| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 003275483 | Incident Date: Jul, 14 2003 |
| Consumer's City: ELIZABETH | Consumer's State: PA |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC |
| Model Name: MONTANA | Model Year: 1999 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 1GMDX03E4XD | Date added to File: May, 25 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Jan, 14 2004 | Complaint Type: CAG |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: - |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: No |
| Number of Cylinders: 0 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: My 99 montana (70,030 miles but never a problem) failed on us about 15 miles east of hagerstown md while returning to pittsburgh from ocean city on 7/13/2003. the short story is that the engine failed with little prior warning and had to be replaced. there was a catastrophic failure of the intake manifold gasket, i have it as well as photos. the leaking coolant mixed with the engine oil and the resulting emulsified combination resulted in a ruined engine in a very short time. the engine had new oil because i changed it on 7/5 at 69,000 miles as specified in owner's manual prior to leaving pittsburgh. i still have the old oil in my garage and it is in good condition. i had the van towed 180 miles to my dealer, the power of bowser, so that they could tell me that there's nothing they or gm can do for me. the local gm service rep looked at it on 7/17 and said no goodwill warranty as did the people at pontiac customer relations. (1-800-pmcares should be 1-800-wesayno). the people gm "empowers" to make these decisions are not technically trained such that they can even understand what happened and yet they make the decision that it's tough luck. i wouldn't be so upset about this situation if i had done something that contributed to the failure of the engine. but, i'm a fanatic, i change my oil every 3k and do all the other stuff that's recommended in the owner's manual. there is no way that a competently designed and manufactured engine should experience the type of failure that the engine in my montana had. i've had no choice but to have the engine replaced at a cost of $4,100. i just paid it off in may. the fact that gm has internally recognized a problem with the gasket via internal service bulletins and didn't give their customers this information is malpractice as far as i'm concerned. i'd be in jail if i did this in my work. we pursued action with the bbb auto line but, were turned down for an arbitration hearing based on the mileage. |
