I can't take much more of this

[Campuscop2003]

On Friday t after the car sat for approximately 8.5 hours, I started the car to go home. After sitting in the parking space for about 30 seconds to one minute the engine started running very rough like only two cylinders were running. A message saying to service the traction control system came on the center DIC as well as the traction control warning light. The check engine light was also blinking at this point. I left the car run for another 45 seconds too see if any of the lights would go out and they did not. I shut the car off, waited about a minute then started the car again. After restarting the car all the lights were off and the car ran completely normal. During the whole incident the car was sitting in a parking space and was not driven. I called onstar to run a diagnostic on the car and they found nothing. I was advised by a GM customer service rep to have the car checked out.


Today I take it in to get looked at and there telling me that's its due to bad spark plugs. They told me there is a tsb although i could not find it. That when the check engine light comes o the traction control warnings automatically go off. Due to it being spark plugs I was charged $80 to look at it. Is since when do spark plugs stop acting up when you turn the car off and back on?

This was a different dealer than before. I guess I can trust any dealer. And my power train and GM major guard are completely worthless!

i wish I could afford to get rid of this car. Never ever again will I buy a ChevyChevy

[OnlyTaurus]

i wish I could afford to get rid of this car. Never ever again will I buy a ChevyChevy

Understand, that with a sentence like this, you're not going to get very much support from the other members. You're basically talking crap on our company..

Flashing MIL = misfire. The Traction and Stabilitrak lights come on because they're automatically disabled when a major failure is detected(ie misfire). When MIL is off, the traction and stabilitrak will re-enable.

There is a bulletin on this, thanks to our very own XtremeRevolution, who found out that the spark plug gap specs were wrong on Service Information and on our cars. Thank him.

Spark plugs are not covered under warranty. They are a maintenance component, no maintenance components are covered, like air filter, fuel filter, tires, brake pads, etc.

[XtremeRevolution]

On Friday t after the car sat for approximately 8.5 hours, I started the car to go home. After sitting in the parking space for about 30 seconds to one minute the engine started running very rough like only two cylinders were running. A message saying to service the traction control system came on the center DIC as well as the traction control warning light. The check engine light was also blinking at this point. I left the car run for another 45 seconds too see if any of the lights would go out and they did not. I shut the car off, waited about a minute then started the car again. After restarting the car all the lights were off and the car ran completely normal. During the whole incident the car was sitting in a parking space and was not driven. I called onstar to run a diagnostic on the car and they found nothing. I was advised by a GM customer service rep to have the car checked out.


Today I take it in to get looked at and there telling me that's its due to bad spark plugs. They told me there is a tsb although i could not find it. That when the check engine light comes o the traction control warnings automatically go off. Due to it being spark plugs I was charged $80 to look at it. Is since when do spark plugs stop acting up when you turn the car off and back on?

This was a different dealer than before. I guess I can trust any dealer. And my power train and GM major guard are completely worthless!

i wish I could afford to get rid of this car. Never ever again will I buy a ChevyChevy

How many miles? They should not have been charging you to replace spark plugs that new, but since they are maintenance items, I can see why they did.

I simply don't understand it when people get so worked up over a $80 charge on a maintenance item. Did you seriously expect that you would not have to drop a single dollar into this car for 100k miles?

[Campuscop2003]

My plugs are not bad the car runs a smooth as butter. It only missed for 30 second! and what plug has ever magically stopped missing by simply turning the car off and back on?????? I'm pisses they charged me $80 just to look at it. With all the freaking warranties i have on this thing. And at 49k miles those are some really crappy iridium plugs. If they would have charged me $80.00 for new plugs fine. That $80 was just to freaking hook it to a computer. The plugs were not changed I wasn't about to pay them another $136 to do it. The car has been run since the issue with the same plugs and not a single hiccup!

[titan2782]

I find that if I don't let the fuel system fully pressurize before starting (especially when it's super cold), I'll get a certain CEL.

What I would have said to them was, "If it's the spark plug then why did it start working the 2nd time?". A bad plug is a bad plug. Maybe the controller for the plug is bad. But they won't check anything unless it's physically broken or there's an error code. I find this to be extremely annoying!

