Parents getting taken advantage by untrusty shop? Need advice

"N51fanatic" (n51fanatic)
07/16/2014 at 14:44 • Filed to: None

Oppo, i fear my retired folks are getting taken advantage of by indy mechanic. They are 2 hours away and retired and arent rich. They got the car scanned at autozone and pulled code P0442, faulty vent solenoid. She took the car to indy place. Mechanic claims there is a nest in engine and wires are chewed. Further diagnosis of oil/antifreeze in sparkplugs. Said a new headgasket would fix it. He calls my folks today and says the pistons and or valves are bent it needs a new motor. New motor will have 40k miles.

Mom calls me to tell me all this. What should I do? She already kinda told the guy to go ahead. Naturally i think the guy is taking advantage of a too trusting old woman. Should i give the guy the benefit of the doubt? Guy is charging 1800 for motor and swap. What say you? Should i call the mechanic halt all work and make a fuss and have it towed elsewhere?

2002 Accord v6 auto with 80k miles. Regular oil changes. Thoughts?

DISCUSSION (20)

thebigbossyboss > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:46

New engine at 80K miles? Call and put a halt to it!!!!!!! Have it towed. Worst case ontario: it's needs a new engine anyways, lose money on the tow. Best case: save hundreds or possibly a thousand dollars.

Chris Clarke > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:46

Second Opinion!

AM3R > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:48

my dads 2007 V6 auto accord just broke 100k no trouble. That's fishy, halt the work and have a honda tech go check it out.

crowmolly > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:49

The guy might be bad at his job and just looking for the repair that will take care of everything.

Or maybe there IS in fact a lot of stuff wrong with it and the cheaper way is to put a new engine in rather than do a ship of theseus rebuild.

Does it drive? That code looks like it's for an EVAP solenoid. How did he come to the diagnosis of bent valves?

Nibbles > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:49

Went in for a vent solenoid, leaving with a new block? SECOND OPINION PLZKTHX

505Turbeaux > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:50

jesus even if your Ma was hard on it an 80K accord V6 would take that. oil/antifreeze on the plugs? Make the drive yourself, or call him and ask for some documentation or even pictures. Also if he is in process you verify that motor number isnt the one already in it. I smell fish, rotten rotten fish

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:50

If the valves are bent, then the engine won't run. Something doesn't add up here

JGrabowMSt > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:51

Time for a two hour drive. I'd call him and tell him to hold off until you can go so he can show you the damage.

A good mechanic will gladly show you the whole nine yards. A bad mechanic will hide like the rat they are.

1) Oil/antifreeze around the spark plugs is not a head gasket. That's the O-ring on the spark plug tube. edit: in his defense, you should do the head gasket at the same time.

2) Pistons bend? Rods bend, valves bend, pistons do not bend. Pistons crack/explode and burn.

Money doesn't grow on trees.

mazda616 > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:51

An Accord that has been well maintained needing a new engine at 80,000 miles? Sounds fishy to me. Especially if it was running/driving relatively okay.

N51fanatic > JGrabowMSt
07/16/2014 at 14:53

The car basically limped into the shop, mom described a put put put noise coming from exhaust.

N51fanatic > 505Turbeaux
07/16/2014 at 14:55

that was my thinking as well. Next time i head down look for vin stamp on block and make sure it was different.

n54 & s38 > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 14:56

Sounds suspect. Can you ask him to send you photos of the nest/oil in plugs/chewed wiring, etc?

thebigbossyboss > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
07/16/2014 at 14:58

The Op added in a comments that the car was limping when put into shop.

JGrabowMSt > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 15:08

Could have been running off 3 cylinders, if some were flooded and not firing correctly. Bent valves would mean there's 0 compression, the engine simply wouldn't have made it down the street. In a lot of cases, they don't even start (or stall within a few seconds).

Bent valves would mean the timing would have to be off, and the Accord V6 has a timing chain IIRC. There would have to be some catastrophic damage to cause that.

To bend a rod, well, the car would need to be whipped pretty damn hard, to say the least.

Wiring, I could understand, but I'd want to see it myself.

—-

Where my girlfriend works, one of the delivery drivers recently had his Libery overheat. He got a new car, as I said he should do, but he said that the coolant looked pretty brown for a long time, and his "mechanic" said it was fine like that. Even with a new car, his mechanic was saying that he should bring the car in, and he'd see if it could be fixed. I told him to have the mechanic pony up the tow money to even get the car, and that he should sell the new set of 5 tires (4 + full size spare) and new alternator, and then sell the car for scrap metal. Over 200k miles on it. The head gasket is completely gone, and what's left of the coolant is just lumpy chocolate milk...

OPPOsaurus WRX > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 15:12

when my explorer ate a timing chain guide rail it sounded like something between when you crank over a motor and it won;t start and a chainsaw. That was a new motor for $2500 (w/65k miles). it did not drive itself to the shop. that also have the bent rods and damaged valves and head. did he say what the cause was?

N51fanatic > OPPOsaurus WRX
07/16/2014 at 15:14

said it was only running on 3 cylinders. Remember my mom knows nothing about cars, so i was getting the mish mash telephone 2nd hand version of what the problem was.

OPPOsaurus WRX > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 15:19

yea good luck. I know how moms can be. We had a funeral and she couldn't figure out how to turn on the hazard light for the procession. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. But then at the burial she was the only one (of 50 cars) who forgot to turn them off. derpy derp derp. she blamed it on all the emotions of the day. I just figures my explorer experience would give you something to compare what your dealing with. Overall its a shit show. i dont see how running on 3 cylinders would do that type of damage. i would just think it would be running really rough. but i dont really know enough to make that judgement.

N51fanatic > OPPOsaurus WRX
07/16/2014 at 15:21

understood, appreciate the advice. Thanks again.

RWS Motorsport > N51fanatic
07/16/2014 at 15:31

Its a long way to go, but by my eyes its a win win to make the 2 hours trip to the shop.

Scenario a: If the mechanic is honest, then you've got piece of mind, and brownie points with parents are always a good thing.

Scenario b: mechanic is dishonest, and you can see for yourself that he is, then your mum will be very pleased, and you've done a good thing.

At the very least its worth a ring to ask, again if he is honest he might send you pictures of the valves, just as a piece of mind thing?

ZiptieMcBumper > N51fanatic
07/17/2014 at 15:16

Definitely worth your time to check it out for yourself.

A V6 Accord would probably last damn near 100k miles on ONE oil change.

EDIT:

Are you sure about that code diagnosis?

Here's what I found when researching P0442:

http://www.hondaaccordforum.com/forum/general-…

If it's the same code,it's not a big deal at all.