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Mechanic broke my car

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    • Edited 1 times, last by BlazeMaxim on .
    I finally got my car back from the mechanic a couple days ago. I was happy to get it back but noticed some odd things missing. My windshield wiper on the passenger side had been striped and no Bolt was on it. My ac no longer worked and My steering wheeL when driving straight didnt line up. Well after waiting almost a year to get it back i just sucked it up and drove it around. As i am driving it i notice a pop sound when i hit a bump or braked. What this actually turned in to was far worse than i expected. While leaving the mall where i live at yesterday i turn left on to the road and heard a loud noise. I saw a firestone service center and pulled in. The lead mechanic came out and looked at the car with a flashlight. what he found made my heart drop. When i had the motor fixed the shop.that did it didnt or forgot to put the bolts in my right control arm correctly. One just came out with a slight twist of the hand and the others were close to that.How can a shop Be so negligent. What do you guys think i should do.
    Get a lawyer.
    Firestone said to contact the better business bureau. The mechanic there said i didnt have a chance to sue in Tennessee. He said that they would make it right but i have no experience With them.
    Let firestone fix your car
    Have them document every issue they find(pics)
    Get a lawyer and sueeeeeee
    That sounds like a good plan and just remembered on top of all else i found a softball sized dent in my oil pan. Like someone hit it with a sledge hamer..
    tc10 wrote:
    Let firestone fix your car
    Have them document every issue they find(pics)
    Get a lawyer and sueeeeeee

    This.
    X2 what baseball said. I also have to add, never go back to that place after it's finally fixed. I feel sorry for you bro, really. That's just insane, there are so many losers out there that want to do bad work and you're supposed to live with it. you're only trying to keep your tC in good shape and have to deal with people who really dont give a crap. Maybe it's time that you start doing a lot of the work yourself? If you're mechanically inclined, of course. Not everyone is, that's ok. If you aren't then time to start finding an actual REAL mechanic not what you did find. Oh and stay away from Walmart autocare as well!! scary over there!
    sciontc_mich wrote:
    X2 what baseball said. I also have to add, never go back to that place after it's finally fixed. I feel sorry for you bro, really. That's just insane, there are so many losers out there that want to do bad work and you're supposed to live with it. you're only trying to keep your tC in good shape and have to deal with people who really dont give a crap. Maybe it's time that you start doing a lot of the work yourself? If you're mechanically inclined, of course. Not everyone is, that's ok. If you aren't then time to start finding an actual REAL mechanic not what you did find. Oh and stay away from Walmart autocare as well!! scary over there!


    As someone who worked at a tire shop for four years, know that the name on the outside of the building doesn't matter. The way the shop looks doesn't matter. The fact that it's a dealership doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the quality of the mechanics. I've seen brilliant work from a mechanic at a hole in the wall shop and I've seen terrible work from dealership mechanics.

    Find a quality shop that you like, get to know your mechanic and stick with him.

    Pro-tip: Tip your mechanic well and they won't screw you. Remember the shop charges $80-$120 an hour for labor, but the mechanic will only see $15-$30 of that. Tip a $20 or more on a huge job and you buy yourself a mechanic who isn't cutting corners to make time.

    Sorry to take a few days to update but i tooK it back to thE mechanic and hE seemed to know exactly what was wrong. He walked over to his toolbox and pulled out the missing bolt. He put it in and seemed pretty pissed off i noticed it. I guess he didnt realise i do.know.a little about my car. the oil pan dent he wont fix. Claims it isnt his problem because it came from the junk yard like that. Tge only reason i have not done tge work myself is lack of correct tools. Im not a certified mechanic but.i.have learned a lot from hard lessons over the years. I will buy me a new pan when i have the extra money and put.it.on myself. Another concerning thing is my steering wheel setting off center when driving straight. I was told it could be costly to fix since it was probaly the rack and pinnion being put on Incorectly but i dont have knowledge of how to fix that. Sorry for All the periods and weird caps. My phone hates to use proper english lmao
    BlazeMaxim wrote:
    Sorry to take a few days to update but i tooK it back to thE mechanic and hE seemed to know exactly what was wrong. He walked over to his toolbox and pulled out the missing bolt. He put it in and seemed pretty pissed off i noticed it. I guess he didnt realise i do.know.a little about my car. the oil pan dent he wont fix. Claims it isnt his problem because it came from the junk yard like that. Tge only reason i have not done tge work myself is lack of correct tools. Im not a certified mechanic but.i.have learned a lot from hard lessons over the years. I will buy me a new pan when i have the extra money and put.it.on myself. Another concerning thing is my steering wheel setting off center when driving straight. I was told it could be costly to fix since it was probaly the rack and pinnion being put on Incorectly but i dont have knowledge of how to fix that. Sorry for All the periods and weird caps. My phone hates to use proper english lmao


