Well, about 6 weeks ago, my girlfriends car died on the way to work.
Simptoms were at the time, not being able to turn the engine over, mostly
a clicking noise trying to start it. Although she got it started once or
twice for a short period of time. We brought it to a local repair shop and
they told us it was 2 starter coils and the main box that the wiring from
the coils go to. First thing is that this car has an after-market
warranty. The reason I say this is that this repair shop went ahead
without our knowledge and replaced the coils without call the warranty
people about it. Secondly,they took 5 weeks to do this and never showed us
any paperwork.Thirdly, the timing belt became an issue late into there
servicing of the car.The coils got resolved, but all of a sudden when we
authorized the work for the timing belt, things changed, now it seems that
they couldnt line up the new belt because of possible valve damage. Mind
you they had the engine open for 6 total weeks, and supposedly went over
the engine thoroughly before telling us about the timing belt. I feel that
they are now taking advantage of us and kind of stuck as to what should be
done. The car is only 2 and half years old with 61000 miles.Which weve
only owned the car for about 9000 of those miles. It seems they dragged
this whole thing out. Any help, legal or otherwise would be appreciated.

 

Starter coils?? Two coils??

Are you talking about ignition coils?

So far, the symptoms you describe suggest a low battery or starter issue.
Did they replace the starter? Did they replace the ignition coils? This
is important to know.

Why did they say the timing belt needed replacement? Had it already
jumped time or stripped? If so, they're right on that valve damage may
have occurred. That shouldn't stop them from lining up the belt unless a
valve is stuck so far open (or broken) preventing the crank from being
turned to top dead center. What's worse, if the timing belt failed
anytime after 60k, it won't be covered under any warranty as the
maintenance interval for the timing belt is 60k/4yrs, whichever comes
first. You say you were able to start the car and it ran. Did this
change prior to taking the car to the repair shop?

As for already taking the engine apart and checking it out, no technician
or shop does this unless they expect to find something. Why would we
begin the lengthy and costly process of disassembling an engine while
cheaper to check other things which could be the source of the problem?

Based on what I've read, it seems you have a poor understanding of exactly
what the shop has and has not done. I'm unable to tell whether the shop
didn't properly inform you or whether you simply weren't able to
understand what they were telling you. As for being taken advantage of,
you're probably only being taken advantage of from the standpoint of the
shop not being terribly competent in their diagnosis. But I don't fully
understand the symptoms or what exactly was done, either.

 

Im sorry for the confusion, yes it was the ignition coils.The reason for
the timing belt issue was that the shop told us that they notice some
teeth missing at first and that its probably going to need attention soon,
so after a couple of weeks we just told them to go ahead and change it. As
I said all of a sudden there was a bigger issue, as they were changing the
timing belt. I apologize for not being so car-savy. Im a computer guy,lol.
They did mention that they could still start the car, but it was rough and
the engine shook.

 

And yes they replace the ignition coils and main box. Which is covered
under the warranty

 

Sounds likely to be one of two scenarios:

1. They sold you a timing belt based on mileage and installed it
incorrectly, possibly causing engine damage.

2. They incorrectly diagnosed the problem as ignition coils initially and
the timing belt was the problem all along.


Was the timing belt recommended before or after you the coils were put
on?

Can you tell me what the "main box" is? I don't know what you're
referring to.

 

They recommended the timing belt before they did the work on the coils,
because they notice some teeth missing on the belt. The main box ( sorry
about that) was the crank sensor.

 

In addition to our problem, if one of the two senarios are possible....
1. They sold you a timing belt based on mileage and installed it
incorrectly, possibly causing engine damage.

2. They incorrectly diagnosed the problem as ignition coils initially
and
the timing belt was the problem all along.
How would someone prove this to be true? If I need to bring in legal
action that is?

 

You'd prove it with facts. The car was running (albeit badly) when the car
was delivered to their shop (correct?). They recommended replacing the
timing belt based on mileage. Now, after the new timing belt is
installed, the car won't run, or displays different symptoms than before
(correct?). You've pretty much eliminated improper diagnosis from the
scenario since the belt was recommended as maintenance (although the
likelihood of both coils AND the crank sensor being bad is very low). Is
this shop not willing to fix the engine damage at no expense to you? If
not, why not? Why is it they say the engine damage occurred? And if they
counter with the timing belt being out of time to begin with, reply with
the facts you already know (condition of car at time of being presented to
shop, the fact that now if they say that the timing belt was the reason it
wasn't running correctly that it's not exactly believable that both coils,
the timing belt, and the crank sensor went bad all at the same time).