The Supercar Registry - A Newer Project!

A little update.

We have only put on 900 miles since buying the car in 2014. Lately, I have been trying to identify an annoying engine-related noise that occurred only under constant throttle - not coasting or heavy throttle. It was hard to pinpoint exactly because of how loud this car is under acceleration with the aftermarket muffler on it. (Time is of the essense too, as the third extended warranty is getting ready to expire after 15 years in December 2016). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

After pulling the serpentine belt and spinning everything by hand, that spins, I was able to isolate it to the alternator bearing and several of the idler pulleys. So I brought it to the local Chevy dealer and they did a nice job working on the car. They had just been through two days of dealing with the extended GM warranty with my daughter's Impala SS - replacing a leaky steering rack, the power steering hoses, the trans cooler lines, the oil pan gasket, and an engine mount. I found all of these items while underneath the car changing the oil last week. The GM extended warranties are wonderful to deal with compared with an aftermarket one. They even gave us a free 2016 Impala with 300 miles on it as a courtesy car! Total bill: $107. ($100 deductible plan)

The aftermarket extended warranty that the original owner bought is another story. The service writers were able to deal with the crazy people at the warranty company who, as usual, put you on hold for 20 minutes at a time and try to make it hard enough that you give up. For example, they agreed that it needed a new alternator. So instead of allowing the Chevy dealer to simply install the AC/Delco alternator that was in stock on their shelf, at the Chevy dealer price, they had the exact same part number AC/Delco alternator overnight Fedexed to the dealership. While they might have gotten the alternator $30 cheaper than the dealer price, they just spent $100 overnighting it!!! The same thing with the main idler pulley. The dealer only asked for the pulley - a $40 item. The warranty company balked at that but then sends them the entire AC/Delco idler assembly (a $200+ part) overnight. They also refused to pay the dealer hourly rate - undercutting it by $10 an hour...but then end up paying the extra hour for the idler assembly replacement instead of the pulley. (BTW, I think they actually get their parts from Rockauto based on the packaging).

So in the end, I paid $112 consisting of the $50 deductible plus another $45 in the unreimbursed labor charges, plus tax, for a bill that cost the warranty company around $1,000 ($500 in parts and $400 in labor and $100 in shipping). And I got to keep the original alternator and all the pulleys, idler, etc.

And the annoying mystery noise is gone!

BTW, When I brought it in to the dealer, they know how particular I am about my car so they had a space inside all ready for it - and it stayed inside for the three days it was there. The funny thing was when I brought the car in, the twenty-something male service writer didn't know how to drive a manual transmission so he handed the keys to a twenty-something young lady with full sleeve tattoos who gave me the all knowing nod (turns out she has a Mustang Cobra and an old pickup truck - both with stickshifts). Cool lady. If my son was older I would have played matchmaker. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]