I made it back to Denver last night. I got a ticket in Utah en route. The SVX performed great!
(Maybe they are good mechanics, even if they are thieves.
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Yeah, the guys at the shop SEEM pretty reasonable levelheaded, and nice. And, yep, they're really big guys. Larry Jr. used to be a pro football player, so no wonder you felt small next to him and his dad. I have nowhere near your height, so I felt positively tiny next to them. Larry Sr. is from Georgia. I think all the mechanics are from Mexico.
The total for the additional parts added after I completed the original payment was like, $293! I asked for a discount for paying by cash, and Larry Sr. dropped it to $250. (That's still a little more than the discount he gave me for paying w/cash the previous day. I had noticed that his bill had included a new air filter and thermostat. I got a new T-stat just after X-mas and a new air filter at the end of May. When I arrived back at the garage, I casually asked Larry Sr. how often an air filter should be changed. He said about 1/year (as expected), so I told him when mine was changed. He looked at it, and said it looks fine. Then 1 or 2 minutes later, Jesus, the mechanic working on my car, put in a new one. I was about to say something, when Larry said, Oh, look he's putting in a new one, in a tone that said I didn't need to be concerned about not having a new one. But that wasn't even my point! I was trying to challenge parts of the bill in a polite way w/o accusing him of being a liar or swindler. Thwarted, I instead asked Jesus to save the old one for me to use later.
I sure didn't believe from the start that the alternator had just so happened to go bad at that time. It was just ludicrous. I made an oblique comment about how unbelievable that is, but they didn't bite. They already gave me the explanation of how it supposedly wasn't charging the battery. Then after that was all settled, they told me the A/C was out of Freon. I just had it charged in July! Sure, there must be a slow, undetectable, tiny leak, because the previous charge was only in March, but the A/C was working perfectly fine when I brought the car in 3 weeks ago! I even told him that. Enough time hadn't passed for it to all leak out, especially when it wasn't even being used. He would have charged it if I didn't tell him not to. And when I told him it took R-12, he said they'd do a conversion. When I told him I didn't want that because R-134 is a less efficient coolant, he calmly claimed that it wasn't.
After the car was finished, I asked Jesus himself in Spanish for the old alternator and T-stat. He said the old alternator was sent back for a core return (which I do believe) and that he already threw away the T-stat. When I had concluded business, and got in my car to leave, I tried the A/C. Not only did hot air come out, but when I hit the "AUTO" button w/the temp set at 65, the hot air did not blast out at high, as it had at previous time when I was out of freon. Also, I couldn't detect the change in engine sound that accompanies the activation of the compressor! It worked fine before! And in August I had the A/C tensioner and belt replaced. I didn't even mention it. It was already 3:00 PM, and I needed to get on the road and out of California! It was hot and I was irritated. If I mentioned anything, at the very least it would take more time. And it would probably take a lot of money and a lot of time. My conclusion is that they either damaged it by accident or left something unconnected to reel me in or lazily did not transfer over a newer part from my old engine.
Disregarding the price of the used engine and the alternator/oil sensor, here's what I was charged:
$85 just to "diagnosis" the problem, which apparently was just an attempt to start it and maybe a look under the hood. ( But they rescinded that charge, since I had them do more.)
$254 to open oil pan, look at the small part of the crankshaft visible from that opening, look at the filter going into the pan, and reseal the pan. (Don't know if they used a gasket or silicon or what.
$2,585 labor to install short block, which is said to include: "Grind valves, clean & transfer cylinder head, fuel & electrical assemblies, engine mounts, manifolds, valve covers, oil pan & pump, timing cover, water pump, clutch assembly & flywheel. Adjust fuel mixtures, idle speed, timing & valves where applicable."
$276.18 labor to disassemble engine to short block.
$261.25 Complete gasket set.
$169.8 New oil pump
$12.72 T-stat
$12.5 oil
$11.5 oil filter
$7.34 water pump gasket
$9.44 O/P Air filter
INCL 6 O/P platinum plug.
That last one, I'm guessing is for spark plugs. But if so, I can't believe they wouldn't charge me for those too.
I heard something rolling around in the trunk lid. When I stopped at Yosemite and opened the access panel, I found a socket from a wrench! What were they doing back there?