My son-in law takes his 96 dodge caravan in for a tune-up.Its a v6 they replace the 6 spark plugs ,wires,an serpintine belt and new tensioner.They also due a diagnostic check for 150.00.total was 500 .00 with tax. On the way home the engine is missing and there closed now so they next day he starts it up and theres white smoke coming out the tail-pipe,he takes it back and they tell him "you blew a head gasket".Now im furious i call them and say"Dont you guys do a compression check before you do a tune-up".What did the diagnostic check indicate? im not thrui with these people.Im considering small claims court.mike
Man that sucks! My cousin had Pep Boys put 4 new tires on his 71 Chevelle about 20 years ago. Went and picked up the car when done. He's cruising on the freeway and 2 of his wheels came off the car at about 55mph. Obviously, someone didn't tighten down the lugnuts. There was a big law-suit. Cousin was okay. Car was totaled. Funny thing is my dad just got a job with Pep Boys this week....doh!!!
If a private citizen had loosened his lugnuts, I believe he or she could be charged with attempted murder.
Get a real mechanic to look it over right now, before it puts on any mileage and before pepboys mess with it. Trouble that starts immediately after a repair is oft due to that repair, and a mechanic following through the list of things they billed for might be able to figure out what they did. I have no idea what this is, but I'd bet a nickel the trouble was caused by PB, and I think it likely it's something other than a head gasket unless they did something in that area... I could tell some real horror stories of tuneup screwups being diagnosed as new engine time...
i take to them or juffy lube for oil changes, cuz most of the time its cheaper/faster. they managed to ALWAYS strip out my drain plug and 5 outta 10 times forget to put my oil cap back on. its an oil change folks.
That's why our local Pep Boys went out of business in less than a year. Incompetence. Don't let them get away with it !!!
That is why I do all my own work. The labor rate is bad enough, but when they screw something up, that's worse. I understand that some can't do there own work, but it is worth checking into a good reputed mechanic before getting any work done. Good luck...
I had a little Honda CRX (feel free to chuckle) about 10 years ago that had a great stereo in it. I had always done my own work on my cars and didn't like to take it to anyone, especially because of the money invested in the stereo. One day I got myself in a time pinch and needed brakes BAD! Bad enough that I took it to Pep Boys of all places! I took the face off the stereo and put it in my glove box and locked it. When I got the car back the face was on the stereo and someone had been playing with my radio because it was on some ghetto rap station. Not having the time to deal with the matter, I blew it off thinking "maybe I didn't take the face off... ??" Two mornings later, I came out to my driveway to a completely stripped and destroyed car! They broke the side window and started from there. They ripped all the interior out to get the amps, x-overs, eve the fuse blocks and wiringing out. I went around to some of my neighbors and found one that said he was getting ready to go to work at 4 AM and had gone outside for a smoke and one of the kids jumped over HIS WALL!!! He was out of his yard before he could do anything about it, but the dick didn't even call the cops! Pep Boys were the only ones that EVER knew that this stock looking car even had anything special in it. I didn't drive it around like I lived in the ghetto with the shit all loud either. No proof, cops didn't care about the case, and I'm left with nothin'... Insurance covered everything though. Still want to kick someones ass though! Now I REALLY don't take my shit anywhere! No gangster CRX's either anymore!
I don't know a Caravan from a Yugo but if it has a vacuum modulator on the auto-transmission it will cause billowing white smoke if it ruptures and that can happen at any time.
i began my pep boys boycott last year because of a fiasco about a wheel cylinder for my 51 buick. i hate being 'that guy' but i lost my mind in there & flipped the F out on everyone that worked there, to the point where i was so pissed i had the 'about to rumble' shakes. i screamed in the managers face that luckily for him that that would be the last time he'd ever see me in his so called auto parts store. theyre more like a toy store these days. F pep boys. ill fight manny, moe AND jack! i only deal with the napa near my house. kevin & glenn there are the most helpful dudes you can find when it comes to stuff for classics, or anything for that matter. i dont even think id ever move from my current neighborhood just for the sole purpose of staying close to that napa.
Same thing around here with the Wal Mart express lube. Sometimes, it's so "express" that they don't tighten the drain plug or put new oil back in. I shouldn't bitch, though; they've given the dealership I work for quite a bit of business, what with paying for oil pan replacements and two new engines. How many oil changes do you have to do to pay for replacing a customer's engine for free because of your incompetence? I would think Wal Mart would be money ahead to close the shop altogether and use the space for storage. I was changing oil in my older brothers' cars when I was 10, and I never forgot the drain plug or oil.
