Warranty Question - Help!

[nobrakes00]

Hey guys! Hope some of you vets can give me some advice...

 

Here's the deal: Have a 2008 Silverado 1500 ext cab 2wd 5.3L. Vehicle now has 15,800 miles. Selling dealership owes me 3 free oil changes, but when my first one was due, I took it to a local EZ Lube out of convenience, and of course I watched them do the work. Second oil change; I took to my dealer and upon completion, I would have normally checked under the hood to double check their work, but it was getting dark, so I left. A few days later, I popped open the hood and noticed that my air filter housing case was not secured. All 4 bolts were almost completely off - tech must have checked the air filter and forgot to re-secure. But upon this discovery, I noticed that there was a foam piece about 3" thick that seals around the air intake duct, and is connected to the side of the engine bay. Hope I'm making sense?

 

Anyway, that foam had either corroded or was "eaten away by a burrowing animal" as the service advisor so concluded. Either way, he claimed it was not "warrant-able," and that I shouldn't worry about it. His advice was for me to go to Home Depot, and buy some foam, then take out my air filter box and do the mx myself - huh?? I mean, I can change my oil and do minor service and such, but c'mon!

 

Alright, so I basically shrugged and left, but I've still been thinking about it. Today, I was changing my own oil (as I prefer) and after observing that unsightly foam seal, I thought to myself, GM doesn't put parts on its vehicles if they are not needed, right? I looked through the warranty guide and it appears that air intake ducts, along with sealants are indeed under warranty; however it is tough to decode some of the wording in that addendum to the manual. Even if it was eaten by an animal, how is that my fault? The manual recommends that at every fill-up, you pop the hood and check your oil and fluids - I do that, and I have followed the mx schedule to a tee. An animal could have done that damage in a day, so it's possible I wouldn't have noticed it for at least a week later. Also, I live smack dab in the middle of suburbia in Orange County - seriously doubtful that a field mouse or some other vermin would be hangin' around in my engine bay. But then again, what do I know.

 

Okay, so should the dealer replace that foam sealant? It looks terrible, and with the combination of warm engine air along with the outside intake air going through the filter, I can't help but think that I'm being robbed of a little power from the warmer air mixture. The advisor claimed that he would have to change the whole air filter housing unit in order to fix the foam. Stated that it would cost $500!! My guess is he's just lazy, but what do you all think?

 

Thanks in advance - sorry for being so long-winded, just wanted to be thorough.

[PhilB]

If it were me personally, I would first give a try with the service manager. If he says no, I would try with my sales person to see if he could pull some strings with either the service dept or parts dept. Get it free or get a reduced price. If all that fails, I would go to Home Depot and just buy the foam, install it, and go worry about something else. Actually, now that I think about it, the foam from HD might be superior to the foam from GM.

 

Just my $.02 worth.

[15002NV]

Saw that 3" foam on all at WallMart for $3.00 even.

[nobrakes00]

Just gonna' bump this thread to see if anyone else has any thoughts? Thanks for the replies thus far.

[RyanbabZ71]

Ok 2 things, If an animal did the damage I do not believe GM should warranty the part, it is no different than if someone walks by and slashes your tires gm would not be liable. HOWEVER if the dealer removed the airbox and didnt tighten the screws and that caused the animal to have access then they should cover it. The hard part is proving they actual didnt reseal the airbox.

 

I had a situation I took my truck in to have some work done and I watched the guy from the waiting room. I seen him put air into my tires. Driving home from work my truck started to shake bad. Checked the air pressure and it was 90 PSI (I ran 55 in that set of BFG's). I called the dealer to let them know. They came back and said the tech said he didnt put air in your tires, I said I stood there and watched him.

 

Good luck

[mattgob86]

 

90PSI!!!!!! did you piss them off or something jeez!

[nobrakes00]

Ok 2 things, If an animal did the damage I do not believe GM should warranty the part, it is no different than if someone walks by and slashes your tires gm would not be liable. HOWEVER if the dealer removed the airbox and didnt tighten the screws and that caused the animal to have access then they should cover it. The hard part is proving they actual didnt reseal the airbox.

 

I had a situation I took my truck in to have some work done and I watched the guy from the waiting room. I seen him put air into my tires. Driving home from work my truck started to shake bad. Checked the air pressure and it was 90 PSI (I ran 55 in that set of BFG's). I called the dealer to let them know. They came back and said the tech said he didnt put air in your tires, I said I stood there and watched him.

 

Good luck

 

Exactly, and I think that's a tough thing to prove too, but since the tech didn't properly secure ... ahem ... "my box", it definitely could've pulled the foam away. Of course, the SA blamed it on an animal, but again, who really knows. I'm not out to make a fuss and go through all types of BS with the dealer, and I'll prolly just end up fixing it myself, but was just curious what others thought. Thank you for the reply.

 

Actually, I would really like to know moreso if the combination of warm engine air and mixed outside air will have much affect on the vehicle's power. So far, she seems ok.

[superjim]

Actually, I would really like to know moreso if the combination of warm engine air and mixed outside air will have much affect on the vehicle's power. So far, she seems ok.

 

 

The warm, underhood air will have SOME effect on performance.

Not much...but some.

Cool outside air is more dense than the warm underhood air, so therefore, with the airbox damaged...it will not be as quite as efficient as it COULD BE.