    After reading what you went through my advice? Stay away from that mechanic and that shop. Pissed off because you called him out on his terrible work! Oh poor baby! and about the steering wheel being off center? Get underneath and measure the tie rod threads. From the locknut back to where the threads begin. They should be close within 1mm or so (when using metric rulers). If they are even and the steering wheel is still off center, then the steering wheel wasn't put on the hub straight. I had it happen with mine, and I guess a lot of the Camrys had the same problem from the factory.
    Now if you see that the tie rod ends are way uneven then that's why your steering wheel is not straight. See? Simple fix. Do not believe anything that shop tells you, more like lies they're telling you!

    Hope that helps you understand the steering system, it's not complicated, but shops want you to believe it's "magical" and only someone with "fairy dust" can fix it.. lol
    • Edited 1 times, last by BlazeMaxim on .
    Ill get under it later tomorrow and mesure. If they are set correctly could i say loosen on side till the steering as straight and tighten the other until they both are the same lenght? I read thats how you fix it on google but i was scared to mess with it when i was told about the rack may be put on wrong. I dont want to get hurt driving. Whether this is fact or not i was told by the same guy at NTB that by messing with the steering hub or rack i might blow the air bag. This sounds like horse s*** to me but again i dont have extensive knowledge of how these systems work. When i was told that, i had a horrific vision of working with a screw driver and the bag going off, shooting it in to my eye or something. I think i watch too Much 1000 ways to die. Mine Would be Bagged To Death. The story Of blaze maxim empelled by a flying flat head
    BlazeMaxim wrote:
    Ill get under it later tomorrow and mesure. If they are set correctly could i say loosen on side till the steering as straight and tighten the other until they both are the same lenght? I read thats how you fix it on google but i was scared to mess with it when i was told about the rack may be put on wrong. I dont want to get hurt driving. Whether this is fact or not i was told by the same guy at NTB that by messing with the steering hub or rack i might blow the air bag. This sounds like horse s*** to me but again i dont have extensive knowledge of how these systems work. When i was told that, i had a horrific vision of working with a screw driver and the bag going off, shooting it in to my eye or something. I think i watch too Much 1000 ways to die. Mine Would be Bagged To Death. The story Of blaze maxim empelled by a flying flat head

    lol.. i am dying laughing over here, wow.. NTB (Not Too Brainy) is a good saying. Wow.. just wow.. The people they let work on cars! No you won't blow the air bag, what you do is disconnect the battery, wait like 2 min, then you disconnect the yellow wiring that plugs into the air bag. No problem. See there are capacitors that are charged up in the air bag in the event that during a crash the electrical system gets cut, so the air bag can still protect you. You wait for the capacitor to dissipate it's charge, then you remove it from the steering wheel. Easy. For someone who actually understand air bags.. not the NTB guy.

    See you're intelligent, you say "hey, I know I don't know stuff, let's ask".. That's called being reasonable and intelligent, unlike that other guy.. Too funny the crap these mechanics just "make up" without knowing how things are designed. And NTB is the place not firestone that this whole thread was made for? Either way definitely stay away from them.

    Oh and about measuring and adjusting. Each chassis/frame isn't perfect so if let's say you use a metric ruler (my favorite) and the difference between the two front tie rod thread distance are off about 1mm or 0.5mm that's ok. What we're looking for is something really different like 5mm etc.. Also, if you do adjust both perfectly, then adjust the steering wheel, theoretically, you'd have a perfect alignemtn, but the chassis/frame isn't perfect in it's measurements. So you'd still need an alignment after you're done, but we're talking a small twist of the inner tie-rod to bring it into perfect alignment (which is 0.00" toe on the front, I like 0.01 since I like a small amount of toe-in it makes the steering feel better to me personally)

