I hate you Pep Boys!

[egullsfan]

So I just finished putting in a secondary transmission filter and thought, "Hey, I should go have the pan dropped and get a new pan filter and fluid put in." Seems simple enough, and of course do a brake check too. So they guy tells me he needs the Explorer for 3 hours. Seemed like a long time (since if I had a lift, pump, and all the tools it seems like it would take 20 minutes), but I had stuff to do while I waited. I bop on over to the store, dink around, come back. Car is not finished, but on the lift so it must be close. 3 hours rolls around, no car. Another hour rolls around, and I see this guy pounding on my transmission pan with what looks like a chisel and hammer. So what the heck? Well sir, three of your pan bolts are stripped. I'm thinking, that's not their fault and probably not hard to fix, don't you use a special drill bit for that? So anyways, another half hour goes by and I am informed that the guy can't get the bolts off but if I come back, they can do it. So I'm ticked off but calm. They say I can get a discount when I come back and don't have to pay for them to refill the pan. I'm still mad but the word discount calms me a bit. I get home and look at the invoice and it says (and I'm thinking 50%) "10% discount on next service". I was in such a hurry to leave after 4 + hours that I didn't ask, I just assumed that 4 1/2 hours of waiting would equal a sizeable discount. So, now I'm just pissed. I guess they just probably don't really want me to come back.
So anyway, my question is: Is it really difficult to get stripped bolts off the pan? If not, how do I do it?

 

[outlawwv]

the bolts holes were stripped or were the heads rounded off or were they broke off in the case ?? either way it shouldn't have been that hard to get em out

 

[lilbeefy]

there are a few methods u can use to remove stripped bolts for one vice grips would work, then there are bolt and stud removers u can buy at sears, for around 20 bucks, but word of advice have all new hardware before you go at it once they are stripped they will be destroyed being removed, worst case scenerio head snaps off then all you need is a eazy out to remove it, jsut drill out the center of the bolt, then tap in the easy out and carefully remove it.

 

[random hero]

correct me if im wrong, but aren't the pans on our 3rd gens sealed, therefore u dont drop them to flush and fill?

 

[BrooklynBay]

You still need to drop the pan to replace the filter. The proper way to install pan bolts is with a torque wrench. A regular wrench has no indication of how much torque is being applied. The housing is aluminum, and is prone to getting stripped if overtorqued. The threads could be repaired with a helicoil kit. AutoZone sells them in the OEM brand.

 

[egullsfan]

You know what, in my moment of anger towards Pep Boys I mispoke. Outlaw, you are correct. The bolt head is rounded off, not stripped. I still didn't see how it would take long for a shop with experience to get those off, but I've been wrong before.

 

[410Fortune]

shop with experience and Pep Boys dont always belong in the same sentence.

 

[egullsfan]

Good point!

 

[tipdrill]

My recent encounter with pep boys-

I went in for some new shocks. They quoted Monroe Sensa-Tracs on the phone, but in person they liked Munroe Reflexives better. Then they took my explorer for a test drive (DUMB!) and told me the brakes in the front needed to be replaced. Apparently they heard a squeal. Three weeks later, and i still haven't any brake squeal.

Too bad i wasn't able to answer the phone when the survey people called.

 

[outlawwv]

they make some sockets that will take rounded off bolts right out -- would have only taken a minute -- what's the old saying -- right tool for the job

 

[BrooklynBay]

AutoZone, Sears, and WWW.Eppys.Com sell those sockets for removing rounded bolt heads.

 

[trucku]

I don't understand why the mechanic did not come out to tell you he was having issues with the bolts. Maybe he stripped them somehow. I don't trust them as far as I would pee on them. Dealer in on that list too.

Had drivers window regulator replaced this week under E-warranty. Guy didn't put my switches back on properly then tells me that's the way it is. I made him get me a screw driver and I popped everything in the right way.


I try to do it myself. If I can't, I stand there and watch them the whole time.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Nobody likes when you stand over them while they are working, but sometimes it might be necessary.
One friend of mine pulled into a garage to have a parking light bulb replaced. The guy broke off the inner latch which pops the hood open. He didn't tell him what he did. My friend called me up, and asked me if I could get his hood open to put washer fluid in. I grabbed the piece with a Vice Grip, and opened it for him. He wants to go back to that garage to argue about it. I doubt that he will accomplish anything.
Another friend of mine pulled into a garage for an oil change. The guy for some reason decided to check his coolant at the same time, and forgot to tighten the radiator cap. My friend was driving, then started to overheat. He pulled over, and opened the hood. Everything was soaking wet, and the radiator cap was just sitting, but not screwed in. He had to waste a gallon of antifreeze to refill his radiator. He called the garage up, and told them about it. The guy just told him that sometimes mistakes happen, but didn't offer to give him another container of antifreeze, or reimburse him for it.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Here is another story which once happened to my Grandfather when I was a kid: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1410344&postcount=17

 

[egullsfan]

Well, I guess my experience could have been worse then. Now when my wife gripes about me spending too much time on the car, I'll refer back to this!

 

[outlawwv]

i knew of a shop around here that 90% of the time when they changed transmission fluid they would never even take the pan off -- just clean the pan and all around the bolts with brake clean and send it on it's way -- but hey i guess they never rounded off any pan bolts that way

 

[EasyRhino]

These sorts of stories are why I do my own wrenching, even though the law of comparitive advantage says it is not worth my time. The flawed logic is that the law presumes that the shops will do the right job, and do it right the first time, not replace good parts, and not screw up my cars even worse than the intended repair/maintenance.

I have had about a dozen friends who wound up with significant repairs/damage from inept mechanics doing simple oil changes (I just changed oil in two of my cars this a.m.). Two close friends have required transmission replacements from an unnamed rapid lube place you know the name of (of course, the claims were denied).

I have had mechanics and service managers make desparate pleas for me to authorize multi-hundred dollar maintenance, which after my own exams, were uneeded (lying to generate income - say it isn't so). Mis-diagnose easy problems to find, and fail to find easy problems. I have even had safety inspection stations lie about needed repairs, apparently in an attempt to gain business (didn't work).

A prior secretary was gigged for an uneeded brake repair to the tune of several hundred dollars because she did not know better, and her hubby was deployed.

And I do not do this stuff for a living.

The folks that do this sort of sloppy and larcenous work need to be prosecuted.

At this point, if I cannot do the repair myself, I trade the car as is, and get a new replacement. I think this is the cheapest way to go. All of my cars last many, many miles, and are reliable as a result.

Plus, I wind up with a nice set of 'necessary' tools

 

[BrooklynBay]

Read this article: http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/fluid-flush-fallacy/20060505115609990001

 

[sdthiele]

I too hate pep boys

But it is a pain in the but to get striped bolts off a pan, you usually have to break off the heads and then drill out the bolt enough to get an easy out in there to try and back the bolt out. In a perfect world an easy out will take care of the poblem quickly but that is rarely the case and you usuallty have to pound the easy out in the hole you drilled several times