Complaint Review: Chevrolet - Detroit Michigan

I bought a 1997 Chevy Silverado, new. I also purchased the 75,000 mile extended warranty, the warranty is through First Extended.

The first problem I had with my transmission was shifting(it has an automatic transmission). The truck would drive fine until it was warmed up. After that, whenever you would take off from a dead stop it would shift so hard from first gear into second that it felt like a car had rear ended you, it was hard enough to bounce your head off the back glass. I took the truck in at 27,906 miles. They told me that no code for the transmission came up, but they replaced the u-joint anyway. They also grease up the end of the drive shaft and told me I would have to do that every 4 months or so. I was also told that there was a design flaw with those transmissions but the transmission wouldn't be damaged. I am a mechanical engineer and I design machinery every day. I know that the transmission will be damaged from that kind of shifting and I can do the metallurgical calculations to prove it, so basically they fed me a bunch of crap to get me off their back. After this first episode, the truck drove fine for a while.

The second time I took my truck in for the SAME problem was at 43,225 miles. I also had a check engine light on. I was told that the warranty (which is supposed to cover the drive train) would not cover the work. I was also told that there is some "normal" driveline backlash in this model of truck----CRAP, once again, this "normal" backlash was not there originally and it was fixed temporarily the first time I took the truck in. How do you fix something that isn't supposed to be broken? I declined the work and called another dealer about it. This other dealer said their mechanic knew what was wrong and would fix it under warranty (by the way this was at 58,249 miles, still well within the 75,000 mile warranty). They did fix it and the tuck ran fine for a while. But, just the other day at 84,358 miles the truck started driving like there was some "slop" in the drivetrain, that lasted for one day. The next day, the transmission went completely out.

I have it in the shop now, it looks as if I will have to purchase a new GM SERTA transmission. I am going to fight GM on this. I tried to fix the problem 3 times before the transmission finally went out. How many times should you have to fix the same problem. Also, I have never pulled anything with this truck and the first scheduled tune-up is at 100,000 miles. I don't think you should have to buy a new transmission before you need a tune-up.

I figured with my story, I should be able to just call the 800 number for GM and get customer service to handle this with no problem, or at least pay for some of it. They were jerks and said they would pay for nothing. I'm not about to let this one die.

One more thing, I talked with a mechanic at a GM dealership today and told him that I had a code 1870 problem. He said he has done a lot of work with this particular problem. He also said that with some of the customers, GM is paying for half of the bill--you just have to gripe enough.

Has anyone else had an experience like this or have another # to call???