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

E

Evans Ward

Love those LC2/ Y56 cars!
Joined
May 24, 2001
:mad: Didn't even get the pleasure of joining this elite club. I had my car in a local shop (in the Macon/ Warner Robins area) for electrical repair to the printed flexible circuit board on the rear of the instrument cluster. After the 3rd used unit/ piece and 8 wks later, I get the call that my car is ready. First thing I noticed when driving the car home is that my alcohol injection controller has been turned off. Slight concern for me since I did not lower the boost and had the car tuned set at 23 PSI WOT w/ alky. Drove the car sporadically in the couple of wks after getting it back but noticed some overheating concerns. Checked coolant level in rad and could not see at all! :mad: Now comes the time that I get that bad gut wrenching feeling where you realize what has happened.:( Not that I can prove it conclusively, but I know the car was perfectly fine mechanically when I took it in for the electrical repair, and I know I didn't go WOT in it in some time since I have been trying to get it sorted. Scenario I think happened is that shop owner got one of the younger guys to test the car out to see if instrument panel was working, alcohol injection was turned off (why??) and somebody couldn't resist going WFO in my car! :mad: Bet that audible knock detector screamed at him.:rolleyes: I'm pretty sure they probably knew what they did too as I noticed anti freeze in the rad when I started draining it. I only had water and RMI- 25. I haven't called the shop and probably won't as I have started the disassembly to change the head gaskets. I thought I could trust this shop but now have been bitten! I could have prevented this by lowering the boost so I'm accepting some responsibility in this. Did get alot off the motor yesterday and a friend and myself will handle the R+R to get it back right again. Seems this car has been giving a rash of bad luck lately but I'm positive and optimistic to fix it again. Hope someone can learn from this including me..... :frown:
 
Nojug said:
Take wastegate rod w/ you when dropping car off at shop
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This is exactly what I do. I may throw in the chip for different injectors just for good measure. The last time I did that, the paint shop had to get running start to get it in the paint booth. That kills any desire to even attempt to take it down the road.
 
I would send letter stating you knew exactly what the shop did, however you would not seek any legal action for the grief. then id just post the experience with the BBB and call it a day.

Sad to hear non the less
 
It's a shame now a days you can't drop your car off at the shop without someone wanting to run the piss out of it just for giggles and grins.

There's a guy over on chevelles.com that took his wifes 05 Mustang GT in the shop because the battery kept going dead. Guy got the car back and on the way home the engine didn't sound right (valve train noise), then he noticed the back tires were bald. Then he even found I think some traces of metal and coolant in the oil.

A further investigation revealed while the car was at the shop some punk kid took the car (after hours) to an empty parking lot and ran the piss out of it, doing figure 8's with it, leaving black skid marks all over the lot and even curb checking the car.

This guy fought back hard after the dealer only offered new tires, in the end Ford ended up buying the car back from him and the punk kid quit his job knowing he was in deep doo-doo.

Then another guy I heard took his 70 GS in for an alignment, after it was done one of the mechanics took the car out for a test drive, decided to floor it around a corner and ended up sending the car into a phone pole.
 
Very sorry to hear that. I went to pick my dad's 87 turbo T up from the air conditioning place 45 minutes early and found the owner and a tech smoking the tires and making a full pass behind the shop. Luckily I learned from my dad's experience and my car always went in the shop with no wastegate rod.
 
No better reason than to learn to repair your own car! I've had my car about 2 years and haven't taken it to a shop yet. This year I need to get the rear window tinted and it'll be the first time I take my car to have work done. I'll be disconnecting the wastegate and even better, asking if I can watch the guy while he works. If they have a problem with it, I'll leave.
 
I know someone who had a similar experience when taking his T into the shop for an alignment. The guys finished doing the front end alignment and wanted to go out and see how it drives!:eek: The intercooler hose popped off and they thought it was blown up!

It really ticks me off when you take your car to get a simple thing done like alignment and then somebody else beats the piss out of your car! Im sure this happens alot more than people realize.

I took my T-type in for a alignment at the same shop. I told them I would drive it. They really wanted to take it out but I wouldn't let them.
 
Lucky me when I left my car for wheel alignment the MAF took a dump.
When I got back the guy said "you need to replace the fuel pump the car barely runs" I guess I lucked out.
99.9999999% of the time that I take my car to a shop I sit in the lounge or sit out front waiting for the work to get done.
When I had my exhaust done I sat there and waited 4.5 hours. :mad:
 
mcasteel2112 said:
I would send letter stating you knew exactly what the shop did, however you would not seek any legal action for the grief. then id just post the experience with the BBB and call it a day.

