1st blown head gasket on my car and I didn't do it!!

[turbofish38]

I remember the time I had my GN repainted. I sent it over to one of my customers that had an excellent reputation painting Corvettes. I told him money was no object and I stripped it down for a tape less paint job. I had his teen age son put in some time block sanding the car for college money so that kept the bill a little lower than I expected. So 6 weeks later he calls for me to pick up my car. I get there and it's parked in the middle of the shop. He says "I didn't have the heart to tell you on the phone" and than proceeds to tell me they cant start the car. He says I know it was running when you dropped it off. So I'm standing there looking at it and than open the trunk and plugged the wire harness back in so the fuel pump would kick on. It started on the first try. They had unplugged it so they wouldn't get overspray on the taillamp sockets. He was pissed at himself for not telling me sooner saying that it was a real PITA pushing around my car with fresh paint because it wouldn't start.

I dont know what say. The past couple of years I have purposely detuned my GN for this reason. My thinking was that if something happened to me and I couldn't drive the car than I wanted it to be as trouble free and dependable as possible so my wife or anybody else could drive it. Heavens knows my wife drives the wheels off of everything we have. All I would have to worry about is somebody stealing it. Thats assuming I was still around. She tells me she is going to paint it metalflake orange and hang 20" spinners on it when I die.

 

[Evans Ward]

I did decide to contact the shop owner via a well thought out email. Had 2 other Turbo Buick owners critique and tweak the narrative before sending it. Provided education of the dynamics of these cars/ motors in conjunction with running an alcohol injection system. Sent it 4 days ago (blind copied myself) with no reply. Email didn't bounce back either, and I have confirmed I have the shop's correct email addy. I am continuing on with top end disassembly and plan to forward digital pics of what I find when I pull the heads again to the shop owner. Chalk this one up to experience. Hope others can and will learn from my mistake...... :frown:

 

[turbojimmy]

I did decide to contact the shop owner via a well thought out email. Had 2 other Turbo Buick owners critique and tweak the narrative before sending it. Provided education of the dynamics of these cars/ motors in conjunction with running an alcohol injection system. Sent it 4 days ago (blind copied myself) with no reply. Email didn't bounce back either, and I have confirmed I have the shop's correct email addy. I am continuing on with top end disassembly and plan to forward digital pics of what I find when I pull the heads again to the shop owner. Chalk this one up to experience. Hope others can and will learn from my mistake...... :frown:

Good luck. I tried that approach as well. In my case, the situation has degraded.

Jim

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Print the e-mail off, and pay this guy a visit, for an "upclose and personal" discussion of what you expect him to do.....
No more "Mr niceguy"....

 

[jwillettgn]

Evans,

Sorry to hear this, if you need to, call Katie, she is always looking for a good fight. LOL


Jim

 

[Whut]

Call a local news channel. It seems all Fox stations have an "investigators" segment. They love stuff like this, crooked employees, unapologetic owners, they would have it on TV and this guy would lose business.

 

[Dabigguy]

That sux !!!! I like the tip on taking the wastgate rod loose, I'll try that IF I ever have to take it to a shop for anything.

Good luck with it.

You said you had the car for a few weeks before you noticed any issues and your post is almost 2 weeks old........I am a business owner and if a customer called me a month after I had performed a service and said I had messed something up, it would be pretty difficult to convince me that I had caused that issue. Make sense?

Keep us informed on your progress.

 

[Top Speed]

Evans, that sucks big time. I sure hope you can get some kind of retribution against the shop owner. Stuff like this makes you appreciate the shops and people you can actually trust to work you your car.

 

[Ttype83]

I did decide to contact the shop owner via a well thought out email. Had 2 other Turbo Buick owners critique and tweak the narrative before sending it. Provided education of the dynamics of these cars/ motors in conjunction with running an alcohol injection system. Sent it 4 days ago (blind copied myself) with no reply. Email didn't bounce back either, and I have confirmed I have the shop's correct email addy. I am continuing on with top end disassembly and plan to forward digital pics of what I find when I pull the heads again to the shop owner. Chalk this one up to experience. Hope others can and will learn from my mistake...... :frown:

Some shop worker read the email and deleted it, shop owner may noy even know. So see below

Print the e-mail off, and pay this guy a visit, for an "upclose and personal" discussion of what you expect him to do.....
No more "Mr niceguy"....

