Thread: They should all be strung up!

hey mark, i see two problems with all this
1) the small one - you should've sent her someplace else for 'second opinion', works for doctors and once you bring that culture into the repair industry your biggest worry won't be how much you make or what model of BMW you buy, but how high your malpractice insurance goes....
2) now this is the big one - she was driving to BERKELEY! WITH THE KIDS!!!! I told you it's dangerous to talk to me too much - you don't even realize how you slowly turn into a red boiled frog....

Originally Posted by Whiskers

I had a 1990 honda that needed basically the same work done to it, so I did it myself. The left front wheel needed to come off of the vehicle to access a bolt needed to manually rotate the engine. This is necessary as a precursor before beginning any work to check the timing marks on the crank pulley. Maybe the belt just jumped a tooth, or something.

My honda ran the water pump from the same pulley set as the timing belt. While I had 1/2 the engine taken apart for the timing belt, I decided to replace the water pump as well to complete the warm fuzzy feeling.

This job would have been impossible if I didnt remove the front left wheel.

I had a 1987 toyota celica where this was the same for me. I had to replace the timing belt, and, while I had the engine apart I replaced the water pump because it ran off the same belt as my timing belt. It did not need it right then, but it was a simple procedure while doing the timing belt, and would have been a pain later, if it needed it.

HOWEVER, the mechanic dealing with Mark seems to be rather fishy, IMHO. I would be feeling the same way as Mark is, if he had delt with me, and if the parts on the care were not new, I would be seeking retribution (legally of course), with punitive damages.

Matt

This kind of thing makes me think:"Thank god I have a leasecar."

I probably won't forever though....and then the Sh## will start not doubt.

my experiences with mechanics:
if you are clueless, a private mechanic will rip you off. this happens to my wife a lot. sometimes she will call me with "the mechanic says it's going to cost $2500" and I say, "put him on" and 10 minutes later she's only getting the BROKEN stuff fixed and paying $100. private mechanics love to upsell, it's how they make most of their money.

solution1: don't be an idiot about cars, then you can turn down the upsell.
downside: time consuming
solution2: take your car to a dealership. they don't need to upsell because that's not how they make most of their money, they are far more likely to know what they are doing and only fix what is needed.
downside: expensive. my dealership charges $75 an hour for labor... some private mechanics are much cheaper. they also may or may not be certified to work on your particular car.

I don't think i've come across any blatant attempt at rip-offs, but some total incompetence. I had my jeep in for inspection a few years back and it needed brakes.. I certainly can do brakes myself but not worth the hassle of doing them, and then taking back for re-inspection so I just had the shop do them.
Anyway, I picked my newly inspected jeep up, and went to dinner with my parents.. coming back out of the restaurant I found both front wheels were 1 lugnut short, and the remaining 4 lugnuts were finger tight. And then it got worse.
Apparently (I had Jeep factory locking lugnuts), the key had broken, thus the shop didn't put the locking nuts back on. Fair enough, but they left the locking lugnuts on the rear and didn't bother to tell me that my key was broke, so I would have had no way to remove the rear wheels either.

Needless to say, I haven't been back to that shop since, and warn everyone I know about it.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It was a seal allright...

...the seal between the cilinder heads and the engine block. No idea about the English name for this, but over here the name is synonymous for 'this will cost you 1K'. There was a small leak in that seal, allowing the cilinder pressure to get to the coolant circuit

Over here, we call that the "head gasket". I'm in the process of fixing my girlfriend's Honda Civic with the same issue. And yes, in San Diego, that's the "1k+" gasket.

Head's at the machine shop getting resurfaced and the valvetrain and cam checked for binding or damage.

I hate working on that car. So much crap on it, so little room for it all to fit. However, I love working on my 240z. Easy access to everything, so few things to break.... I can have the head off in less than an hour, whereas it took me ~7 hours to pull hers.

Its not only cars!
I've just been out with the bicycle.
Tuesday I got a new rear wheel tube AND coat.
The man was fast (I was lazy) but expensive (42.00 Euro) and presented me with a fixed bike within an hour and with a lengthy monolog that my bike actually belongs to the dump.
Right. Its a 1954 REKORD (German version of a dutch ladies bike) weighs about 50 lb and is like a personal cadillac wheel chair for me for the last 26 years. Be it heavy load or bad weather, my bike does it.

Just now, when I was out, the tube came out under the coat and pushed it over the rim.

Great guy, really, bright and well informed, really deals with modern bikes and is too stupid to use his air pressure pump properly.
He can be happy I wasn't in his corner when it happened, LOL

Originally Posted by jockeys

my experiences with mechanics:
if you are clueless, a private mechanic will rip you off. this happens to my wife a lot. sometimes she will call me with "the mechanic says it's going to cost $2500" and I say, "put him on" and 10 minutes later she's only getting the BROKEN stuff fixed and paying $100. private mechanics love to upsell, it's how they make most of their money.

solution1: don't be an idiot about cars, then you can turn down the upsell.
downside: time consuming
solution2: take your car to a dealership. they don't need to upsell because that's not how they make most of their money, they are far more likely to know what they are doing and only fix what is needed.
downside: expensive. my dealership charges $75 an hour for labor... some private mechanics are much cheaper. they also may or may not be certified to work on your particular car.

IME, dealerships still try to upsell. But YMMV.

Solution 3: use a family friend for a mechanic. i've been going to the same guy since I was 17. no BS.