My break pedal recently lost pressure and started going to the floor. I was planning on changing the master cylinder, flushing the system and checking the booster by myself, but my dad insisted that "the breaks are the most important safety part on the car and he wants it done professionally." I listened to him and took it into Les Shwab to have it checked out and fixed. To give you a little preface on this Les Shwab, they recently broke one of my wheel studs off when installing my new tires. They said that they would install it for free if I got my breaks and suspension (struts where "blown" the rear breaks where metal to metal). I declined their offer and drove home pissed off. This time, I watched and talked to the people while they where inspecting my breaks. They kept asking me if it was turbo or n/a and I kept telling them that it was an n/a in turbo trim (GTU). They went back and forth from the computer and kept asking me more questions like "do you have adjustable suspension" and "do you have 4 piston breaks". The car was on the stands this whole time with the hood open and wheels off. They looked confused. I finally got my estimate and they wanted 450 for changing the master cylinder, flushing the break lines and installing the new wheel stud (they wanted 130 for that because it apparently required them to take off the axle). My breaks where really bad so I just asked for my keys back and went home, planning on returning to get my car when the traffic died down. I talked to my dad and convinced him to let me do my own break work as long as I get it inspected afterward. I pull up to the parking lot at 10 PM to get my car. The parking lot was empty. There was little traffic on the roads. I get into my car and it just keeps cranking. "They ******* flooded it" I thought to myself. I keep cranking it and give it some gas. Still nothing. I try it over and over until it finally starts, spewing gobs of white smoke into the air. I smelled it...coolant. "they blew my coolant seal too? Those ******* idiots, how the **** did they manage to do that!" I get into my car and start driving home. There is less power, but the temperature seems to stay solid. The smoke stopped by the time I got home. Every time I beaked I noticed a hazard light came on "stop" with a little light/horn icon. There was no buzzer. Im really pissed and needed to vent some steam. Sorry for the long post. Do you think the coolant seal is broken for sure? Can anyone identify the "stop" light? What do you think happened to my car? How would you react?

 

the stop light means that you have a light bulb out ,as far as the coolant seal,do a coolant test,napa sells a block tester that will tell you if there are any combustion gasses in the coolant.

 

Damn, that sucks ***.

Also, does this place specialise in domestic applications? IF so, then this is part of your reason. Perhaps you should take it to a qualified and well respected "import only" garage. We have one it town, the guy has quite the reputation and people allow him to repair their high end cars withought a second thought.

NEVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO A SHADY *** CENTER, like the ones that have a lot of "average car" business, because those mechanics dont specialise in sports cars, so they are not used to them. Not that they are bad, but there is a difference between the training a raicing mechanic gets compared to a ford minivan mechanic, ya dig?

PS: Good luck with the ride! Please check the compression just in case, k?

 

FC brakes are entirely conventional. There is nothing special about them that would require an "import specialist" or a "sports car specialist". That's just asking to be charged extra for nothing. Like most things on the car other than the engine itself, they are perfectly fine being serviced by a competent mechanic.

It doesn't sound like they did anything to cause the engine problem. It could well be an unfortunate coincidence.

And you have a blown brake bulb.

 

I also have had issues w/ Les Schwab. I went in for an alignment and during the test drive they managed to break the heater core hose off the engine some how. I had to drive a few blocks w/ a huge coolant leak... To top it off, that hose was no more than 6 months old.

 

Sounds more like they flooded it and it was just raw fuel smoke you saw/smelled, rather than coolant. But, yeah, this is the reason I do all my own work. Not that I don't make mistakes every now and then, but at least I'm not paying for someone else's mistake.

 

i feel the same way as most people on this board, if you want it done right, Do it yourself. When i bought my first FC, i didn't know much about them but i knew enough to take it to a shop that specialized in rotaries. I just wanted to know everything was mechanically sound/tuned up. $700 later, the shop had supposedly adjusted my CAS and machined my UIM (without my permission). How excited was i when 2 months later, i couldn't figure out why the motor was shaking so roughly at idle, and upon inspection, the UIM still had a cracked busted *** gasket. I inspected the "machined" surfaces and you guessed it, tool marks all up in my ****. surface looked like someone had taken a mini jackhammer to it. Found my vac leak, no amount of RTV was gonna save it. Bastard.

It really is unfortunate that Les Scwab seems to employ several morons no matter what state you are in. I know several employees at the local one and i wouldn't trust them to cook my burgers let alone work on my baby. One time, i slid into a curb in the snow with my accord and messed the suspension up. i replaced the control arm and radius rod (from cntrl arm to frame), but still had crazy positive camber and some toe in action, only on one wheel. So i take it to Les Schwab and ask to have the suspension and alignment checked out. half hour later they come to me with a sheet and tell me EVERYTHING is within spec.

 

well said

 

That's a pretty big "somehow". Do have any reason to believe it was something they did? I suspect if it had broken off the next day while you were driving you wouldn't have blamed the car instead of yourself.

I'm not defending bad workmanship, but I don't think this story belongs in this thread...