Another reason never to take an FD to a dealership
03-04-09, 04:05 PM
#1
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Another reason never to take an FD to a dealership
A year ago, just prior to my annual smog, I took my '93 in for a 60,000 service. I've used the dealership before and they had a guy who was pretty knowledgable on FDs - he'd been there since 1992. The car was running fine, and had always smoged okay. When I got it back from the dealer the oilpan leaked like a sive, it idled rough, and it wouldn't smog. They tried to fix the oil leak, but made it worse, and played around with the car for a week trying to get it to smog, then told me the motor was blown and I needed a new one. I went down to talk to the mechanic I thought was working on the car, but was told he was "out", and then they showed me photos of my compression check, with one rotor showing no compression at all on the machine. Then they tried the hard sell for a new motor, even had an estimate worked up for me (about $8,000 installed).
I told them I would take it to an independant shop for a second oppinion, and went I came back to pick it up - what do you know, suddenly it smoged okay. Still idled like crap, but I got the smog cirt and was able to license the car again. And, they finally told me that the guy I thought was working on the car had in fact left the dealership several months ago, and the mechanic doing the work had no experience with rotaries or turbos!
Now, a year later, before I took it out for its smog test I spent some time working on the TPS. I had all the symptoms: rough idle, surging, stalling. I got it within specs, and suddenly all the problems were cured. In fact, it just smogged better than it ever has - nearly perfect readings and amazing for a 16 year old car (the smog tech said.)
Beware the Dealership! We really are all alone out here.
I told them I would take it to an independant shop for a second oppinion, and went I came back to pick it up - what do you know, suddenly it smoged okay. Still idled like crap, but I got the smog cirt and was able to license the car again. And, they finally told me that the guy I thought was working on the car had in fact left the dealership several months ago, and the mechanic doing the work had no experience with rotaries or turbos!
Now, a year later, before I took it out for its smog test I spent some time working on the TPS. I had all the symptoms: rough idle, surging, stalling. I got it within specs, and suddenly all the problems were cured. In fact, it just smogged better than it ever has - nearly perfect readings and amazing for a 16 year old car (the smog tech said.)
Beware the Dealership! We really are all alone out here.
03-04-09, 04:34 PM
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damn sounds like a bad nightmare.damn thosee dealership guys i wished i had ama san to work on my FD wonder how much that would cost? never would happen though one could only dream.
03-04-09, 04:44 PM
#5
I have only taken mine in once for a compression test and I stood in the bay next to the mechanic and chatted the whole time. I figured it was going to be trouble when they pulled the car in and suddenly there was a crowd of employees at my car. If you do HAVE to, most of them are pretty cool about you hanging around, just don't be a jerk when doing so. Glad to know you got yours all worked out.
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03-04-09, 07:14 PM
#10
i went to my local dealership to get some random small parts and the parts guy didn't even know anything about rotary`s.I had him pull up the rotary parts diagram and explain to him how a rotary works and to top it off there was an rx8 sitting in the show room floor,this guy was clueless.
03-04-09, 08:49 PM
#13
I would'nt be so excited just yet. They may have beat on your car and damaged a cooling seal. I hope you write down exactly how many miles you have on your car when you drop it off any place for repairs. I make a point of letting the tech see I wrote that on the top of the TO DO list they get when I drop my car off.
Just for kicks check your cooling system for signs they added anything to seal it up. I would be very very very cautious the next few months , make sure your not loosing any fluids.
Best of luck
Just for kicks check your cooling system for signs they added anything to seal it up. I would be very very very cautious the next few months , make sure your not loosing any fluids.
Best of luck
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