[hypnoticautopsy]

Well fellow Saturn owners, my 08 Outlook XR looks to be on her way out to the pasture. She's at the GM dealer in Bowie MD with an estimate of $6000+ for a new motor ,

Basically, to make a long story short; it was time to change the spark plugs, in fact we were 10k over. I ended up getting these E3 plugs which were suggest by the advanced associate as "comp. replacements". Well, after putting them in... I got nothing but random misfires, and a slew of CELs. Apparently, a piece of one of the plugs broke off into the cylinder causing damage. The GM dealer initially diagnosed the random misfiring as an issue with the O2 sensor (p1174) then they thought it was an issue with the timing chain and injectors, lastly they thought it was a stuck valve. Well today all of that changed as they were going to replace the head and timing chain until the saw some piston damage (nothing major) and some scoring on the cylinder wall. They immediately reversed their initial claims and now has blamed the miss firing on the damaged piston and cylinder wall, and refused to do any work citing (non OEM) part being used. The strange thing is... After they cleaned the injectors and ran the tests the misfire went away but returned later that day. I wish I could post the pics of the small nicks in the piston, however last time I checked; the piston has nothing to do with the air/fuel mixture. Since they did a compression test and all were fine and equal, then a leak down and there were no gaps or leaks... How is the misfire attributed to a piston with small nicks on it? : ???

Anyway, $6k on a car worth only $5-7 at best? Not worth it to me...

 

[6Sixathome]

Keep checking ebay for engines, here is a new one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-3-6L-Production-Crate-Engine-/200891397812?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ec60f76b4&vxp=mtr

 

[salguod]

If your dealer will put the blame on the broken plugs in writing, I'd say you have a lawsuit against the plug manufacturer. I'd also gather all the info you can from the web on other issues with those plugs (I remember you said that you found some after the fact).

I'm not sure how that helps you immediately, however. Man, what a pain, sorry you have to deal with that.

 

[hypnoticautopsy]

*update*

So get this, GM takes the the motor out during their quest to find out the cause of the random misfire then discovers the spark plug pieces. This after they run a whole slew of tests which do not work to include replacing an O2 sensor and doing a "deep engine clean". So after alerting me to their findings I gather evidence, pictures and statements from GM. That's when they hit me with the "you need a new engine bit" well since I don't have 6k for a new motor and really the repairs are going to be on this spark plug company so I'm thinking let me see if my insurance will cover it. Long story short, I asked GM to put the motor back into the vehicle as we were paying week after for rental vehicles. Well the GM dealership says "Ok, we'll put the engine back in for $3000" I'm like WHAT!!, GM then says "well we did a whole lot of work to pull that motor out, and some body gotta pay for it, and it ain't gonna be us, it's your car" need I mind you we never authorized GM to pull the motor nor did they tell us that's what they were going to do.

If your dealer will put the blame on the broken plugs in writing, I'd say you have a lawsuit against the plug manufacturer. I'd also gather all the info you can from the web on other issues with those plugs (I remember you said that you found some after the fact).

I'm not sure how that helps you immediately, however. Man, what a pain, sorry you have to deal with that.

 

[salguod]

Yikes. What did the spark plug company say?

 

[hypnoticautopsy]

Yikes. What did the spark plug company say?

Right now I'm waiting on their response. I sent them an official letter detailing my findings and the statements from the Dealership, along with pictures and an itemized list of my out of pocket expenses. I'm sure they are going to take some 2-3 weeks to respond, as typically with mattes as such, 30 days would be the max. They are either going to settle with me on 80-90% my requested damages, or foolishly take this matter to court. The ball is really at this point in their hands. Their quality control specialist originally requested I send them back all of the spark plugs, receipt, and original packaging...I told them I would agree to send one of the plugs in the box, but only after I get a certified signed document stating there would be no destructive testing performed on the spark plug... I'm sure they are baffled and wondering why. I read another horror story about these plugs where they caused similar issues with misfiring, and other damages. That individual had damages in excess of $1000, he contacted them, they asked for the plugs, he sent them in with everything they asked; they cut him a check for the price of plugs and nothing more, some $62.00, when the repairs on his engine were over $1000.

 

[copperhead13]

don't send the evidence, send photo copies and pictures.
tell them the plugs and packaging will be made available as evidenece in a court.

 

[6Sixathome]

So do you have a running vehicle or is it a flower pot in the driveway right now?