Mechanic Blunders

[kommissar]

What strange, life threatening, potentially harmful and/or interesting mistakes or deviations from the norm have you encountered in taking your car to be serviced by someone other than yourself?

After reading Mot's and browntown's negative experience with a shop, as well as posting my own, I decided that a thread on the problems that you have experienced with shops may be interesting - so I pose the question to you.

Here is what I posted in Mot's thread:

I brought my e30 in to a local American Tire and Auto Care that has always treated my non-e30 cars well. It was there to have the catalytic converter checked, but while I was there I asked them to check the transmission and differential mounts because I feel bucking in the drive train when I let my foot of the accelerator to slow down.

When picking up my car, the lead technician gave me the usual "debriefing." He said some stuff about the catalytic converter, and said that, "we checked your mounts and they are fine."

On the way home, I noticed the same problem. Therefore, I decided to inspect the situation on my own for other possible causes.

Unfortunately, I was right all along. When I got under my car, I noticed 2 differential mounting bolts were completely missing and the remaining two were unscrewed more than half way. The previous owner had swapped the differential out for a 4.10, then put the stock differential back in and did a shitty job.

I didn't complain to the shop for missing this blatant error, I just don't go there anymore. If they are incompetent, they just won't get my business.

Disclaimer: I do not think that mechanics as a whole are out to mess up our cars and take our money. I think that what happened to me is an aberration. However, I think that this thread could be somewhat interesting/funny.

[Jand3rson]

A couple of years ago, my mom took her Ford Explorer to Les Schwab to have the brake pads and rotors replaced. She got about 5 miles from the place, heard a HORRIBLE noise coming from the rear, and came to find out that the rear pads literally fell apart in the calipers. She immediately called them and had them come tow her Explorer back to the shop, where they proceeded to tell her that she now needed new calipers along with another new set of pads and rotors, and that the whole job was going to cost $750, and it wouldn't be done for something like 3 days. The guy that installed the pads had been there for 2 days, and it was his first time doing any kind of brake work.

[Jean]

A couple of years ago, my mom took her Ford Explorer to Les Schwab to have the brake pads and rotors replaced. She got about 5 miles from the place, heard a HORRIBLE noise coming from the rear, and came to find out that the rear pads literally fell apart in the calipers. She immediately called them and had them come tow her Explorer back to the shop, where they proceeded to tell her that she now needed new calipers along with another new set of pads and rotors, and that the whole job was going to cost $750, and it wouldn't be done for something like 3 days. The guy that installed the pads had been there for 2 days, and it was his first time doing any kind of brake work.

Ok, that's too much. I worked with electronics and computers all of my life and even I can change the damn pads/rotors without problems

[Jand3rson]

He had to have put them in backwards, or wrong, or something. I saw the pieces, they were literally reduced to chunks of brake pad material. The rotors looked like they'd been put through a wood chipper, they were completely fucking annhilated.

[der affe]

being one of these "evil" mechanics, i do have to say in our defence, when you take you car to a "brake masters" type shop or a "quicky lube" think about the fact that you are paying a cheap price for the work. how do you think that they are charging a cheap price??? low skilled labor= cheap workers. any experenced tech would not work at these shops, because he would not get paid a fair wage for his experence, nomater how many lube services or pad slaps he couild turn in a day. not saying that everyone that works at these type of places are hacks by anymeans, many people "get their feet wet" at these type of jobs and find out that they enjoy it and go from there. experenced techs make mistakes too, don't get me wrong it does happen. just because you take it to a dealer you are not going to get experenced help either. lots of uti students at the dealerships. what usually happens is the fresh from uti student is put under the guidence of 1 experenced tech who is supposed to check his work (and gets to flag some/all of his time for every job). many times the new tech is one of 3-5 total techs under 1 experenced tech.
just a little insite for everyone,
greg

[blunttech]

i put a clutch disc in backwards on my s52 car and drove it 5k with no problems except some chatter on decel.

