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Ceg'er Exemplified vs. crooked repair shop

A

abyssius

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
64
Location
Long Island, New York
Recently, I've been suffering through a saga trying to get my 1998 Mystique V6 to pass the NYS inspection. The problem was the notorious P0174, P0171 codes. Many on this forum posted valuable information in troubleshooting the problem.

However, I was unsuccessful in solving the problem and I was driving the car illegally since I couldn't re-register it without a valid inspection. So in desperation, I took the car into a local repair shop. For those interested,more details can be found at this link.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=46723&

In any case, to the point of this post. After a "botch job" by the repair shop, I decided I had to replace my LIM. Ceg'er fd3rew, who lives in my area and been following my saga, contacted me via a PM, and offered me his spare LIM for $40.00.

We met in a parking lot to make the exchange. I told him that a repair shop had charged me $400.00 to apply RTV to the IMRC rod, to contain the "vacuum leak" but it didn't work. He asked me if he could take a look at it, so we popped the hood.

Upon inspection, his alarm was obvious. He felt that the repair shop's "botch" job had imperiled my IMRC, and if I kept driving it, it could be destroyed within a few miles. See Pics below. The IMRC rod could not be moved a a sixteenth of an inch in any direction. The shop charged me $400.00 for this "repair".


lim_glue_1.jpg


lim_glue_2.jpg


He insisted that I follow him back to his house right away. Although it was raining, fd3rew pulled my car into his driveway, and proceeded in rapid fashion to replace my gummed-up LIM with the one he sold me. After that
remarkable repair job was complete, we performed a test drive.

Unfortunately the p0171, p0174 codes returned. However, fd3rew told me that since we were driving anyway, let's go to a nearby shop he knew to get the car inspected once and for all.

With the help of his bluetooth code reader and a laptop computer, he was able to keep the car behaving until we arrived at the shop, where he prudently removed the code reader:o. The shop inspected my car immediately and it PASSED with flying colors!!!

Truthfully, fd3rew could have charged me anything for his time and labor plus saving my a$$ with the NYS DMV, and I would have been glad to pay it. However the bill for his services was simple. $0.00!!

fd3rew's help was profound. I've been out of work for a while now
and this car is my only transportation. I wouldn't be able to search and
find a job on Long island without this car, since public transport is extremely limited. The codes are still there, but now I have a year to figure it out.

This CEG'er really touched my heart and made me proud to be a member of this outstanding forum. He is a humble person, so he'll probably cringe at the fact that I'm posting this. However, I think that he not only exemplifies a CEG'er, but he is also a wonderful human being, who elected to come to the aid of a complete stranger with no other motive that basic human compassion. I will be forever grateful for this, and he should know that a top priority is to somehow return this remarkable favour in any way I can.

BTW, any suggestions as to how I should deal with this repair shop would be appreciated. I can't sleep at night thinking of how they "ripped me off", told me the car was repaired, charged my credit card, and all they accomplished was to further imperil my car.

P.S. I hope some of you will reach out to fd3rew and congratulate him for his outstanding knowledge, character and humanity.
 
Wow, what the hell shop was that? Good lord look at that thing. You paid $400 for that @#*! :nonono:. I would march back in and throw it at them and demand my money back.

Good to hear about the help, man. There's good people on this site, and many have helped me in a pinch as well! :cool:
 
good to hear somene got you all fixed up! Now I agree with taking that part to them and demanding a refund! If no said refund is given that lim would be meeting the side of a head or 5.
 
ancientsanskrit said:
Wow, what the hell shop was that? Good lord look at that thing. You paid $400 for that @#*! :nonono:. I would march back in and throw it at them and demand my money back.

Good to hear about the help, man. There's good people on this site, and many have helped me in a pinch as well! :cool:
Click to expand...

My wife has forbidden me from directly confronting the shop until I demonstrate some calm. She promises she'll refuse to "bail me out". Enough said. A neighbor of mine went over to the shop and pretended to be from the NYS DMV and told them he was investigating the incident. My neighbor claims The shop owner gave him a sob story about "just recently opening the shop" and offered to bribe him $150. My neighbor could be "fibbing" me, However after some research, I can report him to the NYS DMV for refusing to give me a 1-year inspection waiver.

In NY, if you've spent over $450.00 to repair a emissions-related problem and your car passes all the saftey requirements (brakes, tires. lights, etc.), any official inspection station can issue a "waiver" inspection for your car. I printed out the law, showed it to the shop owner, but he refused to do this, saying that NY "frowns on stations that do this." It would "ruin his reputation."

Well, I've decided that "ruining his reputation" is exactly what I intend to pursue. I'm going to file a complaint with NYS DMV for his refusal to grant a waiver and also sue him in small claims court - not only for what he charged me, but also for the cost of correcting his destructive repair. I'm going to the Mercury dealer where I bought the car and ask them to give me a written description of what damage gluing the IMRC rod shut would cause to my car, and also an estimate for replacing the LIM he damaged.
 
Some more Pictures

Some more Pictures

I'm going to carefully document everything that was done. Take a look at these angles:

lim_glue_3.jpg


lim_glue_4.jpg


To show the extent of their "work", they also RTV'd one of my vacuum hoses on the UIM, which is now permanently installed, since I cannot now not remove it without damaging it.

UIM_glue.jpg


I'll be able to demonstrate that my car would be considered "mint" for its year.

lim_glue_6.jpg

lim_glue_3.jpg
 
Glad to see someone went out of their way for you with this. I can think of 4 people in my region that would do the same.
 
