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I took my car to Auto Start, It was a big mistake. My car was leaking fluid late one night, but when I got back to my car the next morning to take it to the shop, I noticed the ground that had been covered in fluid the day before had dried up, so what ever had leaked was water based because there wasn’t any oil residue. I decided to try to drive the car and I had no problems turning the wheel or driving, so rather than wait the 3 hrs the tow company said it would take, I drove it to the mechanic’s shop (approximately 7 miles away). They are located off Waterman road, which is off Grant line. Just as I was approaching the Grant line exit I noticed my car thermostat was off the chart, and my engine was extremely hot. By the time I got to the shop my engine was smoking so bad. Brian at the shop began to look and see if he could see anything obvious, but once I told him the leak was water based, he immediately looked to the area where the water pump would be and it was clear that would have to be replaced.
What wasn’t clear was whether my engine overheating caused the damage to the water pump or whether the water pump damage caused the engine to overheat. Yes, we had to determine which came first. Additionally, they needed to determine whether the overheating may have cracked a gasket. Brian was clear we had to fix the water pump to determine whether the overheating damaged the head gasket. I told him I understood and said to go ahead with it, then I left my car there at about 11-11:30 and asked him if they would be able to tell me by the end of the day if I had cracked the head gasket. He said yes.
I returned to the shop at about 3pm because I had left something I would need in my car, at that point he repeated that the water pump would need to be replaced before they could do the test, that the replacement of the pump would be about 400, and the test would be about 100. He could get the part that day but didn’t have a mechanic that could replace it, so I had to wait till the next day. The next day I heard nothing from them, so I called at 12pm. Then they tell me the part they ordered is different than the one I had on my car because Ford changed the way the make it, and it would be an additional $98 dollars. I told them to go ahead, and again I asked if they were going to be able to tell my by the end of business. When I didn’t hear from them by 4pm I called. He then said his mechanic would be working on it late but that he would call me once he was done. I called at 5:45 and then the mechanic finally told me that the pump had been replaced and they did the diagnostic test and ran it for an hour and there were no signs of a cracked head gasket.
The next morning I went to pick up my car, then the mechanic tells me upon first start my car idols low for a short while, and did I want them to look at that, I said no. Then he tells me that even though it passed the test when he ran it the night before, it could still have a cracked head gasket because sometimes it could take a month or so to show up and that I should be looking for leaking coolant every morning. He then offered to run the test again that morning. I said I don’t understand if you ran the test last night why would you need to re-run it now.
When I left the shop I noticed my breaks were working a bit funny. I decided to add brake fluid and that solved the problem, then my radiator was smoking just a bit, so I looked at the reservoir, which I knew had been more than half full when I dropped it off, suddenly it was almost gone, so I filled that up. I drove to Chico and back and still have plenty of coolant in the reservoir.
They should do better to keep clients informed on the progress of the vehicle, they should not charge extra for their mistake, and they should not tell clients they will have their car worked on, and then not actually work on it that day. Particularly when the client is wondering if all that is needed is a repair, or if they need to buy a new car.