I need a mechanic's help

Factual Questions
1

I have a 1995 Ford Escort 1.9 liter engine. It has just over 100,000 miles but was running fine before IT happened- pretty good gas mileage, used little oil, leaked little coolant externally and none internally, etc. I tuned it with 30,000 spark plugs, new wires, air filter, etc. about 15,000 miles ago. One of the connectors on the coil pack went bad, so I replaced that just before IT happened.

IT was a hard freeze that apparently somehow caused the lower coolant hose to pop off the radiator (yes, it did have antifreeze), which then caused the car to overheat without my realizing it (since the gauge never went to hot and there was no water to “boil” over).

I am poorer than poor, so a kindhearted member of my church offered to pay for the repairs.

ONLY THING IS, she took it to A Large Chain Auto Repair Shop because her next store neighbor is the manager. They had the car two weeks and all I can get from anyone is that the head gasket needed replacing, the head needed to be milled, and the timing belt tensioner and radiator needed replacing. I still have no paperwork. The guy quoted her $1500 but said he’d “give her a break” and do it for $750.

Well, it’s been about a dozen years since I’ve had that type work done, but then in only took 5 days and cost $750, without the “charity” discount, and not including a new radiator or tensioner. And the town I was living in at the time didn’t even have a machine shop, so the head had to be sent out-of-town. I also called my regular mechanic and he said that he would likely have charged me about $900 to replace the radiator, tensioner and gasket and send the head out (I didn’t ask him how long it would take). I would think, even adding the radiator and counting for inflation, that $1500 was excessive, especially after the ball-park quote my mechanic gave me. I told my friend this and her only explanation was “well, it needed alot of little things, too.” My friend is wealthier than she is car savvy, and I think maybe her neighbor realized this. “Little things” could simply mean radiator hose clamps, for all I know.

But this is not really my question. I’ve had the car for three days and it runs HORRIBLY. It misses after warming up, it is getting approximately FIVE MILES TO THE GALLON, and the temperature gauge is all over the dial (well, not quite, it has not gone to hot yet). When I mentioned this to my friend, her response was “Well, Ken did say it wasn’t a very good engine to start with.” Yeah, I bet he said that, so when the car was ruined by his incompetence no one would sue him. After all, we’re just WOMEN, how would we know an engine wasn’t very good to start with?

Anyway, I’ve checked that the new coil pack is not bad, I’ve checked to make sure all the plugs are still tight and the wires are seated, there does not appear to be any internal or external coolant leakage.

So, my questions are, approximately how much should this job have cost? How long should it have taken? And what in the world could they have screwed up to make the engine miss so badly? I can’t help but think it has something to do with that tensioner. Since this is a distributor-less car, I can’t check the timing myself.

Thanks for any and all comments.

2

Can’t tell you how much it should have cost as IANAM, but I’ve always paid between $500 and $1200 for the work to be done. It shouldn’t have taken them more than a day or so if they had all the equipment there to do it. You say it’s not leaking coolant, how about oil? Its possible that they could have screwed up the gaskets when they put them on. What you should do is take the car to your regular mechanic, have him look it over and write down exactly what is wrong with it, then take the car back to the shop that repaired it, describe the problems your having with it, and ask them what they intend to do about it. If they don’t fix the car right and in a reasonable amount of time, then I suggest you write a letter to the state attorney generals’ office explaining your situation to them and send a copy of that letter to the company’s headquarters.

3

Unfortunately, they may have neglected to mention one alternative, which was/is a new/remanufactured engine, the cost of which is vanishingly close to what you just had ‘done.’

Here’s why. The labor involved is where a good chunk of the cost of major repairs come in. They did what they thought was correct, but a completely rebuilt engine (the ‘core’ of the engine is exchanged for a ‘remanufactured block’ with brand new pistons, rings, crankshaft, camshaft, heads etc.) The meat of the engine contains new or like new to specification parts.

The other parts, like the intake manifold, carburetor/injector unit, starter, spark plug harness alternator, water pump. etc. are transferred to the “new” engine. These parts need to be removed anyway, regardless oftentimes. For 5 to 8 hundred dollars, guessing - a “Long Block” in the parlance. Maybe a few h

Installation another couple hundred to 5 hundred, perhaps tops. Here is where a ‘discount’ does you no good. I’m sorry to have to offer this opinion, but that is certainly what it sounds like.

Do not offer to have any more work done on that particular engine, it’s just throwing good money after bad. Find a long block and someone to install it.

4

Hoo boy.

I’m an auto repair professional, nearly 30 years in the field. I have general repair shop.

I don’t like chains. I won’t give you the whole soapbox speech, but here are some general impressions (my opinion, of course). Chains tend to be structured along a corporate mentality. They exist to generate revenue. While they usually advertise attractive prices on routine maintenance, they often have pretty high prices for more involved repairs (high profit margin). And they train their personal to sell, rather than training them to develop sound mechanical judgment. They seldom have top-flight mechanics. I don’t trust them.

