The (very long) story of my AMW rebuild experience.
02-23-2004, 06:10 PM
#106
Race Car
Thread Starter
Thanks all! The scooter belongs to my kid, Tifo, my 220 lb butt is waaayyy over the weight limit!
Erich, That's MY garage, I was trying to point out that I have enough stuff already! (The tranny is my old one, with LSD and a bad R&P)
Geo, Believe me, the same thought has crossed my mind.
Damian, No, I don't think so.
Erich, I don't plan to, and I DO plan to but doubt anything else will come of it.
Sam, Thanks, I feel better now!
Andy, Thanks, I'm not holding my breath though...
Kinda, I agree!
Z, Did you ask what they'd give you for yours? Yours is in better shape, you could sell it to them and get a 968!
Erich, That's MY garage, I was trying to point out that I have enough stuff already! (The tranny is my old one, with LSD and a bad R&P)
Geo, Believe me, the same thought has crossed my mind.
Damian, No, I don't think so.
Erich, I don't plan to, and I DO plan to but doubt anything else will come of it.
Sam, Thanks, I feel better now!
Andy, Thanks, I'm not holding my breath though...
Kinda, I agree!
Z, Did you ask what they'd give you for yours? Yours is in better shape, you could sell it to them and get a 968!
02-23-2004, 07:30 PM
#107
Three Wheelin'
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Dave, look for my post about AMW coming up within this next week or so... I have had bad experiences and will post about it when i get the ok from my lawyer...
02-23-2004, 08:57 PM
#108
Although I can't say I'm surpised, I am sorry that it has worked out for you this way Dave. Mr. Anderson struck me as one of those people who can talk a streak but little action comes of it. All of us at Rennlist owe you a debt of gratitude for sharing this story so we can keep are wallets far away from this guy......
02-25-2004, 02:49 PM
#110
Race Car
Thread Starter
Jonas, Sorry to hear that your experience was like mine 
Mike, He sure could talk, still can, right up to "the checks in the mail" evidently :
David, Since nobody else answered you; I'm not positive about the S2's location but 20-30 minutes from the either the GW bridge or the Lincoln tunnel would probably be a safe bet.
Mike, He sure could talk, still can, right up to "the checks in the mail" evidently :
David, Since nobody else answered you; I'm not positive about the S2's location but 20-30 minutes from the either the GW bridge or the Lincoln tunnel would probably be a safe bet.
02-25-2004, 02:59 PM
#111
Race Director
Originally posted by David Ray
S2, how far is it from NYC?
S2, how far is it from NYC?
But: the car's location is: Prestige Toyota, 1096 Rt 17 North, Ramsey, NJ. Phone: 201-825-9795
02-25-2004, 03:05 PM
#112
Originally posted by Jonas Goldsmith
Dave, look for my post about AMW coming up within this next week or so... I have had bad experiences and will post about it when i get the ok from my lawyer...
Dave, look for my post about AMW coming up within this next week or so... I have had bad experiences and will post about it when i get the ok from my lawyer...
I thought AMW had done all of your repairs for quite some time now, including items like a new clutch and the head repair when you broke your timing belt.
I'm sure we go back in the archives, you've got some positive things you have said about them. I also thought you had visited their shop several times just to hang around.
You're not suing them because of your broken timing belt, are you? I thought you got your car back already and it was for sale again.
02-25-2004, 08:02 PM
#113
Race Car
Thread Starter
Z, I doubt David is shopping for a bad deal on an S2 from 3000 miles away.
OTOH, I'm a little curious as to his interest in it!?! The fact that it's in Ramsey says alot about the price.
OTOH, I'm a little curious as to his interest in it!?! The fact that it's in Ramsey says alot about the price.
02-25-2004, 09:04 PM
#114
Three Wheelin'
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Originally posted by 89magic98
Jonas,
I thought AMW had done all of your repairs for quite some time now, including items like a new clutch and the head repair when you broke your timing belt.
I'm sure we go back in the archives, you've got some positive things you have said about them. I also thought you had visited their shop several times just to hang around.
You're not suing them because of your broken timing belt, are you? I thought you got your car back already and it was for sale again.
