Turbo and heat shield and, and, and, on my 2000 H-1

[MickerH-1]

Any help or comments here? I was driving with no load and suddenly the right side of my 6.5 T.D. sounds a LOT louder than it was a minute ago. I take it to my dealer cause that's what I do and am informed that the turbo intake pipe was cracked or shattered and the heat shield needed replacing. $1,600 or so should make it a happy truck again. Mind you this is a wagon with 29k miles on it and has never seen dirt before I owned it, let alone my offshore boat. I then get a call that they broke the exhaust bolt off of the exhaust manifold and now they have to remove the entire head to access it and repair it. NOW the bill is $4,800 because "exhaust bolts sometimes twist off". Maybe on an old car but NOT on one that is a little more than three years old! My question, has anyone else had this problem with the turbo pipe and heat shield? Should a technician use any kind of thread solvent before cranking away on an exhaust manifold bolt with an air wrench? I the years I used to wrench on Vw's, Porsches and Ferraris I have had my share of bolt shears, but I never heard of making the customer pay for the damage.(I guess they could have called and said it was already broken, hence part of my problem) Also the service advisor hinted that he saw evidence that the turbo may have evidence that it is leaking, but they haven't gone that far yet. What is up with the turbo on these things? I have owned it six months.

[MickerH-1]

Any help or comments here? I was driving with no load and suddenly the right side of my 6.5 T.D. sounds a LOT louder than it was a minute ago. I take it to my dealer cause that's what I do and am informed that the turbo intake pipe was cracked or shattered and the heat shield needed replacing. $1,600 or so should make it a happy truck again. Mind you this is a wagon with 29k miles on it and has never seen dirt before I owned it, let alone my offshore boat. I then get a call that they broke the exhaust bolt off of the exhaust manifold and now they have to remove the entire head to access it and repair it. NOW the bill is $4,800 because "exhaust bolts sometimes twist off". Maybe on an old car but NOT on one that is a little more than three years old! My question, has anyone else had this problem with the turbo pipe and heat shield? Should a technician use any kind of thread solvent before cranking away on an exhaust manifold bolt with an air wrench? I the years I used to wrench on Vw's, Porsches and Ferraris I have had my share of bolt shears, but I never heard of making the customer pay for the damage.(I guess they could have called and said it was already broken, hence part of my problem) Also the service advisor hinted that he saw evidence that the turbo may have evidence that it is leaking, but they haven't gone that far yet. What is up with the turbo on these things? I have owned it six months.

[MickerH-1]

Any help or comments here? I was driving with no load and suddenly the right side of my 6.5 T.D. sounds a LOT louder than it was a minute ago. I take it to my dealer cause that's what I do and am informed that the turbo intake pipe was cracked or shattered and the heat shield needed replacing. $1,600 or so should make it a happy truck again. Mind you this is a wagon with 29k miles on it and has never seen dirt before I owned it, let alone my offshore boat. I then get a call that they broke the exhaust bolt off of the exhaust manifold and now they have to remove the entire head to access it and repair it. NOW the bill is $4,800 because "exhaust bolts sometimes twist off". Maybe on an old car but NOT on one that is a little more than three years old! My question, has anyone else had this problem with the turbo pipe and heat shield? Should a technician use any kind of thread solvent before cranking away on an exhaust manifold bolt with an air wrench? I the years I used to wrench on Vw's, Porsches and Ferraris I have had my share of bolt shears, but I never heard of making the customer pay for the damage.(I guess they could have called and said it was already broken, hence part of my problem) Also the service advisor hinted that he saw evidence that the turbo may have evidence that it is leaking, but they haven't gone that far yet. What is up with the turbo on these things? I have owned it six months.

[ssgharkness020147]

What I would do is go to the HUMMER website and get the H1 customer service number. Call them first thing on monday morning (or tomarrow if they are open) and expalin your situation, they will tell you wheater or not you should have to pay for this. I garuntee they will call your dealer on your behalf and sort this out for you. Whenever you have a problem with a dealer call HUMMER, they are very good about making their customers happy. If you dont want to pay that much (who the hell would) tell the dealer to load the truck up on a trailer and take it to a reputable diesel shop. A diesel shop will do the same quality (if not better) as a dealer for a lot less money. The dealer should have heated the bolts before trying to remove them, if they didnt heat them its no suprise they broke; you should not have to pay for it. With your truck only being 3 years old arent you still under warrenty anyways?

[MickerH-1]

THanks for the tip, I will go to HUMMER and check it out. My truck just turned 31,000 miles and is out of warranty at 30k I was told the last time I brought it in for some other B.S.

