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My check engine light came on the other day. I just got a quick check and they say it is the p0411 Secondary Air Filter. I have an appointment to get it fixed tomorrow with the chevy dealer.
That should be covered under my (5 year 100,000 mile) warranty, right? I guess i'll find out I hate car troubles.
Anyone else ever have this problem?
EDIT:
It is a 2006 Chevy Cobalt LT.
Last edited by thegirlinaz; 04-16-2009 at 12:19 PM..
Nope that's why I like older vehicles. Less crap to go wrong on them. Simple to diagnose. I know that's not for everyone. You didn't mention what year and model.
Many dealers will try to argue certain things aren't covered. I have argued the point (had to speak to the manager's boss's boss) and won. A good dealer will work with you if your request is reasonable. Your satisfaction is future business for them as I believe most of their money comes from servicing versus selling cars.
Many dealers will try to argue certain things aren't covered. I have argued the point (had to speak to the manager's boss's boss) and won. A good dealer will work with you if your request is reasonable. Your satisfaction is future business for them as I believe most of their money comes from servicing versus selling cars.
GM pays 40 over cost on warranty claim parts - it's unfair to say all dealers would chance losing a sale to get greater profits. Customer satisfaction is one of the criteria that GM is looking at now when deciding the fate of some.
My check engine light came on the other day. I just got a quick check and they say it is the p0411 Secondary Air Filter. I have an appointment to get it fixed tomorrow with the chevy dealer.
That should be covered under my (5 year 100,000 mile) warranty, right? I guess i'll find out I hate car troubles.
Anyone else ever have this problem?
EDIT:
It is a 2006 Chevy Cobalt LT.
I am a shop owner that worked in dealers for years. Your five year 100K warranty is powertrain only, that is to say only internally lubricated drivetrain components. That warranty is very valuable if an engine or transmission has a serious failure. But the warranty that would be applicable to your problem is the factory three year, 36K warranty. If it has been more than 36 months since the car was produced (not sold) or you have more than 36 thousand miles on it, you will be footing the bill.
You may find it interesting that all the manufacturers are now touting these huge 100k or lifetime powertrain warranties but it is basically a sales trick. You see, they know that the failure rate of the components involved with these warranties is minimal. They know that they will spend very small amounts of money because these types of failures are relatively rare. But they love to hawk and promote these warranties because nobody clarifies for the customer that only CERTAIN, RARELY FAILING COMPONENTS are covered. The result? You buy a car and skip away thinking you've got a hell of alot of protection that doesn't actually exist...
Another Federally mandated warranty setup relates to harmful emissions. If, within 8 years or 80K miles of the production date, your catalytic converter or your Engine control computer fail, the dealer has to fix it for free. This is good because those are two very expensive repair propositions. I am telling you this because many dealers and aftermarket repair shops hide this from customers who think they have no warranty left on anything on their car. If a customer comes to me with, say, 60,000 miles on their car and I determine it needs a new catalytic converter, I will send the customer to a dealer and let them know that there will be no charge by the dealer. However, many in this business will take advantage of your ignorance and charge you for the expensive repair.
Could be because your gas cap was not tightened enough. Usually when it is a p0411 Secondary Air Filter it is either your gas cap not tightened after a fill up or there is a leak in the fuel evaporator. If it is the gas cap it just needs to be reset. If filter, it needs to be replaced.
B. Wing, does the cat warranty apply even if you're not original owner?
Absolutely. That is a Federally mandated warranty, whereas all other warranties are offered solely at the discretion of the manufacturer. To clarify though, the cat is only covered when it's failure causes the check engine light to illuminate. That accounts for 80% of catalytic converter failures. The other way they can fail, which is NOT covered by this warranty, is if the catalyst material inside breaks apart and starts making noise. Only if that check engine light is on with a code P0420 indicating catalyst inefficiency will it be covered up to the 8/80. If the engine control unit (ECU) fails, for any reason, it gets replaced free.
Could be because your gas cap was not tightened enough. Usually when it is a p0411 Secondary Air Filter it is either your gas cap not tightened after a fill up or there is a leak in the fuel evaporator. If it is the gas cap it just needs to be reset. If filter, it needs to be replaced.
Wow, where to start. First, the gas cap being loose or missing can cause a check engine light, but the code would be one of several codes relating to an evaporative fuel leak. Second, there is no such thing as a "fuel evaporator". In fact, we want to PREVENT fuel evaporation. This stuff going into the atmosphere is very bad and your engine control unit (ECU) is equipped with sensors and programmed to alert the driver if there is an evaporative leak. If you leave your gas cap off, the ECU "thinks" that fuel is being allowed to evaporate and illuminates check engine light. If the gas cap is okay, there is probably a hole somewhere in the fuel system that does not leak liquid fuel, but is letting fuel evaporate.
The Secondary Air system is basically an air pump that is turned on when the car is started cold. The air pumps into the catalytic converter and causes it to heat up very rapidly. We want the cat hot because it burns off harmful unburned gas that gets past engine before it can get to the atmosphere. The hotter it gets, the more efficient it is. The P0411 code indicates the ECU is not sensing enough air flowing into the cat. The check engine light illuminates and a professional technician now has to run tests on different components to determine what component failed.
The check engine or service engine soon light is a Federally mandated light. The law says that any problem that would cause harmful emissions must be 1.Detected by ECU, and 2.Alert the driver that there is a problem. When the light is on, a code is set in the computer. The code very very rarely "tells" us what is wrong. Rather, it tells us of a malfunction in a certain system, and we now have to run tests on all the interdependent parts of that system to determine where the problem is. For the code at hand, P0411, the cause of failure could be anything from a blown fuse to a failed oxygen sensor to a failed Secondary Air pump or a failed relay, etc. Many less well trained guys in the auto repair field don't even know this and assume that the code has solved the problem for them. They replace the air pump without running tests, and the customer comes back in a week saying that the light is on again. The same code is stored, meaning the prior repair was ineffective and a waste of money. The customer is pissed, the technician is embarrassed, and the next customer with a check engine light is told "Don't worry about that, the car runs fine so no need to worry". But the ECU is programmed to compensate for whatever caused the light to turn on, and very often this means adding extra fuel to make sure engine keeps running as well as possible. When the car is working normally, we want to give it just enough gas to run. The ECU controls precisely how much fuel enters engine. When it adds extra fuel, the engine loves it and runs very well. This, ironically, gives people a false sense of security because in addition to wasting fuel, related components are deteriorating prematurely, more carbon is building up inside the engine, and all kinds of other crap.
Getting check engine lights fixed correctly is very important to a long, less troublesome life of the car. Ignore it at your expense!
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I hate car troubles.
Auto Warranties
False security
