Hey guys, I need your opinion!

[rebbierae]

Ok, here's the deal. I had a 95 Sunfire, and a couple months ago I took it in for an oil change. The guys at the quick lube place told me I needed to replace the head gasket. I guess I believed them because they don't DO head gaskets so it wasn't like they stood to make lots of money off the stupid blonde girl. I checked into a couple places on price so I knew what I was getting in to, but hadn't made any appointments. A few weeks after that I was driving to work and my car died--could NOT get it started again, so we had to push it out of the way. That night after work we tried it again and it still didn't start--after about an hour we went back again and tried and it did start but it wouldn't stay running. Kept choking out. After coaxing it around the parking lot and giving it gas, we were able to keep it running and it actually seemed fine. I wanted to get it checked so we took it to the shop. They knew that I had inquired about a head gasket so that is what they fixed. Cost me 600 bucks. My best friend and I drove it back to town from getting it fixed, and--no kidding--the first stoplight we stopped at the car died again. It would start up, but as soon as it was put in gear it would die again. Some nice guys pushed us out of the way and we had it towed out to the same shop. Second time in they fixed torque converter lock up solenoid (reading right off the receipt) for $215. Got the car back and drove it for about a week and it died on me AGAIN. Got it out to the shop for the third time and they fixed crank sensor (again, reading right from receipt)--cost of $180. Drove it for about 2 days and it died again--same symptoms. By this time my dad is getting worried, and I'm scared to death to drive the damn car ANYWHERE, so he checked with our hometown dealer (Mac's Chevrolet-Pontiac Mapleton, Iowa--best dealership there is!!) and this Vibe had just come in on a trade, so I took it. My Sunfire was still at the shop--they were to drive it around for a few days to see if they could figure out the problem, but they never did, so we got the car and babied it 2 hours back to my hometown and traded it in. The dealer back home ended up fixing an o2 sensor for 150 bucks and re-sold the car. I was INCREDIBLY unhappy with the dealer here where I live, and told the owner that, and said I would like some of my labor costs back since I was down $1100 and the car still wasn't fixed. That was a week and a half ago--he told me he'd "check into it" and call me back, and I have never heard another word. I'm just wondering if i have a leg to stand on, or if it really could have just been a combination of all those problems and it just took THAT much to fix it. Any opinions??

[ToolGuy]

Based off your facts it sounds like the oil change place found engine coolant in your oil, thus the head gasket comment. Coolant will leak either into the engine or out of the engine and can cause overheating with a bad head gasket. Overheating will shut your car down of course, which could have been why it died on you but later started. The O2 sensor hummmm... How many miles were on the car? Any check engine lights that came on? It very well could have been bad too and if the engine was buring coolant could have destroyed the O2 sensor. In the end it is hard to say what caused the chain of events if they did happen as the garages said so and you were not taken advantage of. Hard to find people that care anymore while fixing your car too. Unfortunately I do not think you have a leg to stand on now especially since the car is gone. Did the right thing in ditching it. Look on the bright side! You are a blonde and blondes have more fun!!!! Have fun with your Vibe!

[Psychobroker]

What a crook! Tell them you'll be making a report to the BBB and ASE (http://www.vmrintl.com/Usedcars/Referen ... hanics.htm). They would be wise to pay you off to avoid an investigation.Good luck!

[soldierguy]

A bad O2 sensors might cause a vehicle to die, but more often than not, a bad one will just throw a check engine light and the owner will only notice things like poor gas mileage, failing an emissions test, or maybe some rough running. An O2 sensor will tell the computer whether the air/fuel mix is too lean, too rich, or somewhere in between.A bad crank sensor will definetly cause a vehicle to not run. Without it, the computer doesn't really know which cylinder should be firing, so injection timing goes out the window.A bad converter lockup switch can cause a vehicle to die. That tells the transmission when to lock and unlock the torque converter. If the converter stays locked, the car will die if it's not moving and in gear. But common sense tells me that a fail-safe mode for a bad switch would be to leave the converter unlocked if the switch goes bad...that way the car can keep driving, but the converter just won't lock up, resulting in lower gas mileage.A bad head gasket could cause a vehicle to run lousy or die...could allow oil and/or coolant to enter the combustion chamber (you'd see blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe with oil, or white steam with coolant. You'd also have a sweet smell to the exhaust with coolant in there or a nasty acrid burning smell with oil.So yeah, it might have been a combination of things. But if the car ran ok for a couple days after a repair then would die unexpectedly, I'd guess a short somewhere in the ignition system, a short in the powertrain controller, or a bad/corroded connector where the powertrain controller mates to a wiring harness. But all of the above are just guesses based on what you wrote.

