Poor quality work when brake work done; Nasty surprise last night

WylieCoyote

WylieCoyote

Joined
Jun 8, 2016
Messages
3,224
Location
Texas, USA
Been thinking about a good weekend to spend doing some maintenance on the Canyon. Mainly a coolant flush and replace the serpentine belt, at 8 years and 75,000 miles, I figure it's time. I stepped outside last night in the dark with my flashlight, raised the hood to look at the condition of the serpentine belt, and heard the sound of something plastic falling. I glanced toward the firewall where the sound came from to see that the brake fluid reservoir had no cap on it. Looking closer, I found it laying on the cowl cover. I guess the headliner got slammed on it and it was temporarily stuck there. I guess I'm lucky it didn't get lost. Naturally, there was fluid on some things below the reservoir, and the fluid in the reservoir was very brown. I struggled to remember the last time I was even under the hood of the truck, because it hasn't really been driven much lately, and I had just changed the oil the first weekend in June. It has made a couple of 160 mi round trips to my mother-in-law's farm in August and September. It got a brake job during the second week of June, and it occurred to me that I haven't been under the hood since then. The fine folks at Caliber Auto Repair left it off when they did the brake job. In June. So I immediately got out the compressor and my vacuum evacuator and emptied the reservoir, and refilled with some fresh DOT 4.

I just don't know where to turn for competent auto service anymore. The shop that's been handling my Shadow's issues really stubbed their toe recently, keeping the car for nearly 2 months battling a fuel leak, with all sorts of excuses of why they can't get to it, and why they're having so much trouble fixing a simple issue. Now the folks that I paid good money for a brake job can't be bothered to replace the brake fluid reservoir cap. I have a hard time justifying $195 an hour for this level of incompetence. Do I need to just buy my own shop with a lift and tools and do everything myself? It's really looking that way.

Got out in the garage after a full day's work today and did a brake fluid swap on the truck, so as far as I can tell, no harm done. It's just the principal of the thing. Is it really this difficult to get good service anymore? I feel like I'm throwing money out the window on people that don't deserve the wage they're getting.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So- I assume on here no ones' ever made a mistake on this board? Yea-it sucks to have a cap left off. But assuming everything else was done correctly......you are looking for a pattern of incompetency from a given shop-not a one off mistake.
If you would have taken it back and told them what happen maybe they would have bled the brakes for you.
 
That too bad. A relative of mine worked for one of the areas best shops. They were bought out by Caliber Collision and their quality went way down the tubes. He couldn't take it any longer and left after many years.
 
Even the best folks make mistakes. Yes, a savvy consumer has to weigh those things - repeat mistakes is no good. One here and there, ok. I learned with our jeep/Chrysler dealer, which I had to use for warranty, to Never drive out of the service carport before thoroughly looking over every area they would have worked on. *every* time it was in, they forgot something or broke something else. one day they had to bring it back to me 3 times before I drove it out. That is not a dealer I would voluntarily use for service.
 
WylieCoyote said:
Been thinking about a good weekend to spend doing some maintenance on the Canyon. Mainly a coolant flush and replace the serpentine belt, at 8 years and 75,000 miles, I figure it's time. I stepped outside last night in the dark with my flashlight, raised the hood to look at the condition of the serpentine belt, and heard the sound of something plastic falling. I glanced toward the firewall where the sound came from to see that the brake fluid reservoir had no cap on it. Looking closer, I found it laying on the cowl cover. I guess the headliner got slammed on it and it was temporarily stuck there. I guess I'm lucky it didn't get lost. Naturally, there was fluid on some things below the reservoir, and the fluid in the reservoir was very brown. I struggled to remember the last time I was even under the hood of the truck, because it hasn't really been driven much lately, and I had just changed the oil the first weekend in June. It has made a couple of 160 mi round trips to my mother-in-law's farm in August and September. It got a brake job during the second week of June, and it occurred to me that I haven't been under the hood since then. The fine folks at Caliber Auto Repair left it off when they did the brake job. In June. So I immediately got out the compressor and my vacuum evacuator and emptied the reservoir, and refilled with some fresh DOT 4.

I just don't know where to turn for competent auto service anymore. The shop that's been handling my Shadow's issues really stubbed their toe recently, keeping the car for nearly 2 months battling a fuel leak, with all sorts of excuses of why they can't get to it, and why they're having so much trouble fixing a simple issue. Now the folks that I paid good money for a brake job can't be bothered to replace the brake fluid reservoir cap. I have a hard time justifying $195 an hour for this level of incompetence. Do I need to just buy my own shop with a lift and tools and do everything myself? It's really looking that way.

Got out in the garage after a full day's work today and did a brake fluid swap on the truck, so as far as I can tell, no harm done. It's just the principal of the thing. Is it really this difficult to get good service anymore? I feel like I'm throwing money out the window on people that don't deserve the wage they're getting.
Click to expand...
Blame it on the "thing" we can't mention here that happened a couple years ago.. Almost seems like the so-called "professionals" took that as an excuse to perform even worse work than they had before that "thing"..

Our eyes as DIY'ers really have been opened lately spotting this terrible excuse for quality work. Yes I know there are decent tech/mechanics out there, but they are in the minority! Yes it would be better for you to do your own work. At least when you screw up you'd at least be honest and correct it!

I think the way society is going it's only going to get worse. Best part is you know how to fix stuff yourself! Not only was it corrected this time but on other jobs in the future you save all that $$$ you might pay for incompetence!
 
My BIL of 45 yrs or so has taught me a lot of stuff like brakes and suspension parts. I developed a fair amount of proficiency in 20 yrs of constant 528e maintenance. All performed in my driveway. I may go to a dlr for parts,but haven't yet. The blue Camry is approaching 100k, so I wanna get it up in the air intending to do a pad slap and inspect front end/stuff including cv joints. Disc brakes are a cinch and Camry how to videos are plentiful. That's the first step for any new procedures :cool:
 
walterjay said:
That too bad. A relative of mine worked for one of the areas best shops. They were bought out by Caliber Collision and their quality went way down the tubes. He couldn't take it any longer and left after many years.
Click to expand...
But yet they are the largest body shops nationally........with many locations. I refuse to believe that all their work is subpar.
 
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