Help, my car's a piece of excrement

stop thinking that you owe them anything. they ripped you off, they need to fix it. if the body shop didnt do a repair, and there is more damage, that is their fault. stop thinking of saving the car, and staet thinking legal action. your car is unsellable, and they made it that way. at least one of those shops owe you a new car. since all of the problems can reasonably said to be caused by work from those shops, the labour warranty should cover it. maybe get your finance company involved, maybe you'll find a friend if they realize you'll be giving them a dead car instead of payments.
 
Take it to the dealer and tell them you want the damn thing fixed, and fixed correctly. If they won't, tell them you are going to contact the State Attorney General Consumer Fraud division, for claiming they did work, that they didn't do.
Don't forget filing a complaint with the BBB too.
 
338375 said:
Take it to the dealer and tell them you want the damn thing fixed, and fixed correctly. If they won't, tell them you are going to contact the State Attorney General Consumer Fraud division, for claiming they did work, that they didn't do.
Don't forget filing a complaint with the BBB too.
Click to expand...

Just got back. They told me there is no way they did the spark plugs wrong, guys at NTB told me they were gapped wrong and that caused them to burn up. They wanted to look and make sure the wheel was done properly, if it wasn't the parts would be free and I'd only have to pay for labor. Then I lost my temper and left. They will be reported to the BBB as soon as I calm down enough to write a complaint without using the term scum ball.
 
Ok...

ANYTIME you hear knocking in the engine, it's an EXTREMELY bad sign.
Here's a few quick steps, feel free to email me or VM if you have any questions...

Change the oil, the first thing to look for is metal flakes in the drained oil, and inside of the oil filter.
Check to see if the oil looks "milky", especially under the oil filler cap. This is a sign of coolant in the oil, probably caused by a ruptured head gasket.
Preform a compression test on all four cylinders. You can rent the gauge from Autozone, Advanced Auto... This will show the compression or each cylinder, which can 1. prove a bad head gasket 2. show piston and or piston ring wear. All four cylinders should be within 10% of each other in PSI 3. Show possibility of burnt or bent valves. <<Can cause noise, misfire, strange smells, bad gas mileage, stalling... Burnt valves can be really noisy.

The stalling can be caused from SEVERAL reasons. Do you notice any difference in gas mileage? Any oil on the spark plugs or on the wires? Maybe a computer error? Have you had a CEL? Bad fuel pump? Dirty air filter? There really are several reasons a car can stall. I'd buy seafoam and run the treatment. 1/3 can in crank case, 1/3 can in gas tank, 1/3 can in any vacuum line (this dumps it right on the pistons, and will clean and gunk out that might build up in the combustion chamber and valves.)

Helicopter noise can be due to... Bad steering rack, tie rod ball joints, worn CV axles (if it's FWD), worn wheel bearings, bent/unbalanced rims, damaged control arm bushings... Jack up one side, grab the wheel and check for any movement, there should be NONE. Do the same to the other side. Look underneath at the CV axle boots, check for tears and grease splatter.

Slow accelerating is a broad problem too. Again, have a compression test preformed, it could be bad valves. Check the air filter, filthy air filters can restrict air flow, causing loss in performance. Remove and clean the throttle body. It may be full of carbon and having trouble opening and closing. Spark plugs, DON'T buy the cheap Autolites at Walmart, get OEM.

Contact me if you need any help. ;)
 
Just finished my complaints to the BBB for both of their shops. Probably won't do any good, but I did it anyway.
 
You really need to run the motor designation thru google.
IIRC there is a class action lawsuit against Chrysler for one of their Dodge/Mitsubishi 6 cylinder engines.
Not sure if that's the one in your car though.
I'm glad I got the 3.5L in my '00 Intrepid R/T though.

If I were you I'd try another dealer... and another and another if necessary,
Look for a 5 star dealer (that ranking is earned and not bought)
If the dealer you went to was nervy enough to screw you once, it is hard to believe he'll make it right.

a quick google search on dealer complaints found this:
http://www.allpar.com/dealers/dealertrouble.htm

Good luck and remember you catch more bears with honey than vinegar.
 
Just got word back on my BBB complaints. They kept a copy of my complaint about the engine shop for their records. The body shop never replied to the BBB's attempts to contact them.
 
I used to work for a body shop, and from what I saw, the cars were available for the higher class workers to take to lunch and such.

But wait, my beater just cost me $800 at the shop. They friggin' replaced the computer and had to get a OEM distributor,, oooh and then they replaced the battery for some unknown reason. And all of this is after my keeping up with the Chiltons' Repair manual time intervals.

I dont know how some people can afford their vehicles.

