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Auto Service: What Would You Do?


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On 8/18/2018 at 8:27 AM, Eastwood said:
On 8/17/2018 at 10:09 PM, TwiceHorn said:
And Gil is right, there is a common-law "artisan's lien" in favor of mechanics in Ohio.  They can legally retain possession of your car until the bill is paid.  If you dispute the charges, and can't work something out, you have to go to court.

Artisan, huh? They must have used those artisanal spark plugs made from porcelain made from hand selected grains of sand from an organic beach and fire blasted in a kiln made from 100% recycled material and fueled by algae from a biomass farm. It costs a little extra, but you're paying to save the world.

Despite the nomenclature, as I think you know, "Mechanics' and Materialmens' Liens" have taken on the pretty exclusive meaning of liens on real property to secure the furnishing of labor or material to construction or renovation of the property.  Other liens have to have different names, now.  Hence, artisan's lien.

 

And, with all due respect to OP, I'm not sure he'd know a misfire from general rough running.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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5 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Despite the nomenclature, as I think you know, "Mechanics' and Materialmens' Liens" have taken on the pretty exclusive meaning of liens on real property to secure the furnishing of labor or material to construction or renovation of the property.  Other liens have to have different names, now.  Hence, artisan's lien.

 

And, with all due respect to OP, I'm not sure he'd know a misfire from general rough running.

 

I just thought it was funny that "artisan" was the word they chose. Sure, an artisan is one who works in a skilled trade, but I get a chuckle out of Johnny Dropout working at the dealership calling himself an artisan.

Here is the part of the post where I have to explain that I understand that a mechanic is a skilled technician 99% of the time and went to a trade school or obtained some other associates level education, my brother-in-law runs his own diesel mechanic shop, and that I will never pass up an opportunity to shit on a dealership, including their mechanics. Buncha assholes, sign out front, etc.

Edited by Eastwood
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I will (hopefully) have more to report back tomorrow.  All I know is that my truck is not running the way that it was before I took it in to these idiots, and it is doing something similar to a couple weeks ago, when it was (according to them) due to their fuck-up.  I still have not paid 1¢ on it, thank god.

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9 hours ago, Jkwellborn said:

So, the CEL was on at the beginning of this saga but you never found out why?

No.  Truck was fine at the beginning of this saga.  All maintenance was "recommended." (Remember... dumbass here).  When I picked it up after the first weekend, that is when the saga took its turn.

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Regardless of what it is, even if this is truly attributed to the fact that the truck is high mileage and it’s 100% the truck... my mind will always go to blaming the dealer for their chain of fuck ups. Their fuck ups lead to more than one coil, to a new cat, to the first CEL. I will not be able to believe them if they tell me otherwise.


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3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, I'm not convinced that's a misfire, which is usually an ignition problem.  Rough running and hesitation can be all kinds of problems.  Fuel system a likely culprit.

I was gonna say low quality gas.  Which I guess is technically part of the fuel system.

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6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, I'm not convinced that's a misfire, which is usually an ignition problem.  Rough running and hesitation can be all kinds of problems.  Fuel system a likely culprit.

 

6 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

My guess as well.

Make it three votes for fuel system.

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1 hour ago, ernest_t_bass said:

Misfiring cylinder, apparently. Had to replace a spark plug. I don’t understand why the plugs are so brittle. Fixed... for now.  This is the 2nd? brand new spark plug that has cracked.

Any experts help explain?

I had a similar problem a few months ago. Car was missing, suspected a bad coil so I changed plugs/coils on my CTS. After a few days the miss returned. Culprit was a cracked new plug. My mechanic is an ASE Master Tech so it's possible, but unlikely, he cracked it during installation. They sit inside a tube so not much room to bend one enough to crack like on older engines. More likely it's shitty manufacturing. These were high dollar NGK iridium plugs, too. 

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Should you just hand tighten?  Or do they need a certain amount of torque?

I generally put them in without a ratchet and then turn them just a few degrees. You can’t get a torque wrench on a lot of them, I couldn’t imagine trying.

I broke one trying to remove it earlier this summer. Grabbed my 1/4” drive impact and snatched it out.
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I've been following this thread and have a similar experience happening right now...

 

2014 Nissan X-Trail (Company Car) bought new, after 60K kms the CVT had to be replaced as it had crapped out, this was done under warranty, after I got it back the actual gear selector wasn't quite lined up and kept just missing being in P and triggering an alert until I bumped it forward and then I could start the car, this was fixed after I took it back in and pointed it out to them, this was explained as just needing to be 'adjusted'. No more issues with this.

I have just recently clicked past 120K km and took it back in for a service, straight after the service this problem re appeared, now its out of warranty and apparently the Gear Selector Module needs to be replaced, I had had NO issues with this since the 'adjustment' and the service they did apparently had nothing to do with this problem reappearing.... Not sure if I believe this because the timing is just incredible.

After several back and forth emails, calls, visits etc we are getting stuck with 50% of the parts cost but they're eating the Labour, personally I feel they should wear the lot but such is life.

 

TL:DR - Dealerships suck, I will never buy a Nissan again.

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If a spark plug is OK, and vehicle runs OK, what would cause them to suddenly crack?  Engines for dummies.
They may have dropped it prior to install. There may not have been visible damage, but a micro crack will expand over the continuous cycle of hot/cool that goes with an engine. In fact, I think it is a FAA regulation that if a plane mechanic drops a plug used in the prop planes that they have to throw it out.
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Here is another question for you engine pros.  What I will typically do with my truck is never let it get below 1/2 tank before I top it off.  Often times at 3/4.  Because many mentioned gasoline/fuel line in the last misfire happening, I'm cleaning the gas out this time around.  Letting it get to 'E' and putting a full tank of the same shit.  Probably not a big deal, but I'm doing it nonetheless.

Question (aside from any comments you want to add in regards to my previous paragraph) - Does any type of fuel additive "help" every now and then, to help clean things out?  If so, what kinds?  

I'm trying to be proactive as humanly possible here.

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I’ve been adding Lucas fuel injector cleaner every other tank of gas in my Expedition w/ 230K miles on it for years with no issues.

I’ve run Seafoam through the gas tank before but I don’t know that i got any benefit from it. It definitely works to clean out the engine when you add it to the oil. 

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