Timing Belt service gone wrong at the mechanic.

Okay dropped off my tacoma on Friday for a full replacement of all belts, water pump, thermostation, and cam seal, tensioner. He said it will be done by Saturday. Saturday rolls around and it was 4pm didn't get a call. So I called him, he tells me my tacoma won't start??? wtf, my heart sunk. I was pissed I think he noticed he started telling me and explained everything he did to it, disconnected battery worked on it. Mentioned the water pump was starting to leak and the timing belt looked serviceable no cracks(i'm assuming previous owner changed it recently). Anyway as his putting things together he noticed a ground cable not attached so he connected it. Then finally connected the battery and it would not start not even crank over. He checked the fuses and 30amp fuse was blown for power. He replaced it but it would crank now but not turn over, he worked on it all Saturday, checking fuel pressure, compression(????) on all cylinders) various other things. It wasn't throwing any codes he was completely at a loss.

He assured me he will have it running by Sunday afternoon. Sunday comes around and his pisst he can't get it to run. Finally has it running Monday he had to call someone else to run a full diagnostic. Mechanic tells me a guy with a laptop hooked it up and had it running in 5 minutes. Something about the ECU was erased(still not sure what that means). Then ran a full diag on all sensors and the cam sensor was almost out of calibration it was at 413 and minimum is at 410. He replaced the cam sensor no additional cost to me...Just got the truck yesterday couldn't go Monday to pick it up. Sort of happy customer.

Anyway does this sound right, just a little confused. I think what happened he broke the cam sensor and couldn't figure out it till Monday...

What do you think?

BTW car runs perfect.

 

Glad he had the sack to make it right. Nice mechanic.

 

Yup. Usually in this day in age people just charge for their fuck ups.

 

Good mechanic

 

I don`t how anyone works on these trucks not being able to pull real time data I know I sure could not.

Not sure what could have been erased in the ECM although voltage spikes and poor grounds can do interesting things.

 

The cam sensor had absolutely nothing to do with why the engine would not even crank and is also unrelated to the popped 30a fuse. He screwed things up and then, to his credit, handled the situation. I'd be a little reluctant using him again, though, as he doesn't seem that bright. He coulda put your belt on wrong and really jacked things up. Just sayin'.

 

Conversely.

He made a mistake and fixed it without dicking you around by your dollar bills. People make mistakes, even mechanics. Having one that is honest is far better than having one that isn't, and there are many more of them IMO.

 

shit happens that is for sure. sounds like a good guy and made it right.
i wouldnt worry, especially if your truck is running great.

 

this is why im scared to pay someone to do this job, it is involved enough that I would rather pay someone else to do it yet at the same time it is involved enough where there are too many chances for shortcuts to be taken on a job like this so its hard to blindly trust someone else to do the job with the same attention to detail that I would do.

while the guy you pick to work on your truck might be a great mechanic and all, you never know if you will get his best work that day or not and some guys are not as professional like this guy who stands behind his work to make it right.

whatever happened might be as simple as he put the cover on over the wire harness as many have mistakenly done and they got snagged in the pulley. you may never really know what really went wrong with the repair, but he fixed it and that's what is important

 

Also, a running car coming into his bay for work and then not starting is such an easy situation to add bogus work and parts to a repair bill.

All he had to say was "I found a serious problem while doing the work" and 90% of customers would say "do what you need to do, thank you so much!" and pay for it.

As you can tell, I'm impressed more by his honesty and eagerness to fix whatever happened without sliding that stress and expense off onto a customer who may not know any better.

 

X2 I love hearing when a person makes a bad situation right. I'll bet he was just as stressed as you when he couldn't get it running by the time he promised. Sounds like a great tech!!!

 

thanks everyone... I have a better feeling about the work done. Yes it was cool he didn't try to stiff me in extra repairs. I'm sure he didn't make any money off and if he did very little.