Covered under the recall are: the 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix; 2000-04 Chevrolet Impala; 1998-99 Chevrolet Lumina; 1998-04 Chevrolet Monte Carlo; 1998-99 Oldsmobile Intrigue; and 1997-2004 Buick Regal. The automaker says the cars are still safe to drive. A year later GM recalled nearly 1.5 million more cars that weren’t supercharged. The vast majority (about 85 percent) occurred when the auto was empty.
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The recall is related to a faulty valve cover gasket that degrades over time, causing oil to leak.
Adler said he expected that owners would again be told not to park in garages until they were fixed, but he said he hasn’t seen the dealer bulletin.
The recall could be expensive, but GM hasn’t disclosed any costs. That oil drips onto the exhaust manifold, which generates heat, and catches fire. Including Canada, Mexico and “exports”, the total number of affected vehicles is about 1.4 million, GM said. Flames can spread to a plastic spark plug wire channel and the rest of the engine. The next year, GM announced that the cars caused 267 fires, including 17 that caused structural damage to dwellings.
The recall is so large that it could have an impact on GM’s fourth-quarter earnings, although Adler said that hasn’t been determined. The company is finalizing a fix for the latest recall, and will use state registration databases in an effort to track down the owners and notify them by mail, said spokesman Alan Adler.
The problem first surfaced in 2007, when 21 consumer complaints about engine fires in a few of the cars prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate.
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The recall is GM’s third in seven years involving the issue, as repairs from the first two recalls didn’t work. “The company is aware of post-repair fires in a few vehicles but no crashes or fatalities”. GM said then dealers would remove the spark plug wire retention channel at the front of engine and install two new spark plug wire retainers.
