Scott Mills

I took my truck to the dealer today to have a noise in the transmission looked at. It has been making it for about two weeks now, a clicking noise in gear, but not park or neutral. I finally deduced that it was coming from the torque converter. Anyhow the dealer today said that they refused to look at it because I put a Magna Charger on it a couple of months ago. They flat out said that they would not warranty the powertrain of my truck anymore because of the blower. Anyone else have the same type of trouble?

ProStreet83C10

its understandable, you probably voided the warrenty by doing that, i guess its just something all us guys should get used to by modding our trucks

Zick

iTrader: (18)

I think the only way a dealership will keep the warranty with a blower is if they did the installation.

OrlandoFL4.8

iTrader: (1)

I agree, and you also have to think about the fact the extra power may be killing your drivetrain if not properly built.

Scott Mills

I have a 4L80E transmission, so do think that the extra torque from the Supercharger caused my torque converter to fail?

.T.

Absolutely not. They won't even cover it. I had 2 2004 Tahoes with Whipples bought from and installed at a Chevy dealership. When the motor blew up in one and the rear end shattered in the other, Chevy flat out REFUSED to cover any warranty work and they both had @32,000 miles! After 5 weeks of negotiation and threatening legal action, the dealer did the right thing and bought them both back.

GM doesn't have to warranty any damage related to anything that is installed outside of the options of any given vehicle; in my case there's no factory Whipplecharged Tahoes. In any case where it can neither be proven or disproved that your modification caused the damage, you lose!

They can sock it to you from now on.

CHEVY6000VHO

iTrader: (2)

Yes, the TC just being the start of your problems. Have you checked your fluid color? You might want to drain the trans fluid and check for metal.
If this metal goes through the tranny for just little a while, the tranny will ultimately fail as well.
You can't really blame them for not warranting it. That type of mod puts up a big red flag. The o.e. trans is just not built for that additional abuse.
The best thing you could have done to help the tranny would have been vette or sonnax servos, H.D. shift kit, and a 2600-2800 H.D. towing type stall converter.
Hope the best for you.

Jim

RoosterMcCandles

iTrader: (4)

Take the supercharger off and take it to a different dealership. They won't know the difference...

James B.

iTrader: (1)

After a while you might start to see broken things as justification for installing an upgrade. Anything you get done at the dealership is going to be an exact copy of something you've already seen fail once.
It comes down to whether you want your truck to be reliable and bulletproof, or light on the wallet but needing babying.
The 4L80-E is an awesome transmission. It's built to work hard and last unlike the 60 that's built to be cheap, lite, and fuel efficient. The 80 can survive 1000 HP on a daily street-driven truck when built and programmed right. It does take an aftermarket converter to handle that. If the only problem with your is the torque converter you might take to opportunity to upgrade to one from any of several sponsors of this site. You can even install this yourself if you've got tools, 4 ramps, a floorjack, and enjoy the smell and taste of Dexron-III as much as I do.

One more thing to add:
Warranty is there to protect the consumer from manufacturer defect. Is GM responsible for a failure that occured behind an engine making 40% more power than GM designed the entire thing for? Well, in my opinion, no they are not. Look at it from the dealership's perspective. They have to submit the claim to GM for reimbursement. This is not free money, dealerships are audited. Also, every warranty service procedure gets a pre-determined amount of labor reimbursement for warranty work. No matter how long the technician takes to do the service the dealership gets only the same amount of compensation. If you really need them to work on your truck because you do not have the means to yourself or a shop you can trust, it might help to step up and sweeten the deal by offering to cover labor or even the difference from what warranty provides them. That shows them up front that you do not believe you are entitled to free parts and labor and opens the door for some negotiation. Some dealer sevice departments will work with you because that way they don't lose money on the deal. There are definately dealers out there known to be aftermarket-friendly and those that are not.
I personally have never let anyone touch my truck, but I know of many people without the means to do their own work that do it this way.

thunder550

iTrader: (70)

I image you have quite a few reddish-pink stained shirts....