick internet search doesn't show a rash of bad LT1 cranks with this issue. Plus you'd have to send it out for analysis, do you have that time for that while the car sits around?

If you head down the a bearing/assembly issue there would have to be enough noted cases of this or very similar failures to have any traction here. A quick internet search doesn't show a rash of bad LT1 cranks with this issue.

Good luck.