Car trouble

[torco]

Hi,

 

I took my van in today to Canadian tire not my normal mechanic for a coolant flush. My wife accidentally put the washer fluid into the coolant reservoir Which is really not a huge deal an honest mistake it was dark.

 

Anyways my issue is this they just left me a message that said one of my front tie rods is extremely loose and dangerous and needs to be replaced. Its possible its a 5 year vehicle about 70,000 km on it but I am not sure I should trust Canadian Tire? I am wondering if I should say no thanks and take it to my regular mechanic tomorrow.

[Roy]

Take it to your regular mechanic and tell him you'd like the tie rods, ball joints etc checked.

[Big Cliff]

my wife took her car in to CTC once, they told her it needed all sorts of stuff and it wasn't safe to drive. I called the service manager back and told him to go ahead with the repairs but I wanted ALL the used parts because I was going to go after someone.

 

All of a sudden the car was safe to drive and the repairs were "only reccomended" repairs, not actually necessary ones. I had the car checked out by our mechanic the next day and none of the repairs they had told my wife needed to be done were necessary.

 

I had an engine rebuilt one time by CTC. On top of everything else they told me I needed my rad replaced but they could put a recored one in for me which they did. Two weeks later I took the car back because the rad was leaking and the engine was making strange noises. They rebuilt the engine again (this time under warranty) and installed a NEW rad and charged me for it because they said my rad was shot. Should have seen the look on their faces when I produced the recipt for the re built rad they had just put in two weeks before and refused to pay for the new one.

 

I wouldn't take a car to CTC ever again.

[jimmer]

RUN! Take it to someone you trust, chances are it doesn't need to be replaced.

[torco]

thanks all, I told them to just do the flush as requested and I will take it to my mechanic who I actually trust.

Kind of annoying, I only brought it in for a specific purpose and did not ask them to do an inspection of my vehicle. When they called back again, they also said the brakes needed to be done which I know is not true.

[Big Cliff]

Too bad you don't live in Lindsay, I happen to know a VERY good and honest mechanic here!

[kemper]

Keep your car as far from CTC as possible. I took mine there once because I needed a repair on a Saturday, and it was a complete fiasco that ended in me booting it to Partsource and doing it myself in the driveway.

 

Also depending on what you drive it isn't surprising that a tie rod would fail. Newer Chev/Pontiac cars like the G5/Cobalt have suspension components that are made of dust, a friend of mine had a Cobalt with 40,000km and every bushing in the front end had essentially disintegrated.

[bigbuck]

Cdn Tire is fine for oil changes and very basic maintenance as well as E Tests. Beyond that, I'd take it to an independant shop. Unfortunately, the mechanics seem to be paid by piece work so the more they generate the more they make so they go looking for and create problems. Brakes are easy picking, tell someone their brakes are shot and most times they will get them done on the spot. Brakes take less time than the book calls for so the mechanic has more time to hose other folks. Just have your normal mechanic take a good look at the front end and have him check the brakes just to make sure.

[DRIFTER_016]

Cdn Tire is fine for oil changes and very basic maintenance as well as E Tests. Beyond that, I'd take it to an independant shop. Unfortunately, the mechanics seem to be paid by piece work so the more they generate the more they make so they go looking for and create problems. Brakes are easy picking, tell someone their brakes are shot and most times they will get them done on the spot. Brakes take less time than the book calls for so the mechanic has more time to hose other folks. Just have your normal mechanic take a good look at the front end and have him check the brakes just to make sure.

 

I wouldn't trust them to do oil changes either. An old employer of mine did and 100kms from home the drain plug fell out in the middle of no where.

[DanD]

I wouldn't trust them to do oil changes either. An old employer of mine did and 100kms from home the drain plug fell out in the middle of no where.

 

It’s not to often you get an actual mechanic doing the oil changes at places like CTC or the dealerships. They have kids or want-too-be Techs working for minimum wage in the lube rack. You know the type of guy; he can fix anything and do it cheaper, while he’s sitting on a bar room stool.

 

I run an independent shop and yea I’ve heard all the horror stories about CTC; but guys don’t always blame the Technicians. They’re only following the rules set out by the service advisors and the service manager; that’s to produce or find a new place to work. I had a good friend of mine work there for about a month; he was told if anything might require servicing, he was to inform his advisor.

He would hand in his work sheet with notes of things like brakes 30% remaining; small amount of play found in this or that; the vehicle could use this and so on.

The advisor (most times they are not a Tech but a sales person) takes over and tries to sell the jobs, using whatever tactic they have in their arsenal. Things like that 30% of remaining brakes are now completely shot and are dangerous; scare the customer into the repair. I can’t count how many ways that tactic is wrong; but they do it all the time and when caught with their pants around their ankles, they blame the Tech.

There has always been a big turn over of Technical staff at CTC; not to many of us professional Technicians can stomach it for to long.

 

Dan.

[torco]

Yeah I only went to CT because it seemed straight forward and is short walk to my work, my trusted mechanic is a little further out of the way. Anyways I plan to bring it to them in the next couple days to see whats what.

Basically CT confirmed why I was always leary to go there.