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Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!!


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LOBELL313
New User

Oct 27, 2011, 12:31 PM

Post #1 of 10 (2994 views)
Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

I took my 2005 stratus to a auto repair shop. My car would not start. The ignition would not turn over. So I towed it to the car shop, and they did a diagnosis for 65$. They told me that it was the timing belt and water pump. It cost 495 total to fix. 4 days passed and the owner called me and said they changed everything and it still will not start. They said I need a new engine now. They expect me to pay the 495, I dont think I should. I need advice of what to do


Hammer Time
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Oct 27, 2011, 12:45 PM

Post #2 of 10 (2973 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

That's not necessarily a misdiagnosis. When a timing belt breaks on some engines it will bend the valves because they aren't built with enough clearance to the piston. He would have had to run some extra testing before changing the belt to check for that and he should have.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



LOBELL313
New User

Oct 27, 2011, 12:57 PM

Post #3 of 10 (2965 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

So are there text they couldve done to check that problem. My main issue is about the money. Should I pay??


synchro
User

Oct 27, 2011, 2:55 PM

Post #4 of 10 (2934 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

He would have had to run some extra testing before changing the belt to check for that and he should have.

If that were the case he should have done that as part of the diagnosis. Sounds to me like he had it diagnosed before the hood was up! There are still shops that'll waive the diagnostic fee if you have the work done there.


Tom Greenleaf
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Oct 27, 2011, 2:57 PM

Post #5 of 10 (2933 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

IDK - if they charged for a diagnosis they didn't do very well as HT said. That and not all interference engine totally self destruct. I would discuss this with manager or owner as I may not be more than sending heads out to fix valves and if it managed to put holes thru the pistons and really damaged head/heads/ all valves another engine would be possibly less that fixing that one IMO.

If they get a scope thru a spark plug hole they could see the damage. If really determined engine is junk and could be and you like them then deduct costs of of first job from more work for being wrong to this extent,

T



Hammer Time
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Oct 27, 2011, 3:04 PM

Post #6 of 10 (2926 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

We may be jumping the gun by assuming we even know what the reason for the failure was but it sounds like bent valves. This is always a possibility and the concern should have been brought up before the repair. They could have done a cylinder leakdown test to determine if the engine had bent valves before changing the belt.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



synchro
User

Oct 27, 2011, 3:34 PM

Post #7 of 10 (2920 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

They were a little quick with the diagnosis. But they sure didnt miss the opportunity to upsell the water pump!


Discretesignals
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Oct 27, 2011, 3:48 PM

Post #8 of 10 (2914 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

Which engine is in this thing?





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LOBELL313
New User

Oct 28, 2011, 6:12 AM

Post #9 of 10 (2894 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

its a 4 cylinder


Discretesignals
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Oct 28, 2011, 6:25 PM

Post #10 of 10 (2881 views)
Re: Misdiagnosis..I need help!!!!!!!!!!!! Sign In

There are two 2.4L for that make in that year.

Now the coupe has a SOHC engine that is interference. Belt snaps and your pulling the head.

The sedan has a DOHC engine that is freewheeling, unless you rotate the cams independently of one another. You won't know if you have problems unless you slap a belt on. It's too difficult to take the cams out to check for bent valves using compressed air and you surely don't want to rotate the cams to close valves on either engine, so the shop probably did the right thing, if this is a DOHC engine. Slap the belt on and see if the thing will start.

As the others stated replacing the water pump on that one is a good idea at the time of the belt installation, because you would be taking all that stuff back apart if the pump leaked later.





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.






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