    Ok so does that make sense now? Hope it helps! let us know what you measure, it might just be a screwed up alignment, especially if these NTB brainz did the work.. wow.. just wow..
    • Edited 2 times, last by BlazeMaxim on .
    No NTB was just a place offering free alignment checks. Firestone was the first place i saw when my right control came loose when i was driving. The firestone guy was pretty good minus some wrong info about how your suppose to replace a motor in the tc. He was a realy cool guy. NTB was just near my wifes work and i kinda liked them because they were the ones that put on my tires after tirerack made me go.to someone they were affiliated with. The mechanic that actually put the motor in was a shop called K & N Auto in Red Bank, Tn. All that aside though from what your telling me is as long as the 2 measurements are within 1mm or so i can adjust as long as i leave a little room to make sure i dont screw the bar to close to coming off. I just want to make sure i do it right so i am safe. Thank you so much for helpin me and this is why i still love cstc. Atleast there are still people who car about fellow memebers.
    BlazeMaxim wrote:
    No NTB was just a place offering free alignment checks. Firestone was the first place i saw when my right control came loose when i was driving. The firestone guy was pretty good minus some wrong info about how your suppose to replace a motor in the tc. He was a realy cool guy. NTB was just near my wifes work and i kinda liked them because they were the ones that put on my tires after tirerack made me go.to someone they were affiliated with. The mechanic that actually put the motor in was a shop called K & N Auto in Red Bank, Tn. All that aside though from what your telling me is as long as the 2 measurements are within 1mm or so i can adjust as long as i leave a little room to make sure i dont screw the bar to close to coming off. I just want to make sure i do it right so i am safe. Thank you so much for helpin me and this is why i still love cstc. Atleast there are still people who car about fellow memebers.


    ok thanks for clearing that up, now I understand the story. about the tie rod ends, measuring the showing threads. Yes as long as the two measurements are within 1mm of each, then the problem is that the steering wheel isn't centered on the hub. Mine had the same problem, the steering wheel wasn't put on the hub straight at the factory. If the measurements are not even, then you need to get an alignment where they're mostly even, then see where the steering wheel is. You don't want to adjust anything yet, just measure, as that will tell you what the problem is.

    And hey you're welcome about the help. I know I've seen Honda forums where they are snobs and just yell at people for "asking dumb questions". Hey just because the snobs know the answers doesn't mean everyone does! I think it's pathetic the way they treat people on some of those other forums. but hey glad you were able to get some help from over here
    • Edited 1 times, last by BlazeMaxim on .
    Wasnt able to mesure today being busy and all but did look under the car and the tie rods have not been messed with at all. Not since atleast 2010. Since this Is the case how would i actually fix the steering wheel. What steps besides the airbag explained above? I saw a hex looking screw on tje right side but i am not sure if that is the correct part to mess with
    with. I can assume that it would be like any other spline i just pull off the steering wheel and put it on straight. Then tighten it down. Thats how my old ranger was but since its more advanced as it seems to me would that work or do.i need to disconnect the airbag and all of that stuff.
    • Edited 1 times, last by BlazeMaxim on .
    I did some searching on google and found a disassembly guide to The steering wheel. I might try this today later. Thank you for all your help aagain. Ill let you know how it goes. The airbag really scares the hell out of me. Aside from all the things listed before i have noticed that a very lot of hot air comes through my floor vents and i cant get it to stop. I have recic on and if i turn the fan on and use top vents it cuts the air by a third but it stillis burning my legs. It seems to be a new development since i can not remember it doing it before. Only thing comes to mind is rhe flap that controls air direction. Any ideas?
    I got the steering wheel lined up now and im ecstatic. Still wondering why i have air coming out of my floor vent constantly. Oddly it really rushes out when i use the sun roof..
    • Edited 1 times, last by sciontc_mich on .
    BlazeMaxim wrote:
    I got the steering wheel lined up now and im ecstatic. Still wondering why i have air coming out of my floor vent constantly. Oddly it really rushes out when i use the sun roof..

    awesome news! glad you got it fixed! So the difference between the threads were not that great? Basically even? Then yeah you had the same problem I had where the steering wheel needed to be moved one tooth over on the hub. And look at that!? You weren't "killed by the air bag" like the guy wanted you to believe.

    about the heat, sounds like the blend door isn't working correctly that's what directs the air through the hvac system. There are two, one is the temp door that allows heat or cool air (controlled by the temp control knob), the other is the air direction door.. i'm almost wondering if the head unit that controls the hvac which is the unit right there with the buttons and temp dial knob.. I'm wondering if that's defective. because both heat/cool is one blend door and air direction is another.. I know I'm repeating myself just thiking as I'm typing. Some of the 05-07 hvac units were defective and went bad. They're not cheap, about $600 at the dealer. I hope others can post in here if they've had this issue. And what the fix was. But that's my thought so far.

    EDIT: check the blend doors.. see if they're moving when you select different air modes (under the dash, big white gear)
    Ill look for the gear when i pick up my wife
    Now after fixing my steering wheel my horn doesnt work. The fuse is good, the horn works when i hit the panic.button, and i pulled the horn/airbag out to.check its connections. All was.good. im at a loss for words.
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