the gist of the story...get work done at a shop unless you really really know the person who's going to be working on your car well.

well my clutch went out...now i figured i should replace my tranny and clutch while i'm taking everything out too, so i buy a Si tranny and a Stage 3 racing clutch, however now i have no money to pay for installation.

Thankfully a ht member came to my rescue offering to do the job for a very low price so i jumped at the opportunity, looking at his posts, and his knowledge it seemed that he knew exactly what needed to be done. So i leave my car at his house and the next night i go to pick it up.

First thing i notice is its nearly impossible to get into gears and clutch is stiff as crap (easily solved with some cable adjustment) however after driving about 10 miles and almost home my engine starts roaring making the loudest sound like i'm running it straight from the header. In the morning i checked and found out i was, he forgot to bolt my header to my downpipe, a rather large thing to forget. So i called him up and he fixed it.

Now about 2 weeks later, through which i had been thoroughly enjoying my new clutch and tranny, i start hearing a rattling noise clearly coming from my tranny as it would stop when the clutch was pushed in and would only do it when shifting. Exiting a freeway in 5th, i wasn't able to downshift and thats when the **** began....

Making a long story short, it so seems that my flywheel bolts had been merely hand tightened, thus everything broke off and was whipping around freely in my transmission housing. Now $800 dollars and a destroyed racing clutch later, my car is now running.

Remember saving money in the short term, will probably end up costing in the long. thats my sob story just had to get it out.


[Modified by dingusjt, 4:57 PM 12/11/2002]

 

This is why I try to do everything myself or try to be present when I have someone other than a shop working on my car.

 

so what i would do is go back to the guy that did it and tell him how much he owes you and if he doesn't wanna pay take him to small claims court.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I agree with 91civic, that is why I try to learn as much as I can about the task at hand and if I run into any problems I know a certified honda mechanic.

rule of thumb: It is always a good idea to make friends with a experienced mechanic


[Modified by Peters1983, 5:04 PM 12/11/2002]

 

What I am wondering is how the hell those bolts stayed on for 2 weeks if they were only "hand tightened"..... *scartches head*

 

i would of done the work myself but i just moved down to so cal, have no where to work and no tools...

now is there anything i can even do, legally wise, i mean the guy made no guarantee on his work, i called him, argued for a while and he wont even give me the amount i paid him back, he swears that he didn't mess up, while my shop tells me otherwise.


[Modified by dingusjt, 5:09 PM 12/11/2002]

 

Did you take the car back to him so that he could check it out and see if he did anything wrong?

 

my car would not drive...without the flywheel or clutch or anything attached i was pretty screwed..i needed my car asap so i towed it to my local honda shop to get it fixed quickly.

 

i know of this situation and i won't let this become a post where one member bashes another. i won't lock the thread unless it comes to that and if it does come to that % points will go down.

you are all warned.

 

all i did was state facts...if i have bad things to say then i say it in person not through some forum, all i'm looking for is some advice on how to deal with the situation.

 

i have no problems with what you posted therefore the post was not locked. i was just giving everyone a fair warning...

 

alright you hear that everyone?...i need some advice but lets keep it civil, i'm not that pissed about the situation i just want my money back and talking S$%* isn't going to help...now what can i do? i'm not to the point of gathering up people and visiting houses so lets hear some rational suggestions.

 

that really must suck. I'd try to get the money back from that guy, go to his house and argue in person. It's too easy to refuse over the phone.
and if they were hand tightened? wouldn't they come out like as soon ad u started the car?? how do u know they were hand tightened anyways if they came out?

 

all i know is what the shop told me...whether they were hand tightened or not i still don't see how the bolts would back out, i put in my old clutch without any know how or experience and didn't have any such problems, and the fact that he forgot to bolt my header to my downpipe doesn't really install a lot of confidence in the rest of the work.

 

I had to change a fender on my old crx, and i only hand tightened the lug nuts because i was gonna tighten them when i let it on the ground. Well i forgot to tighten them and one week later i start feeling a lil wobble in that wheel. I then remembered lol.
The flywheel bolts could have been just hand tightened, but you took it a guys house, not a shop. So i wouldnt expect anything. Id just try to forget about it, the more you think about it, the more itll worry you.

