I had my daughter take my cabriolet to a highly recommended shop to get a catalytic converter installed, and for them to inspect it if that solved my smog test failing problem, and if it didnt, I gave them permission to do the O2 sensor. Called them first, told the owner of the company whats up, gave him STRICT instructions on what to do, and how much money we had to work with (about $100 over his quote).
Some idiot mechanic tells her it's not the cat, that the timing belt is 4 teeth off. The car ran perfectly, the timing belt was fine, as was the timing. I told her to get out of there. All they had to do was follow my instructions and they would have had about $400 in their pockets, I would have had my inspection sticker and everybody would have been happy.
-----Original Message----- From: Mike Hayes <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: tcb <tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Fri, May 4, 2012 7:30 am Subject: [tcb] Re: OT Service CompaniesUnfortunately some of them are just crooks! I took my wife's new car to get the first oil change at 4k miles and they told me that the engine needed to be flushed because the engine was in pretty bad shape and if I didn't I could end up having to replace my engine. I asked the guy to verify it was my car then told him to get the manager. I yelled at the manager for 4-5 min and everybody who's car was not already being worked on left. They have since been sold and have not gotten any better.
On 5/4/2012 5:43 AM, Steve Chamberlain wrote:That can be blamed a lot on the manufacturer, with 'planned failure' on their consumable parts they have a recommended replacement policy that is very strict. Unfortunately most mechanics today go by that book not by what they see on or in the vehicle....to be fair, this type behavior is also due to our 'sue happy society'. If they told you the vehicle was OK to drive and the brakes failed, the first thing that comes up is a law suite.
On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:58 PM, Duncan <whocanduncan1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I blew out a brake line a few days ago while driving around country roads near Rockdale in my wife's '92 Camry, which she recently inherited from her folks. It was fun driving home using the emergency brake. Reminded me of being a teenager.
Sad to admit such an old car has technology newer than my skills but it does. So I took it a shop highly recommended by a list member (Eric, you know who I mean).
They replaced the corroded brake lines (it came from the NE) and discovered the radiator was cracked and replaced it. They said these were the most important things, among other problems.
I asked them to list the other problems. Items listed included rear brakes and cylinders, which I can do.
I bought new, OEM recommended, most expensive shoes and the cylinder rebuild kit. Well, when I pulled of the wheel, there was MORE THAN 50% of brakes left and the cylinders were not leaking. I went to the shop and called them on it. Fortunately I mic'ed them because they asked.
They explained the cylinder rebuild was recommended based on mileage (okay) and apologized for the error on the shoes.
Just goes to show it is worth knowing a little bit.
