shoebox

Yes, the purpose of the coolant going through the TB is to keep it from freezing while driving in extreme cold.

sbs

Carb icing is primarily a high humidity phenomenon not a cold temperature phenomenon.

shoebox

Cold temps make it worse, though (there obviously has to be some humidity for ice to form). The reason I stated is right out of the GM manual ("...to prevent throttle valve icing during cool weather operation...").

6spd4lf

thank you all for your posts. I think the last few rounds of posts have convinced me to not get the lesser, questionable work done. I think my next destination is CarMax. No matter what, I can't do better than break even now, and that's better than chasing a phantom with disreputable shops. Maybe after I get my new econobox paid off, I can think about saving up for an '06 GTO or something. Maybe.
But I've probably seen the last of my musclecar days.

Any tips on where to post a scathing review of the ripoff shop so it'll do them the most damage? I don't want anyone else going through what I have.

shoebox

Have you spoken to the Better Business Bureau in your area?

6spd4lf

Not yet, but I'm going to. I think they have a typical requirement of having made attempts to solve your dispute with the business at issue before they'll process a complaint. I want to at least check off that I've dutifully talked and complained to the owner. all I've done since last thursday was take the service rep's bogus information and tried to get my car out of there as fast as I could. that particular shop shows 3 repair-related complaints against them in the past 12 months, and zero in the 36 months before that, which indicates to me that something has gone downhill since the last time I took my car in there (and, in retrospect, that was as overpriced as this recent work).
As with my experiences with the dealership from years ago, I'm doubtful as to the effectiveness of taking my car to have work done at a place which has demonstrated opportunistic, dishonest behavior. I might get it back with a new, completely unrelated problem, and then I'd be back to square one.

BTC

Gas is fairly cheap right now, and is great for setting things on fire.

You don't have anywhere to store your car, like a relative's garage, or barn etc.? If so, I would buy a cheap POS to drive and work on fixing it myself. That's what I did with my car the last time the catalytic converter failed. It sat for 6 years, and has been on jackstands the last two. But it's running, and I can't wait until I get to drive it again. I'm in my early 40's now, and figure I'll be around 60 when I'm finished, which should only add to the thrill.

Johnnynsac

Love this attitude. I'm in the same picture, just a bit younger.

As for the thread starter, I hope everything works out fine for you.

whammer33024

i'll give you 2 grand for the car as it sits...haha

yeah man it sounds to me like you got royally screwed and that sucks. i personally own an auto parts store here so i deal with shops day in and day out and know all about the shops that you described. there are a couple in town that are straight up honest guys and i wouldn't hesitate to send a friends car to.

next time you THINK something sounds high, it probably is and you shouldn't let any work be done until you find out for sure

6spd4lf

see, but that's the problem. around here, it isn't high. there are so many rich morons around here that they have money dripping out their rear-ends. the shops know they can take those people for a lot, and everyone else pays inflated prices.

y'all will love this. I picked up my car, and no SES light. I drove it to work and did a spot check on it. no leaking externally around the heads. No smell of coolant.

it cooled down for a few hours, and I left to come home. the coolant indicator light came on just like it did after I got it back from the first shop. only the second shop told me that they took some coolant out because it looked too full. But it made me worry even more. There was no cooling problem or any hint of it before it was at shop#1, and now there seems to be and it's as phantom as the misfire code.

Anyway, I figured the code was stored in the pcm, so I stopped at O'Reilly's on the way home to check it and to get some water for a 50/50 mix to add to the radiator. Same place I went last week to get the code checked after I got it back the first time. the guy behind the counter told me "aw, we don't do that anymore. all the shops around here were getting ticked off at us for doing it free, making it impossible for them to charge for it, so our manager made us stop doing it." I told them that I did it just last week and they did a classic double look at each other, knowing they were caught in a lie. and then, instead of dragging out the code reader, they just said "well, we're not allowed to do that". I just did it freaking 10 days ago!

trippin holyman

im glad my dad manages an auto parts warehouse and knows a bunch of reputable mechanics...

though they hate my car and the one guy kept telling us how he wanted to torch it lol.

sorry about your bad luck man, best thing to do is call em out on it in front of a bunch of customers.

shoebox

The low coolant circuit does not communicate with the PCM, so it would do no good to scan it. The low coolant sensor is a problem child on these cars and it is not unusual for it to act up a bit after the cooling system has been serviced. It may calm down on it's own.

The best way to check your coolant in the meantime is to open the radiator cap when the engine is cold (like in the morning) and make sure it is full to the top. Make sure the level is ok in the remote reservoir, as well. Do that for a few days until you see that it stays full.

smb72

I'm a member on many Camaro, LT1 & LS1 forum sites. I spend alot of time reading posts by fellow owners. Some of the post make me laugh harder then others. There are alot of people on here that know alot about cars and then there is alot of people that don't have a clue. How can you want to own a muscle car and not know how to change your own oil or replace an air filter. Grab a book, read a magazine and learn by trying it. I argree that there are some things that are best left to a repair shop only because they have the training or the tools to do certain repairs. Replacing plugs and wires does suck on the F-body but it can be done on the weekend. Took me a better part of a Saturday to do. Only cost me for the price of parts plus my time. I heard horror storys of the water pump and opti replacement. It turned out not being that bad, just takes some time to do. Just read on how to bleed the air from the system. The money that was spent on labor could have been used elsewhere. $3300 to reseal the top half of the engine, you could by a new LT1 with a warranty and be ahead of the game.

smb72

Go to GM parts and buy a new Low Coolant Sensor Part #10096163 and then search on how to bleed the cooling system on the F-body.

bkpliskin

I had a guy take me for a ride when I did my V6 to V8 conversion... he acted like he knew how much it would cost and what really happened is I paid him to go to school on how to completely build a camaro from the ground up...

never went back there again, now I've got a a guy who's becoming a pretty good friend, always treats me right, he's even finishing up with my heads/cam/stall/headers/exhaust build (basically everything in my sig) as we speak

I bought all the parts except the gasket set and the rings and he is covering those and doing the project for $1000 bucks
most honest mechanic I've ever met in my life and a real stand-up guy