I used to work in the parts department of a local GM dealer. We averaged selling 1-2 engines a month to places like pep boys and jiffy lube (WE called 'em IFFY lube - IF they put the oil in, IF they put the drain plug in, IF) They were buying engines to replace the ones that blew up because of no oil, cross threaded filters, etc. I wonder how many people they convinced that their motors were bad before the work was done at these places?
We have an Automotive Supply Co store in my hometown and those guys know their shit, you can ask for old stuff that ain't in the book and they know what you need and where to get it. Unless you get the flavor of the week just-hired kid, and after he fails to find what I need, there's always someone else there to help out. I consider myself lucky. But there is no repair shop that I can have work done at anymore, even the small town guys who've been doing it forever. There's a shop next door to me, and a month ago I wanted the oil changed on my winter beater. Too cold to do it outside and I didn't want to pull my Fury out of the shop to do it myself. So I bought an oil filter and I brought my car to my neighbor to change the oil. Charged me $36 for 45 minutes labor to CHANGE OIL! And I paid for the filter. I think they all sat there with a cup of coffee while the oil drained out of the car and charged me for it.
I still can't believe anyone buys parts or has work done there. They're good for cheap oil, that's about it to me. My buddy works at the dodge dealer, and he told me of countless neons that come in with blown motors because the owners just took them to jiffy lube and they didn't put enough oil back in them.
The perfect reason to find yourself a mom and pop type of auto repair facility and use them exclusivly. I've been using the same place for over 20 years. They are about 1 mile from my place. Virtually no turnover with employees. Middle aged to older guys working there. Some of the guys I run into at the local cruz nites. True car guys. They know me by name, they know all my cars, they know and work on all my folks stuff and my sisters. I recommend them to whoever I hear needs any type of work done on their car. I trust them and support them and they inturn appreciate all the business I bring them with fair prices and exceptional service. Find yourself a simliar type shop and start a long lasting relationship. Long live the mom and pop repair shop!
Therein lies the secret to running a good small business. Long-term, well-paid employees will work hard and keep your customers coming back. Unfortunately, most businesses (including the hotel I work for) rely on the McDonalds/WalMart employment model which views employees as expendible. Yes, it keeps costs down, but unless you are McDonalds or Wal-Mart, I don't think that it really works in the long run.
I was at a Pep Boys here in Tampa..and an older couple came in and they needed a new tire. Well one of the lug nuts had a special "key" that was supposed to be used...that was in the glove box. These idiots didn't ask for the key..instead...they used an air chisle to get the wheel off..and ruined a wheel in the process. I have never seen anything so stupid in my entire life. Tim MBL
last week P/B had a sale on tires, cheapies 39.95 I wanted 2 235-75 15 to go on some 8'' wheels .I quote'' the tire will be rolling on the side wall we can't do it . Says I ok just sell me the tires. ok then because the wheels are rev, he said the tire wont fit must be 16'' ,says I o crap musta sold me the wrong wheels. the 16'' falls on then the tech turns the wheel around and the tire goes on. ok i'll air for you, pops right out. good to go ,the second takes a little longer 2 tries. then it airs up. the tech says don't say any thing I 'm going to balance them for you. he does and i'm happy. but i had to show the tire manager they weren't rolling on the side.
I stay away from them. My car's clutch slave cylinder went out the morning I was running late for work. Called AAA to tow the car to pep boys and drop me off at work. When I picked it up, the fenders had greasy paw prints all over them (white car) and inside the engine bay was TRASH. yes, trash. There was an empty soda can nudged between the fender well and the battery... rags, and another empty bottle of hydraulic fluid. Then a couple days later it went out again. I was off that day so I looked at it myself. Turns out, I paid them $400 to replace the slave and master cylinder but yet the original, stock cylinders were still there. You could tell they were never unbolted from the firewall. There was NO WAY a cylinder could have aged that quickly. They did nothing but replace the fluid and bleed it. Took forever to convince them to give my money back...
