[Silveradoss573]

So you've had issues now with 2 separate dealerships? You have no clue what oil was in the engine. The second one tells you that it'll be sometime before they can get your car in and you say no problem. But then you call and bitch becuase your car is now dirty from sitting outside for a couple of weeks. They get the car in and start the process of tearing it apart to figure out what's what. Then they very kindly offer you a choice of 2 different loaner vehicles but that wasn't good enough either. These are just a few from your post btw... Release the emails.

[ZL1Kraut]

Originally Posted by Silveradoss573

So you've had issues now with 2 separate dealerships? You have no clue what oil was in the engine. The second one tells you that it'll be sometime before they can get your car in and you say no problem. But then you call and bitch becuase your car is now dirty from sitting outside for a couple of weeks. They get the car in and start the process of tearing it apart to figure out what's what. Then they very kindly offer you a choice of 2 different loaner vehicles but that wasn't good enough either. These are just a few from your post btw... Release the emails.

The first dealership was in Elmira and would not touch the car without me paying out of my own pocket. I had the thing for 76 days, it's still under a bumper to bumper warranty and where it happened is irrelevant because the car is stock and unmodified. The guy who designed the car says so himself.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...-to-the-track/

Second, the dealer it's at now has thrown me on the back burner for a month simply because I didn't buy the car from them. This is wrong no matter how you cut the deck. They only started tearing it apart after I complained loud enough to get someone there to say they just want me out of their hair. Otherwise it would still be in the lot.

I said no problem to a couple weeks because I didn't think it would be much longer there after. I figured it would be diagnosed, parts ordered and I would get my car back in 2-3 weeks tops. It wasn't even touched until 4 had passed.

There was nothing kind about the offer of a Traxx or Malibu, it's insulting. I didn't bring them a car like that to service and a month had passed at that point without anything. It wouldn't take much I'm sure to figure out a way to put me into a Camaro.

You must work at Depaula.

[ZL1Kraut]

Also for the record, the oil was completely full, showed 70% oil life, was completely golden and I didn't see any reason to change it at that time. It was full after every session and was still full when the engine seized up. The track supplement suggests changing to the heavier weight but does NOT say it's required. Again, the oil was filled and it had GM factory approved oil in it from Arrowhead Chevy in Arizona. Additionally, the oil temp display is what I had going in the cluster and it never went above 230 at any time, so it was being effectively cooled and there is no reason for it to cause a failure.

Beyond that, the issue is the car failed wayyy before it ever should have and I have very little if any faith that it may or may not happen again. I understand shit happens, but it's easier for you to say if it isn't your $60k on the line. I worked damn hard for that money and I was expecting a superior product that could do exactly what I was doing with it. Exactly what the guy who designed the car says it can and should do. The service aspect is the icing on the cake and is what pushed me over the edge to throw in the towel.

The point of the thread is to let others know of my personal experience and so that others can make an educated decision if they decide to participate in both a track day, or having their car serviced at Depaula.

For those being supportive, thank you.

[hawk02]

Originally Posted by ZL1Kraut

Also for the record, the oil was completely full, showed 70% oil life, was completely golden and I didn't see any reason to change it at that time. It was full after every session and was still full when the engine seized up. The track supplement suggests changing to the heavier weight but does NOT say it's required. Again, the oil was filled and it had GM factory approved oil in it from Arrowhead Chevy in Arizona. Additionally, the oil temp display is what I had going in the cluster and it never went above 230 at any time, so it was being effectively cooled and there is no reason for it to cause a failure.

Beyond that, the issue is the car failed wayyy before it ever should have and I have very little if any faith that it may or may not happen again. I understand shit happens, but it's easier for you to say if it isn't your $60k on the line. I worked damn hard for that money and I was expecting a superior product that could do exactly what I was doing with it. Exactly what the guy who designed the car says it can and should do. The service aspect is the icing on the cake and is what pushed me over the edge to throw in the towel.

The point of the thread is to let others know of my personal experience and so that others can make an educated decision if they decide to participate in both a track day, or having their car serviced at Depaula.

For those being supportive, thank you.

I guess it's a matter of interpretation. You are correct, nowhere does the high-performance owner's manual state the word required. It doesn't state the word recommended either. It says "Change the engine oil to...". I interpret that to mean you better replace the oil with a heavier weight before tracking the car.

If the dealer in Arizona filled the engine with a 0W40 Dexos2 oil, then this oil weight conversation is a moot point, and you have a much better leg to stand on when it comes to warranty repair. On the other hand, if there was 5W30 in the engine when you tracked it, I could see GM denying the warranty repair because the incorrect weight oil was used during a track event.

You might want to call the dealer in Arizona where you bought it from and find out what weight oil was in the car when you drove it off the lot.

[HoldMyBeer]

Man......sorry for the issues you’ve experienced....I bought a certified pre-owner ZL1 as well and luckily haven’t experienced any of the deaaler crap you have.

My .02......1 - if you can qualify for lemon law in AZ, I’d do it. As others have state, the engine rebuild/replacement will show up on car fax and drop your value on the car......2 - I know for track days the manual does recommend to change to 0/40 but running 5/30 shouldn’t cause this type of issue in one outing. Has the mechanic let you know if your oil pump is intact and functional? I would guess it either failed or was starting to fail which caused oil starvation and damage to your bearings. If your build date is correct, I think that’s in the range of potentially problematic oil pumps from what I’ve read on these forums.

In the end, I hope it works out and you are able to get things corrected to your satisfaction.

Good luck!!

