I'm pissed...what should I do?
 

Ok, my 04 Civic was running just fine before I brought it in for service at my local Honda dealer. I'm one to follow the manual on maintenance however. I got my Water Pump, Timing belt, other 3 engine belts, spark plugs, transmission fluid, air filter and a few other smaller things changed on my car all at once. I want to keep my car running like new for as long as possible. Honda calls me the next day and tells me all is well, it's alright for me to pick up my car.

I go in and I start my car. First thing I notice is that it sounds a bit louder...NOT GOOD. That for me would indicate a timing belt that is over-tightened (is that right?). Then I'm about to pull out of the lot and I hear major belt slippage, meaning one of the belts is too loose or there's dirt/grease on it making it slip. My fumes start to burn inside of me...

I call out the service guy and tell him there's no way I can take the car like this. These problem's didn't exist before I brought the car in. He didn't argue with me and took it back into the shop and had his technitian look at it. After around 20 minutes, he came out and said that one of the engine belts were faulty and had a small chip in it...but here's where my doubts start to arise. HOW THE HECK would the technitian drive this car and not notice all of these things which were clearly apparent to me and the advisor right away? I am seriously doubting whether the services I paid for ($1k) were actually performed. When I voiced this opinion to the advisor (the technitian was in the shop) got immediately very defensive and told me "not to worry because this technitian has been with Honda for 12 years and that there's no way he'd last with us for that long if he didn't actually do the work and do it well. He's also my Godson's Godfather and I trust him." He also noted that he knew what I was getting at, that maybe nothing was done at all or that the work was all done unproperly altogether. He quickly wrote off this possibility however. He then told me that he didn't have another one of these simple engine belts on hand and that he'd have to wait until Tuesday to get it in (it was Friday at the time) so he's given me a courtesy vehicle until then. Personally, I think something fishy is going on but they're trying to cover it up and fix the issues before they explode in their face.

With this in mind, here's what I'm looking for answers on:
1) How can you tell your timing belt is over or under tightened?
2) What would you do in my instance? Is there someway I can find out for sure if the work was done?

I've taken way too much care and pride in this car to let this happen. I'm bloody pissed right now thinking about it.

once its done take it buy another mechnic shop and get a second opinion on it see what they say about it.. its best to find you a really good mechnic and stay with them..
1k for that work is really really high compared to what i charge but you are having the dealer do it...

Well, you're in Tennessee, I'm just outside Toronto! I bet the price is probably around $200 too much, but I pay that knowing that if something goes wrong they're going to make it right. I bought the car brand new from this dealer back in 04. You would think Honda would know how to properly service their own cars. I've seen too many 20 year olds working there - maybe 22 or 23 as well.

What I'm thinking is that if I take my car to another Honda dealer and ask them to check my timing and engine belts as well as my spark plugs (those are awfully hard to screw up) and they tell me they're not done properly then fine. I get the work done and the other dealer pays for their incompetence. Of course I'd made this deal with the current service station I'm at because right now I don't trust them. They can't argue if another Honda dealer tells me the work is done wrong! If it's all good I just wasted more money - which I don't have. If it's not then I'm protected. I wish there was something I could do to force them to prove they did the work right...

**** I hate this.

By the way the price is high but I also got a free rental car for 2 days...which I put 700 kilometres on (435 miles). Not too shabby considering renting an 09 civic with that much driving done in 2 days would cost me around $90-$100. I also got another car now for an additional 5 days for free. I'm not paying the price in the end - they are. I like to wear somebody else's vehicle down instead of mine. By the time this is all said and done I'll be ahead (assuming they fix my car properly).

Inspect all the replaced parts your self. They should fairly new. Water pump will be the clean metal look. Timing belt black with barely any fade to it. That's the only way of doing it yourself.

OP, age has nothing to do with mechanical ability, knowledge, or skill. So why bring it into the argument?

And what you need to do is find another dealership to deal with. Dealerships are full of people like any other business in the world. Some people don't like doing their jobs, some try to screw you, and some people actually take pride in their work. Find a dealership with technicians that take pride in their work.

If I ever take anything to the dealer or to a shop I always put a mark on it only that I know where it is, to see if the part was acually changed, did an oil filter years ago, cause I got free oil changes and turned out the mark was still on the oil filter when I picked it up, they caught hell also!!

What you should do is calm down.

To do the timing belt, the drive belts had to be removed. From the sounds of it, one of the drive belts is what needs replacing, which is not a big deal at all.

Your timing belt is most likely not over-tightened, because i'm pretty sure that the way that the belt is tensioned would not allow for that to happen.



Calm the F down and wait for them to get the part. You sound like one of those people that businesses would rather not get business from if it means not having to deal with your attitude.

If you truly think the world is out to get you then grab a wrench and do your own damn work.

Wow! I guess I should be complacent...when I start my car and immediately it sounds worse than even I shouldn't be concerned right? You sound like a business owner to me with that attitude. You obviously don't have any common-sense. It's not like the problem came up a few days later, it was 100% obvious right when I started the car up!!! This to me spell incompetence - or complete coincidence.

I came here looking for advice - not someone's saucy attitude! I can bet that you're most likely a dealer/service advisor/mechanic. I'm not going to post the shop I went to because they didn't earn this much disprespect - yet. I'll give them the chance to fix their mistake before I mention who they are.

We'll see what happens and maybe in the end all will be well...the thing is if the car has problems with these parts a year down the road I know it will be because of shotty work...then what will you say about that? That I shouldn't have trusted the dealer and fixed it myself? Geeze!

And one other thing...

I was quite cordial and calm speaking to the service advisor. I never gave him attitude, nor did I get "pissed off" at him. But I am pissed off right now thinking about it...especially knowing that this is how dealers think when they obviously screwed up. Put yourself in my shoes, in the customer's shoes for a moment before you talk.

Riddle me this, Einstein: did I not have every right to be concerned?