Not knowing the competency level of the independent I don't think anyone here could make that call. The dealership will certainly be more expensive to get a diag from but will most likely give you the correct answers. If the independent is good then you should get same for much less.

 

I don't know why anyone would assume that a dealership mechanic would know anymore about a car out of production 8 years than the guy down the street. The mechanics all go to the same trade schools and GM hands certificates out like candy.

My personal experience is that the dealership techs are pretty much useless. YMMV.

It does not matter what shop you go to, the techs work on so many different cars that they don't know anything about specific cars. In my neighborhood, if you have a late model F150 you stand a good chance that they know something.

 

I'm thinking that our dealerships must be quite different than yours. Our dealers are where cars in these parts end up going when local shops are miffed. There are a few good small independent shops but they are few and far between. Some are booked for over a month. I do all of my own work, performance and daily driver wise. The dealerships are the highest paying auto mechanic job if you are a good tech. They also provide benefits that most smaller shops do not. You aren't going to find a master technician level GM technician that is sober and still working on cars outside of a dealer. Interesting the difference there and maybe something the OP should consider in his decision for the second opinion. I would be pretty angry to have a diag from a dealer, pay the huge bill for it, and have no more info than the corner shop.

I do agree on the participation handout ASE certs. Those are a joke. I've helped many a master ASE guy resolve his issues. Especially when it comes to Electrical diag/SRS/ABS/TECH II navigation. For some reason a lot of these guys have a really tough time with CAN bus communication. Although... I would certainly hope that if they could get on that level, they would move on from busting knuckles on cars.


bfegypt13, Keep us up to date on what you find with this one. I am interested in hearing the outcome.

 

Read a few threads here and you will find that dealers throw parts at problems more than most shops. I guess because the parts dept. is right there.

I don't know how many BCMs have been thrown at cars because saying "it's the computer" is scary. Usually a loose/frayed wire or blown fuse; but, there it is on the code reader the fifth most likely thing it could possibly be and the flat rate is 1 hour for 2 bolts and if that doesn't work "no refund on electrical parts".

Yeah they send them to the dealer to get them out of the shop. I knew a guy that worked at 3 different dealer shops in 1 week, he didn't even need a truck to move his tool box just rolled it down the street after getting fired. Ford, GM, Toyota.

You may be living in the past about better pay and benefits. Much of their work is warranty rates.

Not saying independents are better, just cheaper and maybe have a conscience since the customer can actually see them working.

 

I think you will find good and bad on both sides of the table. We could probably argue a lot of things here and it would just be a pointless waste of time. You know people, I know people, you've seen this, I've seen that and so on. I think we will just have to agree to disagree most of the time.

 

Too bad you're so far away...I have a 2.4 out of a 2011...with only 30k. Would sell it for $400.00.

 

Dang, Allen. Ah, well, I have an appointment set up for someone else to look at it, all I told them was that the CEL was on, she was running poorly, and apparently using oil. We'll see what we see.

 

Good luck with that new appt.

It's been said here more than a few times, that if you are gonna swap engines, to look for same year, since some of the connectors & who know what else changes.

 

You know, I saw that and was wondering how it would apply to getting a new/re-manufactured engine? I figure if I do need a replacement, I'd probably rather spend the extra for the new 100k mile warranty and all. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I like to cover the bases.

 

You can't put a 2.4 in a car that had a 2.2 (non VVT). Without major computer work.

I really think the shop is blowing smoke. Pretty rare to kill an engine that fast.