stevemack

Update...Most of you have already been following my saga through my previous thread.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/tri-point-cant-figure-out-whats-wrong-my-car-447916/

Here is an update.

I called Mark up at Tri-Point today and he says that they have yet to figure out what it might be. Mark says that they have changed out injectors, sensors, computers, coils and igniters. Nothing changed the sypmtoms so it leads him to believe that there must be a short in the engine wire harnes which I got newly installed about 2 years ago when the first engine rebuild was done.

How could this go bad or how could it develop a short all of a sudden?

I never had any problems with the harness before the last engine rebuild. Mark says that he will replace the engine wire harness and that hopefully this will fix the problem. Mark told me that if this doesn't fix the problem he would just put the wire harness back on the shelf and not charge me a dime. If it fixes the problem however, he would charge me $1500 ($900 for the wire harness and $600 for labor).

Is it possible that they damaged the engine wire harness when they put the motor back in or could it have been damaged by the heat generated when the water pump belt snapped?

What do you guys think?

DamonB

Why do you keep creating new threads and asking for everyone's input on the same problem? Tripoint is working on it, but unfortunately they have not fixed it yet. Unless you're going to take the car from them and go elsewhere or take some other action all this stuff is pointless.

If you're so unsatisified with them then take the car elsewhere. Your entire saga is only a fight over money so your choice is simple: If you're going to try and get them to buy you a motor you're going to have to let them work on it. If you hate them so much and are going to continue speaking of what you think is complete incompetanace then why leave the car there? All this complaining is not going to help you in any way towards getting your car fixed.

You have two choices of action: Let Tripoint fix it or go get the car and do as you wish. Everything else hinges on that one choice.

dubulup

too bad the igniter and map run thru the chassis harness and are two critical engine functions.

stevemack

I understand what you're saying. My inclination at this point is to let Tri-Point fix (if they can) the problems they have created. I just want to get my car back in working order.

Once the car is back in my posession I will no longer be taking my car back to Tri-Point for any engine related repairs. I will instead be taking my business to Jeff at Rotary Power or to R&R Rotary.

I just want to feel the glove like fit of my car again, experience all the sensations one gets from the turbos spooling to generate boost and the pure exhilaration of owning and driving an FD.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

Damon the guy is in a tough position just F off is what I would have replied to you if I were him

It's hard to decide what to do, but in my experience it's best to get the car out of there right now as soon as possible even if they are half way done with an oil change pull the car out of there and let the oil go all over their floor. Get it out of there!!!! dubulup just told you that the engine wiring harness is most likely not the problem. The overheating of your car did not ruin the harness lol. Harnesses get worn out after years of sitting under a tightly packed hot hood....removing it and reinstalling it for those engine rebuilds may have aged it faster but if they were careful it would be in perfect shape still after 2 years.

I say get the car out of there. It's going to be hard to make them pay for the work jeff is going to do even if it was their fault but its better than paying them and having it still be broken. It sounds like they just dont know what they are doing. Get the car to Jeff and quickly to work with the lawyer on the previous engine rebuilds, tow bills include everything. You should pay for 1 rebuild and the engine harness...well you know it's your car I don't know the details

DamonB

Noted. He's not in a tough situation though. He can leave the car there or not, that's the only choice he has. All the fighting about money is going to happen after the car is fixed by Tripoint or be paid from his pocket when he goes somewhere else; the money issue is a given no matter where he goes. So I say if you're so dang mad put your money where your mouth is and leave. If you're not willing to do that than try and work with Tripoint in a positive fashion to get it fixed rather than run around screaming and yelling.

Point is that telling me or Tripoint to **** off gets him no where with getting the car fixed. His choice is to let Tripoint fix it or not let thim fix it. Having everybody on the forum agree he's in a tough spot and dog pile Tripoint does not get his car fixed. You get more accomplished with a carrot than a stick.

So why shouldn't he tell you to screw off? How are your comments different than mine?

None of us know the details, that's why stevemack should decide what he's going to do and leave it at that. He can have 1000 people on the forum lashing out at Tripoint and you know what that gets him? Nothing...

stevemack, I know my remarks come off as abrasive because that's not what you want to hear. Unfortunately those are the only choices I see that you have. I've been there with this kind of stuff before and in fact am dealing with some aftermarket warranty crap on a home I just bought. You have to eliminate all the emotion and bullshit and just worry about what is really possible. If you're going to leave the car at Tripoint than I would try and support them at least for a little while. No sense in pissing off the people you're trying to get help from.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

I feel strongly about this because I had a couple experiences like this back when I didn't know anything about RX-7s. Now I could go over there and fix his car...it was a learning experience for me not a good one so I'm trying to help him minimize the *** raping from Tripoint. I'm basing my opinion on this shop just from what I've heard here and I'm almost certain steve is telling it like it is because I know that's how a lot of these places operate. Any way I don't think his point with the threads is to give them a bad name, it's to figure out what his next step is so he doesn't lose more money and the car that he loves to drive. He's figuring out quickly how deep he's in and realizing now what happened in the past was no accident at that shop.