[GrabTheWheel]

You will get treated very differently depending on what dealer you visit. I know expecting a Camaro as a loaner car seems logical but you are living in an alternate universe if you think that’s happening. You are lucky if you get any loaner at all in my experience. Sure it would be nice to get something similar to your car or at least a Tahoe or something but that’s not going to happen at any GM dealer as far as I know. You will need to switch to another manufacturer in order to be treated the way you think you should after spending 60K on a car.

[Joe Remi]

Originally Posted by GrabTheWheel

You will get treated very differently depending on what dealer you visit. I know expecting a Camaro as a loaner car seems logical but you are living in an alternate universe if you think that’s happening. You are lucky if you get any loaner at all in my experience. Sure it would be nice to get something similar to your car or at least a Tahoe or something but that’s not going to happen at any GM dealer as far as I know. You will need to switch to another manufacturer in order to be treated the way you think you should after spending 60K on a car.

Seriously, you can spend $80k easy on a Silverado or Suburban and it's still gonna be a damn Chevy dealer. They make decent cars regular folks can actually pay for, but that discount is all on the table when you walk in those doors.

[SJFGTO]

You are not going to get a particular level of loaner car based on what type of vehicle you bring in. Dealers do not pull higher priced low volume cars off the lot to use as loaners. You are simply mistaken about that. You did receive terrible customer service, no question. From a dealer’s perspective, and I am not defending this, only to give you some insight coming from a family which was in the automobile business (Chevrolet) for 40 plus years. Dealers rarely make money on warranty repairs, it is typically a loss. GM does not reimburse a dealer for its true cost of performing warranty work, and of course warranty work pulls a tech away from profitable repairs. Therefore many dealers are more inclined to be attentive to, if perform the work at all, for customers who purchased their vehicles from that dealership. They want to keep the business of an existing customer. That has been a practice of dealerships (not all) for decades. Again, it does not excuse the poor treatment that you describe, but it is not random and there is a reason for treating warranty claims from non customers as they did. I had my SC belt break in Virginia, 500 miles from home. My ZE was bone stock at the time. The dealership in Christiansburg VA could not have been kinder. It took 2 days to get the correct belt in, and no, they did not offer me a Camaro or Corvette as a loaner. But, they were concerned, prompt and courteous. That is what should happen. You had a catastrophic failure the non selling dealer was asked to repair under warranty. Some service departments are going to put that lower on the priority scale because there are other more profitable repairs already in line for a limited number of techs. Doesn’t make it right. But it does happen. No Camaro or Corvette loaners however!

[ICTsccaCamaro]

Moral of this story is trailer your shit to the tack.

[BlueinTN]

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

Wait, something is not right here. From what I understand, GM warranties the drivetrain even if something blows up on track. This is provided, the drivetrain is bone stock.

Mike Musto even talks about it in his ZL1 1LE review on Youtube.

Yeah thats my issue right there from all this....so far.

[JD2018_ZL1]

There are a couple things to be considered when buying a car with miles on it. One you should AWAYS change the oil when you get it home. I bought a used hellcat and it had some aftermarket BS filter on it and Im sure it didn't have the recommended Pennzoil ultra platinum 0w-40 in it. I changed the oil before I even drove it normally. That way I knew it was safe to drive. You should have changed the oil too. Even the CPOs they dont always do what they are supposed to. CPO is just a $1500 fee they add to the cars price because that is what chevy charges the dealer.

Chevy has a performance addendum that if you are going to track it you need to put 0w-40 that meets Dexos 2 in it, even goes into how many hours of track use before you need to change that oil. Driving in track conditions the engine is going to be running hotter than normal just because the continuous duty of the engine. Second being in AZ in the summer the oil is going to be even more susceptible to losing it viscosity. I cant imagine what the temps were where you were racing.

End of the day you should take the buy back if they offer it because if they do an oil analysis and see its not the correct oil to their specs they will send you a bill. You as an owner are not exempt from making sure that you live up to the recommendations they give for various driving conditions because of "WARRANTY".

You buy a car drive it thousands of miles look at the oil life for verification that its ok to track it in 120 degree heat. Yeah ok. The manual is clear in its instructions of what to do when you track it.

You ignored those instructions because?

[staples87]

Sorry to hear about the issues, OP. Unfortunately, these dealerships do put people on the backburner when it comes to warranty work because the manufacture is only going to pay a fraction of the actual time it takes to complete the project. They're also not going to pay much on diagnosing the problem either. I'm going to wager the oil pump malfunctioned and caused oil starvation which took the bearings out.

That VP or whatever was a complete asshole about the whole situation. You've only gotten 2 months of use out of the car, allow GM to buy the car back under lemon law then decide on what you'd like to do on another vehicle.

My production date is also 5/17 on my ZL1.

[C Man]

I wouldn't bring up anything about the type of oil used... and that the dealer changed it. No way would they put in 10w40 Dexos 2. It's more expensive and harder to get.

There is a reason oil needs to be changed for the track. While this may not be the cause of the engine failure... if they dug into it enough, they may void the warranty since the right oil wasn't used.

Why didn't you change the oil for the track day? Did you read the performance manual? I know you had a lot of oil life left... but oil is the life blood of the car, and cheap insurance.

[L78toLT1]

While I doubt that the 5W-30 oil caused your failure, there is no doubt in my mind, based on how you have been treated by this dealer, that if they figure out that you were not running 15W50, they will void your warranty and GM will back them up. In a way, you really can't blame them.
I would take the money and run, it that's an option. If not, don't fan the flames with this dealer, suck it up and let them finish it their terms. If you give them reason to start digging, the oil issue could definitely come back to bite you.