CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2016 Silverado has a few problems reported here & there, but that's to be expected for a popular model. More importantly, it has no significant problem trends -- both with our complaint data & same with complaints made to the NHTSA.
This is my first Chevrolet vehicle and upon first buying it used in August of 2019 with only 26,000 miles on it, I was quite impressed with it! I love the interior and the extremely quiet ride! A few months later I was driving through a field on my farm and noticed the fan speed increased to its fastest speed. It was a hot day but despite that it would always start to slow down some not long after starting it up. The air felt cool but I could tell it wasn’t as cold as normal. I started looking up things online and that’s where I spied several complaints about cracked condensers and where to locate the crack. So I got out of the truck and walked around to the front and guess what?? A green colored oil with bubbles spewing out were coming from around that one connection to the receiver.
Called GM, had to take it in and spend $100 to have the technician diagnose the problem. I told them a 6 year old could diagnose this problem, as anyone that has a set of good eyes can see the refrigerant spewing out. But anyway, the service manager came out with an estimate of almost $1200. I laughed at him and said that since GM knows and has acknowledged this as a part defect, they should cover that repair in full. I told him I had only owned Fords prior to this and had been quite impressed with this Silverado, at least up until this point. I told him that no reasonable person would expect their a/c system to fail at 36,000 miles. I said I had driven 3 previous fords well past 100k and never once had to so much as add refrigerant to those 3 vehicles. So I started calling GM. When all was said and done they agreed to drop the repair price to $600. I told them anything over $0 was not acceptable to me and told the lady I would be repairing it myself using parts that wouldn’t fail in a year.
I went and bought my own condenser and borrowed a vacuum pump and did the install myself. It was surprisingly easy. I didn’t buy the updated OEM condenser. It looked to me like the brazed connection was exactly the same as the old one. I got a car quest condenser with a lifetime warranty. On it the entire receiver is welded to the other end of the condenser. No cheap connection to leak there. I couldn’t believe that GM would treat their customers in such a way. They have little incentive to improve their parts if they can put defective crap on them and then make the customer pay for the repairs when it breaks. The only thing that will force a change is if people start buying other brands.
A/C went out. Of course it would be sitting in traffic on a 93F day. Did an online search and found that the OEM condenser had a bad weld. This is a common issue. Called dealership - they quoted $950 to replace condenser and recharge AC. Local shop quoted $750. Ending up doing the repair myself and cost about $150 and a few hours.
Once again Chevy Silverado is on my s*** list, because they continue to use crappy parts, and they know it, but still don't stand behind their products.
We’re on a 10 day road trip to see the USA in my Chevrolet. It got so hot but my wife was a sport about it. All I could think about was unhappy wife, unhappy life.
I would like to get reimbursed for this expensive repair.
I had AC one day, then no AC the next. It was cracked at the weld on my AC condenser. This is a failure that should not have occurred. In my opinion, it is a defect in the OEM part, and Chevrolet should issue a recall, given how many people are apparently having the same issue.
- James B.,
Godwin, NC, US
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The issue with this condenser crack issue is an ongoing issue with Chevy. They say its only warrantied for 3 years. it seems to be an ongoing issue and the manufacturer should warranty these condensers. They are leaking Freon into the atmosphere which is a violation.
Air condition worked fine when I stopped at grocery, and then didn't not work when I started it again. No sign of it going bad. The wife had mentioned that she saw spots under the truck at the right front but I thought that was just condensations. Took to dealer and was told it will cost 1200 to replace condenser. Was told that this was a conman problem with GM condensers.. If I had known this I probably wouldn't have purchased the truck. I had a 2000 silverado that I traded for this one and never had issues with air on it and it was 18 years old when I traded it for this 2016 silveradao.
A/C condenser cracked and leaked oil that could be seen through the grill on the air filter. This is one week after having to have the transmission replaced. So done with GM vehicles.
It makes me angry that I had to pay $1229.93 to replace the AC condenser on a truck that is 4 years old and only has 66695 miles on it. We have been loyal Chevy owners since opening our service business in 1982. At this time we own 5 trucks. If I have to pay for something like this again I will stop buying Chevy/GMC.
The truck was less than 3 years old when the condenser cracked, there are no moving parts and there is no damage to the truck. I feel this is a design flaw or the part was defective when the truck was built. I would like Chevy to fix this. Other models have had this same issue and Chevy fixed them, but not this truck. UNHAPPY
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This is my first Chevrolet vehicle and upon first buying it used in August of 2019 with only 26,000 miles on it, I was quite impressed with it! I love the interior and the extremely quiet ride! A few months later I was driving through a field on my farm and noticed the fan speed increased to its fastest speed. It was a hot day but despite that it would always start to slow down some not long after starting it up. The air felt cool but I could tell it wasn’t as cold as normal. I started looking up things online and that’s where I spied several complaints about cracked condensers and where to locate the crack. So I got out of the truck and walked around to the front and guess what?? A green colored oil with bubbles spewing out were coming from around that one connection to the receiver.
Called GM, had to take it in and spend $100 to have the technician diagnose the problem. I told them a 6 year old could diagnose this problem, as anyone that has a set of good eyes can see the refrigerant spewing out. But anyway, the service manager came out with an estimate of almost $1200. I laughed at him and said that since GM knows and has acknowledged this as a part defect, they should cover that repair in full. I told him I had only owned Fords prior to this and had been quite impressed with this Silverado, at least up until this point. I told him that no reasonable person would expect their a/c system to fail at 36,000 miles. I said I had driven 3 previous fords well past 100k and never once had to so much as add refrigerant to those 3 vehicles. So I started calling GM. When all was said and done they agreed to drop the repair price to $600. I told them anything over $0 was not acceptable to me and told the lady I would be repairing it myself using parts that wouldn’t fail in a year.
I went and bought my own condenser and borrowed a vacuum pump and did the install myself. It was surprisingly easy. I didn’t buy the updated OEM condenser. It looked to me like the brazed connection was exactly the same as the old one. I got a car quest condenser with a lifetime warranty. On it the entire receiver is welded to the other end of the condenser. No cheap connection to leak there. I couldn’t believe that GM would treat their customers in such a way. They have little incentive to improve their parts if they can put defective crap on them and then make the customer pay for the repairs when it breaks. The only thing that will force a change is if people start buying other brands.
- Colby T., Piney Flats, TN, US