Will I take a car to the dealers service center. For the past two months my Monty has been having problem. At first i thought i had gotten into some bad fuel and took it to the dealer to have it looked at. They changed the filter and some vacuum lines that were going bad at a cost of "a lot"....cars still acting up. Took it back and explained what was going on..again. they run their diagnostic computers on it again and it came back this time as a bad ECM/PCM and wanted to charge $1300 dollars. sooo I took the car back and ordered one off EBay from SpareECM for $80 bucks and 1 hour for myself to install.....STILL NOT FIXED! Now im getting upset, they would have happily taken the 1300 and fixed nothing and most likely told me "it needed a new one anyways" After that I took it to a "Good O Boys" shop and THEY find the Mass air flow sensor was sending bad info to one sensor to the other sensor messing everything up. $500 dollars later its all fixed and running smooth....but then i broke a stud while rotating the tires....

Morale of the story is stay away from Gateway Chevrolet in Phoenix AZ. Go to Wilhelms in Goodyear Az

 

There are 2 kinds of automotive technicians. "Installers" and "mechanics" and people often get them confused because installers like to think of themselves as mechanics. "Good o Boys" tend to be mechanics who actually fix things and not just throw parts at a car. Still, you had a right to expect more out of a dealership...

Use a torque wrench!

 

Glad you got your car fixed, weird that the MAF wasn't throwing a code, a dealership should have picked that up first thing. Very glad you didn't listen to them and spring for the ecm/pcm, especially at that price.

Sorry to hear about the broken stud when changing the tires,

Reminds me of a local crappy tire, a guy brought his car in to get new tires put on and after he drove out and turned the corner the rims came off the car, surprising he made it as far as he did so they must have been on at least finger tight, but still, just because they are national chains, they can still hire people that have no clue what they are doing.

 

Hey Tom, sorry to hear about the issues. I remember reading your recent posts about the PCM issues. I've been away from MCF a while dealing with fall out from a car wreck. Glad this is resolved finally, just sad the journey it took.

 

Thanks. its true, there's a big difference in the type of respect you get from a dealer and a locally owned shop. lessons learned though. The car was throwing codes and the dealer said they went through them but i highly doubt that now. it had the service light on when I took it to them.
Ive had that happen to me with the lugnuts also, but that was my fault all but one fell off. I totally forgot the tighten them on one of the rear wheels. I felt so dumb after that.

What kind of wreck Maniac? Hope everything is alright.

 

At least everything is good now and fixed right

 

Had a similar experience at a local dealership by me. Rule of thumb if it's not covered under warranty or a recall stay away from them. Glad someone with skills fixed your ride right, Tom.M

Love when they bring out the color chart and compare it to your fluids. Gonna need a brake fluid, p/s and tranny flush and injector clean.

 

Yeah, Thankfully everything seems fix so far. they are going to email me a quote to fix an oil leak and replace the worn motor mounts next week. the cars going to be like new here soon.
After working at jiffy lube for two weeks I don't trust anyone with the fluids in the car. I sew first hand what goes on there and had to quit as to not lose what respect I had in the auto scene back home.

 

I agree with staying away from dealerships when stuff is out of warranty. Freeway Chevy sucks big time too out in Phoenix.

I had recently replaced the plastic UIM on my old 3800 '03 Impala (broke near the EGR area). I put in a brand new aftermarket replacement. I ended up pulling the LIM too since I suspected a leak there also. So everything down to even the head ports, and the TB I cleaned back up to near original- with the only remaining carbon being down by the valves where you couldn't really scrub. Replaced the air filter too since everything was already apart.

I had the car in there for some other service (not even 500 miles after), and they tried telling me that the air filter needed replacing, and that the TB and upper intake were covered in carbon buildup- and could definitely use some cleaning service they offer.

Seriously- that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. Had about 4 other bad experiences with them (3 for warranty work on other cars, 1 for trying to buy a car)- but that took the cake. Needless to say, I don't go back there anymore.

 

Its out of hand with some of the BS they try to pull anymore. I'm filing a complaint with them as soon as I can with the guys that actually fixed the car backing me up with their paperwork.