Pissed Off

[Italian Lunaticz]

Okay thought id share my story with you guys and dont make the same mistake. Okay so my car has around 127k on it and i wanted to get a tune-up. I had already replaced the fuel filter, intake, battery, thermostat before so all i was getting was a new timing belt, water pump, the two other small belts, and my tensinor. ( I posted on this a week or so ago). So i took it to a mechanic who was going to do a side job and do it. I got my parts off the internet for around 300 i think. This guy was charging $175 to put what i listed above on. He did this last saturday and it drove fine until two days later. I went to go out at night and it was running rough and wouldnt go over 25mph. I took it home and a week later (Today) Had it towed to a different dealership to get it looked at. Well whadda ya know the damn timing is off. So they told me they were going to fix this...Timing Belt, Put my water pump on which the guy didnt do (dont know why), fix my two taillights were burned out, i have a coolant leak and another leak i guess caused from the belt, and also something about my steering rod. Well if i get all of this fixed total is around=900-1,000......I dont think any internals are broke pistons, valves etc. I lucked out hopefully on that. But my rents are throwin up the $ which was going to my grad fund. But ill give them the cash when i get paid. Anyway moral is i wanted the easy way out to get a cheap job instead of pay for a shop and it just screwed me. Well my dads lookin for him now to get his money back and i think i might just have to take a late night cruz with a paintball gun this week. Peace

P.S. Ill throw in all the details of what needed to be done when i get the car back or hear more

[YogsVR4]

Ouch! I know I always look for references before I let anyone work on the engine (especially the 60K tune ups) of these babies. Its to easy for them to take short cuts and get something screwed up.

[PearlGT]

Don't even think about using the paintball gun man, paintball already has enough bad publicity as a sport and doesn't need a headline on the local newspapers like "Mechanic shot 87 times during a paintball gun driveby shooting". People are trying to get paintball banned for things exactly like that.


Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that happened man though I'm not sure I'd trust a dealership any more than a local mechanic. One place can severely overcharge and one place may not be able to get the job done right. There are great mechanics out there but it sounds like you just had a bad run of luck. At least mom and dad are still paying.

[Thourun]

I was surprised at how much a full 120k service came to for my dad's 4Runner, only about 1k at the dealer. This is especially surprising since they charge $70 to do onboard diagnostic testing lol. At first they said it would be $400 but I was like "no way, what is replaced" and they said only the timing belt needed to be replaced... I told them no do the pump and acessory belt too lol and the pump turned out to be leaking badly. Maybe its just the little things like oil changes ($60) and CEL checks ($70) that they rip you off on.

[WayOutCat]

there was some website where you can find a good mechanic within "x miles" of you.. and people reviewing different mechanics.

anyone remember that website?

[Musashi3000GT]

yeah I need that website man, I'm gonna do my timming belt and accesories soon too, I got quoted about 800 bucks for the whole job though, still I would gladly pay it if its quality work. the stealership wanted over 1200 for everything.

[Igovert500]

I'd check out the regional section on 3si, to get a mechanic that you are sure has worked on our cars before...you don't want to be the guinea pig.

[Twizted_3KGT]

That's why I trust no one to work on my cars except ME. Been screwed before, and i'll be damned if it happens again. I'll learn how to do something and do it, before I ever take it anywhere.

[Italian Lunaticz]

Yea so my totals around almost $900. I feel alot safer at the place im at now becaue they've been doing imports for a long time and also is something breaks they have to replace it. I should have it back Thursday or Friday and heres whats gettin done. Timing Belt, Water Pump, Break Lights, and theres five seals behind the cams and he said 4 of them were leaking so im just gonna get them all replaced. When i towed my car i noticed it had a leak of oil which was from the seals and they said it looked like wear but i think the last guy must have done it because my car never leaked before. And one last thing the timing cover on the bottom is cracked in half so they got me a new piece. Well ill let you guys know how she runs when i get her back tomorrow or Fri. Yeah and things like this make me want to learn more about engines and how to do my own work. Wish i had some of you guys close to DE.

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by Igovert500

I'd check out the regional section on 3si, to get a mechanic that you are sure has worked on our cars before...you don't want to be the guinea pig.

Where's this regional section that you're talking about? I can't seem to find it....

[Igovert500]

Originally Posted by sLADe781

Where's this regional section that you're talking about? I can't seem to find it....

http://www.3si.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=99

[Thourun]

They just changed the look of the main site, it used to be 3/4 the way down and have its own thing but now its just a thin blue bar with the sections on it, thats where I usually am when on 3SI.

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by Igovert500

http://www.3si.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=99

Isn't that just for like events and stuff?

[Igovert500]

Nope

[Thourun]

The new title would sugest that its only for events but people talk about everything. Usually its car related but there are frequent off topic threads.