On the plus side, they have deep corporate pockets and often (not always) roll over on complaints rather than fight about it. The larger the repair bill, however, the less likely they are to write something off for goodwill.

You’re in a less than enviable position. You didn’t pay for the repair, so the warranty doesn’t necessarily apply to you. Your church friend doesn’t own the car, so she might be on shaky ground trying to legally force a resolution. And of course, she’s not trying to drive it and personally observing how messed up it is. She’s likely patting herself on the back for doing a good deed.

Not having paperwork puts you at a severe disadvantage. This would be true even if the car were working beautifully, but it’s especially bad with its having problems. You really need to have an accurate written record of what work was done and what parts were replaced. Of course, the paperwork–if any exists–would go to the person who brought the car to the shop and paid the bill.

The price is probably high, but it’s hard to judge that sort of thing without detailed information. What really concerns me is a bill for 1500 being discounted to 750. Something’s rotten here. For the work you described, 750 strikes me as scarily low. Was the 1500 a total gouge? Were corners cut? Is there some unethical collusion going on? Whatever the explanation, this just doesn’t add up.

If the car ran well before the incident and repair, something’s wrong with this deal. Either something else that needed repairing got overlooked, or something was done wrong (or damaged) in the repair process. That comment about it not being a “good” engine is total horsecrap, by which I mean that’s irrelevant to its running as poorly as you describe. It strikes me as a cop-out, weaselly, bullfeathers excuse for dropping the ball, either in the diagnosis/evaluation or the repair itself.

My recommendations:

If you haven’t already, make certain that the engine coolant level is correct. That means checking the level in the radiator (cold engine), not just looking at the overflow jar. If you’re not clear on that last bit, get knowledgeable help.

Nicely, politely, but FORCEFULLY (if necessary) get your church friend to provide you with copies of all receipts. Enlist your minister to help, if that’s what it takes. As it stands, you are in a potentially worse position than if she hadn’t “helped” you. If she never got any papers, arrange to go to the shop with her and get them. If the shop won’t cooperate, make them. Get the state attorney general, consumer rights bureau, police, a private attorney, whatever it takes. They tampered with your car, which is illegal–unless they can prove they did an authorized repair, which means paperwork. You may have an edge here if you didn’t personally approve repairs.

Have the car evaluated and repaired by a competent mechanic. If the shop that did this repair isn’t up to the task, take it somewhere that is. This can get a little sticky, as any business would rather rectify their mistakes than pay someone else to correct them, and normally they should get a chance to do so. But if you really fear that they are not qualified and might damage your car more, go elsewhere. If the problems are clearly related to the repair, submit the bill to the first shop for reimbursement.

There are many possible causes of the symptoms you mentioned. Complicating the issue, if something was done wrong it may be harder to diagnose, because normal assumptions may not apply. Knowing exactly what was done to the car will be a huge help in this area.

I don’t see how a timing belt tensioner would affect the car’s drivability or temperature readings. If it’s distributorless, it’s unlikely that the ignition timing is an issue. I assume you understand that “timing belt” has to do with VALVE timing and “timing light/distributor timing” have to do with IGNITION timing–two different animals.

If you need help finding a good shop in your area, I might be able to help through a network of my colleagues. Let me know.

Good luck. Sorry you have to deal with this.

Saw other replies on preview. A few comments:

Unless a shop has an in-house machine shop (few do), a day or so is unrealistic for the work described. A week strikes me as reasonable.

A GOOD remanufactured engine (and believe me, not all brands are consistently good), installed by a GOOD shop (you know what I mean, I’m sure), would likely cost 2500-3000 (seat of the pants guess) in my area. If you got a reman engine, installed, for close to the price of this repair, you’d have worse problems.

5

Depends where you live. 2500 USD in one of our Large Cities (New York, Chicago, LA, along the Interstate) maybe. At a reasonable price, not quite so bad.

6

GaryT - you have hit the heart of the problem, which I forgot to spell out in my OP. That is, I didn’t pay for the repairs so am very limited in what I can demand. And the person that did is too nice/naive to do anything and besides, like you say, it isn’t even her car. And I think you are absolutely right about her patting herself on the back. She shelled out at least $750 and my car is running worse now than when it had a blown head gasket and warped cylinder head.

And I agree with you 100% on the chains. There isn’t the accountability that the little guys running their own shops have.

And, no, I never realized the timing belt controlled the valve timing! Thanks for the mini-lesson in auto mechanics. I know alot about the engine accessories and often do my own repairs, but when it comes to the actual engine I am quite stupid.

I guess I’m going to have to ask my boss if I can take one more day off and bring it to my regular guy, get him to diagnose the problem if he can and put it in writing if he will, and then take it back to Large Chain Auto Repair Shop and make them fix it, even if I have to stand there and watch them.

Thanks for everyone’s advice, and if anyone else wants to add their two cents, feel free!