1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

While I had Jay's car, he asked to do a few things to it. He asked me to change the oil, transmission fluid in his V160, look at his fuel gauge needle and gauge itself again, paint the sunroof inner trim pieces, install the AC sensor next to key hole for ignition, install a new driver side seat belt, check the oil feed line cause its leaking, and lastly check the coolant leak.


I had some free time this afternoon and wanted to tackle a few things. I started by checking the most simplest things first, which is the oil leak. I sprayed carburetor cleaner around the top housing. I let the car warm and I noticed the fitting on top of the turbo was very loose. I tightened it up and it quit leaking as of now. Easy fix. The oil feed line which is a -3, was ran through the manifold and onto the right side of the turbo. That was a big no, no. I loosened the fitting up and relocated the fitting the other direction and tightened. Easy Fix.





I then checked the coolant leak and low and behold I found it. It was the -6 AN line going up through the manifold again. It actually was burnt due to be ran through the manifold again. I undid the clamp on the other end, which was held on by a cheap clamp, should have had a welded fitting on and done right from the start. I pulled the line through and this was what I found.


















As looked more closely at things to got more concerned to look a little deeper. I noticed looking at the manifold that some things didn't look right. I will let you be the judge of this.



See something missing?????????????????






What about not tightened all the way up on the bottom side, maybe just overlooked? Who knows??






I stepped back and put my tools away, since the stores are closed for any materials I need to fix the coolant leak. I then noticed even more. More things are missing....





Just laid in there, all nice comfeee.... NO screws....






Then I noticed this before closing the hood. This beats all I have ever seen. This is most expensive radiator supports I have ever seen or heard of. Check these babies out.








I am not on here bashing anyone or any company. I just wanted to share my experience with what I found out on his car in a matter of an hour. Just imagine what I can prolly find out in three hours. One thing leads to another. I don't think I will ever trust any one company to work on my car, unless I can see through the window what they are doing or actually in the shop bay lending tools. No questions asked.


Has anyone else want to share a similar experience? Bottom line do you trust your local mechanic enough to do any work or any reputable shop or are you a DIY type of guy? Let this thread start commencing.


Pictures are a must please.

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

Sorry no pictures .. if I post some , I will post $40k worth of parts a person who volunteered to do work on my car requested me to buy and I ended up with parts without a running car or post a car that was built and never made it to the roads.

As I always said , Not everyone who work on your car will take care of it the way you will take care of your own. I know you are a very nice guy who would not bash or mention the company name even if you were done wrong. Let's face it, it was Zen Motors in Suwanee GA who worked on Jay's car whose pictures you posted . I am mentioning the company name for the benefit of others so they would be careful if ever they decide to bring their car there. That is the reason they were banned on SF . They didn't do a lot of people right.

I myself trusted people to work on my cars but bad experiences forced me to learn how to work on my cars. Exactly why I started my build thread , to encourage people . Automotive isn't rocket science. In fact a lot of good mechanics never went to school. It was all experience. I told myself , if I can't work on these toys , I ain't playing with them. If you are well informed about it, you avoid being fooled. Something I didn't do so I paid a hefty price for it. We all hear sad stories of what this and that shop or person did to someone. Some people will be nice to you at first since they want to make money of you... but once the trouble begins , they start avoiding you. The worst part is they even talk smack behind you after.

So do I trust anyone to work on my cars now . After my two bad experiences , NO , plain and simple. Trusting someone again to work on my cars will take a real big effort on my end . I am not saying I won't let anyone work on my car . I will but my eyes will be on them scrutinizing every thing. The last person who worked on one of my supra which I parted early last year was a very nice person. I considered him a good friend but the car never saw the roads. Things happen . Even big name shops have misfortunes on newly built engines. I am not saying you don't bring your car to someone to get it done. The thing is get yourself educated about it so you know what is going on and you know if they are doing you right. Even well known named shops have their own problems at times so knowing things will save you a lot of headache down the road.

gtsfire

iTrader: (4)

I only trust one guy and he is a 70 mile drive one way for him to work on my car. Some things I try to do myself but since having back and neck surgery in the past few years I find it easier to just pay him. His name is Christian and has a small shop in Garland Texas. His main niche is MKIII Supras and since I have one of those too that's how I got to know him. Good guy, honest and reasonable. His biggest attribute is that he puts up with me being super particular about how my cars should drive and ride. I'm about to have him replace my front suspension and engine mounts on my SC400 as soon as I get all the parts acquired.