Wouldn't you want to follow a schedule and replace parts before they brake? I see so many trucks jacked up on blocks that have bald tires.

Gag me with a spoon. lol, jk
 
Trail Edge said:
Wouldn't you want to follow a schedule and replace parts before they brake? I see so many trucks jacked up on blocks that have bald tires.
Click to expand...

Some people do keep up with their regular maintenance. The only problem is that the crappy parts break faster than you can replace them and the idiots you hire to do the work don't do the work.
 
GWashington1732 said:
Some people do keep up with their regular maintenance. The only problem is that the crappy parts break faster than you can replace them and the idiots you hire to do the work don't do the work.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I agree. You almost need to go to a repair place that only uses OEM parts. This last time I ended up with some junkyard parts too.
 
Almost bought a Stratus about six years ago but fortunately for me my mechanic talked me out of it. One of the many problems he cited is that the transmissions tend to crap out at approx 80,000 miles.
 
You do realize that the BBB has no enforcement powers.
The best they can do for you, AFAIK, is give the business a bad rating.
 
The BBB is a waste of time, most times they side with the business anyway. I have a story to tell, but won't bore you.

Anyway, I have heard that if a dealership is giving you a problem, best to contact the corporate office. They may make a determination and then send you for the repairs.

I wouldn't even deal with the lowlife dealership at this point.
 
Was the car flooded? Those are some common symptoms of a flooded car, in which case you probably have more problems coming your way unfortunately. Best of luck.
 
In the fifty years I've owned new and used cars, Chrysler products have given me the worst troubles.

Some of the problems include a burnt valve (which I replaced myself) on one of their vehicles and leaky valve stem oil seals (which again I replaced myself) on another different vehicle. And worst of all a bad computer module on yet a another Chrysler vehicle which had to be replaced three times by the dealership. Other Chrysler vehicles had cooling problems, broken clutch cable, broken electric window mechanism, etc.

Your problem sounds almost similar to the valve problems I had.

Presently I own a Hyundai Sonata (going on seven years) which is the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.

Good luck and I hope your problem gets solved if it hasn't already.
 
"Presently I own a Hyundai Sonata (going on seven years) which is the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned." :thumbup:

We currently have two Sonatas as we liked my wife's 2007 so much I brought a 2011 model a little over a year ago. So far nothing but routine maintenance (by the book) and oil changes (her's has 169K, to my 25K). We do use Mobile 1 synthetic and we hope to get many years out of these fine vehicles.
 
I only read the first page. Sounds like you need to fjnd a new mechanic or a lawyer to enforce your warranty. You need to take it to the dealership and let them diagnose the drivability problems. Other random shops are hit or miss on who works on your car. Most dealerships have 20 year veterans they will give your car to. It might not be cheap but they can get it done and warranty thier work. Iv worked in many shops and a few dealerships, currently working for Toyota, and its a whole different ball game at the dealership. They can pull current and history codes and freze frame data when the code was set and they have techs who can make sense of it all. Chances are that at this point to get your car all fixed up its gonna be a nice chunk of change that would make a nice down payment on a new or new used vehicle. Theres probably a few other problems your jot aware of that havent failed yet and will at any day at this point. It usually happens in the summer. If you cant get into a newer vehicle id recomend preparing transportation as your car sound like its in its last days.
 
Take it into the dealer for an oil change > remove the drain plug later the same day > let it bleed out and seize. Purely conversation, of course.
 
OT a little but I am an oil snob after blowing a turbo in a Cayenne with Mobil 1 5w30. The only worthwhile Mobil oils (at retail) are Mobil TDT, Delvac and Mobil 1 0w40. The 5w30 Mobil 1 is garbage and will shear to a 20w within a thousand miles. I also own a WRX which also cooks most dino oils.

People will go out of their way to save $4 on a gallon of oil and risk throwing a bearing.

Motul 300v
Mobil TDT
Rotella T6
 
After reading through more of this thread id like to say that every dealership is not employed by devils and criminals. There are a lot of technicians out there that take pride in the work they do and take thier job very seriously. Its hard work and comission only and warranty work pays a lot less than customer pay. However, thats not your problem because you bought a car in good faith, with a warranty. It sounds like they toom your car in on a trade and sold someone a new car. Rather than sending your car to auction where they woukdnt recieve much for it, they sold it to you eithe knowing it was crap or not nnowing because they dont pay the tech to fully check it out, or the tech was paid to and didnt. If you have kept up with regular maintenance then none of this is your fault. Dont give up on dealers all together though. Find a new one that owns a chain of dealerships and are not private but corporate owned. They are much more closley monitored and will lose money to prevent a bad review tk thier dealership. Trust me on this.

Sorry for the typos im on a cell phone right now.
 
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