2000 Pontiac Sunfire - differential pin had snapped and blew off the transmssion cover

# 16 for February 20, 2002

Complaints.com received the following e-message on February 19, 2002:

From: Christopher M. Grosso [Email User]

2000 Pontiac Sunfire - differential pin had snapped and blew off the transmssion cover

I own a 2000 Pontiac Sunfire. Yesterday I had a major problem with it. I was driving at about 15 mph down a residential street when I heard a "ping" sound. My clutch was immediatly inoperable. I pulled to a side street and found a lot of fluid leaking from the car. I called AAA to tow it.

The AAA mechanic looked and immediatly deduced that the differential pin had snapped and blew off the transmssion cover, causing the transmission unuseable. He said taht he has seen this many times in other Sunfire's. I had the car towed to my personal mechanic and he came to the same conclusion after looking at it, he too said that this seems to be a common problem with these cars.

I called GM in Detroit, they denied this was a problem and told me to have one of there mechanics look at it. I had the car towed to the dealer where I bought the car, where it sits now. This repair is going to cost over $2000. My argument is that if this is a manufacturing erroe, the consumer shouldn't be stuck paying any amount. -chris grosso