Damage by questionable mechanic

SnakeEyeSS · June 2, 2003

I find out by my dad's favorite BMW mechanic that the guy i've been taking my car too(at a Independent shop) may not be doing things right, I'm gald I took it to him(my dad's fav).

The ex-BMW tech, at Benzin, did the following:

Installed bad water pump

Blamed heater malfunctions to a expensive part

falied to properlly install timing belt

My dad's fav guy, now mine, found:

all the above mistakes, also finding the falty water pump was reason for heater problems. This is after my dad specifically asked the Benzin guy to check the water pump after it was installed. believes the Benzin guy may have failed to preform a crucial maintaince item and still charged for it, which i'll still be investigating.

I'm calling tomorrow, wanting a refund for some of the work and labor. Don't you think i have a right for one?

The guy who found the problems fixed some of them for FREE!!!! I thought that was nice!

Jersey Tahoe LT · June 2, 2003

You have to watch those mechanics. I had one for my old BMW 320i. he installed dry rotted air hoses and if you know anything about the old 320i's and there fuel injection system. any air leake and it will not run. This was after I towed it there because of an air leake. Then he also installed extra fuel filters under the car to restrict my feul flow. Which I brought to the shop because I was feeling a loss in power. He had replaced my rear diff with a used when I bought it because the original was bad. Then that one was on it's way out. Then before we realized all of this we bought my brothers VW Vanagon Westfailia from him. About 8 months later the motor siezed on him. I ended up selling the 320 to a co worker for $500. He needed a car really bad and I was sick of it. I only lost about $2000 in the deal from all the repair work. He tool it to an acctual BMW service shop and they asked him why certain things were on the car. Then he asked me and that was when I found out that the guy was a crooked mechainc. Beware of the mechanic in Clifton NJ right behind the Clifton Commons Plaza. If I remember name I will post.

Later,

Brandon

SnakeEyeSS · June 2, 2003

called & complained: here's what I got from them:

the water pump problem could have been delt with, but now it can't b/c of reason with which I agree(I didn't lose anything but labor on it anyway)

The timing belt detail, they apoloigized

The "necessary maintaince" (adjust valves) still under warranty and they will check it out for free(remember this is a big shop), and it wasn't the certain spoken about mechanic who did it. They will also check for valve train wear(don't worry, if I DO need a valve job, they WON'T be doing it, plus I will be upgrading to a nice hi-po cam!)

Responding to above:

If you wan't another 320i, and saw a pristine example at my work(I'm drive thru guy) and told the guy "nice 320 !" he smiled, drove off. 20 minutes later, guess who is back in the store, wanting to talk to me. Initally thinking I must have really done something wrong for a customer to come back 20 min later, he said "You knew it was a 320, I figure you might know something about the car" and then he asked me whaqt I though it was worth.

It's a euro import, 5-speed

new engine with 8K miles

BMW aftermarket 5 spoke wheels(niiiice)

I think the taillights were smoked. Body look perfect as far as I could tell.

I THINK it may have had e30 sport seats($1000 upgrade), hard to tell with somebody seting in them.

He siad they just had a lot of money put into it, but dosen't know much about it.

If you REALLY want another e21, this is a car worth driving across a few states for. I'm going to try and search the website I referred him to to see if he put a post on it