This will be a long post, but i need some help. If you want to skip the first part, start reading at (part 2)
My 1988 Accord DX has been in the family since it was purchased from the dealership in 1988 with no previous owners. My dad owned the car, then let my sister drive it, then let me drive it when my sister was done with it. He handed the title over to me earlier this year. The point of that tidbit is that we know the history of the vehicle, we have all the original paperwork and repair receipts.
Now the mess begins. I do alot of work on the car myself, but sometimes i just cant do it fast enough or have the right tools. So i have a shop to do it. I have a hard time trusting shops since i always inspect the repair and most of the time they did something stupid but their mistake is not always critical or damaging. My work has never failed. Any shop i have taken it to, has failed at least 4 out of 5 times.
Ok, so the story begins. In November 2007, i was looking for a minivan. I drove all over town and called everywhere. I found a 1996 Plymouth Voyager SE 144,000 miles for 2,300. It was all we could afford at the time and we needed one asap. I took it for a test drive and thought it was ok, but for the price it was so much better than any other van i found. They were 1988-1995 vans with 200,000 plus miles for about the same price (except for the ones that weren't running). Anyways i purchased the van for 2,100. It ran ok, untill the transmission blew on May 2008. It lasted 6 months and 15,000miles. I called talked to the guy and asked him again if there were any problems and told him what happened. He offered no help which is reasonably acceptable since it was a used car.
(part 2)
I purchased the car from the owner of a auto repair shop. This was a plus for the van, since you would think he would take good care of it. Anyways the store is called Barkers Imports and More Napa Auto Care Center. So i think to myself, hey i wonder if they would work on my accord since other places refuse to work on it and especially the carb. I ask them and they actually know what i am talking about and have done a Weber conversion on older hondas. I take the car in there for a front lower ball joint replacement. They do the job, and screw up. I had replaced all the bolts and nuts that hold on the suspension since i had done so much work before that i wanted strong threads. I get it back and my new bolts aren't there and some are wrong. I had a castle nut where a regular nut should have been.
On to repair #2. They replace my water pump which was squealing and leaking and my timing belt. (it was replaced by another shop i dont like anymore 40,000 miles ago) I didnt notice anything wrong.
On to repair #3. I asked them to install my weber. It took them 15 days and i already had all the parts for them when i first showed up. I am still not happy with the setup. The throttle cable is worse than the picture of the "wrong way" to do it on this site. But it works fine/better than my other stock carb. Right now even with all these problems you must be thinking why do i go back. I'll tell you why, this is the best shop i have found and they have the best record so far on repairs.
On to repair #4. My wedding is approaching and me and my future wife are planning a 10 day, 5,000 mile trip from indiana to the grand canyon and many other places in colorado to be taken in the trusty 88 accord. I check the car over and over to make sure its all ready for the trip but i have one fear. It was that i have a deadly knock in the engine. I had been hearing it for a while even before the weber, but it got worse. So i did some research on my own and found some not so good news, then i took it in to the shop and asked them to listen to the engine. They confirmed exactly what i thought. So i asked them about a rebuild and if they could get it done before my wedding/honeymoon. We talk for a few days and they give me a few options over the phone. I go with the most expensive option, because i want this car to last forever. A complete rebuild of my engine and allowing them to replace other parts with my approval first. We agree on rebuilding my engine. I send the car in. A few days later i go and pickup my stock cam, since i was sending it in for a regrind. I looked at my engine with the head off, it showed some good amount of wear. They ask me if i want to replace my original radiator, i told them yes since it was starting to become clogged inside. I insisted on a honda one even though they are twice the price, but they convinced me to go with the cheaper aftermarket one.
Now its the fun part. I get a call 10 days later saying its all done and this is the same day the van breaks down. I think to myself WOW that was fast, it took longer to put a carb on the engine than to rebuild the engine and put the carb on the engine. Thats some good service (sarcastic). The car drives fine, knocking gone, valve lash gone, sound good well not to good, i was looking the engine over again one night and i saw the engine code A20A3, i thought to myself that can't be, my car is a DX and carburated. So i post on here a someone tells me to look at my original window sticker to match the engine codes. Sure enough it says A20A1 and with a different serial number. Im mad but dont have the time do deal with it, so I do the proper break in and oil changes and were off on our trip. I stop at a grease monkey near pikes peak and get my oil changed on the trip. They come into the waiting room to tell me that my oil plug is stripped and showed me. I could also see that they were having a hard time getting it off also. I now get pretty mad since this is not my engine and now there are bad parts on it. I get back in town and fill up the oil since its low from leaking from the new seals they put in. I asked them about the engine and they didnt really say anything.
Yesterday. I was driving along in the highway and approach stop and go traffic. While stopped i notice smoke coming from the engine, i look at my temp guage and its near the top, so i pull over and open the hood. Can anyone guess where the coolant is leaking from. Its the radiator they put in and promised it would be fine.
Bottom line: I have paid that shop over 6,000 for repairs and a used car in the past 6 months and now i have no car at all because of them. I called them about the radiator and they said the radiator is most likely under warranty but not the labor. Needless to say im not having them touch my car again, even if its free. I now have doubts that they even rebuilt THE engine in my car. Its not my engine and thats not what i paid for or asked for. The oil leaks, radiator blew, oil plug stripped, who knows what else.
Gathering Evidence: Little do they know what kind of evidence i have if they dont agree with my terms. I want my money back for the engine, a new radiator, and my original engine back if possible. I have my phone to record every phone call, i have every phone call with them, verifying what i wanted, price estimates, time, dates, receipts, all past ownership work, original window sticker showing what engine should be in the car, and photos of towing.
I am thinking about finding yet another shop to take a look at the engine with me at their side to document it with their words and photos to see if the engine really was rebuilt. If not thats the nail in the coffin for them.
I am so tired of shops taking advantage of me and everyone else for that matter. I need your help in what to do next. Im not sure how to go about this, i feel that they will just make up a technical answer as to why i dont have my original block in there.
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Originally Posted by Cheeseburger
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