Jonas,
I thought AMW had done all of your repairs for quite some time now, including items like a new clutch and the head repair when you broke your timing belt.
I'm sure we go back in the archives, you've got some positive things you have said about them. I also thought you had visited their shop several times just to hang around.
You're not suing them because of your broken timing belt, are you? I thought you got your car back already and it was for sale again.
Jonas
02-26-2004, 11:12 PM
#115
Burning Brakes
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It seems Jonas is a bit tiffed at us. Yes we have serviced his car, all at no or very low labor costs, mostly we would just charge him our cost for parts, and no cost on labor, he is/was a friend. Anyway, it started a few months ago, Jonas said he needed to sell his car, but one of his lifters was making noise, so I got into the valve train and told him the best I could do was narrow it to three possible lifters, but the best thing would be to buy all new lifters at my cost, I would provide him with my invoice. He told me then he did not want to spend money, he just needed to get the car running so he could sell it. so, we only replaced three lifters . While in there I also saw that his chain tension was bad, stripped, and told him it was broken, and again, he told me and my mechanics that he did not want to spend the money, just fix it and get the car running. So we did. I also told him that he needed to replace his timing belt, Devia from the list can testify to this, she was there, and also told him it was best to replace it..but again...no money, just get the car running. Well, the belt broke shortly after the repairs..and he brought the car to me to fix..The head was completely rebuilt, all new valves, a few new springs, all seals and guides were also replaced.. Jonas was there with me during the entire build that night, so he witnessed the broken chain tensioner again..I also brought up the fact that he needed to replace the lifters, knowing what his answere would be, but I said it anyway. So, with Jonas, and his frind there, watching...and even helping at times we proceeded to put the top end together. I use a jig for the cam ting, it it exactly 113mm point to point, and basically explained the entire process to Jonas as went. We started the car, the lifters chattered, but pumped up pretty quickly, after about 5 minutes, there was a pop, and the engine stalled...tried to staert it again...it would run, but rough..my immediate guess was a lifter went bad and stalled in the bore, bending a valve. He started to cry, and I told him again, about replacing stuff, he just told me "he knew" , but he just neede the car runing so he could sell it. All through this, his mom was paying the bill. So, I told him that I could not get to his car right away to fix it ( it was already like 1am), and that I would try to have it diagnosed within a week...seems like a long time, but remember, I don't charge him, so i need to get bills paid first, then his car gets a lift. Anyway, he calls, comes by..and I finally told him outright that I did not have time to fix his car...that even if he paid me for the job, I could not get it done, I simply had to many customers to get out. So, he moved the car to Deiters. At this point he seemd cool enough....told me it wasn't my fault, and that he appreciated me trying to get te car done..he even came by the shop in the meantime for a plug wire and some other parts I beleive..he was a friend, so I just let him look around and take what he needed. About two weeks later..I get a registered letter, open it..its a letter from his Lawyer...basically stating that I completely destroyed his car...I broke the chain tensioner, installed a cracked something or other...the car was miss timed..and that I could avoid going to court only if I supplied him with a brand new head, fixed his car at no cost, and paid to have anouther shop inspect the work, again at no charge...or I could buy the car for 5K. I called Jonas to ask him about the letter, and his decision to not even call me if there was infact something wrong, but to just send me a letter about a lawsuite, after being my "friend"...he started yelling...and I simply just said, "thanks for being human" and hung up.
I have done alot for him, and I'm pretty pissed that he is doing this. I have dug up links on this list that he talks about the broken chain tensioner that i told him about, how he did not want to spend money.
Anyway, thats my story.
Take Care,
I have done alot for him, and I'm pretty pissed that he is doing this. I have dug up links on this list that he talks about the broken chain tensioner that i told him about, how he did not want to spend money.
Anyway, thats my story.
