Oil leak from rear main and/or rear intake

[Guardsman]

For anybody who has this problem on a 98+ 3.8 (and I know that there are a few of you), here is what I have found out so far.
I contacted Chevy customer service, and I told that I was fed up with the problems that I've been having, and that if they didn't fix the oil leak, I would start looking at legal remedies (I'm out of warranty, but I have had too many problems, and oil seals should be a no-brainer by now).
Lo and behold, they got back to me and opened a trouble ticket. Then, the usual BS started again. They said that I could take the car in to a dealership, and have them look at it. IF they decided that it was their fault, and IF (I emphasize IF) they decided to fix it, they would foot the bill for everything. However, if they (Chevy customer service, not the dealership) decided not to fix it, then I would be stuck with the bill for the dealership looking at the problem.
Right now, the dealership in town is backed up in work, so I'm going to talk to the guy in a couple of weeks to see what kind of job he was looking at to check it (read: how many hours would it be on the books?), and in the meantime, look at it myself. Then I need to decide on what to do from there, because I don't need to be getting stiffed with a $100+ bill for them to look at it and tell me that they can't or won't do anything about it.
I am thinking about contacting Clark Howard (he's a consumer advocacy guy), and letting him know about it. If he wants to run with it, I'll let you guys know, so you can throw in your $.02 on the matter.

[Dekay]

I had the EXACT problem with my 1999 Camaro - took it to the dealer - long story short we have a court date next month and there's a brand new engine off a 2000 camaro in my car no thanks to the dealer. I love the car but daaaaamn GM customer service and GM dealerships are awful. I can guarentee you that your dealer won't fix it (they might even blame you for it). Take it to a good mechanic and have it fixed.

[Guardsman]

How'd you get the new motor? Also, what's the deal with the legal stuff (if you can talk about it right now) in case I have to do that.
I'm not worried about the guys at the dealership, I know them, and they're pretty cool. It's the yahoos at customer no-service who make the final decision that I'm worried about. My hesitancy on this whole thing is the prospect of getting hit with a $100+ inspection bill, and still having to get it fixed myself.

[ September 13, 2002: Message edited by: Guardsman ]</p>

[Dekay]

Well, the main seal broke and I was told they needed to pull the oil pan out to get to it. In the process of doing all this, they somehow broke the oil pan without noticing it. So when I picked up the car and drove it for a while the engine basically died from il deprivation. They flat out blamed it on me saying I revved the engine too much (even though it's gear driven and GM techs should know this) and since I was revving it that caused everything to break. After a while they agreed to fix it - so they basically replaced SOME of the damaged parts in the engine saying the other stuff is fine. They put some apoxy on the engine block itself since it was cracked. I get the car back and a week later the whole thing dies again. I knew it would and I told them when I picked it up that it'll die unless they replace the engine.

Luckily I have extended warranty on the car so once the GM warranty ran out (within like 3 weeks of this whole thing) I went to an independent mechanic and he found an engine with 1000 miles on it not even broken in yet out of a 2000 camaro. Extended warranty paid for it and it's good as new now.

We're suing the dealer for all the trouble - they have no idea I had extended warranty on the car and I have a receipt saying I paid for the new engine (warrenty reimbursed me after) so I want them to pay up. They breached their warranty agreement, they basically broke the engine - very bad workmanship, they basically lied to me throughout the whole process...so we'll see what happens.