I still don't understand how the heat shield for the tranny speed sensor was supposed to cause a no-start condition. I think they just couldn't reproduce the problem and decided to kill some time and replace a part.

After they replaced the left halfshaft today, they got around to discovering a torn CV boot, which was no big deal. However, they also "discovered" that there was a funny noise whenever you compress the front suspension. They decided that it is a $350 strut tower bearing. I reminded them that I've been bringing it in for that noise since before the warranty expired, but they claim that now that it's out of warranty, it's tough beans. I'm working my way up the feeding chain, refusing to pay for a repair that I've been trying to get them to make for some time now. Since they claim that they couldn't reproduce the problem each of the other times, each person up the chain has to "evaluate" whether it could be covered for free. This is by far the most troublesome car I've ever owned, and I've got two 200k+ mile cars and a 150k mile car that I'm driving in the meantime.