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Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

posted by  Peter Penguin on  Fri Jun 1 15:43 CST 2018
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last visit: Mon Oct 13 08:59 CST 2014
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What if you suspect your Volvo indie is purposely trying to sneakily sabotage your car just to keep having you spend more?

This is a situation that has never happened to me before. I have been with this local indie for 20 years... but maybe things are getting lean there. I noticed last time I was in, there weren't many cars in the lot - usually the parking lot is filled with cars.

Anyhow, I came in to get a leaking radiator hose fixed. At the time of the overheating, the electric fan went on since it was so hot.

I had thought it was a leaking radiator, but they called and said it was the heater hose leaking. I would have thought I'd have noticed that. Anyhow, I came in a little early to the pickup and one of the 5 or so mechanics had the hood up and was working with an electric meter.

They said, you had a leaking hose and they also took off the water pump and added a new seal. I had this pump replaced about 2 years ago, and it kept leaking at the pump seal - but they didn't charge me anything. I was grateful for that.

Also they said, "The fan is running all the time. You need a new sensor" you can drive with it as it is - but the fan won't turn off. You can reset the code, but the fan will only stay off for 20 seconds then it'll come back on again".

The estimated charge was $350. I said, "Okay, thanks, since I need the car now, I'll have that done next week".

So I get home... and after a little looking around I noticed one of the electric cables was unplugged. I had no idea where it went. I got a mirror and flashlight and looked around - only to discover the connecting socket way down in the engine out of sight. I'd never unplugged that in all the time I've had the car.

So it's obvious only the mechanic could have unplugged it and left the electric connection to the sensor sort of tucked away in the engine!!!

It's been plugged in there for 20 years... but all of a sudden it's unplugged.

So I plugged it back in. I started the car - and the fan still was on, just like they told me it would.

But I'd read about disconnecting the battery to reset the code. So I tried that and now the electric fan went OFF! And the car has run fine without the fan starting again.

So... it's like they were hoping to get me to pay $350 for a new sensor with the only symptom being the fan was running continuously.

This is one of the most trusted Volvo shops in town - and I've trusted them for 20 years. But now I'm not sure I do anymore. I mean what's to stop them from sticking some steel wool into the engine next time I take it in - then when something inside breaks down they get an expensive engine overhaul?

How could any mechanic not notice the sensor was unplugged? And as I say one of them had to have unplugged it, since I had never touched it ever, it's quite hard to reach. And I wonder why was the one mechanic out there with an electric meter when I came in? Was he unplugging it? Was he just pretending to measure the output of the sensor or something?







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    Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

    posted by  spasske on  Mon Jun 4 07:52 CST 2018
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    I would think the mechanic unplugged it to stop the fan and just forgot to plug it back in.

    I don't think that would be a very effective way to sabotage a car since normally the fan only comes on in a properly working car when it is very hot and the AC is running. I don't think much bad would happen.

    This is the temp sensor that plugs into the radiator? Seems like a high cost to replace it.

    --
    Paul NW Indiana '90 745 turbo 145 K








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    Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

    posted by  silvermine on  Sat Jun 2 04:34 CST 2018
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    maybe oversight, then again maybe not... hard to tell. i once had some guys splash brake fluid on a connection in the rear of my truck, show it to me and say it is leaking and i needed all new lines etc. took the truck back and ran it a few days with no braking problem/loss of pressure. looked and the brake fluid that was all over the connection dried off. clearly was intentional. never went back to them..
    --
    '91 244 205k auto








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      Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

      posted by  oldduke on  Sat Jun 2 06:50 CST 2018
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      hi sages- this is a very good thread and should be read by novices and sages alike. in short arty bs advice here is very good. I would have done that. about 1/2 the so called mechanics I have had actual experience with were good meaning they were honest and competent and charged a reasonable price. this is actually a very difficult combination to find. been wrenching and going to indies since 65. will say every time(much fewer) I have gone to a dealer, I have been gipped, shystered or got an incompetent job. much better success with indies. believe you are less likely to get clipped if you ask the right questions to the mechanic who will work on the car. can a good indie go bad? yes have seen that happen. a good place to find out these questions is to describe your malfunction on you tube which will show you a quick video on the repair. btw the same fast ones occur with applicance repair persons. (typically $100 to come to your house, list price for new part and $100/hr labor). I ought to start a thread on here about my most egregious horror stories of car repairs. guaranteed to frighten you more than Dracula meets Frankenstein with boris and bela. how about the old muffler bearing or blinker fluid tricks? phat regards oldduke (apologies if you think I have a bad attitude)








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        Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

        posted by  Peter Penguin on  Sat Jun 2 09:18 CST 2018
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        And it occurs to me that replacing the ECT sensor and then saying it's fixed by just plugging it in is something that is very hard to detect and prove.

        I notice it's almost impossible to actually see the sensor since it's hidden so far down inside the engine. So from what one can see from the outside it would be impossible to tell really if it's been replaced or not. So it'd be easy to just plug it in and clean up the area with a rag and say it's been replaced... with a $350 bill.