[Jand3rson]

der affe, I totally understand what you're saying. Les Schwab is a pretty large tire retailer, they are all over the place in the Northwest and down a little further. They're also full service brake and alignment centers, and the only thing I had to say is that such a new guy shouldn't have been doing a brake job, and if he was, someone should have checked his work. But that wasn't even the big issue. Something like that is obviously a mistake and forgivable, but the fact that they then wanted to charge her AGAIN for the pads and rotors, plus completely new calipers was the thing that made it unforgivable. I haven't been back there since it happened.

[browntown]

les schwab story reminds me that last winter I had studded tires put on the taurus (this crap only happens in the company car, I swear they care less when billing fleet), I get in the car start to pull out and some old guy smoking a cigarette flags me down, and lets me know that there is no air in one of my tires. my bad for not looking at all 4, but cmon, how hard is it to mount 4 tires, and check pressure, and make sure you get to the fourth.

Les Schwab has some highly rated customer service and warranties, but I won't take my personal cars there because:

their tire brands blow
they charge too much for their private label tires
they don't make appointments
their coffee and popcorn sucks
give me a deal, not 5 pounds of beef when I buy tires
they didnt fill up my god damn tire with air

/rant

edit:
you know what, i have a few stories, reasons I learned to work on cars for myself at a very young age

got a door panel painted on the taurus when I scraped a coffee hut impromptu fence, drove a mile a realised the blinkers didn't work, they never plugged the wiring harness back in.

got an oil change and tripped a check engine light, had to go to ford to get it cleared, they disconnected the o2 sensor for some reason, might have just bumped it, but for gods sake


BTW I hate the rule about not being able to supervise mechanics work, I know the techs hate it, but if I can I fenagle my way into the shop area to watch what the hell they're doing, I will.

[e30frosh]

I sold a set of rims to a local guy years back, and he wnted them swapped at a shop. I agreed as long as his steelies fit my ride so I could get home. His rims fit fine, the steelies, however, had a different hub bore. No fitty...The shop "manager" tried to explain to me how buying an inch or so's worth of washers for each lug bolt, behind the wheel, would give me the opportunity to get on the road and get home. I took him up on his offer as long as he purchased the washers. He reluctantly agreed and I headed off to the local hardware store. I returned, washers in hand, change too, to watch the idiocy begin. The fucked with them for a good 45 minutes before I stopped them and made them swap the wheels back. After they finished, the manager had the balls to demand payment for the washers. I asked for the washers in return if I was expected to pay for them. He handed them over, and I told him I had to get the money out of my car. As I walked thru the shop to the back lot I noticed lunch break had come and no one was inside. I passed a Plymouth Horizon that was in the middle of head work. I then stopped turned around, and jammed the half of the washers into the spark plug sockets and the other half got dropped into the exhaust manifold. I grabbed the 2.23 from my change b8in in the ashtray and threw it to the manager.

I wonder if that 2.23 was worth the labor of removing the washers from another customers car.

[der affe]

i have an eight pound sledge on a chopped down honda door reinforcement bar i would have used to break your hands, then windows, if i had caught you doing that to a car i was working on!!!!! that kinda of shit is just one of the reasons why customers are NOT allowed in the shop area!!!! if you are pissed at the "manager" as you called him, then why take it out on another tech??? if he didn't check the head before proceeding (which he should...we fuck with each other all the time...) and he really shouldn't have to; he will get back flagged and or have to pay for the fix, because you decided to be a dick. sorry that you were disappointed that the suggested "n-rigging" didn't work, although not safe, it sounds like you were in a bad spot and he was willing to try to help you out so you could get home. did he charge you any labor for the hour they spent???? if not you did use HIS washers and not pay any labor for the work preformed and you are crying about $3 ish??? i hope you don't ever get caught doing tha.......wait...i hope you do, then you can post about how you got the shit beat out of you for no reason!!!

