So I was having what seemed to be transmission problems, but I just felt it was something other than the tranny. So I took it to Tuffy because they will check it for free. Well I walked out with an estimate for $2000 for a new tranny. The mechanic said it was for sure the transmission, and I told him it sounded more like the catalytic converter. He basically told me I was dumb. But I was right, my catalytic converter was shot and I replaced it and my monte runs better than ever. Yeah, thats a Tuffy.

 

hey, welcome to the site, some mechanics don't really know a lot and they're just out there to make money, so they try to make money on the suckers, and the thing is if you would have fallen for that you would have still had the same problem after forking out 2 grand....glad to hear it was just the cat, did you get a high flow one?? i would take that work order back to tuffy and show them that all it was was a cat convertor, and see what they say! man i'd be pissed!

 

Hey there. A common term we use up where I live is "parts changers". Most mechanics here, work at either a $tealer$hip, or a chained repair shop such as midas. Its becoming very hard these days to find an old-school mechanic, one who can diagnose a car's problems based on experience.

It seems like most places these days start with the cheapest part to replace then keep going up and up until the problem is fixed, or they will replace the part that the computer tells them is broken. A personal choice I reflect on is with my old malibu (04). The check engine light came on. I was told the MAF sensor was acting up and needed replacement. It was warrantied, so I did not care edgewise. Then it went bad again. Replaced another. Long story short was this happend 4 times. I took it to a different $tealer$hip and found a true mechanic who fixed the problem once and for all. It turned out 1 pin on the harness was faulty and the connector was all that needed to be replaced. Never had that problem again.

As for the rest of the malibu, well thats another story that ends up with me driving the monte I have today.

 

I was Kind of mad, but Iam more mad about the fact that the dealership I bought my car from basically screwed me over. There was this knocking noise coming from my rear fender, and the place I bought it from said there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. So I asked them if I could take it to a place i trusted more and they told me they wouldn't pay for it, only if I got it done there, but they swore up and down nothing was wrong. Well I no longer have the warranty but someone I know who works at a body shop knew what it was it like a second... but shouldn't the car place I bought it from be responsible for fixing it since there was something wrong with it when I took it to them? By the way, this place is called RightWay.. if you live in Michigan and have a RightWay dealership nearby, Don't go to them.. lol

 

so what was the problem in the rear quarter??

 

The bumper is falling off. It can wiggle and it makes alot of noise.

 

im from flint michigan and yeah i seen them around.its like a buy here pay here type of place i think.but anywayse in all honesty dude you should of known not to go to one of those rip off places they are garbage!

 

I know they are garbage. I was in need of a car bad because my other car was basically dead, but rightway was the only place to allow my "new" credit. And when they said they could get me a Monte Carlo, how could I say no? It was that or ride the bus, lol

 

maybe its just a loose bolt or something, if there's no body damage to the car then it can't be that bad to fix it

 

I have taken both my cars to the local Tuffy, the managerhasalways been honest with me. One of the mechanics was shady though (he no longer works there). I wanted the flex pipe replaced on my 94escort, it would be the 3rd or fourth time.The shady dudegave me a qoute of four hundred bucks to replace the entire exhaust. I told him to just replace the flex pipe. All in all he did the best weld jobcompared tomidas, and a couple other local shops, and he only charged$130 compared to $150 or more at other shops.This flex pipe actually lasted more than a year.the car was 13yearsold and the entire stock stainlessexhaust was still in good shape, why did he want to replace it? Because they use mild steel which rusts out quickly, causing you to be back for repairs more often.So basically know what your talking about before you go to any shop.
I also got a quote on rear struts for my 95 lumina. The manager said between $500 - $600, he said they use quick struts because the strut mountis usually is in bad shape. I decided i knew best and did it my self. I bought only the struts then found the springs werebroken and the mountswere bad. So basically i should have just bought the quick struts and the job would have been much easier. He really did know what he was talking about.