I purchased my Oldsmobile Intrigue in 7 from an Oldsmobile dealership in Santa Monica, CA.in 3 (less than 3 years), I took my car to the Folsom Chevrolet in northern CA to get it serviced and they noticed that the ACDelco 78-6YR battery that came with the car was leaking acid from the positive terminal.
The car had a little over 36k miles on it, but the dealership managed replace the battery under warranty. The battery cable, tray, and whatever else damaged by the acid were covered under the 7-year/75k protection plan I purchased with the vehicle.
The new battery was the same 78-6YR ACDelco model. Not knowing too much about cars (this is the first car I've owned), I didn't question their choice and didn't ask about the warranty on the battery. I figured that they knew what they were doing and that they had fixed the problem. I'm not making that same mistake again!
On 2/7 (less than 2 years), I noticed that the battery was leaking acid again from the positive terminal when I was getting my oil changed.
I called the Oldsmobile customer service and was told they do not cover the battery replacement if it's older than 1 year or has 12k miles on it. I called ACDelco to report the problem and was told that they have not heard of any problems with that battery. I was told by the ACDelco representative that they wouldn't do anything about the problem since they haven't heard anyone else complain about it.
I guess I'm lucky that both problems were caught before the positive terminal fell out or any further damage was caused and that I didn't have to pay for the 2nd battery, but it's not right for them to keep providing faulty batteries to people who are unaware of the problem with their batteries!
As for the current leaking battery, I decided to buy a Sears Gold DieHard battery after some research and recommendations by friends. Also, when I went to the Sears Auto Center, a guy getting his battery changed mentioned that he had his DieHard battery for 7 years before it died. It cost me $86 total with tax for the battery and it has a 3-year free replacement warranty and a 100-month prorated warranty, so I think it's worth a try.
However, I couldn't get it replaced at Sears because apparently to get the battery cable replaced, I have to go to the dealership since they're the only ones who carry it. I'm going to the dealership tomorrow morning to get the cable replaced and to get them to install my new DieHard battery. Crossing my fingers that I won't have any more problems trying to this problem fixed!
I also filed a complaint on www.nhtsa. Dot. Gov but I'm not sure what they can do. I've tried finding an ACDelco address where I can send a complaint, but haven't had any luck finding one. If anyone has an address for AC Delco where I can send them a complaint or knows of anything else I can do to get GM/ACDelco to stop using these batteries, please let me know. Thanks.
0 comments