Take Care,
02-26-2004, 11:39 PM
#117
Originally posted by John Anderson
It seems Jonas is a bit tiffed at us. Yes we have serviced his car, all at no or very low labor costs, mostly we would just charge him our cost for parts, and no cost on labor, he is/was a friend. Anyway, it started a few months ago, Jonas said he needed to sell his car, but one of his lifters was making noise, so I got into the valve train and told him the best I could do was narrow it to three possible lifters, but the best thing would be to buy all new lifters at my cost, I would provide him with my invoice. He told me then he did not want to spend money, he just needed to get the car running so he could sell it. so, we only replaced three lifters . While in there I also saw that his chain tension was bad, stripped, and told him it was broken, and again, he told me and my mechanics that he did not want to spend the money, just fix it and get the car running. So we did. I also told him that he needed to replace his timing belt, Devia from the list can testify to this, she was there, and also told him it was best to replace it..but again...no money, just get the car running. Well, the belt broke shortly after the repairs..and he brought the car to me to fix..The head was completely rebuilt, all new valves, a few new springs, all seals and guides were also replaced.. Jonas was there with me during the entire build that night, so he witnessed the broken chain tensioner again..I also brought up the fact that he needed to replace the lifters, knowing what his answere would be, but I said it anyway. So, with Jonas, and his frind there, watching...and even helping at times we proceeded to put the top end together. I use a jig for the cam ting, it it exactly 113mm point to point, and basically explained the entire process to Jonas as went. We started the car, the lifters chattered, but pumped up pretty quickly, after about 5 minutes, there was a pop, and the engine stalled...tried to staert it again...it would run, but rough..my immediate guess was a lifter went bad and stalled in the bore, bending a valve. He started to cry, and I told him again, about replacing stuff, he just told me "he knew" , but he just neede the car runing so he could sell it. All through this, his mom was paying the bill. So, I told him that I could not get to his car right away to fix it ( it was already like 1am), and that I would try to have it diagnosed within a week...seems like a long time, but remember, I don't charge him, so i need to get bills paid first, then his car gets a lift. Anyway, he calls, comes by..and I finally told him outright that I did not have time to fix his car...that even if he paid me for the job, I could not get it done, I simply had to many customers to get out. So, he moved the car to Deiters. At this point he seemd cool enough....told me it wasn't my fault, and that he appreciated me trying to get te car done..he even came by the shop in the meantime for a plug wire and some other parts I beleive..he was a friend, so I just let him look around and take what he needed. About two weeks later..I get a registered letter, open it..its a letter from his Lawyer...basically stating that I completely destroyed his car...I broke the chain tensioner, installed a cracked something or other...the car was miss timed..and that I could avoid going to court only if I supplied him with a brand new head, fixed his car at no cost, and paid to have anouther shop inspect the work, again at no charge...or I could buy the car for 5K. I called Jonas to ask him about the letter, and his decision to not even call me if there was infact something wrong, but to just send me a letter about a lawsuite, after being my "friend"...he started yelling...and I simply just said, "thanks for being human" and hung up.
I have done alot for him, and I'm pretty pissed that he is doing this. I have dug up links on this list that he talks about the broken chain tensioner that i told him about, how he did not want to spend money.
Anyway, thats my story.
Take Care,
It seems Jonas is a bit tiffed at us. Yes we have serviced his car, all at no or very low labor costs, mostly we would just charge him our cost for parts, and no cost on labor, he is/was a friend. Anyway, it started a few months ago, Jonas said he needed to sell his car, but one of his lifters was making noise, so I got into the valve train and told him the best I could do was narrow it to three possible lifters, but the best thing would be to buy all new lifters at my cost, I would provide him with my invoice. He told me then he did not want to spend money, he just needed to get the car running so he could sell it. so, we only replaced three lifters . While in there I also saw that his chain tension was bad, stripped, and told him it was broken, and again, he told me and my mechanics that he did not want to spend the money, just fix it and get the car running. So we did. I also told him that he needed to replace his timing belt, Devia from the list can testify to this, she was there, and also told him it was best to replace it..but again...no money, just get the car running. Well, the belt broke shortly after the repairs..and he brought the car to me to fix..The head was completely rebuilt, all new valves, a few new springs, all seals and guides were also replaced.. Jonas was there with me during the