Another love story involving man, his beloved G8, and warranty people.....
Well I just finished dealing with the warranty people from my local dealer on the phone...which was a "pleasant" topic.
Starting off, there had been the usual problems (front suspension clunk, rear main leaking ever so slighty but no drip) but due to it being my wife's DD we weren't in too big of a rush to fix them. Last week she comes up to me and says, "My car's running really shitty and the service engine light's on,"I ask her how long its been like this, she tells me "For a while"...oh geez.
I take the car to auto zone to pull the code, and confirms my suspiscions of a fouled plug. I get new ones, swap 'em in and everything seems normal. Reviewing the old plugs bank 2 looked to be burning a bit more than bank 1, so decided to run the new plugs for a day or so and check them after that.....it didn't make it that long. She called me the next morning saying it was running pretty bad in low rpms and at the present time wouldn't go above 27mph, it was acting like it was hitting a governer and refusing to gain speed past that mark. After pulling over and turning off car and removing the key that problem was remedied for the time being. We immediately took it up to our local dealer where we purchased it (her bro works there) and he got us in with the warranty manager.
My dealings with warranty managers has a spotty history to start off with, and this was no better as the guy already had an attitude before I began explaining the problems associated with the car. He asks me about problems, I tell him the main point of the motor and what I had done to try and remedy the situation to avoid taking in for warranty work. I also elude to other problems, the suspension clunck, rear main, and other minor poblems, to which he asks "why is it clunking, and why do you think its a leak when its not leaving a drip below the car?" Those two right there straight irritated me. I told him I moderated a G8 board and I'm quite familiar with the associated problems, TSBs and so forth pf these cars and know specifically as to what is common problems and even what they need to do to fix them. He then says, "Well TSBs are just to imform us of potential and rare problems that may need repairing and just describes the repair process to us in formal detail." Then I tell him, "if there's a TSB then its obviously been a problem to a number of cars but not enough to necessitate a recall. There's always a correllation between TSBs and the problems to specific cars." He notes the problems and moves to the motor and first asks me, "why did you change plugs? Ours are rated @ 150k miles." I chuckled and said, "Obviously not" haha. He then alerts me to the fact that NGKs are a "performance plug" and not standard. Continuing my smart-assness I answer back, "oh shit, no wonder I bitch slapped that Lambo on the way here!" He found no humor lol. At this point I'm patting myself on the back that I had the wherewithall to remove my Jettt CAI and put the stocker on to avoid any problems.
Moving forward I get a call today from the warranty manager who immediately asks me, "where do you get your gas?" I tell him Phillips 66.....90oct (highest oct premium around here) all the time. He then alerts me that I'm buying "too much bad gas" and all 4 plugs on bank 2 fouled, and the cylinder walls in bank 2 have so much carbon buildup that the shortblock will have to be rebuilt.....bad gas? I chuckle to myself and continue following his report. He then says that they were unable to replicate the suspension clunk and it may be improper tire inflation or road ambience. That pisses me off....I ask him, "How the hell did yu not "replicate" it? Its a loud ass fookin clunk? Go drive over a slight road imperfection or road bump @ 45mph and you'll "replicate" it!!"
I figured out instantly what caused the carbon, my wife starts her car every morning before leavng for work (45min each way) and this coupled with it happening for "a while" before she told me is the reason for it all. Probably initially fouled a plug and she drove it too long on a lean condition thus the buildup. Lucky she didn't pop a hole in a piston or something elsem oh well though, now I get a rebuilt shortblock @ 55k miles so I'm not in a rage, just amazed at how stupid he is and how stupid he thinks I am!!
/end novel/rant lol
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Originally Posted by JoeSyko
