Enough to be a 'Lemon'??

[Squeeler92]

Having problems with my car. Read up on the NY Lemon Law and it says that the car is considered a 'Lemon' after 4 failed attempts at repair. It also states that the problem must be something that is a "substantial impairment of value" to the car.

Now, what is the problem? The car will start to buck in 1st and 2nd if I give the car a bit more gas than normal acceleration. No, I have never raced the car. What I mean by "more gas" is say I need to merge from a side road onto a main road and need to get up to speed quicker. The car usually does this ~3000-4000 RPM. The RPM's will start to leap (rather than going up smoothly) ~250-500RPM at a time as the car bucks until I depress the clutch or get off the gas. Sometimes the car will do it, while other times it does not. There have been rare moments where the car has actually done it when I was accelerating smoothly (less than 3000RPM and just moving with traffic), I think maybe 2 or 3 times.

The problem is intermittent, but is very present. The car has been taken down twice and neither time it was repaired, going down tomorrow for the third to see a Service REP. My dad and the Service Manager went at it today. The Service Manager had driven in the car with me and felt the problem. I let it buck for a good 3-4 secs and it was exactly what I wanted it to do. The idiot (service manager) tells my father that he only felt it for a split second and it wasn't enough for him to "sink his teeth into". :rollseyes

Now, only problem is that the dealer has not been giving me receipts or any form of records that I have been in for 2 repairs. By NYS law, it is required that they do give me legible and well documented reports after each time my car is in. I will ask them to write up receipts tomorrow for the other two times I went in, will this be enough or will these be null and void since it wasn't given to me directly after work was done on the car?? Also, do I have a case for my car to be Lemon'd??

Thanks folks.

 

[A40dRkNmAn]

well honestly to me is sounds like you are the one creating the problem by not being the best at driving a stick maybe? but i have no idea i would have to see the problem in person. an intermitent problem is so hard to find. and i think you might be kind of sol on the other two if they are not documented then technically they have never been there. that means they just voided the ro. but who knows. i would love to see what they do. what kind of car is it anyways? sounds like to me you just dont want to have the car anymore, and if one as the same model as yours does it when ylou drive it and it turns out to be a normal concern than you are sol.

 

[svt32v99]

Me thinks you can't drive. But then again, I am a raging asshole.

 

[Squeeler92]

well honestly to me is sounds like you are the one creating the problem by not being the best at driving a stick maybe? but i have no idea i would have to see the problem in person. an intermitent problem is so hard to find. and i think you might be kind of sol on the other two if they are not documented then technically they have never been there. that means they just voided the ro. but who knows. i would love to see what they do. what kind of car is it anyways? sounds like to me you just dont want to have the car anymore, and if one as the same model as yours does it when ylou drive it and it turns out to be a normal concern than you are sol.

What does "sol" mean? I have asked this on a GTO forum and there were a good number of people having the same problem. Many of them said to check the MAF and fuel pressure, both of which I suggested to the dealer and they just brushed me off. As far as not being able to drive, that might be right if this were to happen right after a shift, but I've had it happen a number of times a few seconds after completely getting off the clutch. Also, I have bogged some launches and had 1-2 shifts that had the car bucking around (NOT the same) and these don't result in the bucking aforementioned. When you mess up the 1-2 shift there is bucking, but this is completely different. The bucking is accompanied by the car sounding like it's hitting the rev limiter but the RPM jump rather than moving up smoothly. These two buckings (I assure you, I know what kind of bucking comes from not shifting properly) are NOT the same....

 

[Bert5.0]

sol= shit out of luck

I never did like manuals.

 

[Snake Pliskin]

Sounds like a valid problem that needs to be taken seriously by the dealership.If they dont take care of this, you may need to bypass them and talk to someone at corporate.

 

[Squeeler92]

Sounds like a valid problem that needs to be taken seriously by the dealership.If they dont take care of this, you may need to bypass them and talk to someone at corporate.

I want to go thru the motions and follow the guidelines for the car to be declared a Lemon (the car might actually be fixed by some magical stroke of God). If the problem is not fixed after the 4th time, what action should I take? Do I talk to the dealership and have them contact the corporation or will I need to be getting a lawyer and taking the car to court? Honestly, this has been the most fun car I have ever owned, and the most frustrating car I have ever owned....

 

[Sapperstang]

First off I will say that I have first hand expereince with this because I was able to get Ford to buy back a vehicle under the lemon law. Right now I don't think you quite qualify. You're going to need the paperwork for each visit on this problem. Also call customer service a couple times to complain about the dealer not being able to fix your problem to get it on record. Then once you've done that and have several repair bills for the problem call the Dispute Settlement Board and tell them your story. This is what I did for a Ford so it may be different for you. The number for the DSB was in teh owners manual. They had me send all the paperwork I had an on the issue and a couple weeks later I did a phone inteview with the board and they ruled in my favor. I had the choice of a refund or a new car. Good luck.

 

[LtnRyder]

I went through this shit with my bike when I first got it. Granted bikes and cars are different realms. My bike came w/ no gaskets in between my oil pump and water pump. So it leaked the 1st day I had it. For the 1st 6 months of ownership, the shop had my bike for 5 1/2 of it. Once I got it back it was still jacked up and just straight up went to the damn GM and told him the deal. Offered me a new one, or just wait it out and I will get taken care of and get a discount on future maintenance on the bike. They fixed it once and for all, it was bout a 8 month process, but hey 20% off on anything I get on my bike is nice. :-D BTW another reason it took so long was all the parts for the bike were goin into ones bein built, not as backup pieces to maintenance them.