Yep time for a personal visit and take a friend with you.

Evans, that sucks big time. I sure hope you can get some kind of retribution against the shop owner. Stuff like this makes you appreciate the shops and people you can actually trust to work you your car.

I let one shop work on one of my cars, I have learned There is only a couple of shops that will ever touch my cars again.

Evans I'm very sorry to hear this, I know how you feel

 

[ngc414]

I never leave my car with a shop anymore. About 10 years ago I had a dealer working on my car. I had an expensive CD player in it. They called me the following day and said the CD player was stolen and its not their responsibility. I wrote them 2 letters with no response and the never returned my phone calls. Weeks went by, so I went to the court house and spent the $25 to file a small claims suit. The day they got the courts paper work I got a call from the dealer agreeing to pay for the CD player and installation. If I was in this situation I would pay the $25 again and file it with small claims and see what happens. Let a 3rd party look at the situation. Usually they will settle before the court date anyway.

 

[turbojimmy]

I never leave my car with a shop anymore. About 10 years ago I had a dealer working on my car. I had an expensive CD player in it. They called me the following day and said the CD player was stolen and its not their responsibility. I wrote them 2 letters with no response and the never returned my phone calls. Weeks went by, so I went to the court house and spent the $25 to file a small claims suit. The day they got the courts paper work I got a call from the dealer agreeing to pay for the CD player and installation. If I was in this situation I would pay the $25 again and file it with small claims and see what happens. Let a 3rd party look at the situation. Usually they will settle before the court date anyway.

Here in NJ small claims is only goes up to $3K. I'm out substantially more than that. There are other options, however.

Jim

 

[Evans Ward]

You said you had the car for a few weeks before you noticed any issues and your post is almost 2 weeks old........I am a business owner and if a customer called me a month after I had performed a service and said I had messed something up, it would be pretty difficult to convince me that I had caused that issue. Make sense?

Easy explanation: I'm on a motorcycle most days weather permitting besides using the car to pick up the children from school each afternoon (7 miles each way). Car didn't get much use due to this. Day it overheated was a hot day and was sitting in the fast food line. I almost left there without getting my order due to the high temps observed on external gauge and SM. Antifreeze smell was evident from time I picked the car up at the shop. I used only RMI 25 prior and saw nothing but a strong antifreeze content when I drained radiator. That lets me know they know as this was a band aid. I also left for an out of town one week trip and didn't want to send the email to the shop owner for my wife to possibly have to deal with any return calls etc while I was gone. Honest truth and I know it would be my word vs his. A friend and I plan to finish up the work tomorrow. I'm still staying the course with the digital pictures being sent. I'll post them up to this thread too.

 

[Dabigguy]

I am on your side Evans, I was simply stating what you may encounter when you finally talk with the shop owner.

Keep us posted !!!

 

[Evans Ward]

I am on your side Evans, I was simply stating what you may encounter when you finally talk with the shop owner.

Keep us posted !!!

Thanks for the support. I'm still not sure what I might do in the future but it's good to hear options and suggestions from everyone here. My Mama always talked about "bought" experience...... I think this fits that bill!

 

[turbojimmy]

Thanks for the support. I'm still not sure what I might do in the future but it's good to hear options and suggestions from everyone here. My Mama always talked about "bought" experience...... I think this fits that bill!

Honestly I don't think you'll get very far with the shop. Keep a diary and pictures of the events. Small claims in GA is up to $15,000 so that should work out well for you.

Jim

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

You're absolutely CRAZY for letting them off the hook. I'd go in there, and let them know of the lawsuit that's coming. And how they blew a headgasket and tried to hide it from me.. There's no WAY I'd let that go.