Major problem on way home from dealership

JR Bell · October 31, 2018

Im looking for information if anyone ever experienced anything like I did tonight. I bought a new 18 silverado LTZ and drove home from dealer then returned w son to pick up my other car left at dealership. Had 9 miles to start and traveled 15 round trip only to have very dangerous problem start about 4 miles from dealer. Engine lite lite whil truck started bucking. Rpm started acting irregular. 50 ft from dealer truck stopped moving and transmission seemed to completely disengage and with foot OFF gas pedal the RPM pegged and engine had a life of its own. Extremely scary and I panicked turning ignition off. Son ran to dealership before tgey closed for the night and sales rep, manager and one other came to help while I stayed with car. They experienced same but manager tried 4wd and was able to get truck slowly moving forward enough to pull into lot. In 2wd, Auto, reverse... nothing but an engine reving out of control. I left at dealership and they where alarmed and promised to get to bottom of problem. My question is...i just signed docs 60 minutes before and I want out of the contract for that truck regardless of what the explain to fix. I don’t feel confident that its just transmission and will never trust that truck. Im so upset and just wanted to know if anyone has thoughts or advise. I expect dealer to take care of me but what if they dont. I don’t blame dealership...this truck has major problem and I would be happy with replacement of equal or better but im shook up about this and i will get updates from dealership tomorrow. Again i think they will do the right think and they never had anything like this happen either. Im just seeking advice or info on the 2018 LTZ 5.3 engine and or transmission to learn if this is not the only time something like this happened.

Edited October 31, 2018 by JR Bell

duquephart · October 31, 2018

This should be interesting. Unless the dealer has some sort of three days no questions policy I fear you're in for a lot of fast talking and feigned concern.

JR Bell · October 31, 2018

Ill keep uou posted.

JR Bell · October 31, 2018

Its a small community and Im very active and influential (refer business and long term client) so they should consider everything. Lets hope they do the right thing.

Edited October 31, 2018 by JR Bell

TXGREEK · October 31, 2018

Heads up, same exact thing happened to my wife’s Escalade. Scared her to death and happened multiple times. Dealer couldn’t figure it out until 4th time. It was the cables leading to the battery, the metal pc the goes over the positive and negative wasn’t crimped on tight enough over the spliced battery cable and came lose and because literally EVERYTHING is electronic now from steering to transmission etc etc it was shorting the current of and on. They replaced the cable with new ones and never happened again

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duquephart · October 31, 2018

Maybe that will stand you in good stead. But it is, after all, a car dealer. Weaseling out is part of their DNA. And, bottom line, it's not their problem.

JR Bell · October 31, 2018

Thx TX, as simple as that sounds it seems plausible.

Colossus · October 31, 2018

Keep us posted, John.

Nitrousbird · October 31, 2018

They aren't just going to give you a new truck. Papers were signed and unless they didn't enter anything electronically yet, the truck will show an in-service date = it is now a used truck. Now if it wasn't entered and they happen to just shred that paperwork then they could do that (illegally I might add), but its doubtful. They aren't going to take a financial hit with having that truck now be used and trying to resell it.

Penguin VII · October 31, 2018

I really hope they get your truck fixed as I'm sure that was a bit of a butt puckering moment. That said I would start with removing all thoughts of you getting a "replacement of equal or better". The dealer is going to try and look into the problem, if they are able to find and fix the problem thats really all they owe you. As was noted before the papers have been signed so you legally own the truck and if they are able to find and address the problem there is no way you can claim lemon law. Hopefully it's as easy a fix as the battery terminal connections as mentioned here before but assuming they fix it you're good to go.

It really gets my goat all this "I don’t feel confident that its just transmission and will never trust that truck" and "Its a small community and Im very active and influential so they should consider everything. Lets hope they do the right thing." The right thing to do is fix your truck, apologize for the inconvenience, maybe offer a free oil change or two and move on. It's not at all the dealerships fault and doesn't seem like a widespread issue so don't beat them up hoping to get something out of it.

My truck was broken into and they had to replace the door. I hate it happened, I still hear a piece of glass floating around in the dash somewhere that needs to be addressed and will always remember what happened to it. I wish the insurance company totaled it and I started fresh, but is that a logical thing to expect? Obviously not, they address the problem and move on.

Not trying to tell you how to live your life and everyones morals lie in a different place but for stating something like you have, and talking about your influence in the community, is pretty disgusting. They should do what is right regardless of if you hold good standing in the community or not and you should not expect something different just because you hold some position in a local government or assembly or the like.

Mountain motor · October 31, 2018

JR Bell, your truck has a problem and I would stand by your guns to get the dealer to fix or replace. No new truck should break outside the dealership.

As a note, I brought the same truck as yours and its been wonderful so far.

Stick it to the dealership to make good! I've owned 2009, 2014, and 2018 GMC trucks and your experience isn't normal.

KARNUT · October 31, 2018

In that short of period your vehicle hasn’t been registered yet. If you’re willing to exchange for a different vehicle I don’t see how that would be a problem. I had a dealer I used regularly cancel a vehicle deal I had for a weekend. I trade in a 94 impala for a 96. My wife couldn’t get the floor shift to disengage, her hands are too small. The 94 was column shift. It wasn’t registered yet, they weren’t happy but they reverse the deal. Swapping for another truck should be easy.

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JR Bell · October 31, 2018

Penguin, you misunderstood my comment. I refer plenty business to them. It was not meant as a strong arm threat. I appreciate your thoughts but perhaps save your “ thats disgusting “ verbage for twitter.

O_J_Simpson · October 31, 2018

How many miles did you test drive this truck for? So many people make the mistake of buying after just a 30 minute test drive. Impulse buying can lead to lemons.Give them a chance to patch it up. Might turn out OK for you once repairs are made.