**THIS** is why I never allow dealerships to work on my cars.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > **THIS** is why I never allow dealerships to work on my cars.

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Blaise posted:

And of course the guy who gave her the work order insisted that she have the timing belt done today because it was in bad shape. He kept telling her over and over, he was really concerned about it.

The car has 55k miles. Hyundai recommends the service done at 90k. And you don't inspect the timing belt while replacing a transmission.

Toyota of Plano insisted mom get her timing belt done around 60k or 70k. Toyota recommends 110k. They also talked her into new spark plugs, and a new state inspection, even though she had 6 months left on it. I agree the plugs should be done at the same time, if nothing else, because the rear bank is impossible to get to without removing the upper intake manifold, but they're iridium plugs rated for 110k.

Got it back with a squealing serpentine belt. She'd been charged for a new belt and tensioner; it had the original belt, and the tensioner was broken, plus pissing oil from both valve covers. Took it back.

Got it back pissing oil from both valve covers again, and the original belt (but a new tensioner). They said they never touched the valve covers (then how the gently caress did you do the timing belt?!) and wanted something like $500 to replace the gaskets, and wouldn't budge. Finally took it to an indie shop.

Turns out they did replace the timing belt, but reused the original valve cover gaskets, and never changed the spark plugs (but sure as hell charged her a couple of hundred for them). And it went back to the indie shop for the valve covers leaking. :sigh:

Indie shop fixed it with no hassle though.

Now it's pissing oil from everywhere except the valve covers. Never change, Toyota.

kastein posted:

To be fair, a motor that's been hydrolocked once is usually a ticking time bomb anyways and he did both the customer and the insurance company a favor. I've seen motors that tossed a rod sever a fuel line and go from "needs new engine" to "fire damage total loss" in 15 minutes. Even if it doesn't, they don't need to pay for a tow from BFE Nowhere when it tosses a rod in a few months.

I managed to hydrolock an engine, and got it running by just hitting the starter several times until it finally turned over. Shot a bunch of steam out of the exhaust when it finally started (I was young and dumb).

It never did run quite the same after that (definitely down on power, MPG tanked as well, but no odd noises), and it did eventually toss a rod about 2 weeks later... when I hydrolocked it again. :doh:

(cold air intake + no fender liner = tire hoses down the filter in anything more than a slight puddle).

I got hosed over hard on the replacement engine, probably because insurance paid for it. It smoked like it had a smoke tune anytime I let off the gas, and drank oil like it was gas. When that engine wound up seizing (lack of oil, oops), friend tore it down and found out both the head and block were warped, head gasket was blown, and 2 rods were bent, in addition to several burnt valves. I'd never run it hot, and I'm amazed it never tossed a rod (since I beat the poo poo out of it every time I drove it). Nothing was usable from it except for the intake manifold, fuel rail, injectors, and throttle body. Independent shop that I never went back to for obvious reasons.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Feb 6, 2015

# ¿ Feb 6, 2015 04:48

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:56

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The only issue I've had with a dealer with this car is when I took it in for the power steering recall. I asked how much to get the manual transmission fluid changed. Service writer comes back with $180, saying it needed to be hooked up to a special flush machine. I asked him to point out what hoses they'd hook up to, and why something that holds 1.8 quarts of ATF would cost so much. He couldn't explain it, just said it "has to be flushed, otherwise it'll fail". I kept pointing out it was a manual, not automatic.

The only reason I haven't done it myself is you have to grind down an allen key to get to the drain plug, it's right up against the subframe.

atomicthumbs posted:

my mom's dealership wanted $700 to change the oxygen sensor in her 2004 CR-V. I bought the part on Amazon for $75 and did it myself in three minutes.

Mom's wanted $900 to replace a door handle.

I had them order a pre-painted handle for $65, and gave them the VIN and color code. They ordered the wrong color (still white, but basic white instead of mother of pearl white - they ordered it in a color that was specific to 99-01, hers is an 03), and said "sorry, special order, no returns", even though they ordered the wrong color when they had the correct info. :fuckoff:

Took about an hour to replace, but I swear all of the Toyota lots around here are crooked as poo poo.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Feb 11, 2015

# ¿ Feb 11, 2015 03:22

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Neptr posted:

Not a dealer story, but my GF went to Jiffy Lube and they went through the whole "here's your air filter, look how dirty it is, want to replace it?" I told her we could stop at NAPA and I would show her how to do it for half the price. Take out the filter, and it's no where near as dirty as it was in the shop. I've always heard of that scam, I never expected it to actually see it in action though.

i went to a chain car wash/lube place. They called my name while I was in the waiting room, and a very grim faced "tech" comes out holding a transmission dipstick with burnt fluid. He said I really needed a flush, badly.

Me: "That's not from my car" :colbert:

Him: "Yes it is"
Me: "No, I'm pretty sure it's not".
Him: "I assure you it is"
Me: "I don't think I know where it goes, why don't we go out and you can show me exactly where it goes?"
Him: "Sure"
Me (very loudly, enough that the whole waiting area heard): "By the way, my Honda has a manual transmission. Honda manual transmissions of that year don't have transmission fluid dipsticks, and there's no way to flush them, so cut the bullshit okay? I don't want you touching my car anymore, get someone else to finish the oil change."
Him: "..... I must have mixed up the cars, sorry."

Not word for word, as it's been about 10 years, but pretty drat close. I ripped the manager a new rear end in a top hat over it, but they're still famous for doing that poo poo. I'm half tempted to go there for my next oil change just so I can knock them down when they try to pull the transmission flush or power steering flush on me, but I know they probably won't bother changing the oil filter.

