John T

[Rollie NE PA]

John, how did you make out with your car that would start and then shut off?

 

[John T]

A big shop in Austin Texas had it a week, I told them ODBI said cant communicate after cigarette lighter outlet smoked, after a week (don't think they ever looked under the dash) they TOLD ME COMPUTER WAS BAD WASNT WORTH FIXING..................Towed it back to Florida took it to Alan Jay Chevrolet they said they would have to remove dash and replace burned wiring harnesses (their scanner failed to communicate as I told them it would) would cost a thousand wasn't worth fixing (I don't think they looked under the dash either, charged me $100 for diagnosis) and called a salesman over to sell me a car..........They would pay $100 for the car as is for scrap metal!!!!!!!!!

Just outside our RV park is a small garage mechanic who lives in a house trailer and works in his carport and told him how scan cant communicate and the cig lighter outlet had smoked but I replaced fuse and it held. Left car there and stopped by 30 mins later CAR WAS FIXED AND RAN PERFECT AND ALL ELEC WORKED !!!!!!!!!!! He said the ODBI port had no power, ONLY the one cig lighter wire was burned NOT any harnesses, he repaired the circuit and removed the short, unhooked battery to let computer reset RUNS PERFECT AFTER SEVERL TEST DRIVES I ask what I owe HE SAYS IS $40 OKAY !!!!!!!!!

There ya go

John T

 

[Geo-TH,In]

JohnT,
It sounds to me like the electrical experts at the dealer couldn't fix your car, but two shade tree electricians, BUBBA and BILLY BOB did.
geo.

 

[BhB]

I am surprised with your background you didn't find the problem yourself. I hope you contact GM and tell them about the dealer. I had recent problem with a Buick leaking power steering fluid. I was over 100 miles from home, I found a GMC Buick dealer they said the line was leaking and had to be replaced $690.00. What could I do told them to fix it. Last week the power steering quit completely. It took two hands to steer the car. Took it to a local garage, the dealer had cut the return In half to get the pressure line installed. They put a piece of rubber hose, with two hose clamps, to repair the return line. The hose came completely off and lost all the fluid. This is my wife's car and had she been driving she would not be able to steer the car. The local garage replaced the return line, $380.00 all is well. I called GM and they are contacting the GMC dealer.

 

[Rollie NE PA]

Glad it worked out for you.

 

[GregCO]

Amazing. A big shop with all the ASE trained mechanics can't find a small electrical issue and a guy trying to grind out a living out of his car port went right to it. I too have found that some of the latest and greatest new generation mechanics can't sort out much if their scanner wont talk to the car. They just don't know where to start. It is also getting hard to find anybody that can work on OBD1 systems anymore.

Greg

 

[oldtanker]

Guys the dealers are training their people to replace the whole harness. They don't trace and repair a simple problem for several reasons. 1: It can something take several billable hours to find the problem and even more time to repair it, all at 100 per hour or more. People kinda get mad when they get a repair bill with 10 dollars in parts and 4-500 in labor. 2: many times the harness has been butchered by a shade tree mechanic or Billybob installing a sound system. 3: if they find one problem they may miss another that was damaged with the 1st problem. Replacing the whole harness is much safer than dealing with an angry customer.

So if they know that there is a problem under the dash they price out replacing the whole harness. Simple as that. In the late 90's I worked in a small independent shop. That's how my boss handled the newer cars. No repairing, just replace the harness to avoid comebacks. Older stuff we would repair wire by wire. May not be what you want to hear but that's life.

And don't stat patty all these shade tree mechanics on the back either. A lot of work we did was fixing what those shade tree guys screwed up. In my experience a few are very good. Most are not! Got a young one here now. Knows it all. Won't listen to anyone. Put a clutch in a neighbors old pickup and it kept burning up. 3 clutches later the kid tells the owner that it's a design flaw. Guy ask me to look at it. Simple adjustment and all was well. Now the bad part is that I went over to the kids place the 2nd time he was replacing the clutch and told him how to adjust it. When I told him about free travel he told me "your stupid and don't know what you are talking about".

Local parts store won't sell to him. They have a restraining order on him over those clutches. They replace every one under warranty but he was in the store telling customers that they sold bad parts!

And wiring issues were bad! Stereos installed with the wires twisted together and taped up with whatever was available, Duck tape and masking tape were common! We did my one BIL's limo when he had a limo service. He had taken it to Best Buy to have a new sound system installed. When he started having electrical problems right away he brought it to us. Twisted wires and masking tape! From a "professional" installation! They had even cut a few wires they shouldn't have touched! That's were the electrical problems came from! Boss and I spent about 10 hours together fixing that darned thing! At 50 an hour! Best buy did pay the repairs but only after a lawyer was involved!

Don't get me wrong! I'm glad you found a shade tree mechanic who was willing to have a go and get it repaired. But far too many would have only made the problem worse if they even touched it.

Another local shade tree guy, "good Christian man", was doing repairs out of his garage and ripping people off left and right. He tried getting my mother who attended church with him. He told her that her AC compressor was a one year model and was very expensive to replace. He claimed that he could repair it cheaper himself but she would have to wait for parts to come in. Was a common compressor that GM used for about 10 years. He had quoted her about 500 to repair it in 94/95. I was still in the Army but commuting home on long weekends. My wife and kids were already here and my wife got her to call me. I went to NAPA in Junction City KS the next day and priced a reman. About 250 bucks. I called mom and told her that every thing with AC that GM sold for X number of years at that time used the same compressor. When she ask me what to do I told her were to take her car. The guy there knew she had breathing problems (no, not smoking related) and checked it out right away. 30 bucks to recharge her system. All that from a "good Christian" man shade tree mechanic!


Rick

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

The shadetree guy got lucky, that's all.

Apparently you don't know how much time you can waste chasing down electrical gremlins in a vehicle, which at $90/hr, gets real expensive real quick. The dealer doesn't want a fight, so they go with the least expensive solution with the best chance of success.

Now you're going take the next one to him expecting another miracle, so when he spends two days tracking down that phantom battery drain and charges you $1500 for the privilege, you'll blow your top and call him an incompetent shyster too.