[der affe]

der affe, I totally understand what you're saying. Les Schwab is a pretty large tire retailer, they are all over the place in the Northwest and down a little further. They're also full service brake and alignment centers, and the only thing I had to say is that such a new guy shouldn't have been doing a brake job, and if he was, someone should have checked his work. But that wasn't even the big issue. Something like that is obviously a mistake and forgivable, but the fact that they then wanted to charge her AGAIN for the pads and rotors, plus completely new calipers was the thing that made it unforgivable. I haven't been back there since it happened.

the manager was in the wrong for not assigning the job to some one with no experence, his work should have been checked by some one, including himself by way of a test drive....duhhhh, AND if the shop fucks up it is on them to make it right, if the manager was a WANG WRANGLER about it and it is a big or small company, go over their fucking head!!! don't be an ass about it (at least right off the bat), if you conduct yourself in a calm manner you just keep jumping up the ladder until you get it right. noone wants a bad rap from a customer if they can avoid it. 1 pissed customer will tell 200 people what a shitty job/shop you are VS. "yea, they jacked the car up pretty bad, but they made it right and it is all good now...shure cost them alot of $$$ too". it sucks that some shops/ people can't just deal with their mistakes and do what is right.

[e30frosh]

if he didn't check the head before proceeding (which he should...we fuck with each other all the time...) and he really shouldn't have to; he will get back flagged and or have to pay for the fix, because you decided to be a dick.

Exactly the point. If you really believe it's okay to fuck with another mech's work, why shouldn't I? Given the fact I knew it wouldn't work and gave more than enough leway for an established tech to retract his assanine suggestion of washers holding a wheel to a hub. He deserves to be beaten with your 8 pounder for even thinking of risking my neck so he could get another few bucks in his wallet.

I'm done.

[der affe]

Exactly the point. If you really believe it's okay to fuck with another mech's work, why shouldn't I? Given the fact I knew it wouldn't work and gave more than enough leway for an established tech to retract his assanine suggestion of washers holding a wheel to a hub. He deserves to be beaten with your 8 pounder for even thinking of risking my neck so he could get another few bucks in his wallet.

I'm done.

first off when we do it, it is nothing too malicious. things like spray a bunch of oil/lube in the runner so it smokes alot when you start it up, switch/ semi disconnect sensors so you get a check engine light. nothing like what you did...would you do that to a friend that was working on his head in the garage because you were mad at his parents???? same logic, not cool! still didn't say if you were charged labor or attempted to be charged labor. was the tech doing the head job the same as the one trying to use the washers to space the wheel away from the hub??? prob not. the manager was wrong to suggest that you use washers to space the wheel out, you can do that kind of shit at home not at a prof. shop (you are opening yourself up for a lawsuit), and actually doing it at the shop:roll: , but to fuck with someone elses work, it is asking to get beaten!!!

[joshh]

First....DO NOT bring your car to Les Schab. They are a rip off and will not even do small things for you. They charge you for the whole job. 7 years ago when I was still learning about doing some of these jobs, they wouldn't even check my 71 Ford brakes to make sure everything was correctly done. They wanted to charge me a full brake job for it. They also will not match prices with other shops for tires. Fuck them.

You guys have some intresting stories...that really suck I might add. Makes mine not seem so bad.

My "worst" one was with my Acura. I was finishing the install of a Type-R LSD and was in a huge hurry to get the car done so I could get an alignment for the next days autocross.
I put the tranny back in and had 90% of the car back together when I look down and the speed sensor cable is crushed between the tranny and the motor with the connector on the inside....I had to basicly pull it all apart again and fix the connector.

[eurostyl e30]

A tech at a dealer left the oil cap on my crankcase off, ruining my Corrado's $150 hood insulation. The engine bay was cleaned for me and I was given a new oil cap. Whatever, I needed new hood foam anyway.

Oh yeah, there was the time I had my clutch done on one of my VWs, and the shop failed to see my trans mount was gone while they put the transmission back in place. My VRs intake manifold bopped the hood causing a nice upward dent on my immaculate car. They replaced the mount for free and gave me complimentary paintless dent removal on the hood. All was rectified.

Needless to say, both mistakes were worth a little more than three dollars and yet I never felt the need to get all malicious on a tech or the manager. And hey, look at that! They fixed their mistakes, no questions asked! It's amazing what happens when you're not a jackass about things.