2010 Chevy Aveo ( Daihatsu ) 1.6L Blowing Head Gaskets and What should be covered under warranty

Question

Hello all: I have a 2010 Chevy Aveo with 152330 miles on it that I was told Blew a head Gasket After taking it to a GM dealer to get the gasket replaced the car still was not working quite right after getting it back ( water gurgling in the coolant overflow reservoir, Overheating as noted on temp gage ) I took the car back to the GM dealer where they said they Machined the head at a Cost of $1000 . I asked at that point if the water pump being weak or bad could cause the repeat issue of the head gasket blowing they said they looked at the water pump and it was OK.

The car worked fine for about a week. Then the problem with overheating came back. I called the GM dealer right away to indicate the head gasket probably blew again.

They said at that point that Head Gaskets were not covered under Warranty and cited a quick reference card by JLwarranty.

The dealer invoice had 12 month 12000 mile guarantee language on the invoice. ( this repeated failure occurred well with in that time and mileage )

MY first questions are :

Is there anything in the block or head or anywhere else that can cause replaced Head Gaskets to continually blow. and should I just give up on it ?

My second question is:

After the 1900 dollars spent to get this fixed and still not get the results of the car being fixed what are the GM dealers obligations

my 3rd question is;

Does it really cost $1000 dollars to machine a head ?

Car is a 2010 Chevy Aveo LT 1.6L Manual , with AC ( Daihatsu)

Thank you in advance for reading this and any help / insights you can provide

Chuck Tobias · Accepted Answer

It's always possible the block is warped as well, but anything that causes an overheating condition such as a stuck thermostat or clogged radiator could certainly blow the head gasket. (Really the dealer should have checked for those things if they're competent, but that's probably expecting too much.)

I have not had a head resurfaced for many years and don't know what current machine shop pricing is like but it would not surprise me at all to find the dealer outsourced the work and paid about 1/2 that, marking it up on your bill.

Unfortunately those are pretty lousy cars even by GM standards. Frankly I'd get rid of that thing instead of throwing good money after bad if you're in a position to do so.