Do some shops just not give a [censored]?

[atikovi]

Got this 06 Jeep Wrangler from a young woman who traded even for my Chevy Spark. She just had the head gasket replaced before bringing it over. I assume it was $2,000+ job. They couldn't even bother to change the plugs which are obviously worn out. And when she gets here after a 3 hour drive, it's running hot. Gauge at 5/8. Goes to 3/4 when I drive it the next day. Looks like a coolant leak by the water pump and it turns out they probably reused the gasket. So in the 3 hour drive here, a good bit leaked out. Guess some places are pretty sloppy.

 

[Audios]

Sad, it gives all of us a bad name. Literally wouldve cost them maybe 200$ more and couldve have just explained to the customer why, and that in the long run she was saving.

 

[Chris142]

Flat rate or the customer refused new plugs. I often get customers that refuse things like plugs. If the customer is too cheap they can take it somewhere else. My reputation is on the line and I don't want them telling everyone that the car still ran bad after I repaired it.

 

[krismoriah72]

Dont necessarily blame 'the shop' I have done jobs where i was asked to re-use the coolant. When someone is fixing something for sale they want the bare minimum.. versus a guy in for the long haul.

Also i doubt that they sent the heads in to be checked since you have the old plugs.. so there was alot that could have been done and then theres the bare minimum.

 

[Andrew1972]

The shop may have known this was getting traded and just needed to fix the major issue. They likely uncovered more issues however if you were trading it why would you fix anything extra?

 

[JLTD]

Speaks well for the 4.0 - but not the mx on the vehicle, either by the shop (agree she could have refused) or the former owner. It's in better hands now....

 

[NYEngineer]

Years ago, we had a huge space connected to our shop that just collected junk and cost us money. We rented it out to these guys who did auto repairs. They were from St. Vincent in the Caribbean so for some religious reason, they didn't work on Saturdays. Almost EVERY Saturday, someone would pull up and knock on our door looking for them. It was always some customer who had their car fixed by them on the day or two before and there was some problem. Usually, a slight leak that we would just tighten or we would tell them it needed further attention and get it back to them tomorrow when they open.
The best one ever was this young guy came in, asked if we knew when they were open again and I smelled gas... BAD. I said open your hood. He opens it and his fuel regulator was spewing gasoline profusely where it pressed onto the fuel rail. I told the kid you can't drive like that. He said I need to, I have a date tonight. I felt bad for him so, being a diesel shop, we had quite the collection of O rings. We found one that fit the regulator and fixed him up. We also suggested he find a different repair shop.

I don't think these guys didn't care but I do think they were used to cutting corners to save a buck since maybe they were used to not being able to obtain parts easily.

MAYBE the guys that did that head gasket were trying to do it on the bare minimum as per her orders.

 

[2heeldrive]

Did you see the invoice?

I wouldn't be surprised if she was charged for new plugs.

Good luck with the Jeep.

 

[eljefino]

Let's roll back a little further, why is she trading a Wrangler for a Spark?

I bet in her eyes the Wrangler was "unloyal" despite her not maintaining it.

The Spark was "cute" and she's going to treat it badly too. The Jeep was cute, until it wasn't. Maybe she knew it'd be "rugged" enough for her mistreatment.

What kind of junk tires did she buy for this thing?

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by eljefino
What kind of junk tires did she buy for this thing?

Well, the shop also put on a brand new state inspection sticker so the tires were ok but that and the 15" wheels pretty ugly,

Can't have that so I picked up a set of 18" tires and wheels on Craigslist and adaptors and wheel locks on Ebay.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by eljefino
What kind of junk tires did she buy for this thing?

Well, the shop also put on a brand new state inspection sticker so the tires were ok but that and the 15" wheels pretty ugly,

Can't have that so I picked up a set of 18" tires and wheels on Craigslist and adaptors and wheel locks on Ebay.

Ugghhh. Don't make it into a mall crawler. It needs some 31x10.5x15's and no spacers.

 

[atikovi]

I prefer a stock look, plus already spent over $400 on those parts. Whatever someone does with it after I sell is on their dime.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by twoheeldrive
Did you see the invoice?

I wouldn't be surprised if she was charged for new plugs.

Good luck with the Jeep.


Ding, ding, ding.
This is common practice for many shops to simply rip the customer off, as most won't ever know. If you put the total amount of such theft by all US auto repair shops into dollar figures I can't even imagine how much it might amount to.

 

[NavyVet88]

Push come to shove, there is a huge market for used jeeps and I have a feeling you will make a good profit after you get it running right should you choose to go that route.

 

[MrMoody]

Originally Posted by twoheeldrive
Did you see the invoice?

I wouldn't be surprised if she was charged for new plugs.

Would it really be worth the trouble of pulling out the old plugs just to save a few bucks on cheap new ones? Not by much in my book, even if I didn't have to live with the consequences. If I was a mechanic and a customer asked for this, I would tell them the additional labor for transferring them is the same as the cost of new plugs ...

 

[eljefino]

Yeah it's weird-- I know this is a cam-in-block but if I did a head gasket I'd pull all the old plugs and turn the crank over by hand to make sure I had it timed right. By then I might as well throw some new $1/plug cheapo autolite coppers in there.

Can't wait for pics of the finished product.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Yeah it's weird-- I know this is a cam-in-block but if I did a head gasket I'd pull all the old plugs and turn the crank over by hand to make sure I had it timed right. By then I might as well throw some new $1/plug cheapo autolite coppers in there.

Can't wait for pics of the finished product.


I mean if I am pulling heads on a car, or in your case, one big one, I am pulling the plugs way before even getting to the head bolts. And if I am a shop selling the job, new plugs will be on the list of parts and the customer can approve it or decline the whole job and tow it out. Certain things are not worth saving money on to risk reputation. I would rather someone tell people "he insisted on using new spark plugs and fluids and wouldn't re-use old ones so I towed it" than have a car break down on my watch due to cutting corners.

 

[tiger862]

My service advisor would securitize every ticket I handed him as mine were higher than the busiest tech who would take jobs for maintenance and not do them but he made most money for him and shop. I started calling the largest tickets cause advisor couldn't sell oil on a head job. My tickets always included sending radiator out, thermostat, plugs, water pump etc. I made sure vehicle was fixed for 50k with no comebacks.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Have you heard the horror story about the shop that charged someone for a new head gasket but really only loaded the engine with stop-leak?

I think it was actually on BITOG

 

[JTK]

I have a co-worker with a ~2009 Chevy 2500 Duromax that he bought used from a used car lot. He had a fuel system issue that they repaired with copper tubing and compression fittings! He didn't know this until he had another issue recently that a better shop rectified.