greenfire

The prices are not terribly out of line, except for the calipers. It just adds up!


The coolant flush or trans service could be the culprit of the check engine light. Tell him you want to know exactly what codes.

street

He said one was a sensor that is located on the top of the engine, said it could be a bad wire. He told me the other one but I was so pissed off that I forgot what he said.

I learned a valuable lesson, if you are going to have work done might as well pay more for the experts to do it at the dealership if you want the work done right.

greenfire

It all depends on the dealership. Benefits of the dealer is that you will know exactly what it will cost and what the diagnosis is before work begins. Dealer would of charged you a lot more for the trans lines... At one point I had 3 GM vans and they all went to the dealer. I established a good relationship with service writer and all was well. Local mechanic was too slow, and I swear they sabotaged things.

street

I don't know why I even went to this mechanic, last time I used him to do some work on car he took nearly a week to finish. The dealer was going to charge me $600 for the axle seal and transmission lines. The dealer did not say I needed new calipers but did state that rear axle seal leaked on the calipers. Add the maintenance stuff and the bill would have been about the same as the local mechanic. Hindsight is always 50/50. Lesson learned, I just hope the mechanic didn't mess my engine up. Worst case scenario is small claims court. I have all the documentation necessary such as the dealer diagnosis check showing there were no codes on the engine and he said the engine ran fine on the highway. Next day, I take it to the local mechanic and when he is finished I drive off the lot and the engine has check engine light with two error codes. Mechanic tried to say it's not their fault at first.

street

I got the van back, check engine light was fixed, said he had to replace a coil that was misfiring two cylinders. The check engine light has not come back on and the van drives great. However, when I got home I noticed coolant on the ground. I immediately called the mechanic and he said the reservoir was cracked, when the coolant levels out (below the crack) there will be no more leaking. I'm hoping he's right. He never told me the reservoir was cracked before today.

canucklehead

You can pick up a resevior at an auto wrecker for cheap.....Or try fixing yours with epoxy...

street

Drove the car today and the check engine light came back on. also, coolant is still leaking from resevoir. Looks like all the mechanic did was clear the code, the sob lied and said he replaced a coil. I just dropped the van off at the chevy dealership and will have them correct the check engine light problem and replace the coolant reservoir in the morning. I will be filing a small claims court case against the mechanic as soon as the repairs are made. Like I said, I initially took the van to the chevy dealer to have it fully checked, they said no engine codes were present and engine ran fine. The dealer did not say there was a reservoir coolant leak either. I have all the documentation to present to the court.
The worst mistake I made was try to save money and have the local mechanic do the work. Let this be a lesson to you all, if you want to have work done right have the dealer do the wok even if it costs more.

canucklehead

Let us know that the dealer finds that is causing the cel. What code?
With any mechaninc you don't know you can ask for all the parts they remove from your van.....so he should have given you the old coil.....etc. Then you at least know they did put a new one on.....

street

Well I just got a call from the dealership and they said the code is because the evap purge solenoid needs replaced along the with coolant reservoir. Cost to replace both is $385 + tax.

canucklehead

You can do the coolant reservior easy, and there is a youtube vid online that show how to change the solenoid.....only a screwdriver and pliers needed.....How much for just the parts from a parts store...not the dealer...lol. (you would need the code cleared after though...)