Well, you are not going to like me much, but I don’t think you have much of a case. I had referenced how many miles on this car and was the transfer case ever serviced. Per the usual on this board; few answers. The devil is in the details as the saying goes.
You say the noise was in the REAR of the vehicle. The CV shaft is in FRONT of you. Did Meineke misdiagnose this problem? Yes. Did it cause the transfer case to fail? Not in my opinion. I think the noise before the shaft replacement was a warning sign.
Changing a shaft support (vibration complaint) over to a new or reman axle is idiot proof. It only fits one way.
You say “days later” the car was grinding louder. So how many days later? Are you saying there was no vibration AFTER you left Meineke? If there was, then why not return immediately?
You say if you had only called a tow truck which I take to mean have it towed to a Nissan dealer. So what would your response to Nissan have been if the car had been towed there immediately and Nissan told you that you needed a new transfer case for 6800 dollars due to the grinding noise?
Yes, a lot of questions I know.
At this point no way would I spend that much on a transfer case. A low miles unit from a salvage would be a better option. There’s one on eBay right now with only 65k miles; priced at 170 bucks + 160 shipping and with a 6 month warranty. That would be the route I would go without hesitation.
On many newer “fwd” based suvs you can remove rear driveshaft if the center support bearing fails and you don’t feel like replacing driveshaft. But that’s not recommended.
Hello,
I appreciate your feedback and it’s not about liking or disliking any opinions. I’m just trying to get information from those who are knowledgeable about my situation because I don’t know anything about the mechanics of automobiles. So again I appreciate your opinion and feedback very much.
My car has 94646 miles on it. I don’t know about a valid case to prove the damage came from the installation of the axle but I do believe they misdiagnosed the problem. My car left the Meineke shop making that loud thumping and grinding noise in the back. There is no doubt in my mind that there was additional damage to the car because they test drove it and that’s when the mechanic said he never heard that before. They had my car for 3 days and could not determine what the problem actually was and still installed and axle while upselling me on getting new brakes when they called me three days later to tell me my axle was done. They didn’t even mention that the car still had a problem until I called them a third time to ask if my car was ready. I wanted to pick it up before they were closing at PM that day. When I got there they told me that the car is making a louder noise and it has to be an internal noise coming from the transmission. So that was a red flag right there and I wish I had just had my car towed away from there in the first place. This has been a horrible experience and I hope to never go through this again.
How do I go about getting my own parts ordered and what type of repair shops operate under these conditions where you bring your own parts? If I could do this then I would be able to afford the repair. But even if I could afford to pay $6800, I don’t think I would want to. Again thanks for your feedback and suggestions. I am grateful to you and everyone in this community chat. Very helpful.
Its the transfer case assembly and rear differential electronic coupler. They said Drive Shaft U-joint seem to be food at this time. $6800 repair for this problem.
[quote=“aderianwyounger_173620, post:23, topic:174442”]
How do I go about getting my own parts ordered and what type of repair shops operate under these conditions where you bring your own parts?
Very few shops will let you bring your own parts because that is a lousy business practice. You furnish wrong parts and all you have done is spend extra money . If the parts you bring are faulty then you have to pay labor to replace them. Plus you will not have any warranty on the shops work. So forget that idea.
I fully agree that they misdiagnosed the problem but the installation of a right front axle and new brakes would not cause a transfer case failure and even if they did something wrong in the 2 areas they did repair it would not cause the transfer case to fail that quickly.
I also do not think a new brakes recommendation should have been made at that time UNLESS the brakes were legitimately getting down to the danger point. That I do not know.
As for shops installing customer provided parts some will and some won’t. Some new car dealers will even install customer provided parts. You just have to call around and ask. I’ve done it for customers but always have a bit of trepidation about it as I do not really know the condition of the part.
Keep in mind that with customer provided parts most do not provide a warranty. The eBay listing I mentioned offers a 6 month warranty but that is for parts only; no labor reimbursement. That is common no matter if it’s eBay or a local salvage yard.
You provided the mileage but nothing about whether or not the transfer case lube was ever inspected or changed. An inspection is shown every 20k miles with an exception. That is for heavy use such as towing, muddy roads, etc, etc. Not listed but driving in pooled rain water, snow and ice, extreme temps should also be part of the severe service requirement.
In that case, a transfer case fluid change is recommended every 20k miles or 90k miles if you choose the so-called Optional Premium Service upgrade if the 20k intervals are skipped.
Just some food for thought. An independent shop might be willing to tear it down and possibly replace a bad part or two rather than replace it. Grinding often denotes a bad bearing and bearings are reasonably cheap. Since I’m of the perpetually OCD curious type, if I were the one doing the work I would certainly have to disassemble it for a look-see first.
And it could be that the Nissan dealer is also wrong. A faulty U-joint in a rear driveshaft can grind, cause vibrations, and get worse very quickly. Again, if it were me and since the driveshaft has to come out first I would check the U-joints before going further; especially the front one. Cheap fix if that is the cause. Hope this essay helps and good luck.
Don’t really know what I would do in this situation but 6800.00 would make 17 months of 400.00 vehicle payments . I think I would at least ask since it is a dealer what they could do if I bought a new car and just bailed on this one.
Okay thank you so much for that information. Do you think I can get the work done for about $2800 or less? Transfer case assembly and rear differential electronic coupler.
It seems that the original problem was the rear drive coupling, that is $1600 plus about 2 hours of labor. They are known to be problematic so there is risk in buying a used rear drive coupling.
I don’t understand why they thought the right front axle was causing the noise, perhaps the CV boot was torn and they thought that was a clue.
If the right front axle is not fully engaged, it could disengage while driving and damage the transfer unit. A used transfer unit is $1200 plus mark-up, plus 8 hours of labor. If the axle is also damaged that will add to the repair.
It doesn’t seem likely that you will be able to have this repaired for the amount you mentioned. You can try to sue for the damage caused by the first shop but not for the worn rear drive coupling.
I just had the car towed to another mechanic and he is going to give me a diagnosis this Monday hopefully. It’s going to snow tomorrow so I don’t know if he’ll get to it but he was confident that he could do the work within a $3000 price limit. He felt that my estimate was way too much and offered to help me the best way possible. Meanwhile, Meineke’s corporate office has been in touch and has asked for all paperwork and estimates. So hopefully I will be able to get compensation for this.