Got a letter from Pontiac saying they were going to recall GTP's because oil can drip onto the exhaust during hard braking and start a fire. I had been trying to figure out why I could smell oil burning when I got out after driving the car hard... now I know. LOL
I got the same letter -- they are notifying all GTP owners. The recall has not yet been officially announced and I couldn't find the TSB on Alldata, but from the list of possible questions and suggested answers I found on the NHTSA site, it appears the fix will be to replace the front valve cover gasket. To me this sounds more like GM doesn't quite know what the root cause is, but they've got to do something because 267 under-hood fires have been reported to NHTSA for the affected models (supercharched Grand Prix and Buick Regals, 1997-2003.) From the same list of Q&A I understand that GM didn't know about the problem because of its low rate of occurrence -- 1:1000. An engine fire in one of every 1000 vehicles is pretty high, if you ask me. I initially dismissed the letter with a smile, but having read the facts, I'm no longer smiling. Can anyone offer more insight into the problem? Thanks. Svilen
Yeah. If GM sent you a recall letter, take the car to your local dealership. That's about the best thing you can do.
Of course I will, no question about that. But what I'm looking for here is more detail about the root cause of the issue. I know there are professional mechanics reading and posting here, so I hope someone might know more that what has been officially announced. As I said before, I find it hard to believe that a leaky gasket can be the reason for engine fires. If that's case, then half the vehicles on US roads should be self-igniting and incinerating themselves in random patterns. SS
The letter we got is not the actual "recall letter"... it's just a letter announcing that there will eventually be a recall letter. My car does smell of burning oil after being driven hard, but I've only noticed it about 3 times so I didn't figure out that it was after hard braking (if that's the case). My sister is borrowing my car for a couple weeks so she made an appointment at the GM dealer. They will "inspect" the car for free but the service manager said they don't have the parts for a repair yet... so I'm assuming they must be redesigning the gasket or cover or something; rather than just replacing with an original part?
"Svilen Stoicheff" wrote in message news:2v6dnTq4Vt9oTXvanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...
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