Hey everyone,

I just bought my blazer about a month ago. It came with a 30 day/1,000 mile warranty. After driving it for 2 days, I noticed an oil leak. The dealer ended up replacing two oil lines because they were cracked. About a week later, my boyfriend was installing a bugshield and he noticed a few drops of something on the garage floor. To make a long story short, it was antifreeze and the dealer is telling me that a frost plug needs replaced. The dealer is being really shady about it and is even threatening to not cover the full cost of the problem, even though I had it in the shop before the 30 days/1,000 miles was up. Can anyone shed any light on this? What is a frost plug exactly? What does it involve? How much might this cost me to get fixed? Any help at all on the issue would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks!
Jen

 

Sure the dealer did not say Freeze Plug?

 

Hey Jen!

Freeze plugs are metal plugs that are pressed into holes on the sides of the engine block into the water jacket around the cylinders. The purpose of the plugs is so that in the event that the anti-freeze coolant actually freezes, the pressure will blow out a freeze plug instead of cracking the block.

The shop should cover this 100% if it's within their warranty period. Don't back down and keep your cool when speaking with the service manager or higher up. If it looks like they aren't going to cover it, you should threaten legal action, but only as a last resort. Good luck.

 

Frost or Freeze Plug:

Definition: An expansion plug located in the side of an engine block that is supposed to protect the block against freeze damage. Water expands when it turns to ice, and if the coolant doesn't have enough antifreeze protection it can freeze and crack the engine block. The freeze plugs (there are several) are supposed to pop out under such conditions to relieve the pressure on the block. Freeze plugs can often be a source of troublesome leaks as a result of internal cooling system corrosion. Ease of replacement depends on accessibility.

These don't fail very often but severe damage can occor in cold climates if they do.

 

Thanks for the info swartlkk. The guy at the dealership called it a frost plug, but I guess freeze plug is the same thing! We've been arguing with them ever since and they have yet to fix it or even schedule an appointment to get it fixed. They are now claiming that they may cover up to 70% of the cost leaving me with the other 30%. I still say it's bull**** and they should cover the full cost seeing how I only had the blazer for two weeks when I took is back in for the second time for a leak to be look at. Either way, I'm probably going to have a lot of time wrapped up in it whether its just time to fix it or taking the time to contact the right folks to get the situation taken care of.

Do you have any idea as to how much this is going to cost me? Someone else told me the plug itself is about $20 but the labor is like 7 to 8 hours. Any truth to this? I was just trying to get a rough guesstimate as to how much I might have to pay out if I had to pay for 30%.

Again, thank you for your help!!

 

I would give the district attorney a call about it just to see what they have to say.

If you've had it in for the leak or smell twice already and they didn't fix it, that usually means that they don't want to fix it.

What year and motor are we talking about here? For my 2000 4.3L, the freeze plug replacement book time is about 2 hours to remove the exhaust manifold, probably another hour for other prep to get access to the freeze plug and then another 0.5 hrs to replace one plug (0.2 hrs additional for each plug on the same side - only 2 per side IIRC). So for one side, it would be a minimum of 3 hrs (I just guessed on the access time). Double that for both sides. Rest assured that they would only replace what was necessary to replace if it was on their dime. So you'd be looking at a grand total of $20 + $70*3hrs = $230 minimum and I'm just guestimating. To do all 4 exterior freeze plugs, you're probably looking at well over $500 total. So at 30%, you'd be paying ~$80 for one, or ~$200 for all exterior. I say exterior because IIRC, there is atleast one freeze plug on the back side of the block in the bellhousing area which would pretty much require pulling the motor to replace = $$$$.

 

Thanks again for the info. Mine is an '01 4.3L so I'm guessing it would be just about the same as yours. I'm going to call the dealer today before their service center closes and see what's going on. They were supposed to let me know as soon as possible but I still haven't heard anything. The last time I heard anything from them was on thursday afternoon, and that was only because my step-dad actually went into the dealer and talked directly to the service manager. Surely they have had time to figure out what they are going to do with it. GRRRR... they are making me mad!!

 

swartlkk, thanks again for the help. I called the dealer yesterday and after little sweet talking and being really nice, they told me they would pay for the full cost of the repair. They are even going to give me a rental car at no charge for the day it's in the shop!

 

Sweet! Glad I could help. It is VERY hard to find a dealership that is not shady now-a-days. They're all out to make money no matter if they have to literally steal it from you! You have to stick it to them just as much as you can, whenever you can to come out right in the end.