OT: Garage gurus. Removing effed bolts….

[spdrun]

It often ended up costing me more to do it myself – especially factoring in my time and tools I had to buy.

At least you’d do it right, though, unlike some HS dropout mechanic’s assistant.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]

It often ended up costing me more to do it myself – especially factoring in my time and tools I had to buy.

At least you’d do it right, though, unlike some HS dropout mechanic’s assistant.[/quote]

Funny you should mention that…..Because about 50k miles ago, I bought the entire timing belt package (belts, water pump, t-stat,etc)..Then I took the parts over to the stealer that at the time had a coupon and was willing to do the labor for about $750-800 since I was in a hurry back then.

Now that I have my front disassembled and can see everything…it appears, they left the old water pump, timing belt roller and tensioner, and idle pulley..I know because the ones currently on my car still have the Audi logo on it, and the ones I bought years ago were all aftermarket.. So someone on the stealer basically charged me labor for work they didn’t do AND kept my parts that I bought…. Of course I didn’t notice because one can’t tell without taking the front off to look. And for them, if things did break, they already stated “customer parts: no warranty”.

Oh, and also, things they were suppose to replace under warranty, they only did a 1/2 ass job… I had a few vacuum lines that were cracking that I asked them to replace under warranty. Since the vacuum lines were so hard to access without taking the front off, the previous tech cut the old vacuum lines and spliced in new vacuum lines only in the locations that I could see them when the engine bay is open. So from the top, it looked like the replaced the vacuum lines when they didn’t…. Nice….

[spdrun]

So they stole your parts, basically? Leave them a piece of your mind on Yelp and report them to the Bureau of Automotive Repair. One complaint won’t do much, but if there’s a pattern, B.A.R. might be encouraged to fine them.

Thieves suck.

[svelte]

Yeah the one and ONLY time I took a car to a quicky lube place, it was my Miata. I took it in for an oil change. When I got home, I popped the hood and looked. The oil filter, which is installed sideways on Miatas, still had the layers of dust on it from sitting installed in my car for months!

I called them up and bitched about cheating me. Bring it back in, they said, we’ll do it right. Over my dead body I said – and I’ve never been to a quick lube place again. That little incident lost them LOTS of money.

It also taught me to mark things that I am about to have replaced or rotated. I mark my tires LF, LR, RF, RR with a magic marker when I take them in for rotation. I mark my spark plugs with little dabs of nail polish. I pretty much double-check everything now…but haven’t found another cheat like I did with the Miata.

[In the 80s my dad took his Cutlass in to Aamco to have them look at the tranny. They tuned it up and sent him on his way. A year later, a mechanic asked him when he got the Aamco transmission – he was shocked! He had owned the car since new so he knew it should have a factory transmission. He took Aamco to court and lost – judge was of the opinion the replacement was probably better than the old one. Probably correct since he drove the car to 300K without another transmission issue. 🙂 ]

[spdrun]

Could be worse — quick-lube place actually stripped the oil drain nipple on my sister’s car.

[moneymaker]

Why did you need to remove the pulley to begin with flu?

When I was fresh out of college my transmission went bad on my Toyota station wagon, so I took it in after opening the drain pan and closing it back up. They told me I needed a new transmission for like $800 or so, so I said go ahead. After getting it back I later (like almost a year later) checked the drain pan and found the same filter with a tear in it inside. I wanted to sue but then thought I had agreed to the price and it was working (kept working til I sold it many years later), still feel like I was lied to and cheated though.

[spdrun]

Virtually impossible to change a timing belt without yanking the crank pulley. Though I did it on a Volvo (I think) — I was able to wiggle the belt in the space between the pulley and the motor.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]Could be worse — quick-lube place actually stripped the oil drain nipple on my sister’s car.[/quote]

It could be way worse then that. Some guy on the VWVortex made the mistake of going to the quick lube place despite everyone telling them not to.. The “tech” filled the engine with transmission oil instead of engine oil…..(wrong lube gun I guess)

[spdrun]

Did it damage the engine, or was it a case of empty, flush, refill, refill again, keep fingers crossed? Interestingly, several cars that I’ve owned specified 10W30 oil in the gearbox instead of GL4 or ATF.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]So they stole your parts, basically? Leave them a piece of your mind on Yelp and report them to the Bureau of Automotive Repair. One complaint won’t do much, but if there’s a pattern, B.A.R. might be encouraged to fine them.

Thieves suck.[/quote]

It happened 7+ years ago, and since then the stealership has changed hands, and I don’t have any proof of it happening. So at most, it would become a he said/she said thing. Also, unrelated, I had a nice long discussion with my insurance agent about posting social media web review sites and the potential of it exposing oneself to personal liability claims from the business owner when the reviews accuse the business of something shady without proof to back up that claim.

Apparently, that’s one of the reasons why some homeowner’s insurance have been excluding or capping personal liability… some people are getting sued over it…. While it’s still murky how the courts will find things posted on these review websites, I for one don’t want to be the one pioneering and testing this unchartered area..

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]Did it damage the engine, or was it a case of empty, flush, refill, refill again, keep fingers crossed? Interestingly, several cars that I’ve owned specified 10W30 oil in the gearbox instead of GL4 or ATF.[/quote]

I don’t remember. I think the person noticed the color of the fluid not being correct, and then had it towed somewhere else and drained and refilled it.

[Coronita]

[quote=moneymaker]Why did you need to remove the pulley to begin with flu?

When I was fresh out of college my transmission went bad on my Toyota station wagon, so I took it in after opening the drain pan and closing it back up. They told me I needed a new transmission for like $800 or so, so I said go ahead. After getting it back I later (like almost a year later) checked the drain pan and found the same filter with a tear in it inside. I wanted to sue but then thought I had agreed to the price and it was working (kept working til I sold it many years later), still feel like I was lied to and cheated though.[/quote]

Unfortunately, there’s a timing belt cover must be removed to get to the crank pulley where the belt sits, and in order to get the cover off, the pulley has to come off first.

[spdrun]

Also, unrelated, I had a nice long discussion with my insurance agent about posting social media web review sites and the potential of it exposing oneself to personal liability claims from the business owner when the reviews accuse the business of something shady without proof to back up that claim.

If you’re worried, use a public WiFi or unlocked access point to post the review using a burner Gmail addy. Good luck to them proving who posted it, but it will still affect their rating score.

And you can’t be sued for reporting them to the B.A.R. (assuming you make a true report in a timely manner).

[The-Shoveler]

Most likely if you drill off the screw heads, once the pulley is removed, the tension will be off the screw and it can be removed easily.

IMO your results may very.

[Coronita]

Audi… The gift that keeps giving…….

So…. I was at UTC yesterday to run some errands… I thought I’d pay Sears a visit….. 🙂

Got these… Made in USA.

Salesguy says they are really tough and I wouldn’t be able to to strip these…And if I did, I can return them for a refund…. While I was there, I also picked up an 200ft/lb impact wrench….

…..The results….

Seized bolt: 2
FLU+ Craftsman Bolt Out+Impact Wrench: 0

Oh… And I did manage to strip/flatten the bolt-outs slightly too.. So they go back to Sears, along with the impact wrench, that didn’t do jack to remove the crank nut too.

Oh, this is going to be a long journey……

Next stop… Drill, baby drill!

[Author]

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