I purchased my Ion 2 Sedan new in 2006 and took IMMACULATE care of it from Day 1. I took it in for regular oil changes / checkups and always followed my mechanic's recommendation whenever maintenance issue would arise. Just recently, I had the automatic transmission rebuilt. For a twelve-year-old vehicle it was running great, then suddenly the timing chain broke without warning destroying the valves.
There was no noise or anything to indicate there was a serious problem at the time or I would have pulled over immediately. The only thing that seemed "off" was the car didn't feel as though it had as much get-up-and-go as usual and a check-engine light appeared on the dash which (according to my mechanic later on) was totally unrelated to the timing chain issue. I made it home that night a with the intention of taking it in for service the next day only to find that the car wouldn't start in the morning. Or ever again, unless I had $5,300 to shell out for a new engine.
Unfortunately, that was not an option for me, so I wound up having to finance a new car. I'd really like to know if I have any recourse with GM, especially since it appears that this same issue occurred with previous years' models, up to and including the 2005 line.
I purchased my Ion 2 Sedan new in 2006 and took IMMACULATE care of it from Day 1. I took it in for regular oil changes / checkups and always followed my mechanic's recommendation whenever maintenance issue would arise. Just recently, I had the automatic transmission rebuilt. For a twelve-year-old vehicle it was running great, then suddenly the timing chain broke without warning destroying the valves.
There was no noise or anything to indicate there was a serious problem at the time or I would have pulled over immediately. The only thing that seemed "off" was the car didn't feel as though it had as much get-up-and-go as usual and a check-engine light appeared on the dash which (according to my mechanic later on) was totally unrelated to the timing chain issue. I made it home that night a with the intention of taking it in for service the next day only to find that the car wouldn't start in the morning. Or ever again, unless I had $5,300 to shell out for a new engine.
Unfortunately, that was not an option for me, so I wound up having to finance a new car. I'd really like to know if I have any recourse with GM, especially since it appears that this same issue occurred with previous years' models, up to and including the 2005 line.
- Gretchen W., San Jose, US