entire build that night, so he witnessed the broken chain tensioner again..I also brought up the fact that he needed to replace the lifters, knowing what his answere would be, but I said it anyway. So, with Jonas, and his frind there, watching...and even helping at times we proceeded to put the top end together. I use a jig for the cam ting, it it exactly 113mm point to point, and basically explained the entire process to Jonas as went. We started the car, the lifters chattered, but pumped up pretty quickly, after about 5 minutes, there was a pop, and the engine stalled...tried to staert it again...it would run, but rough..my immediate guess was a lifter went bad and stalled in the bore, bending a valve. He started to cry, and I told him again, about replacing stuff, he just told me "he knew" , but he just neede the car runing so he could sell it. All through this, his mom was paying the bill. So, I told him that I could not get to his car right away to fix it ( it was already like 1am), and that I would try to have it diagnosed within a week...seems like a long time, but remember, I don't charge him, so i need to get bills paid first, then his car gets a lift. Anyway, he calls, comes by..and I finally told him outright that I did not have time to fix his car...that even if he paid me for the job, I could not get it done, I simply had to many customers to get out. So, he moved the car to Deiters. At this point he seemd cool enough....told me it wasn't my fault, and that he appreciated me trying to get te car done..he even came by the shop in the meantime for a plug wire and some other parts I beleive..he was a friend, so I just let him look around and take what he needed. About two weeks later..I get a registered letter, open it..its a letter from his Lawyer...basically stating that I completely destroyed his car...I broke the chain tensioner, installed a cracked something or other...the car was miss timed..and that I could avoid going to court only if I supplied him with a brand new head, fixed his car at no cost, and paid to have anouther shop inspect the work, again at no charge...or I could buy the car for 5K. I called Jonas to ask him about the letter, and his decision to not even call me if there was infact something wrong, but to just send me a letter about a lawsuite, after being my "friend"...he started yelling...and I simply just said, "thanks for being human" and hung up.
I have done alot for him, and I'm pretty pissed that he is doing this. I have dug up links on this list that he talks about the broken chain tensioner that i told him about, how he did not want to spend money.
Anyway, thats my story.
Take Care,
Reading through a lot of posts, it's also obvious that he wanted to sell his car. He put off coming to that timing belt "party" in December and broke his belt soon after. I would also tend to believe that he wanted to spend as few $$$'s as possible on getting the minimum repairs needed to unload the car.
While I have never had my car serviced by you, I do know that I would _never_ take my car back to Dieter's. Real creepy folks when it comes to challenging their work when it was obvious that they did something wrong.
Seems like it's going to be a tough road for you, since you were helping him out, maybe he didn't accept/decline any repairs in writing. It almost seems comparable to suing a friend who's lending a hand in the garage.
..........
Congrats on your write-up in Excellence the other month. And I hope you can finally sort out the issues with the original NJ poster who started this thread.
02-27-2004, 12:04 AM
#119
Race Car
Thread Starter
There's two sides to every story, I'm sure Jonas has his.
I'm stunned that John would post that in this thread. He didn't even bother to address my issues! How 'bout it John? What's going on at your end in my case? I replied to you message 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard from you... again!!!
Why am I suprised? Six weeks ago you needed a "couple days." Remember the beginning of this thread? It isn't just the money, it's the absurd delays and lack of response. I have a stack of Emails about how AMW was fixing that...
I'm stunned that John would post that in this thread. He didn't even bother to address my issues! How 'bout it John? What's going on at your end in my case? I replied to you message 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard from you... again!!!
Why am I suprised? Six weeks ago you needed a "couple days." Remember the beginning of this thread? It isn't just the money, it's the absurd delays and lack of response. I have a stack of Emails about how AMW was fixing that...
Last edited by Dave; 02-27-2004 at 12:24 AM.
02-27-2004, 12:18 AM
#120
Burning Brakes
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Real sorry for you Dave. This is the first time I have taken the time to read this thread. I paid a ransom to Helmut for my mistake in driving a newly purchased car. I like to get mad at him for charging so much but actually I have to admit he did a good job, 6k miles now and it runs great.
So I hope your luck changes Dave and that your patience is rewarded some how.
So John Anderson, you responded to Jonas, what about Dave's situation???
So I hope your luck changes Dave and that your patience is rewarded some how.
So John Anderson, you responded to Jonas, what about Dave's situation???