At the end of my wits and rope.

[NikFu S.]

Update, January 10, 2008: post #106

||||||||||||||||||
________________

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
sprocket, pulley, key, idler x3 adjuster - 748.75
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.