Brianmoss

1jzpwrd would you mind moving to Orlando, I can't find anyone I trust to save my life.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

This is why I love the forums. There is a wealth of knowledge on here. But be forewarned, use the search button, if not then PM someone if you cant find it on here. I assure it has been tried on here at one time or another, for the most part. I did not want to mention any one company or a particular person, I just wanted to know if anyone has had any bad experiences, if so, post up. There has to be more than one or two.

If I do work for someone, I want them to come back. Its plain and simple. If you have a great night out at dinner, parking was easy, great service, food served promptly, etc, you prolly wont tell anyone about the actual experience. If everything went like crap, then you will do your best to tell everyone. Its just human nature. I don't know why, but people love gossip. I just want returning customers for any simple jobs. I have had so many people locally on here PM me about a certain service or what not, and they never get back to me. Oh well, I don't mind helping, when I can.

stockhatch

iTrader: (12)

I don't trust anyone. I hate that I don't have the tools to do alignments or machine work because there is nobody I trust to do those things either. People these days take no pride in their work and even the most minor jobs end up botched. I would rather screw it up myself for free than pay someone else to ruin it for me.

SprtDesign

iTrader: (21)

Wow. The reason why I haven't gone 2JZ or NA-T on my GS. No quality shops in ATL (that I know of).

LexusLove1

Man. I got a 1990 talon tai awd that's was rigged about like the one you are working on. Whomever put the fmic on decided to use PVC piping to feed the intercooler. Needless to say I shook my head for days after I realized this.

fried_rice

iTrader: (20)

I do everything myself, all I've learned has been from supraforums, clublexus and getting my hands dirty. I don't do everything perfectly every time, but I know every bolt on my own car. I'd rather invest in tools and time, than pay someone who surely doesn't care about my car as much as I do.

k7q

iTrader: (37)

I'm a DIY guy. can't afford someone to mess up my car.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

This is why a lot of people still go to the dealers, sure they charge you an arm and a leg, but you can be pretty sure they will be using lexus parts and if there are any problems u can bring it right back.

I for one, have a huge issue with mechanics, body shops and the like, they are very seedy criminal types for the most part, they make a living from overcharging, lying, and did I say overcharging?

I am very thankful I have a good mechanic now, he is a Christian man, I do trust him, we have developed a friendship outside of his business, hes saved my *** a few times , and didn't take advantage of me when he had the chance too.

But even with him it was a long time before I started to trust him completely, I used to watch him work on my car when I would bring it in, and he didn't like that, but he let me do it anyways.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

I often do all the work I feel comfortable doing or more importantly have *time* to do. Plugs, oil changes, a radiator change or a brake job for instance I'm fine with. Serious maintenance jobs like t-belts, clutches or A/C work I usually take into a shop. Increasingly, having time is the biggest issue.

I do have a very few shops I trust on both coasts but I don't trust just any shop. Two of them are Toyota dealers. One is a specific Pep Boys where I know all the mechanics and managers. No matter where I get my work done I ALWAYS talk one on one with the guy working on my car on the shop floor (so I can see the car). Service managers often are fine with this but to be honest they never have a choice in the matter as far as I am concerned. I know what I'm talking about when I bring my car to a shop. I may not be practiced at the task or have the facility and specialized tools needed but I'm familiar enough with what's being done and with the car in general that I am on the same page with the actual mechanic when we look things over.

As for Lexus, I rarely if ever go to them. I haven't had very good experiences with service agents who are (in L.A. at least from my experience) aloof and in one case downright snooty. I've often been met with a flat denial to be allowed to speak with the mechanic with my car on the shop floor before spending horrendous money based solely on what the service agent tells me. All shops have a legal liability with the customer in the shop area but Lexus in particular uses this as a way to keep the customer away from the fellow doing the actual work on the car and I don't like that.

Moreover, in addition to the higher labor cost and more expensive driveline parts that are identical to cheaper Supra parts I'm not confident they will work on a frankenstein SC300 with parts Lexus never used on their vehicle. I'd be curious to see if a Lexus dealer would do a simple brake job on my car, for instance.

