rob rossitto

Just met w/my new wrench - presented me with scored crank, rod & crank bearings, badly worn valves, and a mangled cam tower cover reducer/bolt found in the oil pan along w/a bunch of fine metal shavings, silicone chunks & gasket material...so much for the re-sealing option - guess I'm getting the big banana now.

last oil change was very clean(113k mi), no metal or foreign parts, clean magnetic drain plug (yes, I always check). obviously, the chimp who tried (and failed - hence new wrench) to repair my shark's leaking cam tower ($1200, 200 mi & 30 days ago) didn't use the correct gasket sealer (all over cover & block too). worse yet, he apparently "lost" a few parts into my shark's motor - which in turn plugged some oil passages and the filter - leading to oil starvation & a REAL mess...never could have gone another 500mi...

new wrench suggested calling my ins. co & filing a claim....don't want to jeopordize "preferred" status although I had nothing to do with the damage (ok - I was stupid enough to let a grease monkey work on it -crystal ball failed again)...

I know this isn't a free legal advice hotline. however I was curious if anyone has BTDT or might have an insightful(or entertaining) thought or two (forget spanking - too much of that done already)

as always - thx!!

Simon Jester

Try approaching the old mechanic directly.

Have your current mechanic document his findings as completely as possible. Photographs are helpful.

Take the evidence to him and explain that it's your expert's opinion that he caused all the damage and he should pony up to make it right. Hopefully he has business assets and ideally a business license.

If he won't pay for the damage, you'll have no choice but to persue the matter in Court.

In California, you can take the old mechanic to Small Claims Court and sue for $5000.00Yankee plus expenses. The cost of such a lawsuit is very small and you can represent yourself.

Good luck.

Gretch

Note to self:

1) continue to do your own wrenching on Gretch.

2) Lawyers, while some may be fine human beings, are the course of last resort.

Sorry for your troubles man......................

MikeN

Amen brother, you got that right......it's getting to where I don't trust anyone to work on mine.......

Lizard928

ouch I am sorry to hear that,

I would definatly be looking at talking to the shop where the car is at now and have them write up a document stating that they know beyond any doubt that this damage was caused by the work done by the previous shop

Jim bailey - 928 International

Lizard...... I think many have found that it is not uncommon for a "new" mechanic to have less than positive things to say about the "Old" mechanic . Much like new owners and prior owners . While this incident seems pretty obvious the prior mechanics "defense" may well be that he "would have fixed it if it had been brought back to him " . Unfortunate situation but it may not be that easy for Rob to get what he deserves . In California the BAR , Bureau of Automotive Repair which regulates the auto repair industry is very much a consumers advocate and has investigators/inspectors who will try to resolve disputes over repairs . They might help him get back the money he paid the first guy !!

Zandramus

Man, that sucks

if someone really dropped some parts down into the engine and didnt say anything or get them back out they need to fry that guy. I mean I have been there working on a clients piece of equipmnent and something goes wrong, this is where morals come to play an honest person pulls the motor and gets the bits out of it. A dishonest person says ah itl cost me too much to get those out ill just butten it up and let it be the owners problem.

The trick is picking the shop where the first guy works I guess. I also guess this is why I dont let anyone work on anything of mine, I dont want to end up in jail cause I trusted the second person with my stuff and then had to have a heart to heart with them.

IMHO someone needs a their @$$ Kicked ... but it would probably be better to take them to small claims court.

Z

rob rossitto

thx gangl! pretty much knew the score already - no magic answer(duh!)...

last time bonzo tried to fix the leak and failed (after 3 prior tries), he told me to "get another car, this one is too old & expensive to fix"... haven't heard/said THAT before! but when pressed to just pull the motor & re-seal it, he said it wasn't worth it and declined to even quote on it -glad the wife didn't hear that - my hanger queen would be a 3200lb paperweight for sure....hence the new (and 928 savvy)wrench

I was planning to just move on, leaving a trail of burning oil to the new wrench - even though I'd spent a fair amount of $$ for all of the worthless repair attempts. I figured it was my fault for trying to save a few bucks by letting bonzo monkey around for so long.

but after finding the aftermath of bonzo's efforts, I went ape when the new wrench started chanting "teach this guy a lesson because he ruins the reputation of all of us"... after a few bannanas, reason finally prevailed - hence a sanity check/post...

Jim has a very good point and it was my 1st reaction - the old "blame your predesessor" alert sounded...but after seeing everything myself, knowing how the oil was prior - and knowing the fresh (& incorrect) silicon was from bonzo's efforts, it's pretty clear as to what happened...

not real sue happy, but I am going to ask bonzo to visit w/new wrench, see what his chimps did & provide the opportunity to come clean while saving as much face as possible (nobody likes their nose rubbed into a mistake - unless she's REALLY hot)...

guess we'll see what happens...was thinking about a blower, stroker, etc anyway - at this point it's actually less to just stroke it since I have to replace so much stuff anyway...

as always - thx again!!