I think the difference between your post and mine is that I'm supportive and giving him a direction with specific instructions on how to get out of this and you are kind of well telling him that he's screwed and he's in a tight spot so stop bitching and figure it out yourself. The I don't want to help you attitude doesn't really go over well with me, I just move on to the next person. There's no such thing as can't there's I don't want to. Law is there to do just that, make things "right" again for him.

Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong.

DamonB

You're not wrong because I already agree with you:

Right. He can spend money at Tripoint or he can go spend it somewhere else. Us or anyone else patting him on the back and crying with him gets him absolutely nothing. If he is so upset with Tripoint's work and attitude he should not have them work on the car but he refuses to do that. If he chooses to leave it there and yet is all worked up over that then it was his own decision :shrug:

...and it got all fixed because some guys on the forum felt sorry for you and said "You're right!! Screw 'em all!! We hate them too!!"??

stevemack

You are right on. Thanks for boiling it down. I'm starting to realize all the newbie errors I have made and how deep I really am in this situation with all the money and time invested. Like you said, I just want to have my car returned in working order so I can drive the car I love and not lose more money in the process.

Mark said that if it wasn't the wire harness then he wouldn't charge me and continue trying to find out what's wrong with it. Replacing the engine wire harness is a last resort because they have yet to figure out what the problem might be. If it turns out not to be the engine wire harness then at that point I could tell him to send it to Jeff at Rotary Power (at their expense) so he could take a look at it.

I'm not trying to **** off Tri-Point because they are trying to make it right and get my car back to me. I know it also troubles them greatly to realize that they can't figure out what is wrong with my car.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

I think the prices you're being quoted are somewhat high...$600 labor is what I charge for an engine swap, not for a wiring harness swap. Besides, when I'm not at all sure of what's the cause of a problem on a car, I don't charge hourly while I'm experimenting to find out. Once I find out for sure, I will charge a flat rate to repair whatever part is in question.

That said, you have to give them the opportunity to fix the problem before bitching about it. I've had a few customers who wanted to present a problem for warranty repair, yet they didnt want to bring the car back to me to let me fix it. Of course that's quite stupid...either bring it back to me for a (most likely) free repair, or take it elsewhere and pay full price.

I think if I were you I'd play this one by ear. IF it gets to the point that they admit they are clueless then it's time to extract your car and yourself from the situation and give someone else a crack at it...if this happens then ask tripoint, in a nice manner, why you should have to pay them for the work they've done when it didnt fix the car.

stevemack

That is exctly what I am planning to do. I hope they can get the car back to me in working order but if they can't I will ask them to reimburse me or pay someone else to have it fixed.

Thank you for your opinion on the pricing they are giving me. I thought $1500 seemed pretty high and I wanted to hear what people thought about it.

Fumanchu

I would still like to hear the entire story from the other side. Too bad nobody from Tri-Point will ever chime in on this forum.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

$600 for an engine swap? Is that for swapping out short block or a complete motor? If your swapping all the componets that is pretty cheap.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

Steve just give a tow company a call ask for a flatbed. Call jeff and let him know you're coming and at the same time call tripoint and tell them you're coming to get the car and be very polite. Just say I thank you guys for checking it over but I need to get it back on the road. If they try to charge you and it's not fixed repeat what Kevin said above. If you end up having to pay (which I would argue politely and tell them of your past expenses there and to cut you a break) then pay with a credit card and it's easy to dispute it later and the cc company will usually give you your money back. I'm not even sure they'll take a cc for that reason. It'll look good that they weren't able to fix it and Jeff was when you end up going to court. It's obvious to me that they didn't work on your car very long or simply don't care enough because there's only a few things it can be and they have all of the resources there to test it within just a few hours.

coolvette

screw that! Tell him to fix your car for free,or you are going to sue him and turn him in to the better businees bureau .They are ******* You big time.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Well, I guess I should amend that...I charged that for a complete engine swap (turnkey, all accessories installed) up until about a month ago. Recently, demand for install work has risen so much that I had no where to put the cars coming in, and had a big wait list. I decided to raise my price to $1000 solely to curb some of the installation demand, because I had nowhere to store 10-20 cars while doing the work.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

$1000 for swapping a complete motor with another complete motor? That sounds more in the ballpark.

I used to put a reman in for $1200 labor.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

$1000 for removing a complete longblock from the car, tearing it down to the shortblock, transferring the parts onto a new block (either one brought in or one I build myself) and reinstalling it all...fine tuning the idle and working out any bugs, getting it ready to drive. I used to do that for $600.

INcluding startup oil, filter, and coolant.

Mr rx-7 tt

iTrader: (5)

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
Listen to Damon B.! Get your car out of the hands of Tri-point and take it elsewhere or quit complaining and just give them your wallet.

trust1

I agree. Time to make a choice.

It is hard after spending so much money at
Tripoint, but sometimes you just have to learn
from your experience and move on.

A competent shop should be able to diagnose the problem.
Rotary engines can be difficult to work on, but it isn't exactly a
757 engine either.