I've also had several Toyota dealers flat out refuse to work on my Lexus despite it being mechanically identical to the Supra and having a lot of Supra hardware in it. Two I trust won't pull that game.

soarer13oy

iTrader: (13)

Its hard to find mechanics who know how to work on performance parts. Most mechanics know how to do repairs only and the majority of mechanics bull **** their way into your wallet.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

I have learned along my journey that several mechanics, even Lexus dealerships, would rather trouble replace a unit or part, rather than troubleshoot the problem. They have a tendency to go straight to the computer and start puling codes. This leads them to a start, but do they ever really fix the problem, or do they just think they have? For example, replacing the whole antenna assembly, instead of the mask, or replace the whole cluster, instead sending the needles off to repair company.

Most of you seem to be DIY's, like myself, but there is also some things that I cant do either, like Stockhatch was saying. I wish I had a lift to do a faster job while not being under the car with jack stands and what not. I keep telling my wife the next house will have lift on it, no questions asked, that is if I am still in the turbo Lexus game. I have had to put my SC in the shop a few times. One was for the evaporator and core in the dash was leaking, other to get the AC charged after the swap, and just normal stuff like alignments, tire rotation and balancing, etc. I have built up a re pore with all of these people. They know me and and my car. They especially know how **** I am and how I want it right from the start.

On the other side of things, I have an old Dodge truck. It blew the head gasket, and being a little old four cylinder, I commence to tearing it apart. I felt pretty comfortable in doing. When it was all said and done, the two gaskets the parts place told me to use, it started blowing coolant all over the place from around the head. I have never heard of using two gaskets for the head. So guess what, we had to pull the head back off, and do it again. What a pain. During the process, the timing chain jumped timing, this was us not tightening the tensioner enough, and it jumped timing. Had to tear it back down, yet again. When it was all said and done, I had to call another shop to come get it. I had it towed to their shop and I am currently awaiting a phone call of the diagnostic. Before we did this, we did double check and then triple check all the timing marks, etc, and everything was good, we tend to think it is something else. Now the parking brake light is staying on, when not engaged, and the temperature gauge is not working. I think it is something to do with the wiring somehow now. I was clueless. Everyone knows how good I am at wiring. I know more now than I did two years ago, but this has stumped me. I am still leaning toward the ballast or the coil on the truck, which are both brand new. They did put a new distrubutor on it last year and didn't charge me too much. This s the only reason they got it this time. They seem pretty legit and trust worthy.

Sometimes I think mechanics are more concerned with how fast they complete the task or job, than actually taking their time and doing it right. I think since they went to this guide on how long a certified mechanic should complete it, that's what they make in money. I think this poses a huge problem to the paying customer. They are trying their fastest to get it done and get it out so they can start on the next one. Its all about completing this before the allotted time. If they don't, they are loosing money per say. Again I think this is the biggest problem they seem to have right now. Their mind set is the quicker the better, no more taking the time out to investigate the problem, just replace it and move on.

I know alot about my SC in general. This is due to me doing, I would say, 95% of the work myself. This has not only built my confidence up, but also allowed to me to learn from my mistakes along the way. I have always said, if it is already broke, then I cant break it twice, worse thing that could happen, is I figure it out and get it fixed myself. That my friend is where the CL community comes into play. I have always researched what I think the issue is on here, and learn from other people's mistakes. In the end, I have to give it up for some of the most knowledgeable people about Lexus are members on here. I wanted to say thanks who have helped me along the way. You know who you are!

Bottom line, I am a DIY, almost 100% of the time, until I throw in the towel and call the Calvary.

SC3coupe

iTrader: (4)

I try to do everything myself but sometimes I just about run out of physical ability or talent
I got to drop the trans to fix the rear seal and dunno if the seal will come out easily?

Also I would have time to clean the tranny good like it was new

Hate to pay someone 5 hr labor then to find later
a bolt stripped because of impacts being used to install the bell housing bolts

Also this is a lexus after all and it is hard to find a wrench buddy like I used to be able to with say a dsm or miata community... I learned alot from others learning how to weld and use heat or visegrips and other tools when I owned the other cars