A friend of mine recentley took his late model chevy P/U to PepBoyz for an oil change. Next morning theres a 3 foot circle of oil under the truck.They cross-threaded the drain plug into the stock aluminum pan.(I went over & saw it before he took it back),,,,now he's fighting with them. Here's another horror story waiting to happen. My friend owns an '05 Vette,,beautiful machine.The other day I noticed a Jiffy Lube sticker in the upper part of the windshield.I asked him about it & I said "youve gotta be kidding me"! He says,,"hey it's cheap,& they do it fast" All I could do was shake my head,& reminded him to "Remember this conversation". I told him I'd do all of the service work on it(while he watches/helps),& keep accuate records in exchange for some schooners of beer.No dice. I'm waiting for the day when he runs over the oil filter & I can say "Remember our Jiffy Lube conversation?".
You won't like my reply but don't take it personal or as an attack. I've never been impressed with Pep Boys mechanics but.... Noone that I know would do a compression test if a customer asked for a tune up. Many people think that there is some magic machine that you can plug your car into and it will tell you the condition of every part on your car. I've never seen one if one exists. Some can tell if an electronic part is weak but mostly if the parts are working within specs at that time then they pass. I certainly don't know what was done to your car but a simple tune up would have no affect on a head gasket that I know of. If white smoke was poring out of the car before you took it in and they sold you a tune up to fix that problem then I'd bitch. If it ran ok when you picked it up and then started to miss and smoke on your way home, then it is very possible that it's just a coincidence that it was in a shop just before it gave up the ship. That IS possible. If you walk into my garage and flip the light switch and the bulb blows, is that your fault? It was OK before you touched it?? I know this won't be popular. I don't think anyone replying here including me can say. Bad shit happens to good people. I'm sorry you are having trouble, but it doesn't always have to be someone elses fault. It can just be bad luck. If you said they did a brake job and the wheels were loose or a spring popped off then I'd join in on the bashing but 6 spark plugs and a blown head gasket don't compute for me. Just my opinion.
that sucks man, good luck. I'd have a different mechanic check out what is causing the problem now- if it correlates with what Poop Boys did, bill them his fees in your lawsuit. I wouldn't take it back for risk that they would try to cover up their f-up or make the problem worse. Document EVERYTHING in writing man, what is it with these places and oil drain plugs? Shouldn't that be part of the test for hiring? How is it we can all install a drain plug, but everyone I know who's taken it to these places has a stripped pan, my friend lost an engine on the freeway cause they didn't tighten the plug and it drained out! Glad I can wrench my own stuff, I refuse to own a car that I can't fix on the side of the road if I had to.....
"man, what is it with these places and oil drain plugs? Shouldn't that be part of the test for hiring?" Hire someone out of Burger King and hand him an air wrench...
Burger King could probably sue you for defamation of character for being compared to Jiffy Lube; after all, I've never seen oil leaking out of their deep fryers.....
remember that old addage about "you get what you pay for" any of those chain repair places don't care. they employ persons with little to no repair background, encourage up-selling (which leads to replacement of good parts), pay crappy (hence the lack of knowledge there) and anyone with some knowledge they try to make a manager. now the full blown repair shops can be just as bad, commission based wages breed shady repair ethics.....i've never seen so many commission base techs own big homes/boats/lifted caddillac trucks as around here. i guess what i'm trying to say is IF you find a good place STAY with them, don't try to save a buck. as far as pep boys and the caravan are concerned. i would also recommend that another non partial shop look at it first. those V-6 engines where made by mitsubishi, they were prone to headgaskets and where iffy at best. my .02
ill second that. another big issue they had were with valve stem seals. could it be that with a new tune up and decent cylinder pressure that you might have uncovered something that was previously covered? i guess i could almost see a strong spark and combustion event creating enough cylinder pressure to put your questionable gasket into a tailspin...maybe. maybe too its just smoke coming from the fact its just had a tune-up and now its blowing off soot and carbon build up. if so it'll go away with just driving it. what about if the tune up included an oil change? if so it could be he has the wrong weight oil in it. my daily driver exhibits all kinds of issues like a head gasket if you put 10w30 in it and it has 140,000 on it. in any case id check the basics first, water in oil, overheating, new noises,new smells etc. and i would be aware that even if you took it back to the dealer he might mis-diagnose the same thing. i really hope you can get something going, i know it sucks to be w/o wheels, but dont fly off the handle just yet. oh yea, cant be a tranny modulator issue, mopar/mitsu never ran them. by 96 they had even gone electric.
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