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Mechanic broke spark plug!

GRainMOnkey

Active Member
Joined
August 9, 2005
Messages
93
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0
City, State
Royal, IA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1993 XL, 1991 XLT
well took the old girl in to get a tune up & water pump done since wife doesnt trust me doing it myself and this is the mess ic ame up with...


mechanic's hired man was changing plugs when the center drivers side plug snapped with a small amount of trheads in block.. and somehow(they wont say) porcelain got into the block(i woud assume had to easy out the threads so knocked out excess pocelain) so we've been going rounds and at first they tried turning the motor by hand but would get to a certain point and couldnt be moved at alll.. now after vaccuming/blowing air in the block it can now be turned by hand.. still catches just slightly he says but its able to move by hand... well its been there for a couple months and i ask him what we can do about it and he suggests pulling the head and if i want this thing to run right to do a valve job/ gasket replace etc... so far i have 600 bucks into this guy and a vehicle that is at his shop and not usable... and he says in order for me to get it up to snuff so to speak i need to put another grand if not 12 or 14 hundred bucks into it... im just lost as to what to do... i know i hear people talking about starting it and the porcelain pieces usually fly out but he says if we did that it would possibly throw a rod or basically make the motor unusable... my deal is i paid 2 grand for her.. she's a 93 and it was my work vehicle i figured for a few hundred bucks i'd get her purring nicely again and well its become quite the mess.. any help would be appreciate... thanks everyone!!!!
Ed
 



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He broke the spark plug so pieces fell into the block and he wants you to pay for him to go in and get them and replace the things that would need it as he put things back together? I would insist that he fix it for free since he broke it, if he said no I'd insist in my own special way of loud yelling that he fix it for free, if he still refused I'd just tell him I'm going to seek legal council in the matter. At least that's what I would do... Every job I've ever had that we fix or repair a customers anything we break something we're fixing it for free...
 






i agree i worked at Toyota and Honda dealers and whenever something broke that was from us we always fixed for free i would tell him you spoke to a lawyer and that he said all work has to be done for free since it was a result of negligent work on their part if he says no then really call a lawyer lol. as for it being there so long thats outrageous you need to get serious with this guy
 






he said something about carbon build up around the spark plug is why it stuck... now whatever that means im not quite sure... heck i havent even seen my explorer in the couple months he's had it wanted to stop by and he said he had to leave... guess this is what i get dealing with a guy who's buddies with my father inlaw...
 












i agree i wouldn't pay for anything other then what you brought it to him for and after this long he would be lucky he got that from me. this sounds like when i had my trans rebuilt on my honda the guy dropped the housing and put a slight crack and it kept burning out the clutch packs so after the 3rd time of him fixing it he figured out what happened and tried to make me give him another 1000 bucks that didnt fly in the end i made him buy a trans from a company called jdm direct and put it in no extra charge to me.
 






If they refuse to fix it for free you could report them to the BBB (Better Business Bureau). My roommate did that for a problem concerning his landlord. Different situation i know, but nevertheless, he didn't have to pay what the landlord charged him. Could work out the same way for you.
 






If he keeps saying that he has to leave when you show up to see your truck I'd show up in the middle of the day, during business hours, say you want to get something from it, the reg or something, if he says he has to leave tell him he can wait till you get what you need from your vehicle, if he doesn't like it maybe he should be running his own business. I get the feeling something shady is going on if he isn't allowing you to see your vehicle and it's been there for months. If this were me his phone would be ringing 5mins after he opened, right at lunch, and once or twice in the afternoon every day with "Fix my truck yet?" Make it so he fixes your truck for free just to get you to stop calling.
 






If the "mechanic" was a reputible person the first thing he should have done when the plug broke was to STOP working on the vehicle and contacted you with the option on what to do in order to fix the problem. Since he took it upon himself to continue and his risk failed he should take the loss and fix the problem. You should still expect to pay for what you origionally took the vehicle in for, but nothing else. If he refuses to fix his mistake, your only option is to take legal action. Better Business Bureau is a joke at best and will only be a waste of time.
 






Give me his number. I will call and say i'm your lawyer.
 


















This guy is jacking you....put some heat on him!
 






Only time I let someone work on my car is when I'm hoping they break something so I can get things replaced for free. Ya know Oil Change places never putting the filter back on right if they do replace it, engine spits out all the oil and seizes, that kind of thing.
 






If the "mechanic" was a reputible person the first thing he should have done when the plug broke was to STOP working on the vehicle and contacted you with the option on what to do in order to fix the problem. Since he took it upon himself to continue and his risk failed he should take the loss and fix the problem. You should still expect to pay for what you origionally took the vehicle in for, but nothing else. If he refuses to fix his mistake, your only option is to take legal action. Better Business Bureau is a joke at best and will only be a waste of time.

Exactly what I was going to say, I had a Honda in my shop one day, doing a tune up. I told the customer that one of the plugs was not going to come out without a fight, and I gave him the option, I could extract it, but it could cause other damage, with the possibility of pulling the head. He got all pissed off at me, because I still changed the other 3 plugs without a problem, and I still charged him full price of the tune up, explained I had spent well over the alloted time for the 4th one hoping it would come out, but not causing damage. long story short, he got pissed drove it home, tried to do the 4th plug him self, and it stripped out the hole because it was cross threaded. He tried to come after me, I had his signature where I had explained what I had found, and nothing happened to me. The key was, I stopped, talked to him about it, and he still got to drive it home.

That is how a shop is suppose to handle it.
 






In our state, we can sue somebody in small claims court for a few thousand dollars, and lawyers aren't even allowed to represent either party. The filing fee is around $20, then they get served to appear in court. If they fail to appear, the judge rules in your favor and orders them to pay, or you can slap a lean on them. File against the business and then after they've been served, tell them they fix it for free or see them in court if that's the way they're going to operate.
 






this guy is jerking you around, MAKE him fix that truck...its his fault. I dont care if those plugs were cemented in there. It was his job to get them out and replace them...he failed and is now trying to give you the run around cause he may have ruined your motor.
 






Excellent example of why anti seize should be used when installing new plugs. I've seen instances of people putting oil or WD40 on new plug threads to spin them in easier. 20k miles later after the heat of the engine has baked the plug into the head, the plugs are a bear to get out.
 






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