Repair completed....wrong repair.
Just driving along on Wednesday, up the Fraser Canyon and *bingo*..a weird shudder in the steering and when I stopped to check..pop pop pop out the tailpipe. A misfire. Made some calls to the shop tha...
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I think everyone has at least one of those stories with so much unneeded work being pawned on the people these days…
Stopped at a garage in south Fort Myers where I told them it was electrical miss and it was on the driver’s side and had to be one of the back cylinders because at night I could hear it arc and not see it spark from under the hood…
Their first diagnosis was the coil… I agreed to replace it but it just didn’t act like a coil…
Well it wasn’t the coil, and after more hours of waiting and diagnosing they decided it wasn’t electrical at all but it was low fuel pressure and needed a fuel pump… they started to drop the tank but it was closing time so it would be the next day before it would be finished…
Next day they changed the pump and test drove the truck, then they test drove the truck again, and again a test drive with the manager who upon returning gave me a thumbs up and saying it was running much better… I demanded a test run with me present where they accelerated so easily I thought we were going to be rear-ended… so I insisted to drive it where immediately on heavy acceleration it also still missed heavily… back in the shop for more diagnosing… I wasn’t allowed in the garage but while no one was there and it was running and I could hear the occasional miss, I found a piece of wire laying around and by grounding one end and holding the other near the boot of the back plug it would snap snap snap… I showed it to them and said there is the problem just as I reported when I came in… they scratched their heads in amazement, and ordered plug wires for it…
While waiting I said to switch 2 wires to confirm it was the wire… they did but the electrical leak was still on the same cylinder… I still had to explain why it was the plug… of course that meant another call and wait to the part store because garages no longer have any inventory…
Result was a bill for $604.+ change bill to replace a bad spark plug… and no they would not return the keys or surrender the vehicle… they agreed to accept a check that I told them would have a stop payment on it immediately…
Final result was a negotiated settlement where I would pay for the coil and fuel-pump at their inflated prices…
neither of them were needed or the problem but both were original equipment with near 200,000 miles on them and I didn’t want the old one reinstalled, or for them to touch the vehicle again (it is possible and I admit they were near their life’s end)…
I would not pay the diagnosing fee or the labor for any unneeded work performed, but I would pay their ridiculous inflated fee for the spark plug and it removal and replacement…
And there would be a maximum of ten days to mail the refund… I am gald he agreed because courts usually rule if they did the work they get paid for it…
Stopped at a garage in south Fort Myers where I told them it was electrical miss and it was on the driver’s side and had to be one of the back cylinders because at night I could hear it arc and not see it spark from under the hood…
Their first diagnosis was the coil… I agreed to replace it but it just didn’t act like a coil…
Well it wasn’t the coil, and after more hours of waiting and diagnosing they decided it wasn’t electrical at all but it was low fuel pressure and needed a fuel pump… they started to drop the tank but it was closing time so it would be the next day before it would be finished…
Next day they changed the pump and test drove the truck, then they test drove the truck again, and again a test drive with the manager who upon returning gave me a thumbs up and saying it was running much better… I demanded a test run with me present where they accelerated so easily I thought we were going to be rear-ended… so I insisted to drive it where immediately on heavy acceleration it also still missed heavily… back in the shop for more diagnosing… I wasn’t allowed in the garage but while no one was there and it was running and I could hear the occasional miss, I found a piece of wire laying around and by grounding one end and holding the other near the boot of the back plug it would snap snap snap… I showed it to them and said there is the problem just as I reported when I came in… they scratched their heads in amazement, and ordered plug wires for it…
While waiting I said to switch 2 wires to confirm it was the wire… they did but the electrical leak was still on the same cylinder… I still had to explain why it was the plug… of course that meant another call and wait to the part store because garages no longer have any inventory…
Result was a bill for $604.+ change bill to replace a bad spark plug… and no they would not return the keys or surrender the vehicle… they agreed to accept a check that I told them would have a stop payment on it immediately…
Final result was a negotiated settlement where I would pay for the coil and fuel-pump at their inflated prices…
neither of them were needed or the problem but both were original equipment with near 200,000 miles on them and I didn’t want the old one reinstalled, or for them to touch the vehicle again (it is possible and I admit they were near their life’s end)…
I would not pay the diagnosing fee or the labor for any unneeded work performed, but I would pay their ridiculous inflated fee for the spark plug and it removal and replacement…
And there would be a maximum of ten days to mail the refund… I am gald he agreed because courts usually rule if they did the work they get paid for it…
