^ Yes I do agree that the info doesnt match the symptom but I personally have been down this road before and more often than not communication is the issue..not the vehicle. A few things are obvious
1. There is NO way THAT engine ran with a valve chilling out in the combustion chamber.
2. A compression test AND a leakdown test would have been my first step..low compression with no leakdown usually indicates short rod due to hydrolock, low compression with leakdown usually indicates a valve train problem or cracked ring or something.
3. The dealer did NOT do a good job of explaining the situation to the customer.
My question is still ... How the HELL did the valve break? Or was it removed by the dealer? If it broke, that was after the car was down. As I stated earlier...that car did not run with a broken valve. Without hearing it from the horses mouth most of this thread is speculation since the owner of the car is does not have a clear understanding of what happened to his car. In regards to what the invoice states.. that makes no sense at all. BUT all in all... with all these things considered i(and not hearing the developements DIRECTLY from the source, ts not fair to say that that problem was or was not a warranty issue. I have never seen a headgasket fail on one of our cars short of some previous incident. For example I have an RDX in my shop that ACTUALLY has a blown headgasket. The customer was demanding warranty on the repair. After playing detective it turns out that the car was lent to a friend and that friend hit a snowbank and cracked the radiator. Overheated the vehicle. Took it to a local garage to have the rad replaced and gave it back to her friend leaking coolant from the head gasket. Now its COMPLETELY understandable why the customer THOUGHT it was a warranty concern. Point is sometimes there is more to the story than meets the eye and it IS our job to get to the bottom of it. And as a good tech I always do. Sometimes it doesnt work out in the customers favor and sometimes it does.

 

Now that, I completely agree with. That's why the diagnostics are so important before tearing into the engine. If they had done two simple tests, it would have greatly narrowed it down and protected the dealer or protected the customer.

 

Being treated that way in the service department is one of the reasons I wasn't a repeat customer of GM when my lease was up, I washed my hands clean of that headache. Thankfully I have some contacts in my local Acura and Honda dealership and hopefully will never experience that kind of service every again. After paying a premium for things like warranty it makes them look terrible for denying a claim.