I recently took my wife’s 2000 Nissan Sentra SE with just under 100,000 miles into the shop. We needed to have the altenator and it’s belts replaced, as well as the front wheel breaks. I picked it up, drove it home, and noticed after getting it home that the automatic locks didn’t work. I could only lock, and unlock the doors the old fashion way using the key or manually pushing down the lock on each door. After further investigation the dome only works in the on or off position and will no longer come on when we open the doors, and the rear window defroster no longer works. I called and explained that as soon as I got home that night, but had to wait until after the weekend to take it back in. They looked at it, and said it wasn’t anything they did, and that certain electrical parts wore out, and that it was something they couldn’t even fix. They suggested that we take it to a dealer to have it fixed. We accepted that and took it home without an arguement.
The next day my wife noticed there was a large scratch on the hood of her car about 4 by 4 inches, and then on the front panel about 8 inches long.
I’m very frustrated with my whole experience at this shop, is there any reason to suspect them of causing the electrical problems, if so how should I handle this situation.
Just offhand, there’s not enough info known to make a guess as to whether this shop did anything wrong at all.
The alt. was replaced so obviously there were electrical problems and you did not state whether this vehicle was towed there or not.
As to the scratch, this car is your wife’s car and she is the one looking out the windshield most of the time I assume.
This car was picked up originally without any damage being noticed, returned to the shop and picked up a second time without noticing any damage, and now the day after the problems are noticed.
At this point I don’t see there is enough evidence at all for me to accuse this shop of anything; especially on a 10 year old, 100k miles Sentra.
I don’t see brakes, alternator, and belts as having anything to do with the electrical problems at all and the body scratches are debateable.
You can ask them to take care of these problems. They will likely refuse. Your option then would be small claims court.
No idea about the scratch but I am thinking that the programing (in the car) for the auto locks should at least be performed again, these systems always have more parameters than just on/off. Think programing to find the answer for this issue.
This is Josh the original poster. Let me preface this by saying I know very little about cars, and after picking the car up the first time I messed with the fuses that are on the interior of the car with no luck.
Okay so, after I posted this new thread I started doing some research here and looking at other problems people have had. I started looking under the hood trying to follow a lead that in the end went nowhere. However I found a second set of fuses under the hood as well as a second box with larger fuses (this is a guess). I inspected any smaller fuses that looked like it would correspond with the problems I was having, as well as poked around at the larger fuses. I only attempted to remove the larger ones, maybe shifted them but never removed one.
After doing these very minor things everything started working again.
As far as the scratch goes, this is my wifes baby. She keeps up on it and notices smaller marks on it than this. She drove it to work today and when she drove it home and for the first time walked past the front of the car she saw the scratches.
It’s frustrating to me because I know they have no obligation to fix it since we drove it away. I know the guy who fixed it, and my sister and brother-in-law both at one time worked for the owner of this business.
Frustrating… ehh that’s just about all I have to say about that.
You may think it is problem solved and full speed ahead but if you were able to eliminate your reported symptons by the actions you describe you most certainly will experience these issues again.
This is not a 1960 VW Bug with a POS fuse box and POS fuses, this is a modern electrical system that is showing serious problems, you should not be able to wiggle the fuses and either lose or restore function,unless you really are working on a 1960 VW Bug
Oldschool, Thanks For The Nostalgia Side-Trip !
I remember driving my sea-blue 64 bug and my left hand (after setting down the “defroster” window scraper) could go instinctively to the uncovered fuse box and wiggle fuses to get all the headlight beams working.
Usually disconnecting the 6v battery, under the rear seat, wire brushing the brass fuse holders and installing 8 new Bosch fuses fixed it up for a while before it was back to reaching and wiggling, again.
Makes one really appreciate cars with electrical systems, windshield wipers that wipe, heat and defrosters, A/C, cruise, stereo systems, horsepower, etcetera, etcetera.
CSA
I’m in agreement that if wiggling something cured it then the problems will return. Corroded, burnt, or loose terminals, etc.
The reason why I view many claims of shop inflicted damage is because I’ve seen too many instances of problems allegedly caused by a shop in which it was known for a fact the damage existed when the car was first brought in. This doesn’t mean that shop caused damage doesn’t happen; only that any claim should be taken with a grain of salt.
People often overlook body damage; just like they never see a dashboard temperature gauge pegging out, an oil light glaring at them, and in the case of my wife one time; driving 40 miles home on a near new tire with under 15 PSI of air pressure due to a nail. And she was wondering how she was supposed to know the tire was near flat. The badly sagging right rear and wallowing was apparently unnoticeable.
Those ceramic fuses are not nostalgia in my case. My 83 SAAB uses those things. Unfortunately.