I need some help from the forum. Last Thursday, I dropped my car off at the dealer for an exhaust leak. They determined that that there was insufficient seal at the left catalytic converter. Anyway, they removed the left catalytic converter and replaced the upper and lower gaskets, all under warranty...My car has been at the dealer and it was only last night that I went to pick it up (parts had to be shipped from Detroit). I got there after the service department was closed. As soon as I turned on the car and revved it, I heard the same sound. I'm looking at the service report right now and in the recommendation section it say "Upon inspection noticed vehicle has been bottomed out was hit on bottom and cracked cat converter weld at flange causing still a slight noise. Cat must be welded to correct problem"

My car has NEVER bottomed out. My driveway is very steep, so my center muffler and exhaust tips have always scraped and you can see the scratch marks. Should I insist that the cat converter be fixed (welded) by the dealer...is that type of damage (cracked converter weld at flange) covered under warranty...should the dealer have replaced the entire cat converter...or should I just go to my exhaust shop and have them weld the converter at the flange? Can an argument be made that the constant scraping along the driveway contributed to the cracked converter weld?? Any info is very much appreciated....

What about big speedbumps. There's a shopping center near my work that will NEVER see my car's tires as the speedbumps there are so huge every car I've been in has bottomed out. So I don't even want to risk my CTS on there.

In any case, that stinks. Why wouldn't they fully fix it? You'd think that when they let you know the car was "ready" they would have told you that more work was still needed.

Here's my take for what it's worth. If your dealer is like mine, they don't even have a welder on the premises and would job it out, taking maybe a day or two. A muffler shop could do that in minutes and it should be chump change. I'd save my arguements with the service guys for the big issues..Like what they might say when they see your Huggers!:D

Here's my take for what it's worth. If your dealer is like mine, they don't even have a welder on the premises and would job it out, taking maybe a day or two. A muffler shop could do that in minutes and it should be chump change. I'd save my arguements with the service guys for the big issues..Like what they might say when they see your Huggers!:D
I agree - choose your battles wisely. An exhaust weld should be quick and inexpensive at most shops. And, to the dealer's point, they should not be required to warrant damage not due to material or workmanship. It would be nice if the did, but not required.

They should have called you as soon as they found it and offered you various resolutions and given you a chance to handle it while the car was on the lift.

I'd be more upset that they didn't notify you than the fact that it's messed up.

here's my angle, if it hitting something it would not crack it would be bent and rolled over. It might have even moved the entire exhaust system. it would have been nice to see it on the rack. GM waits for us to warranty something like that ( not a defect ) so they can charge the repair back to the dealer. Most of us do have welders and we do fix little things like that for our customers, unless of course the customer has chosen to be pissy and all knowing to the advisor in which case no one goes the extra mile. Phone contact is paramount in this relationship, I stress relationship as in 50/50 you can also call the dealership to check on your car.

UPDATE: So I took my car to my exhaust guy yesterday evening to weld the crack on the cat converter....he said $50. He said that it should have been covered under warranty and that the dealers are BSing me. I said they denied that portion of the work and only replaced the gaskets....Anyway, when the mechanic who was going to do the work saw that the only way he could get to it was from the top, the job now is turning into a 2-3 hour job...so that $50 quote is out the window....He insisted again that the warranty should apply because that stuff about the car bottoming out was BS and that it was the heat from the engine that caused the crack in the weld at the flange.....So, I went to different dealer in West Los Angeles last night and told them my problem....The service writer told me he would have someone look at it, but the earliest would be this morning. So I left my car there, (got me an SRX loane)r and about 10 minutes ago, got a call from the service rep...He told me I was right, I need a new catalytic converter, and they will replace it UNDER WARRANTY on Monday, since they do not have it in stock....So I'm going back for my car after work and calling up my service rep at my dealer and tell him that I can't believe he played me like that....If it wasn't for the free lifetime oil change I would never go back to them.....Just on general principle I may not go back

yeah dude, i hear you. i doubt i'll go back to my dealer now that the other one i took it to bent over backwards to help me out. if i were you i'd be pissed just because of the trouble it took to and from all those places. what a pain.

UPDATE: So I took my car to my exhaust guy yesterday evening to weld the crack on the cat converter....he said $50. He said that it should have been covered under warranty and that the dealers are BSing me. I said they denied that portion of the work and only replaced the gaskets....Anyway, when the mechanic who was going to do the work saw that the only way he could get to it was from the top, the job now is turning into a 2-3 hour job...so that $50 quote is out the window....He insisted again that the warranty should apply because that stuff about the car bottoming out was BS and that it was the heat from the engine that caused the crack in the weld at the flange.....So, I went to different dealer in West Los Angeles last night and told them my problem....The service writer told me he would have someone look at it, but the earliest would be this morning. So I left my car there, (got me an SRX loane)r and about 10 minutes ago, got a call from the service rep...He told me I was right, I need a new catalytic converter, and they will replace it UNDER WARRANTY on Monday, since they do not have it in stock....So I'm going back for my car after work and calling up my service rep at my dealer and tell him that I can't believe he played me like that....If it wasn't for the free lifetime oil change I would never go back to them.....Just on general principle I may not go back

That's cool how you at least got it done. Some dealers suck.