Hey All,
I'm new to the forum, however, I've been on the website before to get some useful maintenance information. Now, I'm in need of some real help. My 2007 Avy, which has 160K miles, was rearending recently at about 30 mph. I was a few miles from home, so I took it easy and limped there. A few days later, I was on my way to the body shop when my dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Engine light was flashing and the stabiltrak and traction control went offline. At that point the engine started making this puffing noise. I pulled over, checked all my fluids, looked at as much as I could at 6 AM. Eventually made it to the shop thanks to my hazards. Parked it and left it. So here's where the fun begins. The shop reviews the body/frame damage at $4800. Not too bad, however, they will not dig into the engine/electrical issues unless I can prove it was caused by the accident. Side note: I've been down this road before, when she was hit by a drunk driver while parked. They ended up fixing the $8k in body damage, before they found out it needed a new transmission and transfer case, $12K total! (which would have totaled it if they would have found this to begin with). I do not want to go down this road again.
So the body shop calls me the other day and tells me the engine is shot... I asked how they knew that, and they simply said because of the sounds it was making. Sounds like it's missing. But again, they will not dig into it, unless someone agrees to pay for it. The other guys insurance accepted liability, however, won't give the go ahead with the engine until it's proven to be from the wreck. So you can see I'm in a catch 22 here.
My main question is this: Is there anyway to prove this wreck caused my engine troubles?
Secondly, asside from the engine, there is frame damage on both rails where the hitch now looks at the ground. The body shop says the frame can be straightened but I tend to disagree since there are kinks in the side walls. He says the other option is to purchase the 2' Chevy rail extension, hack off the old, and weld on the new. Sounds good, right? but then he tells me only the bottom and sides would be welded, because the body would have to be lifted off to weld the top. I'm not an engineer but my construction experience tells me the top chord is the most important in tension (IE towing) Anyone have experience or thoughts on this as well?
Thank you for your help!!
I'm new to the forum, however, I've been on the website before to get some useful maintenance information. Now, I'm in need of some real help. My 2007 Avy, which has 160K miles, was rearending recently at about 30 mph. I was a few miles from home, so I took it easy and limped there. A few days later, I was on my way to the body shop when my dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Engine light was flashing and the stabiltrak and traction control went offline. At that point the engine started making this puffing noise. I pulled over, checked all my fluids, looked at as much as I could at 6 AM. Eventually made it to the shop thanks to my hazards. Parked it and left it. So here's where the fun begins. The shop reviews the body/frame damage at $4800. Not too bad, however, they will not dig into the engine/electrical issues unless I can prove it was caused by the accident. Side note: I've been down this road before, when she was hit by a drunk driver while parked. They ended up fixing the $8k in body damage, before they found out it needed a new transmission and transfer case, $12K total! (which would have totaled it if they would have found this to begin with). I do not want to go down this road again.
So the body shop calls me the other day and tells me the engine is shot... I asked how they knew that, and they simply said because of the sounds it was making. Sounds like it's missing. But again, they will not dig into it, unless someone agrees to pay for it. The other guys insurance accepted liability, however, won't give the go ahead with the engine until it's proven to be from the wreck. So you can see I'm in a catch 22 here.
My main question is this: Is there anyway to prove this wreck caused my engine troubles?
Secondly, asside from the engine, there is frame damage on both rails where the hitch now looks at the ground. The body shop says the frame can be straightened but I tend to disagree since there are kinks in the side walls. He says the other option is to purchase the 2' Chevy rail extension, hack off the old, and weld on the new. Sounds good, right? but then he tells me only the bottom and sides would be welded, because the body would have to be lifted off to weld the top. I'm not an engineer but my construction experience tells me the top chord is the most important in tension (IE towing) Anyone have experience or thoughts on this as well?
Thank you for your help!!