It sure is alarming how many crooks there are in the auto repair industry.

OP - You could still "maybe" remove that hose , my guess is the bushing in the IM would be ruined but the IM is still OK. But, what dip???? move gluing that piece in!!!
 
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PEN² said:
Glad to see someone went out of their way for you with this. I can think of 4 people in my region that would do the same.
Click to expand...

That is great news. I've resisted becoming cynical in these trying times, but this episode almost put me over the edge. If it weren't for the "kindness of a stranger", I think I would have probably lost it and gotten myself in a lot of trouble.

Some say that "angels" aren't mystical spirits with wings, but ordinary folk who are willing to interact with kindness and generosity - not because of any material motive -but simply because that is what's in their hearts.

I've been kinda depressed for months now, and I didn't need for my car, which has been reliable for 10 years, to act up when I needed it most. This incident and its resolution has "renewed my faith" a little bit - and speaks volumes about this forum and the great people that participate on it.
 
BAD SVT said:
this is what they call "repair"? seal everything up with rtv? the uim vacuum lines? just wow. i'd sue them for damages. i hope u didnt sign anything asking that they do this to ur car?
Click to expand...

The only thing that was signed was the credit card receipt. I don't know what's said on the initial repair order, but I didn't sign anything. I just filled out my name, address, tel, no. This is all the invoice said:

LABOR:
Scan PCM codes: P0420, P0430, P0171, P0174
Smoke tests found Vacuum leaks:
IRMC leaking and Bad Cats: $95.00

Fix IRMC on Intake with RTV.
This is not a permitted Fix
Customer told will need lower
intake at some point: $400.00
​
I fixed the P0420, P0430 codes myself, using advice found on this forum.
 
You know, if they personally wrote "This is not a permitted fix." I think you can take them for a nice legal ride.
 
BAD SVT said:
this is what they call "repair"? seal everything up with rtv? the uim vacuum lines? just wow. i'd sue them for damages. i hope u didnt sign anything asking that they do this to ur car?
Click to expand...

I could probably get it out. But, I'm considering adding "damage" to the UIM to my law suit, so I'll leave it the way they left it for now.

I'd appreciate if some of you would post 'expert' evaluations of what damage has been done - and also the potential damage that could be done as a result of this repair. I plan to print all this stuff to help me make my points in court, if they actually show up and try to deny my accusations and conclusions.
 
Update on the crooks

Update on the crooks

i forgot to mention that when we replaced the UIM, we found that one leg of the accelerator cable bracket was bent upward. It was only held on by two of the three bolts. It was a mystery why they would do this until I realized that they bent it out the way so they could squirt the RTV on the IMRC rod without having to remove anything. This is their $400.00 worth of labor. They were probably going to claim they removed the UIM, etc. to justify the labor costs???
 
Your story restores some of my faith in the people on this forum. I started on here with 8 flawless transactions, and then lost $300 to a scammer who had been registered for years, but with low posts. It burnt me, but eventually I decided to start buying again from forum members. I had another 5 great transactions, and then comes another 'hiccup'. Luckily, it's looking like it will be resolved (fingers crossed).

Please make sure you leave feedback for him in the Transaction Section.
 
Chas said:
Your story restores some of my faith in the people on this forum. I started on here with 8 flawless transactions, and then lost $300 to a scammer who had been registered for years, but with low posts. It burnt me, but eventually I decided to start buying again from forum members. I had another 5 great transactions, and then comes another 'hiccup'. Luckily, it's looking like it will be resolved (fingers crossed).

Please make sure you leave feedback for him in the Transaction Section.
Click to expand...

Chas

I'm sorry to hear about your negative experiences while purchasing parts from this forum. Truthfully, I would probably not have made my first purchase through this forum if it involved shipping from another part of the country. In my case, I had the chance to examine the part before cash was exchanged - and as it turned out I gained much more that I had initially bargained for.

I will say that as it is with society in general, this forum undoubtedly includes 'sinners' and 'saints.' Therefore, bad experiences with individual members should not reflect on the forum itself. I've been a member since 2008, and only recently increased my postings. However. I've often scrutinized the information presented here and more often that not I've received valuable tips that have undoubtedly added to my knowledge about my car and saved me money.

I agree that tools like adding 'feedback' to the Transaction section and also relating 'positive' interactions are important aspects of this forum. This is why I chose to point out a member that IMHO meets the 'saints' criteria.
 
I am really bummed that I missed your original post. I just took apart my LIM to replace the butterfly screws, and clean it out. I slid the entire rod out of the LIM, and it has an o-ring on it. I got a new one from my local hardware store for $.30 each. its not an exotic "seal", its just an oring. for $400 he should have done that plus more!
 
turbo_fox said:
I am really bummed that I missed your original post. I just took apart my LIM to replace the butterfly screws, and clean it out. I slid the entire rod out of the LIM, and it has an o-ring on it. I got a new one from my local hardware store for $.30 each. its not an exotic "seal", its just an oring. for $400 he should have done that plus more!
Click to expand...

Ouch! I'm surprised no-one else mentioned this. If I'd known about this o-ring, I would have replaced it myself when I originally did the UIM/LIM gaskets. In any case, I think this could be valuable info for CEG'ers who plan to do this job. Maybe, this o-ring should be replaced as a routine part of the cleaning/gasket replacement procedure. Once you have the LIM off, it's not so much more work to remove and replace the butterfly throttles and rod. This would allow for better cleaning also.
 
Dispute the charge with your credit card company also. Not sure it will stick, but it will definitely cause some hassle for the shop in dealing with the CC as well.
 
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