That's very generous of you.
Merry Christmas!

 

Lot's of good people on this forum.

 

Yes gordon has helped me out before. He is a good guy and knows his stuff!!

 

I would just like to add as far as the tune up thing goes. My car was running good. Just a little off. Was just looking for a fine tune. Not a $500 tune up that didnt work.

 

a couple of years ago I tokk my 82 into a chevy dealer for an oil leak. long story short, ended up replacing valve cover, oil pan and transmission pan gaskets. $1400.00 later I took my car home. They gave me great service, and fixed the problem, but I felt a little taken advantage of. i was charged $120.00 per hour shop rate. Is this an out of line price?

 

Request the old parts replaced and a breakdown of the labor performed. When you are paying someone to do a diagnosis and repair, and it has neither been diagnosed or repaired correctly then what are you paying them for?

For your own information go to a website such as Msd ignitions web page and read. The springs in the distributor control how fast (rpm) the ignition advance comes in. The stops control how much total advance you have. Performance cams usually do require a spring change and a different stop from a factory preset, but none of that has much impact at idle.

I'd say timing is too far retarded for your cam application, the factory setting of what 8 degrees is probably not enough. More like 10-12 degrees btdc. Dieseling or run on is an associated symptom of retarded ignition, (closer to firing at tdc)

Also a carb or vacuum problem for your high idle as others mentioned.

 

It no longer matters. You settled up with them "a couple of years ago."

Next question: Have you been back to them since then?

 

If the car started to run bad after the distributor change I would put the old one back in to see if it corrects the problem. Adjusting the carb and a tune up isn't going to fix a distributor that isn't working right.

 

not sure on the high idle issue, but I'm thinking your carb adjustments may have been the culprit or a possible vaccuum line knocked loose along the way

However I will respond to the $120.00 shop rate brought up in post #25

I recently had my pinion seal replaced and in looking for a shop to do it, I called my local chevy dealer, the first thing the service writer gal said to me was that the shop rate was $135.00 per hour and would be at least two hours minimum,
I just hung up

 

That's not a 'tune up' by my definition.

 

Need to see what initial timing is set at. With a performance cam mine would not idle right until I had about 16 to 18 initial. Had to modify the amount of advance I could get so it was a total of 36. I had to shorten up the amount of advance I was getting. Not a big deal you just need a good timing light and a degreed balancer or a timing light that is adjustable to see where it is at and what is happening. Then we can work on the carb.

 

ok, picked up the car. As I said before I didnt have them do any of the work on the differential parts. Charges were 220$ to change carb metering rods and springs, set timing, and adjust carb. 220$ to evaluate run condition, road test, analyze air fuel ratio, check advance circuit. 33$ roadtest after carb and timing repair, 33$ to check differential bracket bolt, 33$ to check rear camber and check yolks, 45$ parts, and tax. total 624 dollars. Drove it about 30 miles after pickup. Stalled twice and knocked worse than before they got it when i turn off the car. Live and learn.

 

one just has to get an agreement ahead of time of the service and basis of the charges. to drop off the car and blindly say look at it invites an escalated bill. sure they have boat payments to make and kids braces to pay for.. but 33$ to check a bolt? 2 charges for a 2 road tests? and to do all that work when I wasn't needed ( problem was not solved)?

if you are paying them that much an hour then they have to earn that much an hour. doing work that didn't need to be done since it solved nothing is just a racket.. I would tell them that and ask them how they plan on fixing it right now. They need to show that they know what they are doing.. I don't think they did..

it was probably the apprentice working on it just trying things.. with the shop billing you at a master mechanic rate.

its worse with the ladies, I had a lady friend approach me for help in getting new tires and a battery for her Hyundai, she was quoted 2000$ for tires and a battery at pep boys. went with her to the pep boys counter and got it all done for about 800$. she didn't need the 275$ tires and the 100$ to install the battery and the 400$ tire pressure monitoring system rebuild....

if you let them, then they will...

 

This may or may not be the same thing, but for my 72 350 when I used regular unleaded pump gas (not premium) it did not want to shut off once I turned it off. It would hick up and hick up, and as soon as I put premium in it with a jug of octane booster it quit doing the hick ups. That may or may not help you. What fuel are you using?

I have 2012 camaro I have owned since october 2011, V6 6 speed stick. 25,000 miles. It has already had the trans rebuilt, shifter rebuilt, and now the clutch quit engaging. Also the clutch pedal sticks, the master cylinder and slave cylinder have been combined for the 2012s and they leak like a ****. I am just about ready to…..no I am ready to get rid of it. I love it but it is becoming a POS..and it is still very well maintained and cared for. I was coming in here to complain about Chevy service at my local dealer. It is under warranty and yet they are trying to tell me everything they can to exempt themselves from doing the work.



Like $1,600 for just a stock clutch disc. I laughed. Are they right, or am I right? I look up clutched for them and they show to be $300-600. $600 is with a new flywheel.

 

In looking at the pics of OP's car he's made all sorts of mods to the engine so I'm not sure if the operational problems are not self induced.

 

I don't know about his mods but he sure is getting hosed for pretty routine work. That is assuming they know what they are doing. He says he took it to a Corvette shop but that means nothing these days. They may be trying to find a way to put a hyper-chip on the engine .

 

Paul I agree. I have seen those type prices for tune ups in the past but when the vehicles came out, they ran great. It appears that he paid to not have the problem fixed particularly, if he said it ran fine prior to the new distributor install. That tells me that the shops assessment of the cam was an excuse for them not being able to fix what they were paid to do.

Terry

 

I have to ask a couple of questions if you don't mind.
When you dropped off the car what did you discuss at the time of write up?
When you explained the issues you were having with the car did you ask for an estimate before they did any repairs?
If you did were you told how much the diagnostic charge would be if you declined to make the repairs? You should be entitled to be made aware of those charges up front if you asked for them. If the shop doesn't want to do that for you need to find one that will.
If you just dropped the car off and didn't ask any questions up front and told them to "fit it". That's one thing but if you asked for a diagnoses before the repairs were attempted that's another. Did they tell you that you had to pay the charges whether the car was fixed or not?
Unless you know the shop and their reputation you need to protect yourself (as well as your car and your money). Ask questions. Make specific requests. Get estimates. The work order is a legal document and an agreement that you should be concenting to by signing it and leaving with a copy of it.
I think you were over charged also especially since the car is not fixed.
I also think the estimates for the other repairs are excessive as well.
With all that said if you have done work with Gordonm before why the h3ll would you not have had him look into this problem? I just don't get it. You have someone. You're happy with him. You go somewhere else. It's not like it was an emergency. $600.00+ later you're going to him anyway. Am I missing something?
Sorry don't mean to be harsh or lecture but I hate to see someone spend their hard earned money and not get what they paid for. It hurts the hobby in the long run.
Good luck going foward.

 

The focus should have been on the distributor right away. Most of us amateurs can figure out a diagnostic tree: ran fine---new distributor---does not run fine---pull distributor---put in old---runs fine=new distributor is defective.

 

That is the going GM rate here. But the job described should not have taken that long.