His Chevy’s check engine light stayed on for months. Here’s what finally turned it off.

Aug 03, 2023

The check engine light is off.

After months of frustration, a new oil pump has apparently, and finally, cured the problem that had kept the light lit on Corey Morris’s new $75,000 Chevy Suburban SUV since shortly after last Christmas.

Morris was featured in a Globe column on Aug. 7 about the ordeal he endured trying to get the problem fixed, first at the dealership and then with GM.

As it turns out, the solution was in plain sight. And it was Morris, not MacMulkin Chevy in Nashua, N.H., or GM, who found it — a 2020 bulletin from GM that pegged the problem to a faulty oil pump.

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All Morris had been given previously by MacMulkin was a 2022 bulletin that said the check engine light problem was apparently related to the engine oil pressure sensor. But the cause was “not known at this time” and remained “under investigation.”

And that’s what Morris was told by MacMulkin and GM for months: There was no fix.

But Liberty Chevy of Wakefield found one, based on the earlier GM bulletin. It replaced the oil pump last week.

When Morris picked the car up, the check engine light, blessedly, was off and there was a valid inspection sticker pasted on the windshield. His car had flunked inspection previously because the check engine light was on, and he was driving with a rejection sticker that was about to expire after a 60-day grace period.

“I am far from a happy customer,” Morris wrote in an email. “It took 7.5 months for a GM dealership to finally get the check engine light off in my car. Now that I know what the issue is it seems like this should have been obvious to GM.”

“GM and MacMulkin told me for 6 months that there was no remedy,” he said.

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Looking back, Morris said he made two trips to MacMulkin, plus 10 calls and three emails to the dealership; he made six calls and exchanged six emails with “Heidi” at GM customer service; and six calls and six emails to “Justin” at GM customer service.

Morris said he has hired a lawyer to fight for compensation from GM for the months-long nightmare. He said he was forced to use 26 hours of personal time off from his job.

“The only reason that I still have the Suburban is because I’m trying to get compensated,” he said. “As soon as the case settles, I will be trading in my car, and I will never drive another GM vehicle as long as I live.”

Got a problem? Send your consumer issue to [email protected]. Follow him @spmurphyboston.