I purchased a 2002 Chevrolet Ventura van in Dec from Serpentini Chevrolet Tallmadge. It had a 90-day/3,000-mile warranty. When it began making odd noises in February I took it to my mechanic. His diagnosis was that the intake manifold was bad and there was a leak in the transmission. I took it back to the dealership - they said it would be covered under the warranty & until two days later! They called to say that I would have to pay half of the cost of the repairs - another $400! Shortly after that, we took it to get the 3,000 mile oil change suggested - afterward coming home the oil change light came on - took the van back. The man said that the oil previously in the van was thicker than it required - and in his opinion that was something usually done to mask a problem. Shortly after that we noticed the oil pressure gauge was at 16. It kept going down after that. Finally, we took it back to our mechanic - he diagnosed that the engine was shot. His opinion was that when Serpentinini did the intake manifold work, they spilled antifreeze into the engine - ruining the engine. Serpentini probably put the thicker oil in to try and eliminate the foul up of spilling antifreeze into the engine. It evidently did not work - he said without Serpentini replacing the engine, basically I would have a paper weight - the van is not worth putting that much money into it.
I went back to Serpentini and the service manager said that I would have to pay almost $600 - probably more than that - that was an estimate of half the work - I would have to pay for them to check the engine because they would not take anyone's word for it. I understood that he wouldn't take someone's word for it, but I don't feel it is right that I have to pay for them to CHECK what they did wrong. He talked with my mechanic - and my mechanic made it clear that he couldn't prove that the antifreeze was when the problem started, but even the service mgr agreed that it does happen when you remove the intake manifold. Now, two people are making an educated guess that it was what went wrong, but they don't care about customer service enough to take care of the problem! I will never purchase a vehicle from them again! If a vehicle doesn't last even for 5 months, that is unbelievable!
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