What have you done to your car today?

Red Mosquito said:
TPI for life!


I also have them do the brake fluid flush when getting this done. I'll wait until declining all the extras then ask for this so they don't feel so rejected lol It's mind blowing that they don't suggest the one thing that's actually useful, and more of a PITA to DIY than it's worth.

These are only 2 things I do at the dealer, aside from warranty work. Partially for the reasons you describe here. Where did you take it?
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Paul miller in parsippany

They sent me a video, the mechanic walking under the car going over everything. "as you can see, the heatshields on your exhaust are loose and need to be replaced" LOL....subaru...aka...ripped off and thrown in garbage. Opens the hood...the engine compartment is dirty from the winter of driving to VT...."as you can see the engine needs maintenance" Really? bc that big plastic cover is dirty? Mentions the air filter being dirty....Didnt see you open the air box lol.....JFC, what a racket
shrpshtr325 said:
Jesus you think a brake flush is hard? Get a pressure bleeder and it's like an hour no hassle at all. I spent like $60 on mine
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so I usually let my wife's cousin do this bc ill have him do the coolant with his machine as well....he's pretty good...and its not like it needs to get dont THAT often.
 
UtahJoe said:
They sent me a video, the mechanic walking under the car
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We have field staff at my job (one of my co-workers says inside cats and outside cats, good way to describe it). Trying to get the field crews to do things the way we need to see them (mainly, collect data) is a real challenge, and most of them half-ass it.

I see this as the same dynamic. The service manager say yuk it up in the video so I can sell more jobs. The mechanic phone's it in, "as you can see the engine needs....maintenance"

I was going to try Paul Miller after having a bad experience at Morristown, but I've just stuck with Victory in Somerset. They do decent work, and they're at least consistent with my chief complaint (poor communication).
 
I picked this up for cleaning out the Firebird. I tested it on my Subaru today and it works surprisingly well to get the embedded dirt out of the carpet. I knew the little compressor would fall short, but it was sufficient for the small job I was testing it on today. I'm glad I didn't give away my "big" compressor yet.

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UtahJoe said:
Paul miller in parsippany

They sent me a video, the mechanic walking under the car going over everything. "as you can see, the heatshields on your exhaust are loose and need to be replaced" LOL....subaru...aka...ripped off and thrown in garbage. Opens the hood...the engine compartment is dirty from the winter of driving to VT...."as you can see the engine needs maintenance" Really? bc that big plastic cover is dirty? Mentions the air filter being dirty....Didnt see you open the air box lol.....JFC, what a racket

so I usually let my wife's cousin do this bc ill have him do the coolant with his machine as well....he's pretty good...and its not like it needs to get dont THAT often.
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While under warranty I took my truck to a Honda dealer in Paramus, the last time I took it they sent me a video that had freshly poured and totally clean engine oil on my car. They said I had an engine leak I can't remember from where, I called them up and ripped them saying I am not a moron, I can tell when the oil was never in the engine and they should be smarter about trying to sell services. They tried to claim that the tech wasn't saying that was the oil look even though that is what he zoomed in on. This was the first and only oil change I brought there after the warranty ended.
 
@Red Mosquito Before going crazy if the carpet is really dirty, look into how much a replacement carpet is. I bought one once for a mid-60's car and it wasn't that expensive and molded to fit properly.

Your hatch struts make me laugh because I bought a 1990 Mustang years ago and it came with broken struts and a bent & broken piece of patio umbrella pole that the prior owner used to hold up the hatch. I used that pole for the entire time I owned that car instead of replacing the struts as a poor kid.
 
Been a week since sending my 21 Audi A6 Allroad to a mechanic in De. Warning came on shortly after going through state inspection (10 miles after) transmission! No reverse go to Audi dealer. Then the car changed its mind and the warning turned to pull over and shift to park. I did and car wouldnt shift when resarted. One week later still waiting for mechanic vw/audi to figure out what the problem is......
 
pibbles said:
Been a week since sending my 21 Audi A6 Allroad to a mechanic in De. Warning came on shortly after going through state inspection (10 miles after) transmission! No reverse go to Audi dealer. Then the car changed its mind and the warning turned to pull over and shift to park. I did and car wouldnt shift when resarted. One week later still waiting for mechanic vw/audi to figure out what the problem is......
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@Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST

(Fyi, He may just say the problem is you bought an Audi)
 
Santapez said:
@Red Mosquito Before going crazy if the carpet is really dirty, look into how much a replacement carpet is. I bought one once for a mid-60's car and it wasn't that expensive and molded to fit properly.

Your hatch struts make me laugh because I bought a 1990 Mustang years ago and it came with broken struts and a bent & broken piece of patio umbrella pole that the prior owner used to hold up the hatch. I used that pole for the entire time I owned that car instead of replacing the struts as a poor kid.
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I take for granted that I worked at an auto parts store all through HS and college (Kar Parts if any remembers them). I knew how to ring up my stuff at cost.

The interior is actually in pretty good shape, it just needs a good cleaning. Reading up on detailing, the first step for shampooing is always a very thorough vacuuming so decided to go the extra yard there.

There are three common interior issues that do not impact this car, one is cracked dashboard, 2 is bulging console sides, and three is sun faded and torn top of the rear seats.
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Bought it used. Had 35k on the clock. Water pump was first, now this. To top it off towing co somehow punctured front airbags that control the air suspension. Towing co said they'll take care of it np. The issue is the airbags will take a month to come from Germany although prob not that long. Maybe they can figure out the transmission issue by then. Fingers 🤞
 
pibbles said:
Bought it used. Had 35k on the clock. Water pump was first, now this. To top it off towing co somehow punctured front airbags that control the air suspension. Towing co said they'll take care of it np. The issue is the airbags will take a month to come from Germany although prob not that long. Maybe they can figure out the transmission issue by then. Fingers 🤞
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Pretty common for a towing co. To break level sensors. We see it all the time.
As for your transmission. Nothing really ever goes wrong with the A6 allroad trans.
Dm me the Vin #. I can check if they upload any faults
 
pibbles said:
Been a week since sending my 21 Audi A6 Allroad to a mechanic in De. Warning came on shortly after going through state inspection (10 miles after) transmission! No reverse go to Audi dealer. Then the car changed its mind and the warning turned to pull over and shift to park. I did and car wouldnt shift when resarted. One week later still waiting for mechanic vw/audi to figure out what the problem is......
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My guess is the battery and/or alternator is dying. Had this same issue with my daughter's BMW and thought the trans was shot. Saw a few things online about battery issues and changed the battery, issue solved. Some cars (especially German) are really sensitive to low or varying voltage. I would change the battery first before you let them sell you unneeded repairs.
 
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GSTim said:
My guess is the battery is dying. Had this same issue with my daughter's BMW and thought the trans was shot. Saw a few things online about battery issues and changed the battery, issue solved. Some cars (especially German) are really sensitive to low or varying voltage. I would change the battery first before you let them sell you unneeded repairs.
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I actually had a similar issue with my wife's Jeep Wrangler, all kind of transmission gremlins, brought it to the dealer, warranty was about to run out and they replace both batteries and a few other warranty issues and all set. So glad we got rid of that terrible Jeep.
 
Most modern cars are subject to this rule about battery voltage. With all the computers these days (hell even going back 20 years I remember having this issue) everything is very sensitive to low voltage
 
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