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Lucky 13 Today, Whew!


HOrnbrod
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My daughter was coming back from her monthly Army National Guard training in Pensacola, about a six hour drive from here. She called earlier tonight and said the engine blew up on the interstate on her 07 Suzuki Grand Vitara. I called the nearest Suzuki dealer and they send out a wrecker and picked her up. They didn't have time to do an extended analysis on the engine as they were close to closing, but they did say it's probably a busted camshaft and it will most likely need a new engine. The Suzuki power train warranty is 7 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. Her mileage was 77K, and the seven years will be up in 13 days, so it's all covered and free. They even gave her a loaner to drive home with, also free for a week. Dodged another one............ :banana:

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Good to hear she got the warranty on it.

 

Quite a while ago, the instrument cluster on my Dad's 04 Impala went out right as he was leaving town to pick up my sister from college, about 1400 miles round trip. He didn't want to deal with it so he waited until he got back to take it in to the dealer, only to find out he was 500 miles over the warranty mileage. If he'd stopped at our local dealer for a quick diagnosis before leaving (they wouldn't have been able to take delivery of the new cluster until a few days after he got back anyway) or stopped at any other dealer on the way out, or gone to a dealer in my sister's city on the day he took between the two legs to "rest up", he would have saved himself $800...

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I rounded up... I think it was 700 and some, but it was a while ago and I don't quite remember. That would be after dealership labour charges, as well as freight to get it to a dealer in the middle of nowhere. The Canadian Dollar doesn't stretch quite as far as the US dollar. Parts that don't commonly fail aren't really kept around, either, because there are far fewer vehicles on the roads up here (due to only having 10% of your population) so it's not really worth it to bring in parts you may never sell. It's not uncommon for me to ask for a part for any vehicle at any parts store (even a Dealership) and get told I have to wait a couple days before it can get shipped in from a city 800 miles away. It's happened more than once that I got a "Can't get it for you, there aren't any warehouses in the entire country that have one.", or get quoted $300 for something I can get from RockAuto for $80 (including $30 to ship it up here). Hell, I've even been quoted more for junk yard parts than the OEM parts go for brand new down south.

 

 

Things just cost more up here, and it's not even really because of higher taxes most of the time. It's a supply and demand thing... no demand, so no supply. No supply, so retailers can charge whatever the hell they want and get away with it. Can you tell I'm a little bitter?

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Wow Don! I wouldnt write off lucky 13 quite so quick yet.

 

Don't know what that means Joe.  :hmm:

 

Anyhow, it's a busted cam. They said it's pretty common with these engines if the oil isn't changed regularly. So I had to jump through hoops getting receipts for every oil change and filter change we did since I bought it for her. So Suzuki is now satisfied. They don't even rebuild the engines anymore since Suzukis are no longer sold in the USA. They simply swap in a new short block. Only problem is that it will take 2-4 weeks, and the loaner car is only for a week. And GEICO Rental Car Reimbursement only covers rentals for an accident, not a mechanical failure. So Mama will be carting her around for awhile, because she sure isn't getting near my MJ.  :yes:

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New short block is amazing regardless. I know Chrysler would try to rebuild anything or replace with refurbished if it meant saving a few dollars in warranty work.

 

I can just imagine what would follow someone simply scratching a sole piece of chrome on Don's MJ.

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New short block is amazing regardless. I know Chrysler would try to rebuild anything or replace with refurbished if it meant saving a few dollars in warranty work.

 

I can just imagine what would follow someone simply scratching a sole piece of chrome on Don's MJ.

 

:yes:   Got that right.

 

The reason they do the short block replacement is gained from their past experience. According to the service manager in Pensacola, originally for a problem like this, they disassembled the engine, looked for the source(s) that caused the cam to break, threw some new parts in, then replaced the consumables like piston rings, rod bearings, etc. Man-hour intensive, and lots of training for their mechanics. Over time they figured out they could actually save $$ by throwing in a new short block for certain engine failures, and it cost Suzuki less overall because there were fewer follow-up problems. Then they would ship the bad engines to somewhere like Afghanistan or Iraq to be used for their pickup truck war machines.

 

Iraqtruck1.jpg

 

Not really, I just made that last statement up. 

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Had a similar experience with a BMW 318 we bought for my bride some years back. It had previously been leased and still had some original new car warranty time and miles left. Blew a head gasket and took it to the dealer (knew one of the service advisors). Turned out the tab was over $1200 but we paid $0 because there was a little under 500 miles and less than a month left on the warranty.

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Wow Don! I wouldnt write off lucky 13 quite so quick yet.

 

Don't know what that means Joe.  :hmm:

 

Anyhow, it's a busted cam. They said it's pretty common with these engines if the oil isn't changed regularly. So I had to jump through hoops getting receipts for every oil change and filter change we did since I bought it for her. So Suzuki is now satisfied. They don't even rebuild the engines anymore since Suzukis are no longer sold in the USA. They simply swap in a new short block. Only problem is that it will take 2-4 weeks, and the loaner car is only for a week. And GEICO Rental Car Reimbursement only covers rentals for an accident, not a mechanical failure. So Mama will be carting her around for awhile, because she sure isn't getting near my MJ.  :yes:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia

 

LOL! Just pointing out the duality of the number 13. To many it is not looked upon as lucky. It was lucky for you and very unlucky for the dealer. With that said you dodged a major bullet!

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Usually it would happen 13 days after the warranty runs out. Dodged a bullet there.

 

@gogmorgo: An instrument cluster replacement cost your dad $800? Jesus, we really do have it good with our old "buckets of bolts"

They don't call them the stealer ship for nothing. I paid that for a reman cluster from a stealer for a 2000 XJ. Before I knew better...

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