About a month ago, I discovered that the engine block in my 2009 Cobalt SS has cracked. I've created this blog to share my recent experience with GM and the service department at the AutoNation Superstition Springs dealership in Mesa, AZ. Here's about how it went down:
2009-2014
After buying the car in January 2009 I searched the internet for a car forum for tips with the car. My previous car was an Integra and the website
www.team-integra.net was extremely helpful in performing maintenance, including routine up to stepping me through how to change the head gasket. I found a similar forum called
www.cobaltss.net. I didn't frequent the site very much, but shortly after joining I saw some people had issues with something called a "porous block" where they would suddenly lose coolant, then take the car in a get a new block under warranty. There were quite a few theories about this defect, but considering that GM isn't going to come out and say that their cars were defective it's tough to get reliable information. Apparently someone was told that a bunch of the foam-cast aluminum blocks had a porosity issue, which compounded with the designed thin walls of the water jacket causes cracking between coolant and oil passages. The theory on the site was that if your car has the issue it'll pop up shortly and the engine would get replaced under warranty, issue resolved. I'd guess right now there's about 15-20 on the site that have said that they've had this problem. Considering that there were only ~3,000 of this model year's cars made, and the small percentage of those that are on the site, I'd say 15-20 is a significant number.
August 14, 2014
Normal day at work. I decided to go get some lunch with a friend, and offered to drive. When I turned the car on the "Low Coolant" warning came on. I have kept the coolant temperature displayed on the dash for quite a while so I wasn't worried about it having overheated. I checked the coolant level and saw that it was in fact a bit low, but nothing to be concerned about. I've topped it off once before without issue. I'd just top it off again once I got home.
Or so I thought. When I got home I saw that the level had dropped significantly during the day (my commute is 10 miles). The level was about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the reservoir. I filled it to the proper level, then went for a 10 mile drive. It had dropped again to below the MIN line. Repeated with the same result. Now I knew something was wrong. I filled it, then left it overnight.
August 15, 2014
My wife went on a weekend trip starting this day, so I took the day off of work to watch our boy. When he went down for a nap I checked the coolant level and it had dropped while the car was just sitting. I took a sample from the oil pan and this is what came out:
The pink stuff is Dex-Cool. It's not supposed to be in the oil pan.
I knew I had a bad problem. I was aware of the "porous block" issue and this seemed to fit the bill. I figured it's not a head gasket since it was leaking while sitting. I called the service department at AutoNation Superstition Springs to see if they could help at all financially with the repair. After all, this is a manufacturing defect that has affected many people so there should be something out there about it. Tommy was the service manager that I had called, who quickly informed me that I was out of warranty by 6 months (yup I know) but to bring it down and they'd take a look to see what they could do. I called a tow truck to prevent damage to the engine on the way to the dealer, had it loaded up, and to the dealer it went:
Sad day for the Cobalt
August 18, 2014
Tommy got back to me and said I needed a new engine. He said that the bill would be $7000, but the dealership would take off $1200 so I could have it for $5800. I realized I had left my garage door opener in the car so I asked to come by after work so that I could get it. I got more details and he said that price was for a new shortblock (~$4000 for the parts alone). He also said that the tech had seen it before (which he later changed to the tech had heard of it...whatever). This wasn't going to work so I asked to talk with his boss. He said to come Wednesday morning.
August 20, 2014
I came and chatted with Fernando Ruiz, the "Service Director." I explained what's going on, and why I felt like GM should help foot the bill. He asked if I had an extending warranty, I said no, then refused to help and only gave me GM Customer Service's number. Quite dissatisfied, I left and called the next day. They assigned my case to a regional something.
August 27, 2014
GM's regional something, Fabian, called to say he was on it.
September 4, 2014
I called GM to see what's taking so long. They said he's gathering info.
September 5, 2014
Fabian called me back. He said that he had talked to the dealer and not only am I out of warranty, but due to negligence my car overheated, head gasket blew, and engine damaged. Due to this, GM will not help. I told him he's been misinformed because that's just not true. He repeated. I asked how do they figure this has happened? He said he talked to the service director Fernando Ruiz and he said that's what the tech said so that's what they're going by, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was obviously incensed. Now the dealer decided to sabotage my only recourse to get help from GM about this. I called Tommy and picked up my car that afternoon. Since it had sat at their dealer for three weeks the battery is shot. Thanks for the insult.
September 6, 2014
I emailed Tommy telling him what GM told me about what the dealer had told them. Here's the email chain:
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From: Eric
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2014 11:00 PM
To: Durante, Thomas
Subject: 09 cobalt that I picked up today
Tommy
I finally heard back from GM customer service and he told me that GM would not provide any help because he talked to the service director Fernando Ruiz who said that the tech said that my car had overheated, head gasket blown and engine damaged due to my neglect. I am puzzled for a few reasons. Firstly, this was the first time I had heard of this. Also, my engine did not overheat nor have I neglected it. Would you please let me know what led the tech to believe that I have neglected my car's maintenance and/or that it overheated?
Thank you
Eric
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Hi Eric,
Will look into it further.
Tommy Durante
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On Wed, Sep 10, 2014 at 7:38 AM, Eric wrote:
What have you found out?
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From: Eric
Date: Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 8:15 AM
Subject: Re: 09 cobalt that I picked up today
To: "Durante, Thomas" <DURANTET@autonation.com>
Tommy
You've had three full days to get something together. The longer this goes, the worse it looks. All I'd like to know is why GM Customer Service was told that my engine overheated and the head gasket was blown.
Thanks
Eric
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I have yet to hear back. It is also extremely confusing. Apparently AutoNation doesn't want my business. Even if GM foots the bill the shop gets paid, so why did they do this?? The only thing I can do is let as many people know about my experience. Don't get GM, and especially don't go to AutoNation. If you already have an GM car, take all of those constant recall notices to a different dealer. Avoid these people like the plague.
