StephanieF
New member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2022
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- Buick Ownership
- 2017 Encore
Hi, I bought my Encore in February of 2021 with 72,869 miles on it. It's a perfect vehicle for my toddler and I. It ran great until December 2021 with 81,115 miles it suddenly overheated on the highway about 7 miles out of town. I looked under the hood and there was no coolant so I had it towed to the dealership that I bought it from. They said my water pump went out. The notes say the, "thermostat opening, fans come on, pressure tested, found leak at the water pump. Replaced water pump." There's no warranty but it is covered by the Lifetime Powertrain.
Everything was fine until Friday June 3 2022 it overheated on the freeway coming back from shopping about 35 miles out of town. When the car over heats it starts beeping, shuts off the a/c automatically and says to idle engine. I pull off the side of the road and idle the engine. After a couple of minutes the temp gauge drops back to the 1/2 way mark and the coolant is low but not too bad. I take the old highway back home so I can drive slower and the next morning I checked the coolant level and it seemed even lower so I added some coolant. June 6th Monday morning I called the dealership and they told me to bring it in so he can take a look. The dealership is about 20 miles away. I drove it over and the man looked under my hood and told me to call him the next day if the coolant was lower. The next morning I checked and it looked the some. So I just kept a close eye one the coolant for awhile. I noticed that the level was always kinda fluctuating so I just made sure to not let it get very low.
July 11th on the highway it overheated again about 10 miles out of town. I checked the coolant which looked fine and again idled the engine and it came back down after a few minutes. I turned around and went back home. The next day I drove it about 25 miles on the highway and checked the coolant before heading back home when I saw puddles of coolant down in the engine (I took pics). I had an appointment to have my oil changed on the 14th already so I had them check for leaks at the same time. I told him everything and showed him where I saw the puddles. He told me they found 3 different leaks, 1 from the water pump, one from the oil pan and another from a hose. Told me to drop off my car on July 19th so they can do a dye test on it and kept it over night so they could take it for a test drive in the morning. They told me it was a bad pressure cap. There notes say, "pressure tested cooling system no leaks, coolant leak was from a bad coolant pressure cap. He explained the coolant puddles I saw were from the coolant spilling out as I was driving on the highway. On the way home it over heated again and since the dealership was already closed I went back home. I called the next morning and he said to bring it back Monday 25th. On the 24th I checked the coolant and it was the lowest I've ever seen it so I filled it to just below the line. I took it in on the 25th. Later that day I got a call saying that they needed my ok for an estimate of over $900- so they could tear apart my engine so that powertrain can have an inspector come take a look and give there ok and the estimate of $900 would go away.
The next afternoon I get a call saying it could be a blown head gasket or even a cracked head so powertrain won't cover it and the repair will cost me $3,200. My thoughts are that if it blew, it probably happened when the water pump went out. I called Powertrain and they said that it hasn't been denied and that they don't have a diagnosis. The lady agreed with me about the cause possibly being from the water pump and in that case it would be covered. I then called the service manager at the dealership and he was immediately very rude and seemed very irritated with me, (he even cursed once during his rant) and started to explain to me why powertrain won't cover it. I explained to him what I was told by powertrain which seemed to make him even more mad and he said
he wasn't going to tear down my engine for a diagnosis because if powertrain didn't cover it they would have to eat it and if I wanted it done then he will give me a new estimate and that I would need to pay 50% of it before they will start to tear it down. I didn't hear from them Thursday or Friday and I didn't call them because I didn't want to bug him and anger him anymore than he already is. I am now unsure what to do.
Any suggestions?
Everything was fine until Friday June 3 2022 it overheated on the freeway coming back from shopping about 35 miles out of town. When the car over heats it starts beeping, shuts off the a/c automatically and says to idle engine. I pull off the side of the road and idle the engine. After a couple of minutes the temp gauge drops back to the 1/2 way mark and the coolant is low but not too bad. I take the old highway back home so I can drive slower and the next morning I checked the coolant level and it seemed even lower so I added some coolant. June 6th Monday morning I called the dealership and they told me to bring it in so he can take a look. The dealership is about 20 miles away. I drove it over and the man looked under my hood and told me to call him the next day if the coolant was lower. The next morning I checked and it looked the some. So I just kept a close eye one the coolant for awhile. I noticed that the level was always kinda fluctuating so I just made sure to not let it get very low.
July 11th on the highway it overheated again about 10 miles out of town. I checked the coolant which looked fine and again idled the engine and it came back down after a few minutes. I turned around and went back home. The next day I drove it about 25 miles on the highway and checked the coolant before heading back home when I saw puddles of coolant down in the engine (I took pics). I had an appointment to have my oil changed on the 14th already so I had them check for leaks at the same time. I told him everything and showed him where I saw the puddles. He told me they found 3 different leaks, 1 from the water pump, one from the oil pan and another from a hose. Told me to drop off my car on July 19th so they can do a dye test on it and kept it over night so they could take it for a test drive in the morning. They told me it was a bad pressure cap. There notes say, "pressure tested cooling system no leaks, coolant leak was from a bad coolant pressure cap. He explained the coolant puddles I saw were from the coolant spilling out as I was driving on the highway. On the way home it over heated again and since the dealership was already closed I went back home. I called the next morning and he said to bring it back Monday 25th. On the 24th I checked the coolant and it was the lowest I've ever seen it so I filled it to just below the line. I took it in on the 25th. Later that day I got a call saying that they needed my ok for an estimate of over $900- so they could tear apart my engine so that powertrain can have an inspector come take a look and give there ok and the estimate of $900 would go away.
The next afternoon I get a call saying it could be a blown head gasket or even a cracked head so powertrain won't cover it and the repair will cost me $3,200. My thoughts are that if it blew, it probably happened when the water pump went out. I called Powertrain and they said that it hasn't been denied and that they don't have a diagnosis. The lady agreed with me about the cause possibly being from the water pump and in that case it would be covered. I then called the service manager at the dealership and he was immediately very rude and seemed very irritated with me, (he even cursed once during his rant) and started to explain to me why powertrain won't cover it. I explained to him what I was told by powertrain which seemed to make him even more mad and he said
he wasn't going to tear down my engine for a diagnosis because if powertrain didn't cover it they would have to eat it and if I wanted it done then he will give me a new estimate and that I would need to pay 50% of it before they will start to tear it down. I didn't hear from them Thursday or Friday and I didn't call them because I didn't want to bug him and anger him anymore than he already is. I am now unsure what to do.
Any suggestions?
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