        I really, really hate to have suspicions about an indie that I've supported for 20+ years... but it's hard not to be suspicious.

        Anyhow, thanks listening. There is another foreign car repair guy nearby, a much smaller shop. Maybe I'll go there next time.








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          Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

          posted by  Michael Yount on  Sat Jun 2 13:09 CST 2018
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          1) I really don't think anyone on the site is going to be able to say much that will help you decide the best approach to take. Armed with the info we all have -- it's simply impossible to determine conclusively what happened.

          2) If you truly have a 20 year relationship with this shop --- why wouldn't you go go see THEM, explain what you found, what you did and share your concern with them? See how they respond -- their response to what you're worried about will tell you lots more than we can tell you. I certainly wouldn't walk away from the business after 20 years without getting their side of the story directly.








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            Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

            posted by  Peter Penguin on  Sun Jun 3 10:06 CST 2018
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            Well in all the 20 years I've been going there, I've almost never talked directly to the owner of the volvo indie. He's extremely introverted, and lets the manager do all the up front talking at the desk for billing.

            And now all the people at the desk are new people - so I have no relationship with them.

            I'm also NOT the sort to stage a direct confrontation - and of course it'd be easy in this situation for conversation to go "Oh, I guess someone forgot to plug that ECT back in - mistakes sometime happen." etc.

            Right...

            I suppose if they were really deceitful, they ought to have just stuck the sensor clip on halfway, so it looked like it was still plugged in, but it didn't work.

            Anyhow, thanks Brickboard! Good thing I remembered that trick of unplugging the battery to reset the code.








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            Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

            posted by  oldduke on  Sun Jun 3 04:17 CST 2018
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            hi sages- think the words of poster yount particularly comment #2 are good and should be tried. would be very interested to hear the answer to his questions posed directly and in a civil way to the person of interest. a mild cross examination would be very clarifying. are we witnessing the slow demise of backyard mechanics and Saturday morning fixit sessions. has happened before. where would you find buggy whips or for that matter hydraulic jack pump repairers. those two technicians have left Hoboken and moved to the planet mongo. phattest regards my bruthas oldduke








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              Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

              posted by  Michael Yount on  Sun Jun 3 05:33 CST 2018
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              ....no doubt Old Duke -- and add radiator repair, alternator/starter rebuilders, a/c repair (compressor rebuilders) shops -- all left the building with Elvis.

              Unfortunately (or not depending on your perspective) it became cheaper/easier to do those repairs en-masse and just sell a rebuilt unit for replacement while accepting your core to go back to an off shore sweat shop somewhere for remanufacture.








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                Can I trust my trusty indie mechanic after this? 900 2015

                posted by  oldduke on  Sun Jun 3 16:20 CST 2018
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                youre right sage yount. always comes down to the bottom line. sad so much stuff winds upin the junk pile which could have been rebuilt. thanks tons oldduke








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    Someone forgot to re-connect the ECT sensor 900 1995

    uid 27's pic
    posted by  Art Benstein on  Fri Jun 1 17:31 CST 2018
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    last visit: Fri Oct 17 20:10 CST 2014
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    "What if you suspect your Volvo indie is purposely trying to sneakily sabotage your car just to keep having you spend more?"

    What if it was just an honest mistake. How would you feel dissolving that 20 years of trusting based on your suspicious nature. Just explain to them what you found and did. Then judge your relationship by the response you get.
    --
    Art Benstein near Baltimore

    Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.








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      Someone forgot to re-connect the ECT sensor 900 1995

      posted by  Peter Penguin on  Fri Jun 1 19:02 CST 2018
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      Yes... except really - how could any honest mechanic, let alone a team of them, overlook the obvious first thing to check? Especially since it had to be one of them that disconnected the sensor in the first place? And it was the paperwork guy who explained to me that the sensor wasn't working - so he had to know or someone who unplugged it had to know. There were 2 or 3 mechanics involved in changing the radiator hoses.

      I know they've had a lot of change of personnel since the good old days, and I'm not even sure if the original owner is even there. I didn't see him on that day.

      I'll probably give them another chance - but it's not easy to unplug that sensor and it's not that hard for anyone in the know to notice it's unplugged - since it's a large sensor with plastic connector and is heavily wrapped and you can see it's hanging out unplugged. And when I picked the car up the one mechanic had a voltage meter, as if he was checking the wires or the codes. So I wonder if he thought to even check if it was plugged in... or was just faking it all.

      In all the years I've gone there I have never had to doubt such a thing. So the whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable. And I know they're probably pissed that they had to redo the water pump work without making a nickel on it, so they figured they were owed one... or something. If that was the case, I'd rather they just charged me $150 for putting on the new water pump seal and didn't try to trick me into a needless $350 ECT sensor change.

      Anyhow, thanks for listening.








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        Someone forgot to re-connect the ECT sensor 900 1995

        posted by  Adirondack Blues on  Wed Jun 13 13:27 CST 2018
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        There's a lot going on in an average shop on any given day. Even good shops make mistakes. The tech could have been called away to look at something else and come back to finish your car later, etc. I'd discuss it with them before jumping to the conclusion they're trying to rip you off.






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