I am going to get my surging/hesitation deal fixed wed. at a reputable dealer, but i am still iffy about getting but raped on labor and parts. Is there anything i should look out for taking my lil lt1 there? Should i let them know i know alot about my car, or play dumb? I would have tried to fix it myself, but dont have alot of time lately (well, the last year ) and am sick of troubleshooting.

I will post what it is wehn/if they are able to fix it. A local dealer had no friggin idea, other than to throw parts at it.

 

i would highly recommend against going to a dealer....you are gonna get raped!
here is two examples
1. rear end was whining on my 02, the previous owner had previously installed 3.73's (but they whined very little and the gears had about a 1000 miles on them), dealer agreed to fix it before i bought it. they tried to reshim the gears (which did not work) they tried a new ring and pinion gear that didnt work either (they said the gears would not work with that carrier) so the order "HAD" a new carrier to fix it, and my rear end doesnt whine anymore. i asked the guy at the garage how much it would the bill was, $1876

2. buddy of mine had a bad water pump that toke the optispark out, he insisted on having the GM dealer fix it, total cost was $863 for a opti and waterpump

jesse

 

What to look out for?

The bill.


Actually, you take your chances anywhere you go. The dealer will use quality parts, but you will pay for them.

If you want to have them do the troubleshooting, do that, but make sure you tell them to call you to authorize any repair. Then you might be able to decide if you can bring it back home and do your own repair.

 

thats exactly right. make sure they call you to authorize any repairs first. and, if they do a repair, make sure they garauntee that it will fix the problem. let them know you will not let them "try" parts at your expense. if they install a part and it doesnt fix the problem, they must take it back off and not charge you ANYTHING except the diag. time you agreed to to begin with. that is how we work at my dealership, but I know not all of us are the same.

QKZ28, they said they would fix the noise for you, so you didnt pay for the gears then right? and that opti waterpump price sounds about right to me at $75 an hour, plus diag., plus the GM parts. I do agree though some dealerships are ripoffs though, but not ALL.

good luck and let us know what it is.
chris

 

Let us know what happens, maybe we could get a group prayer for chickenscreamer and his wallet.

Lots of luck

 

Wow, $863 I find that hard to believe. There are 2 chevy dealers where I live and I called both of them to give me a quote on an opti and waterpump replacement about 2 months ago.
Both of the dealers said $1500+, and I said "Are you out of your fricken mind!". So I did the repairs myself, and boy did that feel good when everything was back together and I turned the key and she fired right up. Not to mention the $$$ I saved.

 

yes the dealer absorbed the cost, but i would have paid that price if i had taken them my car and said fix the gear whine....

a new optispark from dal and electric waterpump would have been less than $400 and taken me a few hours to install....

i will NEVER take my car to the dealership to fix a problem...

jesse

 

Get things "clear" at the outset. Have them do their diagnosis. Get the total parts and labor estimate for fixing the problem "based on their diagnosis".

Do not allow them to play with it, i.e., throw parts and labor at it until the problem in resolved. This is a very common practice, esp. with dealers.

I advise that you locate a reputable mech. who knows Lt1s inside and out and have them do the work. If you find one, who "knows" what the problem is, then ask if it would be ok for you to get the part yourself, especially if it would cost a lot more if they chased the part.

Most independant mechs. make their money on the labor, so they might not mind if you get the parts.

Going through a Dealer can cost you quite a bit if you get their parts.JMHO

 

I wouldn't bother with a dealer, if you have a idle surge that narrows it down to a few things, opti, vacuum, IAC, TPS, MAP. Just check those items and even replacing ALL of them in the worse case scenario will save you more money then the dealer having a bunch of grease monkeys poking at your car like the monolith.

Also the coil could be going out, Spark module, check your plugs and wires... Its not ahrd to figure a idle surge out.

 

And...let me add: If you do not know of a "reputable" Lt1 mech, then make sure the Dealership is a reputable one.

One advantage of going through a Dealer, even though more expensive, is that if it doesn't correct the problem, 100%, take it back immediately and demand that it be "fixed" at no extra cost. Most likely, unless it is an easy diagnosis, like a bad opti or other ingition problem, they mess with it the entire rest of the week. And if you pick it up late Friday, you will be SOL and out of your mind by the time you can get back to them the followings Monday.

So bottom line, make sure they intend to work on it as soon as you drop it off or you could realistically be looking at a long long time before they are done messing with it.

 

I don't consider that an advantage. My cousin took his 00 trans am to be repaired at the dealer, I advised agaisnt it because I got a body guy who will do the work for half the cost (he paid the dealer 6k ) and I work with the guy personally and he painted my car and did a excellent job and he would fix it for free if he ever needed to come back and something was done incorrect.

Not only did the dealer take thier sweet time ( 4 months to replace a quarter panel, a door, rear spoiler, rear bumper, and the rear end), they got him a rear end out of a junkyard, took his guts out of his old one and threw it in the junker and charged him for a new one. He had some food stains on his leather interior which they denied doing, and they mis-aligned the door, so he took it back after much complaining about the door being un-aligned, and they finally agreed to fix it, that took them another two weeks. Two weeks to align a door?!

That was Powell Watson of Laredo, TX.

If you already paid and got your car and bring it back and want a "free fix" because they didn't do it right the first time, expect to be waiting because their not gonna put priority on a car that thier not getting money for.

 

And.. when you were doing your diagnosis, did you consider that your o2 might be due for replacement? Be sure to mention that possibility to whomever you decide to fix it. Since it is in the exhaust system, they might not even bother to consider it as the problem until they have replaced everything on the engine.

Just a thought.

 

well i am between a rock and a hard place

Today, it is 75, and it usually surges at this temp, and it didnt even quiver like the the tach usually does? And it had a 1300 stumble/miss that has dissappeared? WTF? THe only thing i did differnet lately is put in some techron fuel cleaner, which i do every 3k miles.

I am afraid the symptoms, and the actual problem may not come back when i go to the dealer, whcih really scares me . If it doesnt i am going to buy every part possible and give it to our trusty friend and mechanic (who is baffled by this problem), put em on, and pray. I really dont know waht to do. I would like an ls1, but love my lt1 too.

anyone know what would make a miss just go away?

 

Well, as mentioned, if your car has never had the o2 replaced, it sure wouldn't hurt. That's something you can do yourself and would at least eliminate a possibility. JMHO

 

first of all, they couldnt get the car to reproduce the problem, even after i told them they had to let it run for atleast 30 minutes. They drove it for 6 miles, and let it go to 230* (which pissed me off since i said it will do it at operating temp) and said it ran fine. THey charged me 53 bucks and said if it does it again come back

Well, it did it again but i had to be at work in 15 mins and i didnt have a car if i left it there, the a**holes didnt have loaner. They put it on their scanner and said all looks good. I guess a 107 blm on both sides is good

I found out myself that the car will have a super erratic tach reading right before it does the surge, like the tach goes from 500 to 1000ish to 200 to the surging rpm (like 1200 rpm) in a blink of an eye, which really makes me thing opti. The o2s are reading ok, they both go real lean before the surge, and during for abit, and my iac goes way up (to 130) while it surges.