Hey guys,

so my car broke down the other day, engine just shut off on me. I towed it to a local gemini car shop and they charged me $107 for an engine analysis. Then when I picked it up the mechanic said since I have an 98 integra engine in a 94 civic hatchback the engine will give all sorts of funky codes but will not display the correct error codes to diagnose the problem the manager of the shop still insisted on charging me. It sounds fishy to me how he charged me 107 for a procedure that could not even be performed I am thus thinking of taking some action since i'm short on cash and I would like your feedback on how to proceed. I know my hatch doesnt even come with a OBD2 port and has an integra engine with an integra ECU in it, do you guys think he ripped me off?

 

if the work could not be performed and you got charged, there is no question they are in the wrong.

are you running the obd2 ECU or the obd1 version?

 

It sounds like they did perform the diagnosis but couldn't make out the codes they got since it wasn't stock. No actual repairs were made is my guess. Did they give you some sort of print out?

 

Keep in mind that if they attempted to work on your car in order to do some sort of diagnosis then they are entitled to compensation. Just because they couldn't get a reading from the OBD2 port or couldn't decipher the codes doesn't mean that they didn't attempt to do it.
Most shops charge a minimum rate for diagnosis whether they find anything or not. They are attempting to determine the point of failure and if they can't you are still responsible for paying them for their time.
Is it fair? Maybe not. But they are entitled to be paid for their time.
/flame on/

 

What year is the ECU you're using? Is it OBD1 or OBD2?

 

I agree that they should be compensated for their time. I am on both ends of it and i can tell you that if they tried to hook an obd1 car up to an obd2 scan tool then they wasted their own time. It would not have taken them more than 30 seconds to go "oh ****, there is no obd2 DLC on this car but wait it's a 94 i shouldn't have expected it to"

If they scanned the obd1 car properly regardless of what ECU was in it, it will still spit out codes that they could still decipher, which they did not do. Therefore that is why i feel the OP was wrongly charged. Being a service manager at one time myself i would have called the customer and got more information on the vehicle. The overall goal is not to collect his $107 for diagnosis (which is WAY ****ing astronomical anyway. We have a $9,000 snap-on verus scanner and we charge 49.95) but to find out the problem in order to fix the vehicle, thus collecting a bigger sale.

In my opinion the shop screwed themselves more than the OP really.

 

The shop fails. They ripped you off. They didn't give you ****. Are you running an OBD2 ECU in a OBD1 car? They should have known they cant connect a OBD2 Scanner to a OBD1 car. $107 is a ridiculous price. I know of shops with these big scanner tools that charge $20-40. Over $100 to do NOTHING AT ALL is completely unacceptable.
Just another reason why I do all my own work, including troubleshooting. When my car broke like that I towed it to my house.

 

x2, i don't trust other shops. i don't even trust the shop i work at now.

I am done as a tech in about 2 1/2 weeks then after that i will be stuck taking my car somewhere to get it inspected. Atleast if i take my R to the acura dealer they will wash it after they are done raping me.

 

what do you mean you are done as a tech? What kind of inspections? Ya I wouldnt even trust my car at the dealership. Just about everything in the car is non-oem. Consdering its converted, built, boosted, tuned on OBD1, but if you looked under the hood it looks like the original stock SOHC with a ebay turbo slapped on there. Even the Z6 head is disguised with the Y8 Timing Cover and Valve Cover lol.

 

x2

 

i am quitting my job as a tech at an independent shop. I own a snap on tools franchise now, so no time to do shitty back breaking labor for $40,000/yr. haha

If my buddy didn't work at smail acura, i don't know what i'd do haha. i don't trust anybody with my car, especially seeing how some of these dirtballs treat customer cars.

 

wait so they plugged in the code reader thing and charged you? its free at autozone for sure and i believe advance auto does it also. maybe i have the wrong thing

 

you must be making big money if your quitting a 40k a year job during a recession.

 

meh, it's not that. I have a great oppurtunity with snap-on and they are decently hard to get into because of the requirements and everything you have to go through to be an authorized franchisee. in the end i should be starting out in the 90,000-100,000/yr. range because of where my route is located.

And mostly because i have champagne dreams on a beer budget, so the extra $ won't hurt haha

 

lol.