PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Hey guys, I was out cruising around, doing a couple of pulls so I could listen to the supercharger whine. Car seemed to be running fine until I pulled up next to a building and could hear a strange noise I'd never before heard coming from it. I looked down to see the oil pressure was dangerously low. So I pulled over, popped the hood and heard just the worst sound I've ever heard from an engine. Sounds like a bad knocking and clanging coming from the engine. So I drive it very gingerly home. The car still seemed to be running normal. No hesitation or attempting to stall. I'm very worried, I bought this car only three months ago and a major problem is something I really don't need.

I don't know much about cars, even less when it comes to knowing specifically what the problem could be. But I know it doesn't sound good.

Here's a link to a quick video from my Instagram
https://instagram.com/p/4iRnMXlleY/

Thanks for any help.

Looked at some other topics with similar symptoms and based on the fact that the dealership I bought the car from changed the intake gaskets out because they were leaking before I bought it, seems like maybe coolant got into the engine and cause a bearing to spin. Which means I need a new engine. Might just drive the car off a cliff instead.

I just bought the car. Less than three months ago.

Time to find a new engine, that's a bad bearing for sure.

How many miles since the intake gasket job? Usually you'll see 200-400 miles before a rod knock if its going to happen.

Not sure exactly, I'd have to look at the paper work that shows the mileage it was at when I bought it versus the mileage it has now. But I haven't even gotten to my first oil change yet. To make a guess, I'd say I've put maybe 2k on it so far.

This happened last night, and I started it this morning before driving the girlfriends Jeep to work. The knocking wasn't as loud but it's still there. Oil pressure was a bit more in the normal range than last night as well.

Edit: just came home on lunch break to start it. There's no knock at idle, you have to rev the engine in order to hear it. But the oil pressure is fluctuating quite a bit.

Yeah, its still a bad engine, no doubt about that.

Could driving the car hard at all for any amount of time cause this or is it more likely that it was simply going to happen eventually? Maybe because of the intake gaskets leaking and perhaps not being changed soon enough?

More likely the latter.

Well then I'm not sure what I should do. If the previous owner drove it with the gaskets leaking and traded it in like that, then it seems to me that when the dealership changed the gaskets they would have known that there would probably be a more serious issue in the future. And simply replaced the gaskets and looked to dump the car off onto an unsuspecting buyer i.e. me. I didn't purchase a warranty for the car, but it seems unfair that you should have to buy a warranty just to protect yourself from shotty business practices from the place you got the car. I know they may not be legally obligated to fix the car but I dunno, it just seems like they probably should have and would have known this was going to happen.

I called them and talked to them about it and they basically said that I should have bought a warranty. I said that they replaced the gaskets and if there was an internal leak, then that very well could caused this problem. They remained firm that it was only an external leak. If that were true then I don't think the engine would have spun a bearing three months later.

But I'm just not 100% sure about any of it. I don't know if I should press them harder or just bite the bullet and start gathering up the money for a used engine.

You don't have a warranty so they won't do anything for you, sad and crappy but that's pretty much how it will go. I would start looking on Craigslist and find a good one. If you are capable of doing the work yourself then you can even find a wrecked car or one with a bad transmission for cheap and buy the whole thing, use the engine, part out then scrap the rest and actually make money on the deal.

Don't blame the dealership too much, I would have done the same thing. I buy cars all the time with bad intake gaskets, with extreme failures. You fix the leak and cross your fingers. Its kind of the luck of the draw. Check this one out: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 40318.html I put over 1300 miles on that one before I sold it because I thought for sure it would blow up... it never did. I sold the car and never heard back from them.

This is why we always make/made it a point when fixing a leak, where a substantial engine component is torn down or where the possibility of engine oil and coolant mixing could happen (such as a repair like this), to do an oil change after the work is done. Now this won't stop any damage that occured up until the problem was fixed, but it nixes the possibility of dealer fault for something stupid resulting from our work.

I suppose I simply have just about the worst luck ever with this car. Seemed like I was buying a Bonneville that was extremely well taken care of, and ended up with the one out of a million 3800's that ended up not being bullet proof. Friggin a, man

Thanks for the help guys.

Revisiting this thread with an update on the situation.

I had the car towed to the dealer a few days ago so they could confirm that it is indeed a spun bearing. The guy from the service dept said that it would be around $2200 to have an engine installed.

I told my dad about the whole situation, because I just wasn't sure on exactly what I should do and what my best option might be. He knows a bit more about cars and has some connections with mechanics who do the work on his cars. He decided to call the dealership and talk to the owner himself. After some negotiations with the dealership, they've agreed to foot half the bill to put a new/used engine in. There's no clear blame to place on them, and even though I purchased no warranty they do agree that this is one hell of a rare occurrence for this engine. And since I've only had it three months, they want to make sure this customer is happy. 

What the owner offered to my dad over the phone is a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty on the engine/parts and labor. What I'm not sure about is the owners estimate for the work plus the cost of the warranty: around $4,000 total, half of which I would pay. It seems a bit suspicious, especially considering the guy from their service department already gave me an estimate of $2,200. That amount seems more realistic, and it will have only about a 60 warranty on just parts, no labor.

Another $1,800 for a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty is nearly the cost of getting the engine replaced in the first place. Is that a realistic price for such a warranty? Or are they inflating the price in order to try to get me to just pay the whole amount and lead me to believe that they're paying for half?

Well, I'd certainly want to know why there is an 1800 discrepancy.
I can't see why a dealership would only guarantee a replacement engine for 90 days, in the first place, unless for $2200 you are not getting a GM rebuilt product but they will be sending your engine out to a local shop to be rebuilt.
This may be a case of the 90 day engine being what's known as a "short block" (partial engine) and the 1 year engine being a "long block" (complete engine).

It looks to me as though the dealership should be providing you with a 3 year / 36,000 mile warranty on the engine, since it does appear in their catalog here http://gmpowertrain.nexpart.com/
If that is what the $2000 will get you, then it would be a good deal.

Are engines on that website brand new or rebuilt?

Also, what's the difference between a cataloged vs a non cataloged passenger car?

I believe they are rebuilt. I have absolutely no idea what catalogued vs uncatalogued means but you can contact GM for definitive answers to both questions.
I found that listing by first going here http://www.genuinegmparts.com/Engine.do

Well if that is the case then it is one hell of a deal. Was planning on a junkyard motor but a rebuilt one with a 1 year warranty for half price is certainly a better idea. As well as real peace of mind.

With the remarkable condition the rest of the car is in plus a new motor, the car could last another 10+ years. If I can manage to get away from these harsh WNY winters, that is.

theax40 wrote:Well if that is the case then it is one hell of a deal. Was planning on a junkyard motor but a rebuilt one with a 1 year warranty for half price is certainly a better idea. As well as real peace of mind.

With the remarkable condition the rest of the car is in plus a new motor, the car could last another 10+ years. If I can manage to get away from these harsh WNY winters, that is.

Let us know how it goes.
If the dealer is installing a GM rebuilt with a 1 year warranty, it sure does sound like a steal.
The best idea is to get in writing exactly what they will be installing before they do the work.

It isn't really the winters---it's the chemicals they salt the roads with that eat away the subframe, brake lines, etc.