that makes total sense. I wouldn’t expect a mechanic to spend an hour of labor without getting paid for it.
I do expect a mechanic to spend an hour of labor when I pay them $120 for it. Fair enough?
I realize you don’t like me for the simple fact that I’m not telling you what you want to hear, but the fact remains is that the dealer did NOTHING wrong no matter what you think.
You had a non-running vehicle with pre-existing problems towed to a dealer and this one hour of diagnostics determines why your vehicle will not run. It has nothing to do with checking the cooling system, transmission, U-joints, or the A/C system refrigerant charge. Period.
If you fall and sprain your left wrist and go to the doctor for treatment do you curse the doc the next day for not doing an MRI on your spine, removing your tonsils, or yanking your appendix out? NO.
I’ll say it again. You stated this vehicle went to hell in a hand basket within 2 miles of leaving the dealership. There is no way on God’s green earth a faulty water pump, clogged radiator, or anything else went bad and caused any head gasket problem inside of 2 miles. This vehicle had existing problems when you bought it obviously and it is wrong to point the finger at someone else because you made a mistake in buying it.
The point could be made, yet again, that any used vehicle should get a thorough inspection BEFORE buying the thing.
I’m sorry to hear of your financial difficulties (everyone has them for the most part except Bill Gates), but a single mom fretting over cash flow has zero business buying a used, high tech, pricy to repair, Escalade. My dream car is a Porsche Carrera or a Ford GT. I can’t afford either one, so therefore I don’t got either one.
A Crown Vic, Buick Century, or something inexpensive to buy and maintain is a much better alternative. The main object is getting from Point A to Point B as efficiently and as cheaply as possible.
Use any lottery winnings for Escalade purchases.
Now you really hate me; don’t care.
The new shop tells me that there is no way the vehicle could have been QC’d or road tested, and the dealer has the same mileage in and out, despite them telling me that they checked everything out and road-tested it 3 miles. I’ll say it again; if they didn’t do any diagnosis than they shouldn’t have charged me for it. The service writer tried starting it when he initially wrote it up, and said the same thing the tow truck driver said the night before, “Fuel pump.” Why do I get the feeling that was the hour I paid for?
I don’t hate you, although I appreciate your critique on my financial status. What I signed up for was a payment of $260/month, which I thought I could handle. What’s it’s cost me is much more than that, and I suppose that is my own fault for buying this by myself from a used car lot. No arguments there, had no idea what a money pit I was getting into; but also couldn’t afford to buy a cheap car which I would have to fork out 300 - 700 - 1500 whatever it was every other month to repair. (You know, the horror stories behind the 15-year-old car with 170,000 miles that cost more to fix every month than it cost to buy initially.) Then, there’s the problem of getting financed on something in the middle, but a lot of banks won’t finance anything over 8 or 10 years old. I was in a bind at the time and didn’t know what to do, so I followed this retarded woman logic that if I invested in something like this it would save me money long term. It turns out the world doesn’t work that way, go figure. I think now no matter how much money you spend on a car it will cost you a fortune eventually, so really what I should be doing is riding the bus, or moving to somewhere I can walk everywhere I need to go. Los Angeles is downright impossible without a car.
At the time my cash flow wasn’t so bad, but because of what this vehicle, that I thought would be dependable has cost me, cash flow is a problem now. And you’re right, I made my bed. Tough shit.
The service writer made an educated guess when he wrote the car up and this is a fairly common thing to do. I’ve done service writing and always tried to take a quick look or listen and give the customer an idea of what it might be.
The tech in the shop is not going to blindly throw a pricy pump in that vehicle without doing some testing; fuel pressure/volume checks, etc. This testing is what you were charged for.
This testing is ONLY for diagnosis of the fuel system.
Actually, if the problem was a faulty fuel pump and the new pump fixed the problem there really is no reason to even road test the vehicle. Nice gesture, but not necessary.
I’m not trying to critique your financial situation and I guarantee you I have a lot of sympathy for you and others who have posted on here with major problems caused by a pricy car repair.
