At the end of my wits and rope.
 

Update, January 10, 2008: post #106

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So I got my car back yesterday afte 33 days of it being "worked" on by some chumps in some shop.

Grand total came to 4123.33 for:

"services"
diagnose oil leaks - 45.00
oil pump, labor for center cover crank pulley, crank gear woodraf key, all idlers - 675.00
welding exhaust - 180.00
valve cover gaskets 3.0 - 540.00
intake manifold - 360.00

"parts"
oil pump - 291.20
gaskets - 166.31
bolt seal - 60.00
internal manifold - 728.00 :WTF:
sprocket, pulley, key, idler x3 adjuster - 748.75 :WTF::WTF:
rear cover timing belt oil seal - 254.07

Fine. Whatever. I can deal with being overcharged on parts I could have gotten myself for cheaper. I can deal with **** being fixed that I didn't exactly ask to have fixed.

So when I fired the car up for the first time in a month, the very first thing I noticed was the exhaust was quieter. MUCH quieter. I don't have a muffler. How can it be quiet? What did they weld?
I drive it around, it kinda sounds like a Honda. I'm very discourraged at this point. The throttle feels a little... inhibited. Whatever. I shrug it off as the psychological effect of it feeling slower due to being less loud.

But there was a problem.

I drove maybe 10 miles, and was leaving the mall today with a friend, music was blasting, I felt a slight shudder in the transmission. The gear selecter wobbled slightly and I felt pressure build upon the cork of my temper. I knew what was going to happen.
I pull to a stop, some idiot with the right of way and no stop sign waves me through which ticks me off, because this dickhead doesn't know the rules of the road, and I give it maybe 3000rpm of throttle to leave, but it never makes it that high due to something breaking. I limp over into a parking spot, somethign is clunking very loudly causing the car to shake. I let my friend idle it a few feet as I watched and listened. Whatever it is was causing the whole engine to jerk up and down. I told him to park it. It didn't roll but maybe 10 feet into the spot and he says to me it's done. It doesn't want to go. I don't care. I knew at that point I would not be driving my car for a very, very long time.
I want to say maybe the flexplate shattered, but there were no pieces of anything. I've never seen an engine jerk like that. I don't have an idea what's going on. A piston could have seized. What I do know is those guys are going to figure out what's wrong and are going to fix it for noting short of FREE seeing as there is a 99.99% chance it was their fault.

Right now I am waiting for the tow people to tell me when they are ready to go get it. :mad:

Ouch, that's rough. Here's a question though, what the heck is an "internal manifold"?

IRIS. They said it was leaking oil, which may have been the cause of some hesitation I was getting, but that is only my theory.

To clarify, this is definitely a tranny problem, because the engine still runs fine and quiet. So there's no seized piston.

that is udderly ridiculous....Im not sure what it would be, but seeing the amoung of stuff they had apart, Im sure they either caseued it or overlooked it. My only reasonable guess...Timing belt skipped....Mabey one tooth at first, makign the exhaust sound funny...then a whole bunch of teeth when you hit 3k rpm...

Then agin, that doest really do the clunking you described, thoughn it wuld run SUPER rough, causng the engine to shake



Edit..Or mabey its not. lol

WOW!!!:barf:

$4k & they BROKE IT!! I'd SO be talking to a lawyer!
I had a shop do something similar to my 2nd XT. Towed it in to have the codes read, the IDIOTS tore down the front of the engine! Needless to say they didn't get paid! I've NEVER taken my cars to a "professional shop" again. I NEVER will either. If I can't handle it, I've got a reliable friend who can for cheap.

<<Grand total came to 4123.33 for:
"services"
diagnose oil leaks - 45.00
oil pump, labor for center cover crank pulley, crank gear woodraf key, all idlers - 675.00
welding exhaust - 180.00
valve cover gaskets 3.0 - 540.00
intake manifold - 360.00
"parts"
oil pump - 291.20
gaskets - 166.31
bolt seal - 60.00
internal manifold - 728.00
sprocket, pulley, key, idler x3 adjuster - 748.75
rear cover timing belt oil seal - 254.07>>

i don't see the KY Jelly listed. Was that overlooked?

Ah, gotcha.

Having worked in a garage I've experienced cars that come and go and something breaks that is in no way conected to the work done (I changes the oil on a truck and the alternator bearings blew). This, however, seems not quite so trivial.

I try to do as much of my own work as I can, so at least I know who to blame when something breaks.:rolleyes:

Yeah I'm a little worried about connecting the dots. I had a look at some work sheets and they had my "rear tranny seal" penned in for work but it was the only thing not crossed off. Maybe it's not so coincidental.

This is a part of life...
 

we would be hard pressed to find one shop in a thousand that even has a mechanic with a clue about the simplest thing about our cars. even if they know what to do most will cheat us if we give them the chance.
On that happy note.............
sorry
Keith

Ok I just got back from having it towed, and I fumbled with it a bit. The simplest way I can describe what is happening is it's like it's running over a bump with a veryhard and dull thunk, but not the whole car just the engine. :tard:
It happens once per revolution of the wheels, I want to say. Front diff maybe?

When we were getting it off the truck it actually got stuck on about a 40 degree grade and had to be jostled down, rolling backwards in neutral.

Engine still purring.

How's your drive shaft? My truck did something similar when I had the rear main seal replaced and they forgot to tighten the carrier bearing retainer bolts... So the drive shaft dropped down in the middle and was flopping around like a dead fish...:WTF:

It is impossible for me to check the driveshaft unless I go to work and haul my jacks over to where I towed the truck,sadjgfh car, (keep saying truck because I drive a truck at work) and that is a DNW.

I will however bring this up among the many other things I am going to vent. I do not however feel this is the issue.

It does sound like a front diff. went south. Internal manifold (?) leaking oil (?) why do you have oil in your intake manifold? I am sorry for your bad luck!

$540 to change valve cover gaskets?

I think I asked them that. Doesn't make sense. Their front man is a car noob he just works the register so I don't really get to talk to anyone other than an idiot.
Plus parts. And I did them myself not too long ago and I told them that.

They also didn't change/charge for the rack and pinion, though they said it was bad and leaking horribly and I told them to change it.