Vehicle: 2001 Blazer 2dr 2wd 4.3L 139,300 miles

Last week while I was changing my oil cooler lines, I noticed coolant (Dexcool) seeping from the lower intake manifold gasket.

Keep in mind I've never had to add any coolant, it had clean coolant in reservoir and my oil was clean as well. All fluids were well monitored.....this truck ran perfectly.

This morning around 8:00am, I decided to take care of the seeping lower intake gasket before it became a problem and took my Blazer to my local GM Dealer (McNeil's in Swanton,Ohio) to have them perform the task.

Later this afternoon, I get a phone call at 5:30pm from Todd the "parts consultant" saying that once they put it all back together it was making a noise. He described it as a "rattling, like something is bouncing around in there" and said it was coming from the #5 cylinder.

He went on to say that they scoped it and didn't see anything. So tomorrow morning they are taking the head off to get a better look.

He did make comments like:

"Don't worry your only on the hook for the lower intake"
"If it cant be fixed, we'll buy you a new engine"
"maybe something fell down in there"

He seemed nice and I think we seemed to agree that the truck ran fine and sounded fine before the service was performed......

What do you guys think could of possibly happened to my truck ?

How do you guys foresee the dealership will handle this ?
(Saying "If it cant be fixed, we'll buy you a new engine" seems to good to be true)

What actions do you think I should take (if any) or advice you have for me ?

Thanks, Jason

 

That would be sweet to get a new engibe but did he say the. New engine would b free forsure?

 

I'm pretty sure that's what he meant.

I'll post how it goes tomorrow.

 

Wish u best luck!

 

they probably dropped something in the intake while the intake manifold was off, it would be interesting to see what that cylinder 5 looked like once they pulled the head. the dealership dropped a nut in my friends 3.8 impala when they did his intake gasket and he ended up paying for the intake job like what your guy told you but they replaced his engine with a new one for free.

 

Yea, I hope this all ends well.

It's just driving me crazy thinking about how well my truck ran before I brought it in for repair, but it scares me because I have no proof.

If they did drop something in there, like a nut, bolt or other debris, would that cause permanent damage and constitute a new engine ?

 

If there was something bouncing around in the cylinder while it was running, there would be dents and pits all over on the top of the piston and the bottom of the head. One look at it compared to the other pistons and you would be able to tell if something was in it.

From example it would look similar to this, the piston would look same. (just maybe not as bad)

 

well, I decided to drive on over there this morning.....

They said there was a small rock hard piece of carbon that must fell in there while the service was being performed.

I asked if there was any damage done to the top of the piston, head or valves and they said there was minor scratching on top of the piston.

They said the truck only ran for less than a minute before they shut it off and the scratching was nothing to worry about.

So now they are in the process of putting it all back together.


Do you guys think I should get something in writing say that they dropped a piece of carbon in the cylinder that resulted in scratches to the top of the piston ?

Maybe with some kind of guarantee ?

 

Carbon story sounds like a fairy tail.

It would be great to have something in writing that implicates them in the problem.

I think the only way to get that is going to be a real loud pushy S.O.B and they might do it just to get you out of the shop.

In front of people would be good.

 

excellent referance!