My LLT is BLOWN! Connecting rod is loose...

[Camarodriver]

Well I went to pickup the car after the repair was finally done. I have not seen the car in three weeks and it was indeed a sight for sore eyes... You could look at that car with no engine under the hood and she would still be beautiful! ( call me biased )

I inspected her in and out, the dealer had cleaned it nicely I must admit. I popped the hood open, took a look around the engine bay and all seemed fine and in place. I fired it up, listening for sounds, but only heard normal whirrings and the fresh lack of the tack tack tack that had caused me to bring her in.

I goosed it a bit and went first to the front then rear to listen and, well, smell the exhaust ( yeah, you read right ) for anything odd. Keep in mind the engine was fully disassembled and put back together with a bunch of new parts. All seemed fine and I got into the car after thanking the service clerk.

The car was in the last bay of the garage and the clerk started closing all the other garage doors, it was Friday at 5pm after all, and I got the message and I slowly drove right in front of the garage door As he closed it behind me. Oddly enough, a buddy called me just then to ask if I had the car back yet and it came over the Bluetooth.

Just then the check engine light came on!!! I couldn't believe it! I went right back in but the service clerk had just left out the back door! I went in to the sales areas telling them that this had just happened when a sales man looked at the Camaro RIGHT in front of the service door and I said yes, I am picking it UP from service! Damn! The receptionist that had taken my payment for the oil service I had performed while it was all apart told me to wait until Monday....aaaargh!

It drove fine enough on the way home, but I was fuming all the way... When I got home I parked it in my driveway, turned it off and thought for a moment about, well, a lot of stuff... Then I had to move it to another spot and started it up to do so. The engine turned over like it was in January, all slow and "chuggy" but it did start...like my old VW Rabbit with 20/50 grade oil in the crankcase in the dead of winter, but it did start up and I moved the car. I then tried to start it again twice and it started up perfectly.

I have since driven it again to run errands and it drives fine and all the power is back and it handles fine. It did that chuggy start one more time tonight, two startups of six were bad, the other four were fine.

I will do more driving, testing and reporting what occurs in over the next few days. The check engine light is still on and I will bring the car in Monday as I am sure the service manager will want to talk to me after the voicemail I left for him minutes after I picked the car up... I was civil, but really, really let down...

I have not revised this post, sorry for my spelllin mistekes.

eB

I edited it after all, this iPad keeps thinking about what is proper spelling ....

[PieNsky]

You're killing us! Take it to Auto Zone or somewhere and have them read the codes!

[formare]

They must have used an American rod bearing and its confusing the Canadian ECM. That is a bummer about the CEL. It likely did not occur when they were test driving and cleaning. I was really hoping you were gonna say it cleared itself when you restarted again.

That would mean the ECM was rest but did not have enough data points in short term memory - drive it a while restart and tada no light.

Hopefuly something simple like a loose electrical connection.

[JBuzzy11]

This thread will make you vomit... Hope it all works out for you.

[Camarodriver]

I will drive it today and see what's up. I hope the code clears itself and it stops the chugging stat up issue. Sounds to me to be tight inside, they did change the crank, connecting rods and many more parts. I will bring it to buddy's garage to see the codes on his scanner... I am not confident that the dealer would be 100% honest with me at this point.

One thing that GM did do was to issue me a $750 GM Parts credit card for the anguish, stress and loss of access to my car. they did so because I didn't take a loaner car, so I will try to buy a Hurst shifter of heritage grill. Any other ideas on what I could buy to enhance this car?

eB

[SNV]

That really sucks that you get the car back and it's still not right. Let us know how you make out.

[rarebird]

the check engine light is not acceptable. I would have told the receptionist to get me the owner of the dealership and that the car was not moving from thier lot until it was corrected. The sluggish start problem is another issue, you failed to mention if it was a recrank after a shutdown or it sat for a few minutes before restart. Did GM extended your powertrain warranty? I work for a GM Supplier and if one of our units fail GM is on the band wagon to have it replaced not repaired. If you are unsatisfied with the way the dealers repair was done cantact Customer Service again and nicely explain that you are a customer of GM not the dealership. You want the car as it was before the defect. That is your legal right.

[Camarodriver]

I have to trade in my 2010 Camaro for a 2011 and I will now lose money big time.

Mine is now broken and I need a new one. I tried to start my current Camaro today and it not only started like it's recent sluggish and slow turning over, but it turned over extremely rough and violently, stalling and not re-starting easily. It rocked the car left and right with the hood shifting back and forth before stalling hard with loud metallic sounds and thrashing about. I moved it one parking spot over and left it there all day, taking my wife's car instead.

