Hi guys! My shop is having a heck ofa time trying to figure out what's wrong with my electrical system. The dash harness, engine harness, rear harness, and all the harnesses to the locks, windows, etc. have been replaced. A new radio, antenna, and speaker bar have been installed. The shop owner says the radio is heating up to a "hot" status and he can't figure out why. None of the gauges work, where all of them used to work fine. Bubba had been in the car before, so there is a different engine, no A/C, or heat, even though I got a new blower motor with fan that I don't think they even installed. The lights won't come up, and all new bulbs were installed with relays to keep them from heating up the switch.
I'm saying I'm getting a little more than pissed about all of it for as much money as I've paid, and they've had the car 4+ yrs. Of course some of it was my fault. I was overseas. A new alternator 140 amps has been installed, new aluminum radiator, with 2 spahl fans

So, does anyone have any answers for me? I thought it might have been a ground, but that, he says has been checked. His shop is three hours away, so it's not like I can run over and back real quick. Could the radio be deffective? The antenna seems to work with the radio, but the radio has so much static in it. Did he mess up the main harness somehow?

Im so perplexed and angry at the same time!

 

My best suggestion is a better shop. Without physically working on the car in person, with a meter and schematic, I cannot even venture a guess.

 

Is this a shop that specializes in older cars, specifically Corvettes?

 

The best advice I can possibly give you is this,
No one loves YOUR car as much as you do.
Learn to fix it yourself. Even if it takes you 4 times longer than a pro Mechanic, (although in this case that is virtually impossible). Pick up your car, start working on it yourself. We simply cannot help you as long as your car is in someone's shop.
I am a professional mechanic. As soon as a customer says, "But the guys on the forum say". Were all done here. I will simply tell them if they have all the answers, fix it yourself.
on the other hand, I've never had a bike in my shop more than a couple months.

 

Most any competent shop would have a path for solutions or repaired to those issues in 1-4 hours of diag time.

 

I thank you all for your responses. The thing killing me is he is right down the road from Zip Corvette, and he's yet to reach out for help. Maybe a little too much ego, maybe beyond his skill sets and doesnt want to admit it. I'm about to the point where I need to have that talk that is going to be, Ok dude, how much of my money am I going to get back here, because I'm not getting any younger here, and this should've been fixed a looooooong time ago.
I'm guessing he's just a collision/paint shop, and that's cool, just tell me up front if this is out of your wheelhouse. Just don't take my kindness for stupidity. I know nothing about putting it back together, or being about a mechanic, and like I said, the car is in Richmond, Va. and I'm in Greenville, NC. That would be an expensive hauling bill.

 

Did ZIP recommend him?

 

No, but I got caught in a situation where I had the suspension torn apart, then my house sold, so I had 30 days to put that back together, clean out a 4000 sq ft house, and move. So, I let him tow the car to paint it, and I was going to put it back together, because I did take pics of everything, bagged and tagged it all, but I have nowhere to do this now. So, I took him all my new parts, and kept buying parts, all new everything for this car. I'm in $40+++++K deep, and I'm beginning to feel like I've been screwed . I was overseas much of the time, yes , a combat vet, then a merc., so I'm really not one to **** off, but I'm getting there.

 

Where are you located?