preyx

At the meet we held in SoCal about 2 weeks ago, I spotted a small oil leak on the top of the engine, near the superchager. (Wiedermann, Citron and Saprissa all saw this in the parking lot following dinner that night.) Well, I finally called my service guy last week and he told me to bring it in this morning.

Well this morning I drove it up, and while pointing out the oil leak, I mention that the shade on the sunroof hasn't been retracting fully. He gives me a preliminary estimate of $600 (a bit steep for an oil leak and sunroof, but whatever), and tells me he'll call either my mom or me with the final estimate.

Cut to about 6:30PM this evening. My mom comes home and tells me that she just received a call from our service guy, and says "what the hell did you do? The estimate is $1400!" WTF?! She even explains to me that our service guy threw in the parts charge for free, and is only charging us for labor. The complete estimate was $2800. $600 of the labor is for the sunroof, remainder for the other repairs.

Although she doesn't remember much of the details (she's not very car or tech-saavy), She did mention the words "collapsed", "suspension", and "alignment". Two things pop up in my mind. Knowing that I have installed sways and springs already, it could have meant that the shocks have gone flat--which I wouldn't be surprised by, but I'd rather replace them with sport shocks myself. The other thing is that by altering the suspension geometry, I somehow critically damaged some part of the car, such as a control arm or something.

Our service guy tells me it should be finished by tomorrow or Thursday, but I won't have a clue what happened until I receive the printout from him as I pick up my car. Feel free to post any speculation on what the hell could be wrong with my suspension.

Anaheim_Drew

I'm lost
What does your modified suspension work have to do with your oil leaking near the supercharger or your sunroof not fully retracting?


If you want to blame it on suspension issues.... maybe too much drifting??

Buellwinkle

Wow, doesn't sound good. Keep us posted with what happened. Also talk to the service manager if your warranty just expired as sometimes you can get MB pay all or part of it. If it's HOI I know exactly what's wrong and they tried to do it to me, it's how they make money, ripping people off. They want $3K to fix my car that had nothing wrong with it.

preyx

I have no clue where the suspension entered into the equation... but they've already started repairs on it...

Anaheim_Drew

HUH? So you went in with no suspension problems, but they are fixing a problem that did not exist? I learned something new today......... The C230 supercharger is connected to the suspension I'm glad I have no supercharger to worry about

Buellwinkle

He must of gone to HOI, who else would do this?

LaZyC230K

I guess your warranty exparied, mayb you should just have a check on your local shop. Mayb it'll only cost few hundred bucks to fix it. I think taking car to dealer without warranty is just ripp off sometimes. i hope you car be alrite.

Thanks.

Anaheim_Drew

And how or why would you authorize repair without an explanation first?

preyx

Acutally, this was at Caliber Motors of Anaheim Hills. Plus we've been using the same service guy for over 10 years now, so I'm sure he wouldn't be trying to pull a fast one on us.

As for why I don't know specifics, it's because he called my mom, not me, and she probably told him something along the lines of "just do what you have to do." I don't know what the hell he told my mom, and by the time I call tomorrow it'd probably be too late to stop any repairs they suggested to her.

Buellwinkle

I went in for an oil change and they found 3 things wrong with my car that needed immediate attention and cost 3K to fix. They are very good at convincing you that it's imperitive that it be fixed now. For me I said I need a second opinion and the independent mechanic reviewed their findings and said they were bogus. I sold the car about 2 years later without having any of the problems they said need immediate attention. I never experienced this with MB of LN (formerly Mission Imports) or Fletcher Jones (formerly Jim Slemons) in the 20 years I've been seeing these dealer. I only went to HOI once because they were closer to where I worked.

Buellwinkle

I guess we still don't understand that if you had no complaints about the suspension, why would they fix something you were happy with? What if they are undoing the lowered suspension and sway bars back to factory? You could be paying thousands to undo the thousand you already spent putting it that way.