[Mavrik]

95 SUNFIRES were good for torque converter lock up. Basicly once the engine was warm and the car had been traveling at a good speed, the system would remain locked up when coming to a stop. Since everything is locked up, with the vehicle in gear it stalls out the engine when you come to a stop. Of course it will start right back up just fine but the moment you put it in gear, the car will stall again. After letting it cool you can get it going again for a while.The torque converter valve is about $66.40 canadian and about 2 hours labour. I know this cause I priced out doing the very same job to someone else with a 95 Sunfire today. Hers was doing the same thing and thats what we found.Cylinder head gasket leak if internal will cause problems, but you are describing a torque converter lock up symptom.

[kostby]

My sister-in-law in Michigan was nearly victimized by a lowlife at a quick-lube place. She has a '98 Cavi.First, he 'showed' her that she was 'almost out of oil' (a finger held on the dipstick to keep it from being fully inserted), and told her she needed a 'whole new engine', which he would install at his 'home' garage for 'only $600.00.' Luckily, she got a second opinion from a reputable garage before doing anything. Of course, there was NO problem at all with her engine.I'd say it's possible the oil change place was trying to scam you, even if they didn't do head-gaskets. Did anyone there 'suggest' a good place to take the car for additional work? Sometimes scam artists are in cahoots with others in the car repair business.I'd say you've made a great decision to get rid of the old car. Reporting the shop to the BBB may or may not get you any satisfaction (or money refunded), because if they really did the work and can prove they did it (e.g. the shiny new parts are on your car) , there's not much you or the BBB can do. Though frustrating as HELL, failure to properly diagnose a car problem the first (second, third...) time is not a crime. The BBB will note your complaint and ask the shop for a response within a few weeks. IF the shop IS a member of the BBB and doesn't reply, and doesn't make a sincere effort to correct the problem (now probably a moot point since you got rid of the car), they can lose their BBB standing. If they're not a BBB member, your complaint will be on file when others call in to ask about the shop. That's about it. If you truly believe you've been scammed, your state Attorney General may have a Consumer Protection division that could pursue the matter for you, and might be a better step than the BBB. There's also the 'Call for Help' people at area television stations. They often gets results because of the huge amounts of negative publicity they can bring to disreputable jerks.Keep calling the owner, too. He's probably counting on you just letting it go by ignoring you. The more of a constant pain in the *ss you are, the more likely he is to pay you something just to get rid of you.Good luck!

[rebbierae]

Well, sounds like I'm out the $1100. Now I'm just mad because when I told the owner that I thought it was fair to get some of my labor costs back he said "I'll do some checking and get back to you." When I hung up the phone I knew he had NO intention of ever calling me back, and he hasn't. He kept trying to tell me that he wished I'd talked to him about it so he could "help me out with the financing and get me into a new car from him". Yeah RIGHT--like I would ever buy ANYTHING from him! But I guess blondes DO have more fun, and now I have my Vibe I've wanted for 2 years, so I should just be happy, pay my friend back the $1100 (I had to borrow from her because I couldn't afford it), and have fun with my Vibe. thanks a lot for your help!

[Mavrik]

Well NEVER trust those quick lube places. They are not trained mechanics and have minimal car training. I was told when I took my first car there that my transmission was leaking, a CV boot was torn and my muffler had a hole in it. Whats weird is they can't fix any of those but say its to "inform you of what you might not have known."So later on when I got a job at a garage, I put the car up in the air and no muffler leaks, no torn CV boot and no tranny leak. I don't know about getting the BBB involved just yet, and since you don't own the car do you know if its still not working? At the shop I work at now, if something we do doesn't repair the problem we put the old parts back on and carry on. Some shops don't though... I'd see about talking to those places and seeing if you can get your money back first... then if that doesn't work go BBB.

[ragingfish]

That's a good point Mavrik -- once you gave up ownership of the car, you may have given up any chances at recovering money, because you can't prove the car still doesn't work...know what i mean?It's a tough, and unfortunate, situation to have been in...