I did not drive the Camaro all day as I had meetings that I could not be late for but I wanted to see if it still ran well at so tonight, I had a parent-teacher meeting for one of my kids. I needed the Camaro to get me 5 KM’s and I figured it could have settled itself during the day. I started it up, and once again, it turned over very violently, shaking the car back and forth trying to start but it seemed to be running on only ½ the cylinders and after about 20 seconds it stalled hard. Hoping it would correct itself after a short rest, I started it a second time and once again it violently shuddered, trying to start but stalling again very hard. At this point my car had drifted, moving slightly into the street (I park on a hill) and I HAD to get this car moved back into a better position so that I could take my wife’s car to this appointment. I started it a third time with the same violent shaking and shuddering but this time I gave it a little gas and it started to pull me out of the parking and onto the boulevard, but it was not “happy” as it was not running on all cylinders and it was sounding bad and running rough. The check engine light came on and I pulled over to the side of the road to a safe position, letting it settle down to idle for a minute.

It seemed to run smoothly after a minute or so, the check engine light stayed on and I was now late so I drove off to the school and it made it there OK without further incident. When I came out of the meeting, it started up this time without all the violence, but it did indeed “chug” slowly over, seeming to be “tight” but it ran relatively smoothly once it started up. When I parked it in a safe place on the inside of my parking, I stopped the engine and re-started it again, this time without any issue. Very odd, very unreliable and very unpredictable.

I am in active talks with my dealer and a GM representative to make this situation right. I want to trade in my 2LT to a 2SS but I am being low-balled by the dealer on my trade in. I hear the dealer talking that he isn't going to give me much more than $22,000 CDN for my car (plus reduced tax) on a car I bought last December for $34,000. I dropped over $12,000 CDN in cash and trade in value all to lose it on this trade 9 months later and 9 car payments of almost $600. I feel terrible and ripped off. I lose the use of my 18" Heritage winter wheels and tires, gotta buy a different set and lose money there. I lose on allmost all the dealer extras I dropped onto this car, with my Leather treatment, Paint and oil treatment and my anti-theft numbering of my car parts, the OEM mud guards that cost me $700 at full pop canadian ripoff-inflated prices. The only thing that I can recover is the floor mats and trunk mat that I had the pleasure of spending a whopping $489CDN for, because that, I can take and plop into my new Camaro.

You may wonder why I would pay such outrageous prices for these accessories, but that's the price for being Canadian and buying cars and car parts up here. The irony is that the Camaro is MADE in Canada to begin with! I understood the huge price differences when our dollar was at $1.45 US but it's almost at par people, for quite some time now so let's get things adjusted to reality! Everytime I ask a dealer WHY are our prices so out of whack with the US prices, it's all vague and "just the way it is" kinda rhetoric and it just doesn't add up. I just know that the suppliers, manufacturers and dealers all take a little "more" than thier American counterparts as "part of the deal" for everyone just being quiet about it. It cannot be justified on market share and customer ratios and all that. Our country buys alot of cars too, you know!

Our Canadaian dollar today is trading at:

On 16 Sep 2010, 1.00 Canadian dollar(s) = 0.97 U.S. dollar(s), at an exchange rate of 0.9733

My new Camaro 2SS should not cost me $50,000+, I want to pay for it in US dollars! Will you sell it to me in US dollars? Why is this the way it is? Does anyone have any idea why Canadian Camaros cost more in the country where they are made?!

I am not looking forward to re-negotiating a new Camaro, but I have no choice as it's in my near future!

eB

[Amenti]

This has to be the crappiest ordeal over a car that I have ever heard of.

Is the engine not covered under warranty any longer? Can they not simply replace it now that it seems abundantly clear that the repair was not successful?

It all seems needlessly ridiculous.

[ColdCamaroSS]

Yeah, not sure of Canada's lemon law but look into it and have GM buy it back. DO NOT TRADE it in! This is a trick so you get screwed not GM/dealership.

[scrming]

Originally Posted by Amenti

This has to be the crappiest ordeal over a car that I have ever heard of.

Is the engine not covered under warranty any longer? Can they not simply replace it now that it seems abundantly clear that the repair was not successful?

It all seems needlessly ridiculous.

I would agree... Not sure why you say you HAVE TO trade it in... Not sure how the warranty works in Canada... but you should be able to demand they fix it correctly and in the mean time supply you with a loaner vehicle...

[Dave2SSRS]

I would NOT settle for what they are trying to do to you. Make them give you a new one. It's not your fault it's a lemon! You have a TON of legal options here.

[Dr Jkel]

This makes me sick. I find it hard to believe that it cost 10000.00 to replace a factory engine. You can have a race motor built by Vengeance Racing for 12000.00.

If it were me I would drive it and actually blow it up and then they would HAVE to replace it. This is so sad and I am sorry you are having to go through this.

I think I would have to e-mail some exec's at GM about this.

[KMPrenger]

Definitely don't end up losing so much money from this deal. Look long and hard at your options before trading it off, and talk to legal representation if need be.

By the way, in case this does turn into a long legal thing, I definitely would not mention "purposely trying to blow it up" here online for all to see. You wasn't the one to say it, but I'm just pointing that out.

Maybe miraculously the engine will just settle and be fine (doubtfull) but IMO GM really needs to just give you a new engine and be done with this.