That's so true. Honestly most women don't know squat about cars. Now don't get me wrong I've met plenty that know a lot. My mother is an auto junkie. Grown up around cars though. I hate that people take advantage of women. When my wife was buying her first Mazda I had to leave work early as I felt uncomfortable letting her go and deal with the salesmen herself. Always feel as if they are going to throw something in there that she doesn't understand. I hope this isn't the case for you but it sure sounds that way.

 

A brief note, without stealing the thread......


About 15 years ago, I participated in a survey for GM regarding dealer service.

GM discovered that women were 4 times more likely to pay for repairs that were not warranted or did not correct the issue/complaint.

GM attempted to resolved this with the flagrant dealers. Some complied, some did not. I think a few of them are no longer in business. But some are....unfortuneately.

 

I'm going to try to reply to all of you at once.

I am female and I do not know much about how the HHR operates.

The repairs were as follows:

Repair #1- my mechanic: Transmission controller replaced: Part #24252114

I also had him replace the battery

At that point the TCM could not be programmed at his shop and that is why I had to have it towed to the dealer.

At the dealer:

Programmed the TCM
J#1 07BUZ01

then the diagnoses quoted from work order

J#2+05BUZ07 SES Light on Labour cost 534.60

Customer states: Check engine light is on. DTC P0013. Internal Failure of Camshaft Actuators. Replaced Camshaft Actuators and Solenoids.

Parts listed for this job are as follows:

1 - 12578515 Actuator 0.736 $184.99
1 - 12621505 Actuator 0.736 $143.79
2 - 11588844 Bolt 0.736 $ 8.26
1 - 12646783 VALVE 0.736 $55.06
1 - 12646784 VALVE 0.736 $55.06
1 - 24435052 GASKET 0.207 $45.82
1 - 12584041 SEAL 0.213 $12.25
1 - 12598014 GASKET KIT 0.529 $38.14

Total Parts: $534.37

I hope this helps?

My main question at this point is do any of the above items/repairs possibly cause an oil leak? The Firestone guy may not be right about this. If it isn't due to the repair, I don't really want to go with the dealer if I don't have to. They are very expensive.

RE: cost of dealer, possibly ripping me off. I know this can happen and believe me I know that as a woman I am more likely to get this treatment. I'm handicapped by not really understanding this car as well as I have others in the past. All the computer modules, etc, are not in my area of knowledge. The dealer quoted the job out of his 'book', so I don't know that there IS any wiggle room there. They charge what they charge, don't they? Regardless of how much time it actually takes?? He said it was a lengthy complicated repair, now whether that is true or whether he just wanted to be able to take his time or work on it when convenient, I don't know. Ya'll know more about that than I do. I will look at the actuator repair, actually I think I already have and it doesn't look complicated, no. But what about selenoids and valves??

Anyway, thanks, the repair that's done is water under the bridge, but I am very concerned about my car losing oil and wonder if the dealer caused this or if I just need to bite the bullet and take it to a competent mechanic? If the dealer caused it, I want him to make good on the repair. If not, I am not interested in dealing with the dealer.

He has agreed to look at the car again on Wednesday.

Thanks to all of you, hopefully the information I typed will help you help me?

hollym

 

Well, according to the parts listed above, it looks like they removed the timing chain cover as well as the valve cover, to replace the camshaft sprockets/gears.

Normally I would not expect that specific work to be done for the P0013 code.

But, at this point your oil leak will definitely be from either the valve cover or the timing chain cover, since that is what they replaced.

Go back to the dealer that did the work. The work will be guaranteed - they should fix it at no additional cost to you.

Tip for you in the future: Whenever you get repairs done, ask to have the old used parts they replace returned to you. It helps keep them honest.

 

And if you are still getting that p0013, the problem with the solenoids is still not fixed - back to the dealer.

 

Thank you!! That is what I thought from talking to friends and Firestone, but ya'll are sort of my be all reference for this stuff. I really appreciate the time you all take to help me out with things. THANKS!!!!

 

Thanks for jumping in, Whopper. I was about to search the part numbers when I saw your post. Sure helped to understand what (not WHY) the dealer repaired.

Holly.....

If you continue to experience a problem with the dealer, I would suggest contacting the Customer Service representative on this site. She may be able to help and expedite your resolution. And there is always the Customer Service Number in the back of the Owners Manual. When you contact them, ask to escalate the issue to a supervisor or field engineer.

Be firm but polite. You are the one with the improper work from the dealer.

 

Good points there Snoopy. The key being to escalate, escalate, escalate. I'd suggest calling the Service MANAGER, and running the issue by him along the lines of:
- paid good money for repairs, yet still have the issue with the p0013 code, as well as a massive oil leak, and would like them to resolve the issues. If that falls on deaf ears, ESCALATE - speak to the manager of the dealership.

I'm still suspect on the need for the camshaft sprockets, and BOTH solenoids - that just doesn't sound right to me, unless there were other codes thrown as well.

But whatever you do when escalating, keep it calm, cool, and professional. We had another poster some time back (also a female), but she was WAY emotional and wigged out over her problems with the car (her facebook postings were outright scary LOL). If you speak to the service manager, ask for his help - people are more inclined to go the extra mile for someone that asks for their help.

Best of luck - do keep us posted. :)

 

It just seems to me that those repairs may not have all been needed. It seems like they just took advantage. T/C is usually caused by the actuators, but only one would have been bad IMO. Mine was under warranty for labor and I paid $120 for the part.

Makes you wonder.

Also, is there another dealer in your area? it might be wise to have it all looked over to see if there was damage, parts not tightened properly, un-needed work done, etc.

I also agree with the 'give me the old part' advice. If you suspect foul play, it's good to have evidence, and also, They're your parts; good or bad.

 

Remember when 60 minutes did the story years ago about unneeded repairs. They went and marked perfectly good parts with a grease pencil. They found almost 90% of the places they took their test car to were falsifying repairs. Some places still practice this.