OPPO ADVICE: Immediately Check work done on your car

"qbeezy" (qbeezy) 10/28/2015 at 11:10 • Filed to: OPPO Advice

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Thinking of making a new tag. Only because I took my car to get the tension arm, lower control arm, replace . Everything seemed good and fine. Till my SiL found a lug nut from the side they worked on. Then I check all the lugs and none of them are torqued. Ugh. Had to tighten them all. Why is that so hard to do shop mechanic duelde person?

Why I don’t like letting other people work on my car... Check their work. Immediately.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:14

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WOW

Especially at a shop which I’m sure had an impact gun right there...

gin-san - shitpost specialist > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:15

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Heck, I’ll usually check even little things like oil levels after an oil change, just to make sure I’m not over/under.

450X_FTW > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:16

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qbeezy > gin-san - shitpost specialist 10/28/2015 at 11:16

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I tried to be “more trusting” this time around. Ultra NOPE. Never again.

Mattbob > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:21

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I always check the work done on my car as I am doing it.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:21

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I just yell at problem areas until the bastards fall into line.

Azrek > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:21

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I had to get some work done on the transmission of my car as I lost 2 bolts in the housing due to an accident.

I got the car back and he shows me the car is clean, but inside the front grille of the car pinned to the radiator is a very smashed pepsi can. I pointed it out and neither of us could figure out how said can got into that location.

We had to get the guys in the back to pry it out with a pair of needle nose as the gap between the grille and the ground was about half an inch. The can didn’t damage the fins on the radiator, it was as if it was sucked up.

No one had a clue how the pepsi can ended up there.

BREADwagon > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:25

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I pretty much stopped bringing any of my cars to garages for any service because of things like this. The last time I brought my FocuST to the dealership for a TSB (rear motor mount replacement), I explicitly told them not to rotate my tires. I had some cheap aftermarket rims with all seasons for the fall, and I read that the powder coating on them was really cheap and easily chipped with impact sockets that are on the larger side.

When I pick up my car I see that ALL of the rims have severe scratches around the lugs, and when I look at the bill I see that they rotated the tires. I complained, but since it was warranty work I was not out of pocket for anything, so I didn’t get comp’d anything or any sort of refund.

It took me like more than 200 ft pounds of force to break the lugs off, to then retorque them back to spec.

Last time I took the miata in for an inspection and an oil change (since I was there anyway), the tech spilled oil all over the valve cover...he probably got more on the cover than into the motor. Upon further inspection, I saw he used the old crush washer. If you want something done right...

HammerheadFistpunch > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:26

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If I were to open a repair shop all my advertising would simply be “we follow the service manual to a T...yeah including torque specs”.

Sam > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:26

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After we adjusted the rear drums on my 924 (non-self-adjusting drums were invented by Satan), I forgot to tighten the lugs on the right rear wheel. 5 minutes later, we’re sitting in an intersection with mad tyte negative camber. Basically, 3 out of 4 lugs flew off and only the top one remained. We have to run back home, jack the car up in the road, and tighten all the lugs. Luckily, nothing was damaged.

Telumektar > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/28/2015 at 11:26

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But they do it so the wheel doesn’t fall off... like EVER.

It’s specially nice to blow a tire and then find out your wheels were all impacted (?) in place... in the rain, with a 20 cm long lug wrench to loose those super-tight lugs.

Tripper > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:32

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It is scary how many times I have heard of this happening (lugs not torqued). It has happened to me, and a handful of friends/family members. “What’s that sound? It’s been doing that since I got it back from service.” “sounds like you wheel is about to fall off, oh it is...”

Justin Hughes > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:33

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Like the time I got an oil change, drove back around the corner to work, popped the hood just as the boss walked by joking about my engine still being there, and picking up the loose oil cap to show him.

qbeezy > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/28/2015 at 11:38

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The worst part is, the. Needed the gun to get the bushing off. I only took it there because my impact gun didn’t have enough “umph”.

Decay buys too many beaters > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:38

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I had a dealer service center fill my coolant overflow tank with windshield washer fluid once...

qbeezy > Tripper 10/28/2015 at 11:41

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Only a few. Basically from the shop.

qbeezy > Decay buys too many beaters 10/28/2015 at 11:42

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Were they even the same color!?

BigBlock440 > 450X_FTW 10/28/2015 at 11:49

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That’s one of these, right? Lets you get more torque.

Decay buys too many beaters > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:53

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yes, both blue. Issue arose with my FR-S at a Toyota service center. Its a Subaru engine so the coolant is blue rather than the normal Toyota red, also the positions of the tanks are reversed from standard Toyota orientation... They are clearly fucking labeled though. I only found out because I was looking over the service sheet and it said “topped off washer fluid” well I don’t ever use my windshield washer, so I found that a bit strange. I went out and saw that my coolant reservoir was waaaay overfull. I extracted some of the fluid, put it into a clear jar, and compared the color to a control sample of the proper coolant (they were different)

I don’t even go in for “free” service anymore.

jariten1781 > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:54

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Every single time a wrench I’m not holding touches my car I spot check it. Very rarely is there an occasion where they’ve done the whole job in a way that I would consider acceptable had I done it. I’ve had missing clips, broken wire guides, entire missing bolts, shit ziptied rather than remounted to the factory points (wires and hoses mostly), washers missing, stuff not lined up properly, not torqued, over torqued, fluid levels wrong, etc. I've never had a 'it's gonna break/kill me' style poor job, but I'd think a professional would rather take more pride than a jackass amateur like me...but apparently that's completely incorrect.

I budget a good hour to go back over and fix all that stuff afterwards.

Chairman Kaga > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:57

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Had my steering rack replaced, which came with an alignment. Finally beat traffic and was able to crack 50 MPH. Totally unstable. Dead spot at the top 5 degrees, vibration, wobbling.

Taking it back tomorrow, although the shop is saying it must be a defective rack, since I provided the part.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 11:59

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jeez so they were using one anyhow...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Telumektar 10/28/2015 at 12:01

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At least your wheel didn’t fall off.

450X_FTW > BigBlock440 10/28/2015 at 12:18

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How much torque did you use?

Enough.

BigBlock440 > 450X_FTW 10/28/2015 at 12:19

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Depends on the equipment, one arm for cars, both arms for bigger stuff.

qbeezy > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/28/2015 at 12:37

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Exactly.

TheRealBicycleBuck > qbeezy 10/28/2015 at 12:59

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While in college, I was driving my mom’s car for a time. There were issues with the tires, so I took the car down to the big chain store where she bought them to have them rotated and balanced before she came to visit the next week.

After driving the car for a shopping trip, my mom complained of a clunking noise coming from the wheels. I discovered one lug nut missing from each of the wheels and all of the others were only finger tight.

I tightened everything up and went back to the store where the work was done to have a conversation with the manager and the “technician” who worked on the car. The tech told us when he noticed the service order was for a woman (the car was still in my mom’s name), he would tighten, then loosen the lug nuts “just a bit” so she would be able to remove a tire by herself if she had a flat. I pointed out that there are torque specs for lug nuts right there in the manual.

We received replacement nuts and a discount for the next service. It was a wasted gesture. They had lost my trust. I never went back.

qbeezy > TheRealBicycleBuck 10/28/2015 at 13:26

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That’s stupid. I wouldn’t go anywhere near that place again.