Bad timing belt job...legal advice

[shiftmx]

I just bought a 2000 prelude from a co worker of mine about a month ago. The week before I bought it, the auto tensioner failed but thankfully the timing belt did not skip any teeth. She limped it to the closest place she could find, which was a Kwik Car service station in Arlington, TX. Needless to say, they charged her over $1000 to do a "full" timing belt job and get her back up and running. When I test drove it, I noticed alot of idle vibration that she said she had not noticed before the timing belt change. I went with her to take it back and have them look at it, and they swore that they did the job right and said the issue was the driver side engine mount. They offered to replace it for the price of the part @ $160 and not charge labor. I told her not to pay for that since I can get an OEM mount for $130 and change it myself.

So I bought the car and 2 weeks later, I get a CEL of P0335. I checked the crank sensor and everything tested fine all the way back to the ECU. Since I didnt have a way to test the ECU, I decided to bring it to Honda to have them do an electrical diagnosis. The ECU tested fine and they said the issue was with something under the timing belt cover. I authorized them to take it apart and fix what is causing the CEL since I don't have the place or time to do it currently.

Today, the tech sends me pics of what is going on inside the cover. The tech (and I use that term loosely) at the Kwik car did such a horrid job that it caused more damage to the car than what it was brought in there for. They did not put in the balancer belt tensioner spring right causing it to get caught up in the timing belt and tensioner belt and began chewing threw them. They also dropped the bolt that secures the CKP sensor to the block, into the bottom of the timing belt cover, also chewing through the timing belt which would end up getting embedded into that cover and that cover has to be replaced. Also, they broke the crank sensor bracket that holds the sensor in place next to the crank. So the sensor needs to be replaced also. I think there is one or two other things that got damaged but I am so mad now, I can't remember. All in all, the total to replace the broken parts and new timing belts come to about $1200. That is with my discount on parts, and I authorized them to do a FULL timing belt job, seals and all, since the other place did such a shady job. I figured they might as well replace the few cam seal while it is apart already.

I guess what I am getting at is does this sound like something this shop is legally responsible to cover? I plan on going to the shop on Monday and request they reimburse the total cost of the job they did or I will take them to court. I have a feeling they will try to say I should have let them fix it but I did bring the car back and offer to let them fix it, but they refused saying "they did it right and they know what they are doing." Mind you, this timing belt job was done about 30 days ago and less that 1000 miles. Here are some pics...

 

[koulee]

I think you are out of luck because you bought it from your co-worker knowing it had problems after the timing belt job. If you want to have any success, get together with your coworker and go back to the shop with the diagnosis from the Honda service center and show them your paperwork. That shop should have some kind of warranty on their work, which is probably as laughable as the job they did, and you might be able to help your co-worker squeeze some money back out of that botched job.

What happens to that money, however, is gonna be between you and your coworker. Just don't get into a legal issue over that with them as well...

But under no circumstance are you to tell those monkeys that you bought the car from your coworker and you brought the car to a Honda service center to get it worked on.

 

[Clone of the Mean]

But under no circumstance are you to tell those monkeys that you bought the car from your coworker and you brought the car to a Honda service center to get it worked on.

Definitely a key factor if you plan on getting anywhere with a claim. You probably won't get too far with it, tho. Even if she wins, she probably won't see a dime.

 

[TX_QtPi]

Ouch... Get a good atty. I'm in the Dallas Area too and could give you a couple #'s to call. As for your repairs I'm the marketing and communications director for V.I.P. Auto Care in Dallas.

We actually Finance Repairs. So it'll help a little with the money side of it. On top of that, I'll extend a 10% Labor discount we usually reserve for Service People.

If anything they should have covered your repairs under their warranty (or at least their pride in workamanship) That's really awful of them.
Sorry you're going through this. I'll PM you my work number.

 

[shiftmx]

ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/mvd/carrepair.pdf

I found this link.

I have had to bring the car into honda where they have diagnosed everything and will confirm for me in writing that the previous timing belt job failed due to kwik kar's failure to do a proper job. They will also confirm that parts that are required to complete the job are missing, and the job was incomplete when the car was reassembled and paid for.

I don't think it matter who owns the car, but the previous owner will accompany me in court to verify that she did allow kwir kar to make the repairs to ensure that I was buying a working vehicle. Remember, this car was only operational for less that 30 days and less than 1000 miles before this happened. I will make the owner and offer to settle this out of court since he may not know what these clowns are doing in his shop...but if he does not agree...I will make sure he pays for everything including lost wages and all incurred expenses due to his shops hack job.

 

[vipergrhd]

Rob

Another highway robbery in my opinion,it's what you call timing belt in a can if you know what i mean.from what it looks like the balancer belt came apart and causing things to go bad,$1000 for a timing belt job should have been a give away when they told you i would have called a tow truck and take it to another shop you trust.

 

[Chewbacca]

You can contact BAR and tell them whats going on. Or you can just threaten you are going to contact them. If the shop knows who they are and what they can do to a business they should listen.

 

[Chewbacca]

You can contact BAR and tell them whats going on. Or you can just threaten you are going to contact them. If the shop knows who they are and what they can do to a business they should listen.