 

take him to court. have him pay the bill from the honda dealer. i see nothing wrong with doing this at all. onbiously he didnt do a good job or know what he was doing. ive had my trans on the ground about 84265716475671465741637561347564376578413657843657 times now and have never touched the header. are you certain your new clutch is ruined?

 

he made no garentee about his work so how could u take him to court?

i mean your taking it to a guys garage. is like user beware. shoulda talked to some people who have had there car worked on by him.

but i agree that you should get some of your money back.. dont take him to court what a pain in the *** that would be. (why come to think of it why dont u just sue him all americans sue for stupid things now. SUE THEM ALL)

 

How can you not NEED to take the header off...you have to get to 2 brackets that the downpipe clearly blocks.....even the helms says the downpipe needs to be removed

 

This is what I would of done: I would of had the car towed to my house the day it broke down, I would of then called the guy and asked him to come to my house since I am not able to go to his, and I would of told him that there is a problem with my tranny/clutch and had him check it out and possibly repair the damage. Who knows if the Honda mechanics just want to drain money out of you as other shops do, they will say anything to make $$$, so in that case you can't argue about it anymore since you took it to another place when the car broke down..... know what I'm saying? Good luck with your car....

 

I'm with Vap133 on that. Seems like a fair way to deal with such a problem. Its one thing if he says "Better luck next time" but this seems like it wouldn't be the case. For the above facts that have been stated ie. coming back to fix and install the header bolt etc. Sorry to hear the misfortune.......my .02...Good luck.

 

I do side jobs too. I also agree with Vap and Hybrid....he should have had first crack at fixing it.

BTW, I hav never taken off or unbolted the dp from the cat when replacing a clutch, flywheel or tranny either. Books often state that you have to do a lot of things that you may not have too.

 

i believe this is a lesson to you...
going the cheap route is always more expensive in the long run.

i've never heard of flywheel bolts backing out....
i assume you mean the pressure plate bolts,
unless your flywheel came flying off the crank...which i highly doubt.
the flywheel bolts are torqued to around 45ft/lbs(?) and the pressure plate bolts are barely over finger tight at 19ft/lbs...which is a very small amount of torque,
if he tightened them with anything other than his fingers, they should be very close...
19ft/lbs is only about 1/8th of a turn past tight w/ a 3/4" ratchet handle and your hand choked up half way, not much torque.

if he used a torque wrench, you may have had other problems.
it's not always install.
products do tend to fail on occasion.

also, if you took it back to the guy and he fixed it, what's your complaint?
car fixed.


[Modified by N600, 12:34 PM 12/11/2002]


[Modified by N600, 12:42 PM 12/11/2002]

 

thats exactly the point of this post...to tell people not to go the cheap way!!!

now i am aware of the low torque on the pp bolts however i mentioned this specifically and i was reassured that, those bolts were not the problem, it was the flywheel that became detached....

"out of my 17 years working on hondas in my shop i have only seen this happen once" - Rich (mechanis at Independent Honda/Acura)

well i'm sure glad that i could be the 2nd one, lucky me.

 

seriously though, if the flywheel bolts came loose, do you know how much your car would vibrate if it had a 15lb+ metal disc spinning at 1000's of rpms? i kind of doubt what the mechanic is saying but thats just my common sense kicking in here.

also, did the guy have your flywheel resurfaced? because it sounds like you got it back pretty quick which leads me to believe he didnt drop it by a shop and have them resurface it. in which case, there would be no excuse for the flywheel bolts to be loose in the first place if the flywheel was never removed.

sorry to hear about the situation though.


[Modified by keebler65, 11:32 PM 12/11/2002]

 

undo the two bolts that bolts from the header bracket thats on the trans. the header is realisticly no where near in the way of doing anything. also my after market header doesnt even use that bracket so removal of those bolts is non existant. the header in no way has to come off, nor does the down pipe. its simply a waste of time. also you dont have to take the dizzy out either.