Is is possible for a GM tech to retreive...

The information embedded in the computer like when the oil life monitor has been reset ? Can they get some sort of history about the car, like use and abuse ?

If an engine blow up during the warranty period, what is the procedure that the dealership must follow to satisfy GM?

Thanks

Reply to
rick
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Reply to
David J and Lynne J Shepherd

Why don't you just tell us what happened?

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

Ian,

LOL, nothing happenned !! I am just curious , sorry if I have disapointed some of our readers .

I was on Bobistheoilguy.com the other day and they had a discussion about engine oil and warranty.Many opinion, very few fact. So I decide to come where I will find peoples working for GM and knowing the procedures that a dealership MUST follow before they give the ok to fix the engine.

Question like are they going to send a sample of the oil for an analysis, are they going to argue if you change your oil at home ? ( i understand that we should show the billof sale )

Some peoples prefer to use some oil not listed in the manual, oil result are then monitored by analysis and many time the result is better than what they recommend .

Only that , no suspense here ;-)

Richard

Reply to
rick

Oh, ok. I thought there might be some interesting story behind your question.

A lot will depend on the circumstances, but I can safely say that 95% of the time...the dealership will go with the customer. There has to be some serious signs of neglect or abuse, and even then....if it can't really be proven, the benefit of the doubt is given to the customer.

If there is some argument about maintenance, yes, they might want an oil sample. But frankly....I'm not sure what good an oil sample will do. If you have some sort of catastrophic failure, there will be all sorts of stuff in the oil sample...so what! Oil changes at home are no problem, but you should keep a log book. They aren't even really looking for oil and filter receipts, but that would help. If you show them a well kept log book of what you do...that will suffice.

A lot of people will disagree with me...but as far as I'm concerned, oil is oil...it will make no difference what oil you use....if you kept to an oil change schedule of 3000 miles/3 months...you can use whatever oil you want (as long as it meets currents specs) and there could be no argument from GM about that. What do you think we use in the dealerships? It's just bulk 5/30 or 10/30. Again, as far as I'm concerned, there is no difference running either one of these...it will make no difference to the motor. There are some exceptions....one I can think of involves the Northstar motor. The early motors that used bucket style lash adjusters are supposed to run 10/30 oil as this style of cam lobe and lash adjuster need a slightly thicker film of oil, the new engines that use roller rockers can use 5/30 oil. Other then that, I can't think of any engine that you could point to and say "that blew up because the guy was running 10/30 as opposed to 5/30". And I know that many of the lube kids just throw 5/30 in everything anyway.

I've successfully used any oil that I can get my hands on in my own beater car and I've never had any engine failures. I'll even throw in a quart or two of 15/40 diesel oil if some spare stuff is kicking around. It makes no difference. I try to avoid using that in the winter, but even then...it just cranks a bit slower....still starts and runs fine.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

I believe it is possible to see how much oil life is remaining since it was last reset, but there is no history maintained beyond that (except for problems which cause diagnostic trouble codes to set)..

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Thanks to you Ian and Robert

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Reply to
rick

Talk to any engine rebuilder and once you take apart an engine it is very obvious if the owner has been regularly changing oil or not. I have never myself sent in a warranty claim for a blown engine in a new vehicle nor have I ever heard of anyone who has done so, but I would guess what happens is that if you were the type that never changed your oil from the factory, when the engine was sent back to GM for analysis, as soon as they got it open they would be calling you and denying the claim. It is very unlikely most dealership service departments would be able to make a determination in any case, as the factory wants the blown engine sent back intact so they can determine if the failure is a design problem or not, the dealership isn't going to be allowed to get far enough into the engine to be able to make a determination of improper engine oil changing or not.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

This is only true if the engine in question is still "on restriction". Usually, GM has a policy where a new engine is "on restriction" for about a year. Any major internal problems, and the engine is sent back to the factory intact. As soon as the engines come off this restriction period, we open them up and make the determination as to whether it will be warranty or not. If it's a particularly sticky situation, the DSM (district service manager) will get involved and help make the call. But I've never seen warranty denied after the fact. Once the determination is made....the new engine goes in, the old engine "may" get recalled or it may not. It will sit around the dealership for a period of 3 months and if it hasn't been recalled by the factory, it gets tossed out. Or if someone is particularly sharp and wants parts off of it, it will mysteriously disappear....(grin)

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

I think if I worked in a dealership, all those tossed out parts would mysteriously disappear. Right under the tannu cover of my pick up. Then what I didn't need would magically show up at the metal yards. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

Well...in theory we are supposed to destroy warrantied parts. But it doesn't happen much these days. If there is something I want....I keep it in my bay until the waiting period is over, check with the warranty guy in parts to confirm this, and then the engine might disappear.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

That's what I would do. I would never take anything that wasn't kosher. I have a few dealer tech buddies, so I know what your talking about. They would never take an item they didn't have full permission to take.

I just have a thing about tossing metal parts in to the trash. I would rather go thru the effort of cleaning them (such as removing steel from aluminum), and recycling them for a wee bit of gain. Metal yards around here will give you on average$20 per ton more for cleaned engines (bare blocks and heads) then they will for a ton of short iron. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

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