When I read a story about someone who has been taken to the cleaners by a crook many times I find myself sincerely getting mad at the thief who stuck it to them, and in some cases wishing the poster was near me so I could fix their car for free.
(And yes, I’ve done that a few times anyway.)
Anyone who follows my posts know that I don’t hesitate to rip a shop or tech if I think they’ve been dishonest and have advised a number of people to file a small claim or get a lawyer if need be.
I just don’t see that you were ripped off here.
I understand the L.A. thing completely since I used to live in that area (Garden Grove) for a while some years back. That area is a bit much for me and I’m happier here in the Dust Bowl.
Anyway, I apologize up front if I’ve upset you too much with comments. That is not the intent at all.
(I’m a REAL volatile guy; just not as volatile as I used to be and I try to take out my frustrations on my guitar now.) 
The latter diagnosis states that the radiator was severely corroded and water pump had signs of leaking. Obviously we’re never going to agree on this, but I highly doubt it took an hour to figure out the fuel pump problem. I would be interested to know what non-running vehicle diagnosis takes a full hour without lifting the hood and checking the fluid levels, or maybe glancing around the engine compartment.
Hopefully you can borrow some cash from family or friends to cover the repairs on the vehicle. When things are done then perhaps there will be no more major repair bills for some time to come.
As another poster also mentioned, I too am sorry to hear how you are struggling to get by and hope things will get better for you soon.
Thanks for the encouragement cougar. I have a feeling even if I could fix it, it would just be one failure after another from now until eternity, and it’s the kind of vehicle where even little failures rack up huge repair bills. (Something else I didn’t know when I bought it.) I don’t really have any family and I wouldn’t ask friends for money to cover my mistakes, everybody’s got their own problems. Game over, just gotta eat it. Sucks but that’s life.
What part of Alaska are you in? I lived in Anchorage for 4 years… sure miss it. Whole different ballgame down here.
You probably know this by now but never, never buy a used luxury vehicle, especially one 7 years old. Repairs will always be big bucks.
You’re welcome for the encouragement. I live in Anchorage and we have about 6 inches of snow on the ground right now.
As far as the repairing your current vehicle I think you should have it done if you can fund it somehow. Getting another vehicle may leave you in the same boat again. It’s kind of like a Catch-22 situation. By repairing what you have you will know what you have got. To have need of another major repair happen again, like the tranny or rear end, is pretty remote in my estimation.
To ask for money from friends can be difficult to do but a good friend would be glad to help out if they can. You aren’t asking them to pay your bills, you just need to borrow some money and will pay them back as you can. So you can get on with things in your life that need to be done. Having some reliable transportation is key to doing that.
Another possible route you can look into is to see if someone you know could do the repairs that need to be done. This would be a lot less money you would have spend if you can arrange it. Parts cost may just be around 300 dollars.
There may even be a church outreach in your area that can help with this. There was one here in town. Folks that had no money to get their vehicle repaired would qualify to get service done at little or no cost them. People and businesses would donate time and parts for the service to help out others in need. Life doesn’t have suck, right?
Lallebach,
Given the situation you’re in financially, I’ll offer some advice FWIW. Low tech beats high tech. The Escalade and other GM SUV platforms are costly to repair when you’re on a tight budget. Stick with a car that is cheap to fix, has a decent reliability rating, and is not so complex that you need to take it to a dealer. Establish a relationship with a good shop- not a Jiffy lube-- and that will help you. In fact, some shops may trade a “good runner” that is cheap, and relaible for the broken Escalade-- a good swap-- considering that you’re upside down in a “non starter.”
-Matt
I feel for ya, lallebach. I’ve been there. I know that a Tech school that has a mechanic class & shop can help out very cheaply. Have you checked with the Social Services in your area? For reasons of work, and possibly health, they may have a fund for your crises situation. You’re in hard times but please hang in there. Someday this will be in the past.
Social services here is kind of a joke (unless you’re an illegal immigrant). We just got healthcare but this is way out of their league. I’ll wait in line for 5 hours and fill out 30 pages of stuff and then they’ll tell me to ride the bus… lol
Thank you though. It’s a nice idea.
