SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
I pulled the car into a local garage this morning to have the problem fixed. The manager listened to the problems I have been having and told me they would hook it up to the diagnostic computer. This was at 0800 this morning.
The wife and I sat around the waiting room for a bit before the manager came out and told me they couldn't isolate the problem with the computer. (I had told him this already.) He also told me he couldn't recreate the problems I have been having. He had me come back into the garage to show me this. As we talked next to the car it started coughing then died. (Ahh vindication.) He couldn't get it started again but his computer was showing nothing wrong.
We talked for a bit with his chief mechanic who had never run into this problem before. At my urging they went online and checked their sources and found some new diagnostic tests to run on the Cam Sensor. When they did these they found that it was in fact a bad Cam Shaft Positioning Sensor.
Now came the pain in the ass part. The manager called his parts distributer and was told they would have the sensor there in half an hour. Over an hour later it hadn't shown up. When he called them he was informed their delivery truck had broken down and they had no idea when the part would be delivered. The manager and the chief mechanic kept at it. They tried every parts distributer they knew and were always promised delivery within such and such a time frame. Meanwhile the wife and I sat in the waiting room going through their magazines and waiting.
Finally the manager got pissed. He contacted the Chevy Dealership and was informed they had the sensor in stock. He drove down and got the sensor.
My wife and I sat in the waiting room of this place from 0800 until 1600 for what should have been a two hour job. (Okay so we took a break around noon and walked the two miles to a fast food joint for lunch.)
The Manager and the mechanics in the shop were pissed off about the situation.
The manager told me he was going to write the whole thing off, I wasn't going to have to pay a penny. I didn't like that, it wasn't fair to him and his crew nor was it honorable. I asked him how much the part cost and how much work his mechanics actually did. He told me and I told him to ring that price up. He argued and we finally agreed on a charge. I would pay the price he would have paid from his normal parts suppliers and I would pay for the two hours his mechanics worked on the car. ($180.00 for the work and $239.00 for the sensor.) The garage would eat the extra on the part having come from Chevy.
When my wife and I finally left the garage we stopped off to do some shopping. WE picked up some extras along the way. On the way home we swung by the garage and gave the guys there a little gift for being willing to go that extra bit, four cases of cold beer. (one each for the mechanics and one for the manager.)
The next time I have to bring the car into a garage it will be at this garage and I'll also be telling other people about them. They did their job and then some and when things went south from events beyond their control they still tried to make it right.
Cat
The wife and I sat around the waiting room for a bit before the manager came out and told me they couldn't isolate the problem with the computer. (I had told him this already.) He also told me he couldn't recreate the problems I have been having. He had me come back into the garage to show me this. As we talked next to the car it started coughing then died. (Ahh vindication.) He couldn't get it started again but his computer was showing nothing wrong.
We talked for a bit with his chief mechanic who had never run into this problem before. At my urging they went online and checked their sources and found some new diagnostic tests to run on the Cam Sensor. When they did these they found that it was in fact a bad Cam Shaft Positioning Sensor.
Now came the pain in the ass part. The manager called his parts distributer and was told they would have the sensor there in half an hour. Over an hour later it hadn't shown up. When he called them he was informed their delivery truck had broken down and they had no idea when the part would be delivered. The manager and the chief mechanic kept at it. They tried every parts distributer they knew and were always promised delivery within such and such a time frame. Meanwhile the wife and I sat in the waiting room going through their magazines and waiting.
Finally the manager got pissed. He contacted the Chevy Dealership and was informed they had the sensor in stock. He drove down and got the sensor.
My wife and I sat in the waiting room of this place from 0800 until 1600 for what should have been a two hour job. (Okay so we took a break around noon and walked the two miles to a fast food joint for lunch.)
The Manager and the mechanics in the shop were pissed off about the situation.
The manager told me he was going to write the whole thing off, I wasn't going to have to pay a penny. I didn't like that, it wasn't fair to him and his crew nor was it honorable. I asked him how much the part cost and how much work his mechanics actually did. He told me and I told him to ring that price up. He argued and we finally agreed on a charge. I would pay the price he would have paid from his normal parts suppliers and I would pay for the two hours his mechanics worked on the car. ($180.00 for the work and $239.00 for the sensor.) The garage would eat the extra on the part having come from Chevy.
When my wife and I finally left the garage we stopped off to do some shopping. WE picked up some extras along the way. On the way home we swung by the garage and gave the guys there a little gift for being willing to go that extra bit, four cases of cold beer. (one each for the mechanics and one for the manager.)
The next time I have to bring the car into a garage it will be at this garage and I'll also be telling other people about them. They did their job and then some and when things went south from events beyond their control they still tried to make it right.
Cat