Anaheim_Drew

I can see mom saying that And you do have a history with your service guy. Caliber has the cheapest parts... Lets hope everything works out

Anaheim_Drew

We got some of our best deals back in the day(70's early 80's) from Jim Slemons now FJM...No more of that.. FJM sucks

preyx

That's my biggest fear. I'm gonna be calling them first thing in the morning and get the full report directly from the service guy. I have no clue why my mom didn't consult me on the suspension issue when she knew that I was only going in for the oil leak and sunroof problem.

Buellwinkle

I know, they are soooo busy it's tough to do business with them. What's nice is that the other 3 OC dealers want to be FJM so they'll work any deal where they think they're stealing a customer away from them.

nicedeboy

Sounds like you are having alot of fun... My car is way way past Service B and I'll have to go through this with my service manager probably. hehe I thought, after you were informed of an estimate that the dealership can not fix other things unless they have permission? Sounds like your mom helped you out with that one.

Oil Change

I didn't understand where the leaking is coming from. Hell I dont even know where the super charger is. can anyone point that out for me please?

As for my self I have oil leaking from the hose inside the circul. I've noticed the oil stain months ago and still haven't done anything about it.

FrankW

maybe other guys just didn't catch the problem...LOL

I've heard equally bad stories from all dealerships. you just complains too much.

FrankW

and the BS came apart...why would your car be "way way past Service B" if you just got it. you and your "$25k C55 story"

FrankW

anywayz, back to the topic.

Bryan, sorry to hear that, but from what you said I suspect they are changing the springs and shocks because they think your suspension has gone wack due to the lowering springs and sway bar. I would suggest to go to the dealership right away first thing you get the chance and insist to inspect the car personally, and also ask for all the parts name and number they want to change.

Anaheim_Drew

HEY FRANK,
LEAVE THE HAMSTER LOVER ALONE!!!!HE CAN'T HELP HIMSELF!
AND IT WAS $26K HE PAID FOR HIS C55

Anaheim_Drew

FRANK,
What does his suspension have to do with the oil leak... ON TOP, and the Sunshade problem? NOTHING...

FrankW

of course it has nothing to do with the oil leak, but remember they will check for problems when you take it in to the dealership and they'll report it to you when they find problems. From what Bryan said right now, looks like eithre the dealership tech is very dumb or they are trying to rip him off.

preyx

Well, my mom went down there and talked to the service guy again for a more detailed explanation again. Apparently it's probably not only the shocks, but some other parts that have worn as well.

I had talked with my mom last night and said that if it has been determined that my suspension mods have been directly responsible for the damage, I would be willing to change it back to stock. This is only logical considering that $400 in mods causing $800+ in damage (this is in labor costs alone!) is not a very good payoff...

Although the service guy wouldn't say to my mom that the mods (springs and sways) were directly responsible, he did explain that putting stiff suspension parts on a car not really designed to handle it would increase the wear-and-tear factor a fair amount. This reasoning I can accept, but I've never EVER heard anybody on the forums mentioning that their springs/shocks/cup-kits/coil-overs have ever caused any major suspension failures on this scale.

To be totally honest I do believe that my drifting did play a role in this. The meet wasn't the only place I've drifted, although the other few times I have tried it I usually did it in the rain. I really don't drift everywhere I go, but obviously without some more serious mods, the frame and suspension isn't really designed to handle those kinds of loads. This I am willing to accept, and if this was more significant than the effect from the parts, then I'm also willing to stop drifting the car as well.

I'm still wondering as to which parts they have changed, but it sounds like something way beyond the shocks. They're not going to change my springs and sways, but I am now seriously considering just going back to stock to hopefully prevent such problems from recurring.

PS - If it really is the way I drive my car that's the major factor, I have learned my lesson: save such driving for the Skyline GT-R I dream of buying in the future! :p

psk145

damn Im glad I read this. I better not put a suspension on my car or else the brake light might stop working with all the increased wear and tear.