[MickerH-1]

FOund out through AMerican General that my repair is covered through 70k as an emission system warranty repair. I informed dealer of this (Fitzpatrick Chevrolet HUMMER in Concord Ca.) of this fact, they are fixing it under warranty. My question was why was a book time job of 3.5 Hrs for the repair costing me $1,600 if the inlet pipe and heat shield were less than $200 at other dealerships. My figh now is that the dealer broke off the bolt and now the head needs to be removed and fixed. The factory warranty warrants the exhaust manifold and "related parts". The dealer showed me an exhaust manifold bolt that had cracked 3/4 of the way through and when they put a wrench on it,it broke. HUMMER is saying they don't warrant the bolts. Isn't bolts a "related item" if the manifold isn't held on magnetically? Maybe it was broken at the factory when it was assembled or was defective. I may have to arbitrate. Any ideas?

[MickerH-1]

Greeeeat news! Exhaust manifold bolts ARE related parts and AM General verified that although a grey area, it is a covered item and I had to go through all the B.S. MYSELF and get it approved. The Dealer, Fitzpatrick Chevrolet in Concord Ca. automatically told me that my inlet tube repair wasn't covered without even checking then I found out it WAS by JUST READING MY OWNER"S MANUAL! It was going to be a $1,600 job and they were charging me $600 for the inlet tube alone. I called HUMMER Sacramento and it was $134.00 and Pleasanton wanted $118. HUMMER OWNERS BEWARE, Avoid FITZPATRICK HUMMER AT ALL COSTS! EVEN FOR WARRANTY WORK. I was told I was crazy for being there with my H-1 by a fellow H-1 owner there getting some gaskets as I was standing in the service drive. When I was called the next day after they broke the exhaust mainfold bolt off then said the cost of the job went up to $4,800 I went ballistic. These people shouldn't be allowed to touch an H-1 and given their attitude toward me from the get-go and the whole time, I am NEVER GOING BACK. I work for a police agency and am a real estate broker. I also appear on a TV show in the S.F. Bay Area and word of mouth is a strong tool. Had only one mistake been caught then a different attitude displayed, I wouldn't be flaming these monkeys. But it was one thing after another and in MY opinion, I think they are crooks. It may be worth someones time if they are in the business of investigation to find out how many OTHER people have been charged and overcharged for warranty work at this place. I own a 92 Corvette and a 2000 Escalade and the Cadillac dealer worships the ground you walk on in there. The factory sends you regular magazines about product and invitations to events, etc. I do not know how this place stays in operation other than they know GM only and an H-1 is a bother to them and think an H-1 owner has money to throw away and they go for the jugular. Hate is a strong word, but I haven't been so close to getting physical in my life. I told them to their face they were dishonest and that I had lost all confidence. I also indicated that when the job is done it is going to ANOTHER HUMMER dealer to have the job double checked and I am keeping ALL of the parts to send to AM General for examination. AM General is why I didn't just get my rig fixed and throw it way. The factory has the Cadillac dealer attitude and I would definately buy another H-1. O.K., I feel better now.

[ssgharkness020147]

Glad to hear that you got it all sorted out. HUMMER does a great job of baking up their product. I think that the new G.M owned HUMMER dealerships do not relize that the H1 is HUMMER's bread and butter, AMG is another story; they back their customers up. I'm lucky my local HUMMER dealership is great. The service department does a great job (at one hell of a high price). Even if they did a bad job I wouldent care. I'd rather fix the thing myself.

[MickerH-1]

I had left a message for the owner of the dealership whom I had worked with as their banker and when he returned to town he gathered his responsibles to fact find and made a personal call to me extending his deepest appologies and promised that the challenges I experienced would be remedied. Since my last conversation with the Service Manager was not followed up with an update as to when I might be able to get my truck back, it was then I was updated to the status of the work so far. I guess the key to working with Fitzpatrick Chevrolet in Concord when it comes to the H-1 is dealing directly with the owner, Denny Fitzpatrick. He renewed my confidence in at least his sincerity even if his employees did not.

[MickerH-1]

Update- The service advisor called to tell me that they had fixed my truck and when they fired it up, realized I had some cracked bolts on the DRIVER side of the truck. (might have looked at this when they were fixing the other side??) truck is going to be down another week and a half, AMG is fixing under warranty. I should have them trained and ready to fix other folks H-1's by my next visit. I am not giving them much time for MRS.GOODWRENCH, now am I?