Sad to hear non the less
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Thank you for this reply. This sounds sensible and logical. I was talking the situation with a fellow board member in church this morning (Rob Woodruff) and he offered about the same advice. I may even send him (shop owner) some digital pictures of the damage when I get there. I do a good bit of my work on my car but it was taken in (towed) to this shop due to an electrical failure with the printed circuit board on the rear of the instrument cluster. I had tried to repair this problem but felt like it would be better handled by professionals after about 6 hrs of my time unsuccessfully. Electricals are a tough area for me! Nevertheless, I will be doing the head gasket change in MY garage at MY HOME.
 
I run an extender chip that has valet mode, the car dies after 1/4 throttle;) . I usually try not leave the car out of my sight.
 
Two of my friends growing up became "mechanics." I learned through them never to take my fast cars to a shop because they would dog the ever living hell out of any they could. They had been caught plenty as well but would laugh it off. One got caught by the owner running his Porsche above 100 mph and he told the guy, "I wanted to make sure your new windshield didn't whistle," and the guy bought it.
 
Headgasket Repair

Evans Ward said:
Thank you for this reply. This sounds sensible and logical. I was talking the situation with a fellow board member in church this morning (Rob Woodruff) and he offered about the same advice. I may even send him (shop owner) some digital pictures of the damage when I get there. I do a good bit of my work on my car but it was taken in (towed) to this shop due to an electrical failure with the printed circuit board on the rear of the instrument cluster. I had tried to repair this problem but felt like it would be better handled by professionals after about 6 hrs of my time unsuccessfully. Electricals are a tough area for me! Nevertheless, I will be doing the head gasket change in MY garage at MY HOME.
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I'M DOING THE SAMETHING WHAT STEPS ARE YOU USING INSTALLING THE HEADS ALSO I'M GOING TO BE USING THE RJC GASKETS AND HAVE ARP STUDS.
 
ALVAROG1983 said:
YEP MY XFI HAS THAT OPITION:biggrin:
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Mine too! If I actually do leave it with something I will turn the wastegate all he way out so there is as little boost as possible. I dont care if the shop thinks the car is a turd, maybe I will meet one of the mechanics at the track and show him differently.

Then again, when I was in Minnesota the only certified mechanic to touch my car was northerngn.
 
Evans Ward said:
I could have prevented this by lowering the boost so I'm accepting some responsibility in this. Did get alot off the motor yesterday and a friend and myself will handle the R+R to get it back right again. Seems this car has been giving a rash of bad luck lately but I'm positive and optimistic to fix it again. Hope someone can learn from this including me..... :frown:
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There is no way you should be accepting any responsibility for this. The car really didn't need to be driven to check the instrument cluster. A quick trip around the parking lot would have verified whether it was working or not.

I'm going through the SAME EXACT scenario right now with a well-known TR vendor (a supporting vendor on this board, actually). I got the car back with 2 blown head gaskets, trashed crankshaft, 2 broken pistons and bent connecting rods. You think you can trust someone, and actually consider them a friend, until the you-know-what hits the fan. It's funny how people's personalities change when there's trouble.

Go after that shop with a full bill of your loss, including your own labor. None of it is your fault.

Jim
 
turbojimmy said:
Go after that shop with a full bill of your loss, including your own labor. None of it is your fault.
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+2

Evans,
There is no way in the world you should accept any responsibility for this.
Your ride is entirely too immaculate and low mileage to allow someone to trash it.
If that shop won't accept what they did and fess up to thier responsibility, it's our job to put them out of business.
And it will be easy for us to do that.

Sorry to hear about this, but if there is anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask.

Patrick
 
You should definately say something to this shop. Don't talk to the guy at the desk or the mechanics. Try to talk directly to the owner. He may not be aware that it happens at his shop. Or, he may have done it. Tell him what it is going to cost to repair it including labor. Tell him, there is no way that they are fixing it, and if he doesn't pay, it will hurt his business. If he doesn't pay, get as many guys with Turbo Regals, or any car for that matter to show up at his shop, and just wait outside while you tell him they are all your friends that will never do business with him, and they will tell all of their friends, and so on and so on........
 
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