The pumps I bought from napa and advanced auto parts were new. I just looked elsewhere when I went and bought the first new pump from Napa, didn’t work, swapped and same issue.
I will do so this coming weekend. I will first see what Firestone tells me tomorrow as I will request they show me any issues so I can record with my phone, take pics, etc.
6 replacement power steering pumps, then finally replaced the rack and pinion assembly. What are the odds of having one faulty pump?
My mechanic installed the rack. It was dropped off on a saturday and he stated it would take 4 hours. He didn’t begin work on the truck until 2 hours after I left it. I then told him to test and check once the job is done. He did not finish the work that same day. I didn’t get the truck back from him until the next day in the evening. In-between he was texting me asking if I had gotten the wrong rack. I told him no. That is the rack for that car. He was stating he was having trouble getting it in so he needed to remove the axle from one side to do so. When I went to pick up the car, I then inquired about the popping noise which is similar to what I have now. He said that it needs to be torqued to spec. Fast forward now, and he recently said he doesn’t need a torque meter because of his “intution”. Either way, he is denying he may have made an error and I was not present for the repair so of course he would deny either way. Hence why he said, if you want me to look at it, I will charge you. Yet, I wasn’t sure he look at it thoroughly after he installed the part which had me hesitant to pay him to check the car. Hence why I am going another way about it. If that makes you judge me, i don’t care. I am just trying to find a solution here since I do have a suspicion with my mechanic but I can’t do anything until I can find some proof.
Obviously, used pumps fail faster. But for me to buy a few brand new ones at different locations and they all don’t work out of the box is quite impressive.
I just left Firestone and found the potential culprit. The rack and pinion is loose. There was also fluid spewing. Firestone told me have my mechanic correct that since I hired him for that particular job. I took videos and such and showed it to my mechanic. He threw a fit saying that Firestone did something to cause that, my truck is cursed, I won’t work on it anymore, and then he said he will correct it because it’s only 2 bolts. My problem is that I paid this guy to do it correctly and he claims to have 20 years of experience so am I in the wrong here? I also don’t plan to pay this guy extra for something he should have done right the first time. On top of that he was giving me a list of other parts for me to buy and giving me labor quotes because he felt there were other issues so him being told it was a job a he did that the issue has him very upset
You need to be done with this mechanic now!
He appears to be incompetent as well as having a personality disorder.
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I 1000% agree, your mechanic sounds like nothing more than a parts changer and by the sound of it not a very good one at that… RUN from this guy, time to lick your wounds and find a real shop with a owner that cares about his/hers customers and will take care of there screw ups…
I would have way to much pride in my work (and be very embarrassed) to not take care of my screw up if I ever had one like that… (yes I have had a few screw ups in 35+ years lol)
I was thinking the noise in your 1st video sounded like a loose rack, not the 1st time I have had someone come in with a loose rack or the bushings worn out…
And I doubt Firestone will want to finish up the guys screw up as if they miss something that he forgot (like attaching the steering column) and if it causes more issues or worst case a wreck then they would be liable…
No you are not in the wrong, the idiot that won’t stand behind his work is in the wrong…
Sorry you are having to deal with this, it is idiots like him that gives mechanics a bad name…
@davesmopar … did you allow your customers to supply their own parts? I have no auto repair experience beyond being a driveway diyer, so just my opinion, but if I had a job as an inde-mechanic, I doubt I’d agree to any work unless my shop was supplying the parts too.
George- i know that when i was managing the shops for my former employer, there was an inviolable rule that no customer supplied parts would be used and that we would not procure or install used parts for our customers unless they were trim parts supplied by LKQ.
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As a general rule of thumb, No… As with any rule, there is always exceptions to ever rule…
Part of a shops overhead is covered by the mark up on parts… That subject has been addressed many times on here so I will not add to it…
But as a shop and or shop owner, time is money, the faster you can move a vehicle through your shop (and doing the work correctly) the faster you can move on to the next vehicle and so on and so on… So waiting on a customer to bring you parts only slows that process down, sure you can put the car (car = vehicle) back together and move it off the rack and move on to the next car, but if you already have the car racked and in the air with the wheels off then you are just doing extra work that you are NOT being paid for… Sometimes parts are special order and you don’t have much of a choice… But if the car only needs pads and rotors, and your local parts store can get you the parts in 20 minutes then you can have it torn down and waiting on the parts and then back together in 10-15 minutes and then test driven, but if you have to wait on the customer to bring you the parts you might have to wait an hour or more before the customer brings them and if they are wrong for whatever reason then you have to wait on them to go get the correct ones…
Now if you install a customers part, lets say an Auto Zone inner tie rod end and it fails in 2 days, then is it your fault the part failed, or was it a defective part? You gave the customer a 12 mouth labor only warranty, but that covers your workmanship not defective parts, so do you replace it for free, remember time is money, to keep a good customer, or charge them again because it was a bad part and not anything you did???
