AAMCO is a freaking joke
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
I like the Midas on Lincoln Way in Ames. These guys have treated me right for years with all the vehicles for my family doing lots of work beyond mufflers and brakes. Recently, they even told me not to pay them for a $1000 repair that an old car needed. Rather, they said it was time to dump the car rather than fix it, even though I had already indicated that I was willing to pay it. They said it would just be the first of a bunch of things to come. Didn't see that one coming! They already earned my trust, but that took it to another level.
What?!? You mean just don't blindly trust people at a wal mart of car repair shops??
Ok I'm really ****** off. My coolant light came on my car and took it to AAMCO because of hearing about them on kxno about how they diagnose something for no charge. Well it was bad news as my gaskets needed to be replaced and that is labor intensive. The total bill with tax was a little over $900. So I pay and drive home only to have the *******coolant light come on again. This is ********. Anyone else get service like this.
Before you freak out too badly (I suspect I'm already too late.) this could be really minor. VERY common to get some air in the system anytime you drain the radiator, etc. All good mechanics will do their best to double check for air. However, the best solution is time, let the air work its was up. Overnight usually works. Open the reservoir and check the coolant level. Make sure you use the correct color coolant. It's probably a yellow color (the new universal coolant), as opposed to green or reddish-orange. :yes:
No joke.. You can't trust many places if any in this area. There is a thread I started on repair screw jobs buried somewhere on CF. The lists just keeps on growing.
To the OP, there might have been an air pocket in the engine somewhere that worked it's way out when the filled it back up with antifreeze. Air pocket worked it's way out while you drove home that made your coolant level go low. Could be as simple as that. But for $900 I'd take it back there and have them figure it out.
All I have done tonight is talk to my family, and post here on the issue. I will be at work during the entire time AAMCO is open tom. but they are open half days on Sat. and I will be there first thing Sat. morning
Maybe, but I go to a mechanic in Roland for any problem I have and he wont screw with me. Any body work I need to have done I go to Wayne Larson. I trust local guys I know. Companies like AAMCO no way.
I actually went back and found the thread you were talking about. Do you most of the work on your car or where do you go? I saw you said to stay away from Tuffys which I have always heard is bad.
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had a transmission replaced at aamco on hickman. it went out 11 months later, thank god it wasn't 13 months or warranty wouldn't cover it. after they replaced my transmission I asked if the new job had a year warranty. they let me know that my warranty only had a few weeks left on it. I pointed out that if they gave me another transmission, it should have its own warranty, especially since the first one cost me 3-4 grand. they said no and only gave me an option to pay for an extension on the original warranty...another 300 bucks.
in addition to that issue, the were incredibly slow and had aweful customer service. I will never go there again and advise people stay away.
Joel's auto repair on broad street and livingston's automotive on sw 9th are both great places. both do great work at relatively low prices to the industry. they both have the feel of a small town mechanic shop and will never screw u over.
in addition to that issue, the were incredibly slow and had aweful customer service. I will never go there again and advise people stay away.
Joel's auto repair on broad street and livingston's automotive on sw 9th are both great places. both do great work at relatively low prices to the industry. they both have the feel of a small town mechanic shop and will never screw u over.
So you rebuild your own transmission or replace an intake manifold gasket when it's bad? I'm all for doing minor repairs on cars, but there's some things you just can't do w/o some extensive training, a garage full of tools, and a couple days time.
I agree with this as well. There are only two gaskets on most modern engines that should cost anywhere near $900 to replace, and those are either the intake or head gaskets. If it was a head gasket, you'd really know there was a problem as you'd likely have white smoke billowing out everywhere, or milky oil. If it was an intake gasket, I guess it depends on the vehicle, but it usually isn't a $900 job. Not only that, but it usually won't trigger a coolant light to come on if either of those gaskets were to fail.
I've replaced intake manifold gaskets on several vehicles (only one was my own, others were for friends). It usually only takes a 5-7 hours or so, as long as you don't hit any nasty snags. They're usually pretty straight forward.
For transmissions, I find that they are usually not worth the hassle of rebuilding. I just take them out and buy a replacement. Done it twice. In fact, I changed my sporty-fun car's transmission from an automatic to a 6 speed manual when the auto gave up the ghost. I wanted a stick from the beginning anyway, just couldn't find a decent one when I was looking to get that model of car.
I've been able to acquire a lot of tools and self-taught knowledge through all the money saved on repairing my own vehicles. Its fun.....but I guess I'm the kind of guy who likes taking things apart to see how they work.
There are some things that I can't do because of the specialized, expensive tools needed. If I want to vacuum down the A/C system and recharge it, usually I let the shops do that. Exhaust work is a PITA, so I'll let a shop do that as it's tough to screw it up. I also haven't really messed with transaxles yet (FWD transmissions) because I haven't had a need to. Depending on the issue, I can learn, but I'm not sure I want to try to pull one down out of the car. The transmissions I've worked with have all been for RWD cars or trucks/SUV's.
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Those gm 3.1s have gasket problems. Very common to have a very slow leak into cylinder one I believe. (I am not a mechanic) If it leaks slowly enough you'll never see the "white smoke". Milky oil is easy to miss unless you look for it. Intake gasket would also "burn water". External leaks are possible also on the head gasket.
The coolant light will come on if the coolant level is low, from either of those two gasket failures.
I think the head gasket is a 5-6 hour job. The intake gasket is less.
I really think you should pop the hood tomorrow morning and check your coolant level before you go to work. It wouldn't take a long drive to damage an engine that is low on coolant. Good luck.
Every GM motor except the 3.8L seems to have gasket issues. I've had 2 GM cars that went through 3 intake gasket failures, one was a 3.1, the other a 3.4
You are correct. In fact, I think GM and Fel-Pro even came out with upgraded intake gasket sets for the 3.1's as the OEM's were so terribly prone to the leak. I had a friend who was in a bind pay to get his Impala's 3.1 repaired a few months ago and it was around $800 or so through Firestone. He's single and couldn't wait until the weekend to get it repaired because he needed the car back ASAP otherwise I wanted to do it so I could see what it was like.
Like I said, a couple of days. :yes: I also have 4 kids, so I am unable to be alone for 1 or 2 hours at a time, let alone 5-7.
This is a very common warranty scam. AT&T did the same thing to me a few years back on a phone I bought from them. The phone went kaput about 2 weeks before the 1-year warranty ran out and they gave me a new one, which went kaput about a year later (before a new 1-year warranty would have expired) and they refused to replace it. Apparently, all AT&T phones are programmed to go kaput inside a year.
The OP should check the coolant, but that reminds me of my 94 blazer. That thing had a huge coolant leak. I would fill it with distilled water every morning in the summer, and leave it dry in the winter when it was cold. Lasted two years driving from Ames to DSM every day, but hit the dust when cash for clunkers came up.
