That's not nearly as scary as the local dealer here that wanted to reflash my ECM when i had the guage problems and send me home. The blower and stickers all over the place saying not to flash the ECM didn't tip him off that he could't do that.

 

Heh, that would have been an expensive repair.

That's like the guy at a local tire shop that did an oil change, but forgot to to fill the engine back up with oil. If I recall, it was an E350 van that actually ran for 30 seconds before going boom! I was working (back then) at the parts store they bought the oil from.

 

Well, thankfully I'm **** and checked before I left the lot. Mainly to see if they 'effed up my expensive wheels. I mean hell, I do all my own work myself unless its A.) Tinting windows B.) Body Work C.) Mounting tires (don't have a tire machine in my garage sadly) or D.) Something breaks and my car is under warranty. I noticed it before I even got in the car, and they quickly fixed it.

I can do some minor body work, for example, I painted a grille, bumper and mirrors on previous cars and they turned out just fine, and successfully fixed a minor dent and rust spot on an even older car. But I'm NO WHERE near even 1/1000 of a percent of the skill level say of someone like Pascal. And as far as tinting windows goes? Screw that. Don't have the patience for that. Hell, I can barely get aluminum foil to cover leftovers in the fridge without falling off.

 

I've heard so many dealer service horror stories. Discount Tire has always done my wheel/tire work they've never done me wrong. Pretty much all mechanic shops scare me. 90% are only out to make a dollar and the other 10% are so hard to get an appointment for I just gave up. I do most of the work myself now. The last place I took it to for a 4 wheel alignment told me my front wheel bearings were bad...wanted to charge me $200 each for hubs + labor...about $500 total. I laughed at them. I picked up some new ones from RockAuto for $70/ea with $14 new spindle nuts and installed them myself in about 30 minutes. I don't think they were even bad to tell you the truth, they weren't making noise, I think they were just milking me.

 

maybe it's just us old timers... but we're wondering why on earth you'd go to a dealer for those types of services on a modded car...

If you change anything you really shouldn't expect them to do the work the right way. By the parts at the service counter but have then installed by people who work on performance cars.

 

I very rarely let anyone work on my car, it's too easy to do the work myself and save the money. if anyone does touch any of my cars it's at the shop that my dad manages. even then most of the time I just snag a bay and a lift and do the work myself.

if I ever get a warranty claim on my car it'll really depend what it is as to whether I let them touch my car or not. my friend's dad was a Ford master tech and one of the only guys who knew what he was doing at the dealership. that's probably why he's at lexus making bank now and not Ford but if I had a problem I'd find a good tech through him to do the work.

 

I know a kid who took his car to walmart for an oil change. They drained his transmission fluid, then added 4 quarts of oil to his engine. Needless to say, the whole drivetrain failed within a very short time haha.

 

lol, epic fail!

 

I actually could use those tmps sensors if your serious. But yeah I like to watch them work so I they don't do anything unusually stupid...btw, my nitto tires are directional and every tire has a specific location, it says it on the sidewall...like front left, front right, etc...

 

And then there are techs in training who haven't learned any better yet. Those are the guys that you're more likely to get for oil, tire, and battery service. Not the shop's A-tech or the more experienced B-techs.

Have I ever mentioned the trainee that started to lift the rear of his own 4th Gen F-body using its panhard bar for a jack point? Or the C-techs who could work "by the book" but had little real understanding or much desire to learn? A year spent attached to a local Chevy dealer's service department as a courtesy shuttle driver and parts chaser let me see more than I really wanted to. Balanced by two or three really sharp guys that I'd trust to do damn near anything.


Norm