Help!: Good mechanic in San Jose?

[Brian]

No. As far as I can figure, tearing the engine apart just for an in depth diagnosis must be too labor intensive and therefore too expensive. Since they'll have to tear it apart to replace the short block, it's likely that they'll find what broke in the process. So far, it seems like the only thing they did to my car was remove the oil pan, then eventually reattach it so they could move the car and free up the bay. They've done some stuff to the new engine, but I'm not sure if they've gotten it stripped down to short block yet.

I got a high recommendation of them from another customer this week. I've practically been a tenant at their office and have met a lot of the regulars in addition to meeting the owners' family. They sure seem like good people. Larry Sr., the owner, said he'll even call the junk yard that lied to me (and him) about the mileage. I doubt he'll have any luck in getting me a partial refund, but it's a nice gesture. Still, I've got admit that I don't like those high estimates they've given me, or the fact that they haven't given me a reason for what happened, or that it seems like they're delegating very little of their mechanics' time to work on my car.

[dcarrb]

Originally posted by Brian
...Still, I've got admit that I don't like those high estimates they've given me, or the fact that they haven't given me a reason for what happened, or that it seems like they're delegating very little of their mechanics' time to work on my car.

These issues comprise a recurring theme around here. Hope they get you on the road soon.

dcb

[Brian]

They say they'll finish by tomorrow (Tuesday) at the latest! On Friday the owner said he and one of his mechanics were coming in on Saturday to work on it. From hanging around here for so long, I know they've been short handed because their main mechanic's been away to Mexico since his father died (about the same time my car came in.)

[Brian]

O.K. Here we are at noon on Thursday, 3 weeks after my car broke down. The garage is still finishing up the work, but it's supposed to be done today. 2 days ago they asked for a $1500 deposit. Yesterday I asked if I could get a discount if I pay cash, so they knocked $238.57 of the price, and I paid them the remaining $1900, bringing the total price (minus what I paid for the short block) to $3600. This includes a new oil pump, gaskets, plugs, fluids, etc. They offered to pay for my extra day of car rental. Today, they discovered that it needs a new OIL PRESSURE ASCENDING UNIT (sensor) and a new alternator. (Where did that come from?!?) They siad the alternator wasn't charging the battery.

The shop owner tried calling the junkyard yesterday to see if I could get some money back. The junkyard man would hear nothing of it. I called him myself later, and he hung up on me.

[NapaBavarian]

Hey all, I got the old engine today (thanks Brian) and just got home 9:00PM so I won't get to see what I have for a day or two, but the guys at the shop seemed nice and level headed, probably from Texas. I'm 6'+ and felt short next to him

[gl1674]

OIL PRESSURE ASCENDING UNIT (sensor)

Mine died at ~160k miles (too much sludge, internals stopped moving). A new one is $10 from Kragen or couple of bucks more + shipping for a genuine one from subaruparts.com.

[Brian]

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. )

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?

[gl1674]

Brian,

Did they put a new timing belt and accessory belts for you?

The oil pump replacement was a good idea. At least it is a relatively minor expense on the overall bill.

The engine seal kit does cost upwards of $200, and most of the gaskets (intake, manifold, rocker cover) have to be replaced,
so it's another reasonable expense.

Do not blame them much for the A/C failure. The compressor had to be moved a lot in order to free space for the engine removal.
The automotive A/C systems are crappy by design - they are inherently leaky. The seals between pipes and compressor, pipes and condensor are just o-rings, any side pressure or twisting on the pipes/hoses can compress the o-rings and cause them to leak. It's a pot luck, I would be totally prepared that the A/C will need recharging after any repair that involves moving A/C hoses.

Actually the factory service manual calls for A/C evacuation before engine removal and recharge after that.

So my guess is that you simply need a fresh charge of R-12.

The wrench in the trunk might be there because they disconnected fuel pump before disconnecting fuel lines - the factory procedure to release fuel pressure is to disconnect fuel pump and run engine until it stalls. Access to fuel pump is from the trunk, it's under the mat in front of spare tire well.
Oops they could not run the old engine... Maybe they just kept the parts there...

So far it looks like they did a reasonable job except
1. Timing belt
2. Did not forewarn you about possible A/C freon loss. Actually a professional shop should have taken steps to avoid accidental freon loss (i.e. evacuate it before and charge back after repairs).

[NapaBavarian]

Most of the guys in the shop didn't speak much english...

[gl1674]

Napa,

Are you going to tell us what is wrong with the Brian's old engine?

[NapaBavarian]

When I get to play with it I will try. I'm not a mechanic by trade, but I have made enough mistakes to learn a bit about why cars have broken.

[Brian]

I had a new timing belt, 2 idlers, and a "large smooth tensioner" installed at the end of December. I had the A/C belt and tensioner replaced in August. Therefore, they were all still in good shape. I agree that a new oil pump and all new seals were a good idea and the parts for those were reasonably priced, not too much more expensive than on SubaruParts.com. I thought the labor was outrageous, though. And I never found out for sure if the oil pump had gone bad. Yes, I even suspected that the freon may have leaked out while they were working on the engine and that the compressor could have been damaged by accident in the process. But, they should have taken responsibility for that. I did tell them that it worked perfectly when I brought it in. They didn't even offer the charge to be free, not even before they found out it was R-12. It was so difficult to challenge them directly, especially since they seemed like such nice guys, and I'd felt they'd become like friends. I liked them right from the start.

I had less interaction w/the actual mechanics, and that tended to be more towards the end. Although they preferred speaking in Spanish, most of them spoke English too. Jesus definitely did.

Although there was plenty of reason to believe I was being taken advantage of, there was also a reasonable doubt. Just as I'm not sure what broke in my engine (crankshaft?) and what caused it to break (bad oil pump?), I can't be sure of what to make of Townsend's. Finding out what is actually wrong w/that engine may tip the scale one way or another.

[NapaBavarian]

I havn't done any more than look at the engine, but it does appear to be siezed, it should turn over with little efort, but I can't budge it right now, although some scratches inside the cylinders indicate someone turned it over after disassembly, the guy I spoke with didn't seem very excited about giving me the engine when I called him, but he didn't hesitate when I showed up to help me load it, so I cant tell if I just caught him in an off moment or if he didn't want me to see what he had. I didn't get a clear picture of what was wrong with the heads on the junkyard engine, but he said that the old engine just needed to be "taken apart and put back together". This sounds simple, and probably is, but I can see where it would cost far more than a used short block, it probably fried all the bearings, they are generally a much softer metal than the crank, I wouldn't put money on a broken crank or pistons because the pistons all seem to line up.

[Brian]

I had my mechanic check out my SVX today. The engine seems to be just fine. I've been hearing a ticking during idle, but he says it's just some inconsequential lifter noise.

He said that the tensioner on the A/C doesn't look new, so they probably didn't transfer over the one from my engine. (Karl, if you've got that tensioner along with my old engine, I might like to have it.) But the reason the A/C isn't running is that it's not getting any power. He jumped the circuit and it came on but didn't cool since it's also out of freon. The fuse is good, but the socket it plugs into is broken, in fact the whole plastic fusebox is cracked and broken. There's nothing wrong electrically; there's just a lack of structural stability to hold it all together.

[gl1674]

But the reason the A/C isn't running is that it's not getting any power

There is a safety shut-off switch to protect A/C compressor from running without freon. Compressor uses freon mixed with oil for lubrication. Running without freon leads to a compressor failure (broken valves/seized pistons).
So you should get the system charged first before investigating any electrical failures.