CornHolio posted:

That's where you refuse receipt of the part, because it is not what you ordered. You're can't return anything you don't receive.

Pretty sure there's a consumer protection law in there somewhere to back you up, though I don't know which one or how it varies state to state.

It was in a sealed box. Opened it at the counter, said "wrong color", they said "too bad".

If it were me today, I would have raised a huge stink. This was several years ago though.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 07:30

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Godholio posted:

Lots of people over or under oil them, which causes issues. Lots of claims that their filtration isn't as good as a typical paper filter.

Pretty much this. Plus they're damaged a bit easier than a paper filter, simply because they're exposed. The PO of stepdad's F-150 never used one of the brackets, and the filter has been rubbing against something for years - it has a ~3" hole in it. He swears up and down it's fine, but the oil consumption would beg to differ. Only 120k, and it's blowing a bit of smoke here and there.

I do love the growl you get from a nice intake, but I also like having to replace the paper air filter maybe every year and a half for about :10bux:

instead of constantly worrying about how clean the filter is.

The Locator posted:

How do these monkeys not notice the dashcam? From the video it was right up there by the mirror.

Could have been mounted behind the mirror with the display turned off? I have mine mounted to the mirror itself, and the display shuts off after 3 minutes. I can just barely see the bottom edge of it while driving.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 09:50

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

mr.belowaverage posted:

I have done literally this exact thing, back when I worked at a Jiffy Lube, and honest to god it's because I thought one guy was a different guy. When you have 80 customers a day, their faces are all the same.

Well, it's kind of hard to mix up two Honda Accords when there's only one Honda of any kind in the service bays. Even called out my license plate number. :v:

BIG HEADLINE posted:

Never mind the fact that Honda transmissions are finicky enough without having to worry about a poorly-done transmission flush knocking something loose and loving you over royally. The automatics on the 9x Accords pretty much gently caress up at 120-140k like clockwork, and they're almost always total replacement jobs because Honda saw fit to build a transmission that can't be adequately serviced/cleaned/maintained without pretty much taking the whole loving thing out and apart.

They're finicky as poo poo about the fluid you use, but aside from the 98-04 V6 autos, they're generally pretty durable.

Plus the whole "dude, it's a manual, there is no dipstick" _{_{_{on the car}}} part. :haw:

# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 10:24

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

sirnollem posted:

Not a dealer but one of my oil change techs "stole" a car one time. Our shop had a rental counter in the shop and we did the maintenance. He pulls a work order for oil change on red Saturn Vue, reads as far as Saturn goes to the lot and jumps in the black Saturn L300 keys worked in the door and the ignition. He pulled it in and started the oil change. About ten minutes latter a lady comes into the shop to the counter and asks the counter guys to call the cops someone stole her car. They asked for description so they could tell the cops and she says "black Saturn". There response was we just saw one pull in, the lady lost her mind and started screaming and called the cops herself demanding the tech be arrested. Cruiser pulls up and we show them the keys for the Vue start her car and explain the situation. Cops' response was "lady calm down you got a free oil change out of it" and they left.

When I got new tires a couple of months ago, the tire jockey walked in and called out "See Ann in the Scion" in the waiting room. Several times. I finally look outside and see my car (my name is Sean, but pronounced like Shawn, Shaun, etc). I walked up to him and said "You mean Sean in the Saturn?". He said no, See Ann in the Scion. I pointed at the car, asked "that car?". Yes. "Go read the logo on the bumper".

Then he said "but you're not See Ann, you said Shawn". I told him "you've heard of Sean Connery, right? How does he spell his name?" You could see the gears in his brain just grinding to a halt, and he said he needed to see my ID before he could release the Sci..Saturn to me. He commented it was a weird way to spell Shawn. :downsgun:

rear end in a top hat hosed up one of my wheels too, it was scratched to poo poo around the lug nut openings, with the openings ovaled out. :argh:

tl;dr idiots are everywhere

# ¿ Feb 22, 2015 07:52

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The 200 is arguably a bigger piece of poo poo than the PT Cruiser (the PT can at least sometimes make it out of warranty without major repairs). And the 300 really isn't the pinnacle of reliability either (especially the electrical system), though with the V8 it can be a lot of fun. _{_{when it runs}}

# ¿ Mar 22, 2015 04:27

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

A friend owns a 2013 Chrysler 300 that's spent more time in the shop than on the road.

It only took 7 or so trips (most of them via tow truck) to the dealer to get the alternator fixed; it would be fine most of the time, then it would flash something about "reduced power mode" about 5 minutes before it would die (and according to her, there wasn't an alternator light). They'd always say the battery was just dead and needed to be charged. No poo poo it's dead, it wouldn't be dead if the charging system was working right, ya fucks.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2015 05:29

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Pixelated Dragon posted:

Hyundai.

At least in my neck of the woods, the Hyundai dealership service departments were notoriously lovely about jerking customers around and doing lovely work.

Apparently they've been getting better over the past few years.

Paging Bajaha. Bajaha, your experience with Hyundai quality and dealerships is needed on aisle 3.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 05:28

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

What is this reliability you speak of?

The Excel is what laughed them into the land of "they can't make anything reliable". Most of the world has forgotten about the Excel (which exceled at nothing except breaking constantly), but it was their first entrance into the US market.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2015 06:25

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:56

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

They're issued Truck plates here.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 07:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > **THIS** is why I never allow dealerships to work on my cars.