About a month ago I installed a new opti spark, waterpump and opti harness in my firebird. Three weeks later the car died, it was the opti! This was 2 days before thanksgiving and the 9 hour trip from SC to MD, so I had the local dealer do it. They charged me a very reasonable price of $311 for labor and I went on my way good as new, or so I thought! Since all my driving was highway driving the temp never really got above 170 and therefore the pressure in the system never got very high.

Well tonight was the night, temp reached over 210 trying to find a parking spot, and all of a sudden the low coolant light came on then the check gauges light. By the time I looked down the temp guage was at 255 and the car was steaming. I quick stopped and turned it off. Everything looked fine under the hood, water pump, etc. Then I noticed the stream of coolant running from under the car and down the street. Finally I found the culprit. The idiots never slid the hose clamp on the lower radiator hose back up the hose!!!!!! It was dangling under the car and the clamp was a nice 4 inches or so down it.

The tech part of the question is could this have hurt the car and how? I have sinced filled up the car and driven it and it seams fine, actually idles smoother than ever (well this is the 3rd time the coolant has been changed in a month now).

My personal question is if you were in my shoes what would you demand from the dealership when you drove up there and talked to the manager and the technician who did this face to face?

I just turned 20 and have done all the work on my cars since I was 15 years old, yes I had a car at 15. Needless to say I woulnt be trusting my car to anyone but me anytime soon. Thanks for listening to me vent guys.

 

It was an honest mistake I wouldn't get mad over it.
Learn to get pissed about serious problems like when people
f@$K your gear install up then you have to rebuild it again..and when you pull the rear end apart you find out all the sh*t they did wrong right down to using the original equipped STOCK shims and leaving you with a sh*tty f34ked up backlash! And then it cost you damn near 250 in parts and tools alone to fix it and you want to be civil and sue the sh*t out of them but you don't have enough time because your moving soon...and you wanna kick the guys *** so bad but your affraid the police will catch you because thier stations a block away....yeah save your anger for those moments...

 

Typical dealership work.....I would take some pics and document exactly what happened and send the service dept manager a certified letter of what happend and put him on notice that if any damage resulted because of their mistake they would be expected to repair it free of charge. Your probably ok but you never know.

 

hey you no what yes i would get pissed over it,these people are professionals or supposed to be. it is unbelievable to me these stories i keep hearing all the time about taking your car to the dealership to get fixed and they either forgot something or it is worse.these guys are morons i had a gm master mechanic tell me my cars rpms were dropping and my high rpm miss was because of my airfoil in between my throttle body,know what it was my coil.please unless it is warranty work do not bring these guys a go-cart. sorry i had to get that out.

 

OH YEAH I WOULD GET PISSED!!!!! They are not professionals, they're idiots. I'm sure they're a few good ones out there. Here listen to what happened to me. Gives you a hint why I dont go there.

My car was Brand ARS new when I bought it in 97. I had 60 miles on it when my front license plate bracket fell off. I went to the dealer and told them I wanted a new one. I didn't want them to install it just give me a new one because I wasnt gonna put it on anyway. Just for later. They told me they needed to install it to give it to me. I told them I was just gonna take it off when I got home. He said "fine". I told this Ahole 3 times that they better not drill any holes in my bumper because I was never gonna put on a front plate. He said "don't worry, they won't". Next thing I know they're pulling my car into the work area. I say "all that for a brakcet?". He said yeah gotta look under it. I tell him again "remember....no f-en holes." I finally get home...pull off the plate holder... and SONAMABIYATCH!!!! 5 YES....5 HOLES in the bumper. I went crazy. Went down there making a huge scene. They ended up getting me a new bumper. No matter what though, my new car was still tainted from there on. Still love here though.

 

lol, I'm sorry S.J.S but that is funny....

 

Sounds like a dealer thing to do. They usually do good work but stuff like that does happen. Just after I got my car my water pump went on me. At the time I didnt know anything really about my Z or cars in general so the dealer replaced the water pump and opti for me. Found one of the water pump bolts was backing out while I was still sorting through my overheating episode of 2002. Not something you want to see after being raped for parts and labor.

 

I avoid the Dealership maze of parts and crappy diagnoises.


I have 3 dealers I go to. One for parts and information strictly...the other for parts and diagnoising things (no labor) and one for LAbor and diagnosing parts. When I have them do something....(which is highly rare since I do all my own work) I'm right there with them. I even hand them the tools sometime. As long as I know what's going on and am aware of what is being done it's hard(er) for them to f34k you up.

 

my dad had a waterpump put in on his supercharged buick riveira and they jacked the car up by the oil pan and crushed it.

 

Well I went up there today and the started offering me a free oil change and telling me how the guy who worked on my car is there eldest mechanic and he never makes mistakes like that. Everyone makes mistakes, so I tried to be understanding, but a free oil change!?! Are you serious. So after talking to the managers boss I asked them if they would be willing to fix the power window motor in my car to prove that my last experience was a fluke. They said it was almost $300 in parts and labor to do a power window and that they would take off 10%. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. So after lots of discussion they agreed to install the window motor for free if I bring them the part. So I bought one from Autozone for $58 and am having them install it Friday. Yes, I could easily do this myslef, but I'll let them do it while I sit on my but and study in the lobby. Its finals week!!!

 

just watch out for a head gasket leak. The only real damage of getting that high of a temp could warp your heads slightly causeing a head gasket leak. But if it is ok now then prob no damage was done. my motor has seen 255 a few times with no problems so far. knock on wood