Yeah, I’m beginning to get a clue, I think… haha… when I bought this I didn’t think of it as a luxury vehicle, because it’s on the same chassis as the Tahoe, Suburban, etc., and those aren’t considered luxury vehicles. I get it now… better late than never!
Snow… trying to remember the last time I saw some… sounds heavenly. (sounds weird but Christmas at 70 degrees just isn’t Christmas). I think it was at Alpenglow, 1995 or so…
I haven’t attended church in years, it’s a nice idea but LA is weird that way. Generally people don’t help people unless they have been friends for their entire lives, because so many people here are just trying to make a quick connection and use anybody they can… There are some outreaches but they have waiting lists a mile long. Every charitable organization is choked by the immigrant community; who, for the most part, are in a bigger pickle than i am.
I’m kinda caught in a matrix here, because I’ve been here only about 4 years, make too much money to qualify for most social assistance (which I reeeeeaaaly don’t want anyway) but not quite enough to actually make the ends meet. Somehow every month something comes through and the pieces fit, praying seems to work so that’s what I’m doing! Thanksgiving rolls around and I realize I have a lot to be thankful for. We will figure this out.
This week a friend and independent mechanic agreed to do the head gasket replacement job. After tearing it down, he found that the head gasket is not corroded at all, but it is blown. He said he’d never seen one blown that bad, and that it happened pretty suddenly, from massively overheating.
Is it possible that someone driving the vehicle for a period of 5 miles or less could have caused that to happen if there were no pre-existing headgasket problem?
I’m putting my crystal ball, into the past, away (it’s getting a bit cloudy). Be sure to have the heads milled and check the block surface for flatness, else, a gap can be left for the head gasket to blow out, again. Merry Christmas.
That’s great news you got some help with this Lallebach. I think once this is fixed you will be in good shape for some time. I hope so at least. Once this is fixed keep checking the coolant and oil levels before starting out the day until you are sure they stay where thay are supposed to. You don’t want any more trouble I know.
It seems to me that the real trouble happened when you left the service shop with a low coolant level somehow but it’s water under the bridge now. Thanks for keeping us posted on the progess and hope you are back on the road soon without having to spend a small fortune in repair bills.
Yes, it’s quite possible to massively blow a head gasket in 5 miles (I thought your mileage figure originally was 2 miles?) and just how do you know the head gasket did not have a pre-existing condition?
The vehicle never overheated before, and the head gasket wasn’t corroded at all. The five mile estimate is based on the dealer’s road test (and yes, the dealer told me that they road tested for three miles).
The new mechanic tells me it was sudden, and that the vehicle had to have gotten extremely hot for it to cause this kind of damage. Now I know that I don’t drive it that way; again, it never happened before I brought it to the dealer, and was apparently completely blown immediately after I got it back.
I’m suspecting, once again that the dealer has something to do with this. (sorry, like I said before I doubt you and I will ever agree on this particular point.) If you have some other scientifically-based explanation, I’d be absolutely tickled.
For what it’s worth (not much actually) I’m giving you my opinion as a tech of 35 years, both on automobiles and aircraft.
I’ve been involved in the diagnosis and replacement of more head gaskets than I could even start to remember.
I had forgotten the part about the dealer driving it 3 miles. This changes things a bit. This means that a head gasket should not massively blow in either 3 miles or 2 miles unless it had a pre-existing condition.
It is not uncommon, and in fact is the case most of the time, that an abruptly failed head gasket has a history behind it. It can be failing for 500 miles, 5000 miles, or even 10,000 miles until one day when it decides to just give up its ghost.
Considering this vehicle has a rotted out radiator, trashed water pump, etc. this leads me to believe the vehicle’s original owner neglected this car into the ground with the cooling system (Dex-Cool) being one of those neglected areas.
I also think they knew this vehicle was on the way out and dumped it rather than spend money on it. Unfortunately, someone is going to buy it and you just happened to be it. There’s a reason why they recommend a cooling system flush ever so often and this vehicle has obviously never been through it.
Dumping a car with a problem onto the dealers is nothing new. It’s done thousands of times every single day and those problematic vehicles are resold to people who now own someone else’s headache.