Mechanics get paid a few different ways depending on where they work, some are on a flat rate, that means they get paid for a set amount of time, most or all flat rate pays by the tenth (0.1 through 1.0) each tenth = 6 minutes, so 10 tenths = one hour, 0.5 = 30 minutes and so on…
If a mechanic gets paid $20 flat rate, and the job pays 1.0 and it takes the mechanic 1.0 then the mechanic just made $20 an hour (effective rate), if the mechanic gets the job done in 1/2 and hour then his effective rate is $40 and hour, BUT if it takes him 2 hours then his effective rate is only $10 an hour… So if you are being paid flat rate and it takes 2 hours for the customer to get you the parts then the mechanic is loosing money, another reason to not use customer parts…
Another way a mechanic gets paid is a hourly rate plus a parts %… So if the mechanic makes 10/10, that means he makes $10 an hour (no matter if working or not) plus 10% of the cost of the part sand labor… So if he does a job that cost the customer $600 and it takes him an hour to do it then he makes his normal hourly $10 plus the 10% which gives mechanic an extra $60, so he made $70 for that one hour, but if he does 3 oil changes at $50 each in an hour he only made his $10 plus $5 each for the 3 oil changes which brings him up to a total of $25 for that one hour… That is the incentive to get him to check filters and belts and such, the higher the ticket the more he makes… Now if the same mechanic has to do a alt job that pay an hour and the shops hourly rate is only $100 an hour and the customer supplies the parts the mechanic only makes $20 for that hour while the mechanic in the next bay just did the same job that paid $600 made $70 for the same exact same job, the only difference was the part being supplied by the shop vs the customer, So the customer brought in part mechanic got screwed out of $50…
Remember that mechanics have to feed their family’s and pay bills just like you do…
Another way a mechanic gets paid is just plain hourly and at that point it doesn’t matter, but he also has no incentive to do things on time and is less motivated… Most shops don’t pay straight hourly, that is more used in non retail shops…
Another case would be, the shop I worked at had replaced the water pump and fan clutch on a SUV, and then the alt bearing blew out, not related, so I after the alt was installed, I started it up to check voltage and the water pump hub let go putting the fan blades through the rad and bending the fan blades… If that had been a customer part they would have been paying labor (and parts) for a new rad and fan blade and water pump and fan clutch depending on if they can get anything warrantied or not, since it was a part we supplied, I just had to deal with 100% of the claim, yes the parts house gave us all the parts required and paid a labor claim, the only reason the customer new what happened was cause I told them…
I hope that answered your question cause by now I forgot what it was… 
And I am NOT going back and prof reading it so there is probably quite a few mistypes, get over it… 
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You and I both know that the odds are impossible and that there was nothing wrong with any of the pumps.
He is obviously dealing with a Back Yard Bob, not a professional automotive technician.
This is obviously not a professional garage. Those of us in the business know darn well we can’t afford to use parts the customer brings in, unless we specifically ask them to.
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Update to this. I was scheduled to meet my mechanic on 7/12 at 1 pm. A couple hours before, he stated he had a 3-hour job lined up and would not be done until 3 pm. At 2:45 pm he texts me he has an hour left. I told him I was waiting. around 5:20 pm, no answer from him. I decided to go get some meds I needed. After making a left turn there was a loud pop. The wheel felt loose and the steering wheel was going crazy. I assumed something went wrong with the rack. I texted my mechanic around 6 and told him I’ve been waiting for you and I had to leave and now this happens? he says he is still on this particular job and if I want to drive to him I can. I said there was no way my car is unsafe to drive now. I told him this wouldn’t have happened had this been taken care of sooner. His response was “So since you took this car to Firestone, you expect me to fix this for f****** free!? because why?” I told him that nearly everyone there said it was an improper install. You were not considerate of my safety and I was nothing but a dollar sign to you. He then replied “Hard pass, I am not going to sit here and be disrespected so pcc.” he texted me this around 7. He basically told me to take a hike after I waited for him all day and this situation got worse. He didn’t prioritize me because I did not offer to pay him. I felt he stalled me until I gave in and offered him more money. I should not have to pay him to correct his mistake. He swears he did it right. But basically, he screwed me. As for the other stuff I read here. I supplied the part and paid him by the hour. The issue he had towards me? we stated himself that 4 hours of work was needed. He took much longer to get the job done and I still paid him 4 hours worth of work we signed for. I was not going to pay him more than that and I felt that made him not care about this job overtime. If I take him to small claims, that may be the same amount I get in return. But the fact at the end of waited for him to blow me off like this, I feel burned.
A professional mechanic has his own place of business, does not allow customers to supply their own parts, does not do work based on a customer’s diagnosis, does not present a final total bill until after the work is complete (in other words, does not agree to a price of 4 hours), and so on.
You have just been dealing with a guy on the street with some tools who thinks he knows what he’s doing. Consider the money spent the price of a lesson.
Ask your friends, co-workers, neighbors for the name of a reputable repair shop and have your car towed there.
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Well, you learned an expensive lesson.
Me? I take the vehicle in, the shop diagnose the problem, the shop sources the parts. If alignment is require they either perform it or sends it to an alignment shop. Work and parts are warranted by the shop.
Had a similar problem, shop even paid for the tow to bring the vehicle back to the shop.
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I learned my lesson, yes. Would it be worth it to take him to small claims at least? This guy is a prick and I feel something should be done. Even for me getting screwed over, to him being let go with nothing being done makes it feel like he did nothing wrong. He doesn’t have a spot for business but he advertises on his vehicle is business as he does mechanic and welding. Hence why I feel small claims should be done
Just to add to what asemaster said, sometimes you just got to lick your wounds and move on…
BTW the labor time for your rack is 3.2 hours (includes swapping the outer tie rod ends) and if you have the I6, then the power steering pump R&R labor time is 1.1 hours (1.6 for V8’s)…
I don’t know if the rust belt shops charge more or not for rusty vehicles or how they adjust the price, but down here in the south the labor times stick unless there is another issue found…
And their is always exceptions to every rule…
Why not retain an attorney? Would you remove your own appendix? Small claims court is essentially you being your own attorney.
I mean I can go the other route due to how this all played out. But, if I win, the dude probably won’t pay me if I go for way more than just the labor money I paid him.
How much money are you willing to risk on court cost and possible attorney fees over about $400?
Chances are this guy does not have a business license, much less insured and bonded… And as the old saying goes you can’t get blood out of a turnip… And I have seen guys close a business down and open a new one across the street…
That being said, I would love to see this guy get what is owed to him… He should never be able to do this again, and I hope you can get at least some of your money back…
And can you say Karma!!