However, it doesn't matter if it's Chevy or not. You really think you'll get better service from Dodge, or even BMW? Sorry if you got your hopes up but it just isn't true. When it comes to dealerships and warranties, you're guilty until proven innocent.

[OnlyTaurus]

My plugs are not bad the car runs a smooth as butter. It only missed for 30 second! and what plug has ever magically stopped missing by simply turning the car off and back on?????? I'm pisses they charged me $80 just to look at it. With all the freaking warranties i have on this thing. And at 49k miles those are some really crappy iridium plugs. If they would have charged me $80.00 for new plugs fine. That $80 was just to freaking hook it to a computer. The plugs were not changed I wasn't about to pay them another $136 to do it. The car has been run since the issue with the same plugs and not a single hiccup!

I see. That is strange then.

To be honest, if it only did it for 30 seconds and never again, I would not have bothered taking it in unless it was repetitive.

You cant blame the dealer for charging you. You think a doctor will give you a check up for free? Or a dentist to xray your tooth to see if it cracked for nothing? No way.. it diagnostics. Same thing. Techs gotta make money too.. we get paid by the job just like most professionals do.

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[XtremeRevolution]

My plugs are not bad the car runs a smooth as butter. It only missed for 30 second! and what plug has ever magically stopped missing by simply turning the car off and back on?????? I'm pisses they charged me $80 just to look at it. With all the freaking warranties i have on this thing. And at 49k miles those are some really crappy iridium plugs. If they would have charged me $80.00 for new plugs fine. That $80 was just to freaking hook it to a computer. The plugs were not changed I wasn't about to pay them another $136 to do it. The car has been run since the issue with the same plugs and not a single hiccup!

If they charged you to look at it and the diagnosis was incorrect, contact GM and tell them about it and see if you can get a refund. If they tell you the spark plugs are bad but the car is still running just fine, then where's the issue?

That said, 49k miles isn't that bad for an Iridium plug. It depends on how you drive it too. I do not expect to keep my iridium plugs over 60k miles. Just because GM says you can run them for 100k miles doesn't mean they will run well nor that the are guaranteed to last that long.

Best advice I can give you is to contact GM and report what happened. You shouldn't be paying for an incorrect diagnosis.

[titan2782]

You cant blame the dealer for charging you.

If my teeth were under warranty then **** yes! However, they'd tell me I ate something too hard or some how blame it on me and not their work.

All you have to do is throw a fit and the manager will be more than happy to assist. This is how I kept Kia from charging me when my tranny started going whacky and they "couldn't find anything".

So far my Chevy dealer has not charged me for diagnostics.

[OnlyTaurus]

If my teeth were under warranty then **** yes! However, they'd tell me I ate something too hard or some how blame it on me and not their work.

All you have to do is throw a fit and the manager will be more than happy to assist. This is how I kept Kia from charging me when my tranny started going whacky and they "couldn't find anything".

So far my Chevy dealer has not charged me for diagnostics.

I understand ya man, but unfortunately like I said, spark plugs arent covered. You warranty book explains what isnt covered.

Now that I think about it.. maybe you shouldnt have been charged.. if you walk in and tell them your MIL is on, the diag should be covered, but the replacement would not.

Maybe OP should go talk to the service manager..

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[Campuscop2003]

GM customer service told me to take it in Friday after the incident and I had onstar do a diagnostic on it. She started a case Friday and told me to take it it. So I did as told. I talked with her again about the incident and explained to her it's running fine so it can't be the plugs. It's being pushed up to a specialist. I told her I only want my $80.00 back. We will see what happens. If I knew the warranty wasn't going to at least pick up the diagnostic charge I would have said piss on it. But yeah the problem only lasted until I turned the car off and back on. I don't think they even pulled a plug to look at it to back up what they claim. They pull a misfire code and see a tsb and say that has to be the problem. Bull!

also when onstar ran the diag they found nothing, when I plugged my code reader in it said no codes. Why wouldn't they find a code? Where was that code p0300 stored that only the dealer could find it?