IM PISSED! Should I be or shouldn't i be?

[juzilla777]

I dropped my s52 motor and tranny at a shop in August and we established a price. I had my E30 towed to them in September. Now that they have it finally running there is a whining noise when the clutch is not pushed, which means clutch throwout bearing. It is 35 degrees out now. Now they wanna charge me extra to put a new clutch in. I feel like i'm being taken advantage of. One mechanic says they didnt detach the tranny from the motor. The other says he did because supposedly they put in the rear main seal that i bought? Bear in mind I asked several times if there were any parts that i needed to buy that werent on my list before it going in. To which they answered no.
My question is this, shouldn't they be held accountable for not taking the time to properly inspect the tranny and all of its inner working before actually putting it in the car? Or should i fork over the extra labor cost of putting in a clutch?

[E30Idea]

What does your work order agree to? I am guessing its a simple "please install what I am giving you" and nothing else.

[Garageaholic]

^ most of us simply do this because items oftentimes its a custom job and we've done alot of the guesswork. All we need the shop for is because they have the resources that we don't such as a lift, crane...etc.

[reelizmpro]

It's a bummer the shop didn't insist on a new clutch just as a "while I'm in there" part. However I don't think they should eat the labor on it. You brought them an engine/trans to swap in. Unless the clutch was recently replaced by the previous owner, you should have replaced it anyway. Hopefully you both come to an agreement and they give you a discount on it.

[juzilla777]

I hope something can be worked out because when I started this venture I had the money, I was full time with benefits, since then my company put us all on part time status with no benefits and that hurt big time. I was also ripped by a guy who sold me the wrong driveshaft saying that changing the flange on the transmission to the smaller 325i wont be a problem. Wrong. Live and learn. Its just been a rollercoaster ride. Just one thing after the other. Thanks for your input fellas. Ive been e30less for 7 months may take another 5 to get her back.

[Lof8]

A whining when the clutch is not pushed? That would make me think it is not the throwout bearing. There is a slight bit of noise coming from my transmission as the car idles in neutral. The noise goes away once the clutch is depressed and car put into gear. I did a bit of research and saw it referred to as the "Getrag growl."

When the clutch is not pushed, the throwout bearing is not engaged. You may not have a bad throwout bearing.

[samiam3356]

Is he running a 260 or zf?

[Frog]

What shop is it? PM me the shop please.

Just do it yourself, or pay someone else to do it. Screw that shop.

[juzilla777]

It is a zf tranny. Getrag growl? WTF! Worst case scenario is it is the clutch. Call me stupid but I just thought if someone dropped off an engine, transmission and a car to a shop. The shop would inspect everything while it was apart and replace all the little stuff so it wouldn't turn into big stuff later just to have a happy customer. Which usually leads more $ for the shop in the long run. Right now I dont know what to do Im outta money, Im out of a car and its too cold to be walking.

[samiam3356]

It is a zf tranny. Getrag growl?If you were running a 260 then this would pertain to you. WTF! Worst case scenario is it is the clutch. Call me stupid (STUPID):p but I just thought if someone dropped off an engine, transmission and a car to a shop. The shop would inspect everything while it was apart and replace all the little stuff so it wouldn't turn into big stuff later just to have a happy customer. Which usually leads more $ for the shop in the long run. Right now I dont know what to do Im outta money, Im out of a car and its too cold to be walking.

Honestly I would have expected them to inspect it as well because this WOULD have led you to spending more money and them making more on you

[bloodshot-e30]

you should have just upgraded to begin with lol

[JdmEuroNorth]

If the work order did not call for separating the transmission from the engine and the engine was not purchased from there then you're on your own and you should pay them or do it yourself.

If they had the transmission apart from the engine then they would have had a chance to inspect the bearing and should have told you and put the new part in without charging you labour.

If you keep your cool and talk to them in a respectful manner they'll be a lot more helpful and your chances of getting a break on the labour is more likely. I ran a shop and whenever someone came in yelling we would do little or nothing for him, when someone came in with a concern, voiced it and asked us to do something we helped them out as best we could.

[Lof8]

Call me stupid but I just thought if someone dropped off an engine, transmission and a car to a shop. The shop would inspect everything while it was apart and replace all the little stuff so it wouldn't turn into big stuff later just to have a happy customer.

Yeah, that is not a good assumption to make. The shop is not going to do extra free labor. When your shit breaks and you don't know how to fix it, the shop makes more money. Most auto shops don't have the best customer service, which is part of why everyone hates shops and learns to work on shit themselves

[juzilla777]

You guys are correct especially in respect with yelling at people that's not my style and it will get you nowhere fast:D I appreciate the input in reference to them taking the transmission apart. You are right that I should have said something in the beginning and it also isn't there responsibility to do that but i just assumed that's how it worked. Live and learn. These are a good group of guys its just when you're without your ride for so long it can be quite stressful I think I can recruit a few friends with a case of brew and a bag of happiness to assist me with the clutch:mrgreen:

[Fusion]

Have they/you tried driving it? Gotten it up to operation temp?
Wierd stuff happens when its cold outside and it doesn't necessarily have to be a problem. Shit happens when pressing the clutch makes a "kreeky door" noise and/or has a tendancy to get stuck when pressing it, and/or has a problem coming back up.
If they told me the worst case scenario is ruining the clutch, I'd drive it and replace the whole clutch setup later.
My g260 makes weird noises too and never has it failed or slipped, not even while being raped on track.