It’s my understanding that car repair should go like this:

I tell them what the symptoms are and they tell me that diagnostic testing will be X amount. They either diagnose the issue and give me an estimate for repairs, or they find that they need to do more diagnostic testing, for X amount more.

Giving me the chance to either agree to pay that much more, or decline, pay them for their time spent and move on.

Once they figure it out, they then give me an estimate for repairs, giving me the chance to accept or decline. If I accept, they repair it for the estimated price. Done. If I decline, I pay them for their time and move on.

If they get deeper into the repair and find that more extensive work is needed, they call, give me an updated
estimate, giving me a chance to either accept or decline. Again, if I accept they proceed, if I decline, I pay them for all of their time spent and move on.

I’m sure sometimes it can’t exactly work that way, but they shouldn’t just take a job, without even a giving ballpark price, then just drop a bill of thousands of dollars, with no chance to okay charges along the way.

I am right? Or am I off base?

 

Nah. I'm sure it's fine. You'll be able to detect problems by ear, just like how the old timers set timing without a timing light.

 

I'd very carefully word what you are asking for, and understand that a lot of shops will charge a lot for diagnosis. Try to get an estimate, in writing, with a not to exceed $X- amount.

But if you want to control how much you spend, ask them to specifically diagnose the stalling issue. I bet it's related to timing, with a vacuum component related to your automatic transmission.

Tell them not to fix anything, just diagnose it. They may charge you several hours of labor for this. You might find it yourself with a Mity-Vac.

Good luck!

 

Yeah, both my buddy and Larry at The Corvette Shop said the same thing, that they can do it by ear. It’s probably not exactly perfect but I’m sure it pretty close. Timing and vac wasn’t the reason for it stalling.

 

Thanks, that sounds like good advice. That’s kind of what I told him. Diagnose, then give me an estimate for repairs before you do anything. I told Larry that but he said that it couldn’t work that way because he can’t know if it’s fixed until he does the repair. Kinda lame but that was the price I paid for someone with his expertise. Little did I know how many hrs it would take.

 

So I take it to Larry at The Corvette Shop. I tell him that the main issues are a power draw and stalling. I ask him to diagnose it and let me know what he thinks.

I tell him to let me know what he finds and give me a chance to accept or decline. He tells me that he can’t do that, that he won’t know until he does the repairs if that is all that I need done. I was bummed out.

I told him that I can’t repeat what happened with the interior guy on my son’s car. I kept asking him for an estimate and he kept putting it off and said bring it in, I have to see it. Then he said just leave it and I’ll let you know. Called and said that he was done and dropped a $6000 bill on us without even a ballpark estimate. (He ended up “only” charging us $4000 since I protested.) Larry said oh, no way will it be that much. You could get a whole new engine for $6,000!

This guy is “the” expert and I need to get this thing going. He finds that the power draw was a short in the alternator. The stalling issue was the distributor. He also found the balancer issue and some other stuff.

The guy has more business than he can handle, a dozen awesome cars there, and very loyal customers. He said that it took 11 hours of diagnostic work, new alternator and distributor. $200/hr, plus parts. $3,200!

 

I took it home and he said to drive it around a lot over the weekend and make sure that it’s all sorted out. I set out on an awesome San Diego Spring day, stop at a killer Japanese restaurant to have a snack and a beer. I go back out and sit in the car. People are passing by are giving me the thumbs up. Sunny day, cool breeze, fug it, forget about the money, life is good. Call my wife to tell her what a great time I’m having and that I’d be driving around for quite a while longer. Great! Hit the key and… Dead! Faaaaaaack!

Call for a tow/battery check. It’s free with insurance. Keep getting texts with ETAs putting the time farther and farther out. Decided to wait in the cigar bar, it was either there or Cheetahs strip club next door. I’ve smoked very few cigars, never cigarettes. I had a small cigar and a scotch.

When the guy finally got there after over two hours, he showed up in a pick-up. Only able to offer a jump. Damn. Jump didn’t work. He said to pop the hood. He tapped the starter and told me to hit it. Vroooom!

 

Larry said to take it and drive it around a lot over the weekend and make sure that it’s all sorted out. I set out on an awesome San Diego Spring day, stop at a killer Japanese restaurant to have a snack and a beer. I go back out and sit in the car. People are passing by are giving me the thumbs up. Sunny day, cool breeze, fug it, forget about the money, life is good. Call my wife to tell her what a great time I’m having and that I’d be driving around for quite a while longer. Great! Hit the key and… Dead! Faaaaaaack!

Call for a tow/battery check. Kept getting texts with ETAs putting the time farther and farther out. Decided to wait in the cigar bar, it was either there or Cheetahs strip club next door. I’ve smoked very few cigars, never cigarettes. I had a small cigar and a scotch.

When the guy finally got there after over two hours, he showed up in a pick-up. Only able to offer a jump. Damn. Jump didn’t work. He said to pop the hood. He tapped the starter and told me to hit it. Vroooom!

 

My buddy’s shop has been around for decades. He has tons of loyal customers, always bringing by food or other gifts, or just stopping by to say a quick hello. He’s done a lot of repairs for me. Up to now, coming in on time and on budget, even giving me free oil changes, (I bring the oil and filter) and doing stuff for me in his free time. I try to make it up to him a bit by taking him out to lunch and stuff. But this last door hinge spring and window debacle pissed me off.

I’ve decided that I value his friendship and don’t want business to get in the way. I going to use another shop for non-specialty repairs, that’s all they do. Phantastic Automotive.

https://m.yelp.com/biz/phantastic-auto-repair-santee

He’s done great work for me and many of my friends for decades. Strictly business with us.

No business is perfect but they both have awesome reviews. You generally don’t stay in business that long, doing the volume that they do, (they’re always packed), if you’re not good.

$140 for the part, $160 for one hour labor. Quick, easy, fair, upfront estimate.

Got in and… Dead!

Gave it a quick jump, fired right up and now I’ve got to warrantee the battery tomorrow.

I got this for my son and me to drive while we sort out his car, hoping it would get him back into it. It’s been week after week of problems. Bummer for a car that I was assured was “all totally sorted”.

 

It doesn't matter if it is either the 54 year old GM original... but ...worn out parts, (or) the brand new ...but ...repop parts that fail out of the box half the time.
The mechanical stuff will take a while to sort out.

Trouble-shooting minor old car issues is just part of the hobby.
I would suggest a lot of short trips before it seems reliable, before venturing too far from home.

 

Hahaha! That’s great!

Yeah. One trip, 15 min away. Dead again. Like you said, part of the hobby.