Hi all,

I have a 2016 Acadia with approximately 45,000 miles. I noticed it was slowly leaking fluid in the garage, so I took it to the dealer to have them look at it. Turns out, it is the transmission case. The dealer said it looks damaged from hitting road debris or something similar, so it will not be covered by the remaining drivetrain warranty (and probably not by the extended warranty I purchased). As expected, the repair cost is high.

If my regular mechanic is able to fix this problem, would it invalidate any potential future warranty claims with other drivetrain problems?

Thanks,
Lance
Lance

If the case is damaged by road debris such that it is cracked etc. causing a leak, there isn't really any "fixing" it. Some kind of epoxy might hold it together, but wouldn't be a true fix.

If the transmission is truly repaired by your mechanic, that would mean some or all of the case would have been replaced. I'd bet that the damage is already a stored record for your car, so if it shows up with a non-broken case and a separate issue, someone might ask for how it became repaired. If it was disassembled and reassembled by someone else, they would probably not cover it.

Do you have pictures of the damage?

CathedralCub, thanks for your response.

When I mentioned my mechanic “fixing it”, I did mean having him replace the transfer case as required. I guess I wasn’t clear about that. If it can be rebuilt, I don’t know about that yet. Good point about the damage already being logged.

Just so I’m clear...if my mechanic replaces the transfer case, are you saying that a possible future problem with a different drivetrain component might not be covered because this repair wouldn’t have been accomplished by a dealer?

I took this photo last week while having the oil changed. I’m not sure if it shows the damage or not. You can see some leakage though.

Ahhhhh . . . transfer case, not transmission case. Big difference.

It would probably be easier, faster, more reliable, and probably less expensive to get a new transfer case than to get a hollow case then rebuild with the current parts.

Yeah, those robots remember everything we tell them.

No, unless they could prove that the replacement transfer case and/or the related workmanship caused the other problem. A warning though: some less-scrupulous dealerships have from time to time used this kind of thing to get out of warranty repairs, leaving the poor sap that owns the car in the position of proving "nu-uhhh" against the dealship'* "yeah-huh".

I can't see damage in the pic. I suspect I might be able to if the picture were taken from the opposite direction at the same angle. I also wonder if this gouge is related:

CathedralCub, I appreciate your thoughts and insights about my situation.

I took the vehicle to my trusted mechanic this morning. After, examining the transfer case, he agreed with the dealer’* opinion that it has been damaged by something. He mentioned the gouge you pointed out and also noticed a small hole allowing the leakage. He agreed that the manufacturer’* warranty wouldn’t apply in this case.

He quickly found and ordered a replacement part. He plans to change it our for me on Monday for MUCH less than the dealer quoted. I decided it was the best thing for me to save the money now and have him do the work. If I happen to have another drivetrain issue sometime in the future, I guess I’ll deal with it then.

Hopefully, my wife’* car will be good to go next week, before I go out of town for work!

Thanks again.
Lance

Cool!

I don't think you'll have any other issues covering the drive train. Glad you have a decent mechanic available to help you out.