Tie Rod fell off
Hello
I have a 2004 Epica with 84,000km. I service regularly at the dealer and have had all kinds of warranty repairs. I have the following warranty work done: replace engine gaskets, rocker arms, lifters, fuel sending unit, heater control and some body trims. These were annoying but not necessarily a safety issue.
On the weekend my right outer tie rod end fell off while I was driving. Luckily it fell off on my street and not on the highway where I do 80% of my driving. Had to fight with GM in order for them to cover cost of part under goodwill. I am still out $300 for labour and tow. I could not even bring to another shop because they could not get the part. The parts company was shocked that the part actually fell off already.
My engine ticks and the dealer does not think it is serious enough to repair. (still has power train warranty). The dealer tried to fix once but couldn't. I gave them a bad rating on customer service survey. The dealer called and gave me crap for rating them bad.
I am posting this as a warning. If your car is pulling a bit to the right, have it checked out. You get very little warning before the tie rod pulls and then just falls off.
I am going to get the tick fixed at another dealer and I will trade in as this car will get expensive. There are very few after market parts availabe and GM/Suzuki have you at their mercy.
BTW, GM did send me a $1,000 off any GM/Saturn vehicle if I buy before Jan 8/09. It's some kind of Epica/Optra program.
I doubt I will ever buy another GM. Not so much because of the Epica, but because of the treatment by dealership.
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