[ccw]

I know everyone says to stay away from dealerships, but I stopped by the dealer yesterday to get the oil changed. I brought my own oil and filter, and the labor is free from all the free oil changes they gave me when I purchased the vehicle.

The car is a 2018 ZL1 1LE that is modified with heads, cam, whipple, E85, etc. The mods were done 2 years ago by a very reputable shop, and the car has always run fantastic.

I pulled into the dealership and filled out the paperwork. The service guy came out and started the car to pull the mileage. Then a tech came and started the car again to pull into the service bay to put on a hoist for the work.

I was in the dealership lounge doing some work, and it had been several hours. I never had a fluid change take almost 3 hours, so I walked to the back to go see the car. There were 6 or 7 techs standing around looking at the car. I asked, "what's going on here guys?"

One of the techs nervously responded that the engine has a loud knock and all the coolant had shot out the back of the exhaust. He said the motor was hydrolocked from the coolant. Naturally, I was pretty damned shocked (understatement) as this car has been FLAWLESS for me for years. I've never had a fluid leak, I've never had to add coolant, and the car has always run fantastic.

Long story short... dealership is saying it was just coincidental that the engine happened to fail while they had it for service. I find that extremely hard to believe that this is purely coincidental as I'm very meticulous with all my vehicles, and I've never had an issue with the ZLE. I suppose anything is possible, but really??!

Service manager says they can't warranty it because of the mods. I told him put it through your insurance as it was obviously damaged by one of your techs. Customer brings in car running perfectly fine. Tech works on car. Tech hydrolocks motor. End of story.

Dealership is taking the position that there's nothing they could have done during an oil change to cause this type of damage, so it's my nickel.

I have a meeting with the GM on Monday.

How would you handle this? Any opinions/insights are much appreciated!

[Cleancoupe]

Lawyer up!

[SJFGTO]

Just a long shot, any security cameras in the service department? I’d demand to review them. Otherwise, you’ll get a whole lot of opinions and good advice. So, in on one. First, you may not have any more than a guess until the engine is torn down and the cause is discovered. But, heavily modified car, zero warranty, expensive repairs. Unless the tear down reveals damage consistent with immediate misuse by a tech, I am not optimistic.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Cleancoupe

Lawyer up!

Yes, I should mention I'm a lawyer. So if push comes to shove, we'll be fine on the legal side. I'm sure the service manager has already updated the GM that I'm a lawyer as well.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by SJFGTO

Just a long shot, any security cameras in the service department? I’d demand to review them. Otherwise, you’ll get a whole lot of opinions and good advice. So, in on one. First, you may not have any more than a guess until the engine is torn down and the cause is discovered. But, heavily modified car, zero warranty, expensive repairs. Unless the tear down reveals damage consistent with immediate misuse by a tech, I am not optimistic.

I was preparing a letter for preservation of evidence to get security footage, but the service manager has informed me that the dealership has no cameras in the service bay.

[900RFWN]

Did you snap a picture of the odometer when you pulled up to the dealership? What was the mileage after they blew it up? My first thought is that the assholes went for a joy ride before the oil change. A lot can be done in three hours.

[Chutzpah]

I don’t even know what to say other than that sucks. Years back, I had a small engine knock after an “oil change” at a dealer. It was pretty clear that they started the car without oil, heard the noise, shut it down added oil and handed me my keys. I didn’t notice until the next day as it was raining when I picked up my car. I hate to say it, but I will not let my car out of my sight for routine maintenance, especially an oil change. I wish you the best of luck and happy to hear you can defend yourself (legally)

[Cleancoupe]

This would have been a great time to have the pdr rolling or a dash cam

[ccw]

Originally Posted by 900RFWN

Did you snap a picture of the odometer when you pulled up to the dealership? What was the mileage after they blew it up? My first thought is that the assholes went for a joy ride before the oil change. A lot can be done in three hours.

I'll have to compare mileage. I haven't done this yet.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Chutzpah

I don’t even know what to say other than that sucks. Years back, I had a small engine knock after an “oil change” at a dealer. It was pretty clear that they started the car without oil, heard the noise, shut it down added oil and handed me my keys. I didn’t notice until the next day as it was raining when I picked up my car. I hate to say it, but I will not let my car out of my sight for routine maintenance, especially an oil change. I wish you the best of luck and happy to hear you can defend yourself (legally)

And the worse part is when the tech starts the car, hears something wrong, and keeps it running! Yeah, I'm going to have to go back to doing my own maintenance.

[Alain]

Good luck man! That’s a terrible thing to go through. Glad you are a lawyer. I think It’s all going to come down to being able to prove what went wrong with the car.

It breaks my heart to hear stories like this.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Cleancoupe

This would have been a great time to have the pdr rolling or a dash cam

oh yes, that would have been a great idea! But valet mode only records video, not sound. (As far I as I'm aware).

[900RFWN]

There’s no way that engine blew while revving to about 1200 to engage the clutch while traveling 3mph to get to the oil change bay. This really pisses me off and it’s not my car.

[UFDUB]

I’m not sure of this, but some computers store information (on a loop) of what the engine parameters were for the past several minutes, possibly storing engine rpm, oil pressure, temp, etc. You might try getting an independent shop to scan the computer and pull that info, if it’s there. Also, GPS info might be stored by GM if you have onstar active.