Just venting, with a couple of questions.
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A friend asked me to look at the brakes on her 96 Escort, 1.9L, Auto
Trans. I had told her recently it needed front pads and rotors and
possibly calipers (135,000 miles, pad backing was becoming one with the
rotors). She is in financial straits and I told her to get the parts and
buy me lunch for the labor. She had someone else slam pads on it. She
was getting noise and vibration, of course, and asked if I could fix it
properly. At first I refused, then my soft heart got the better of me.
She dropped the car off and I started on a couple of hours later.
When I cranked the engine to move the car into the bay it would not
start and sounded like the timing belt had let go, you know the sound.
It eventually fired and ran on ~3 cylinders and had a steady tapping. (I
can vouch that it was running ok when she dropped it off, therein lies
the rub). I pushed it clear of the shop and called her. I never even
looked at the brakes.
I "think" her engine dropped a valve seat, as I've seen this on a
couple of Escort\Tracers.Although, not enough for this to be a "common"
concern. If anyone has seen this, is there usually any indication
beforehand? Is it pretty common? I always see this kind of thing after
the failure.
Of course she thinks I "did something" to her car. She wouldn't let me
check it out closer than I had. Not that I wanted to do a free diag of
this sort of concern. She's having it towed somewhere to have a
"professional" look at it.(I was a Ford Master Tech until I blew my back
out, so she can bite me for that comment).
I feel bad that the car died at my doorstep. But I feel worse that a
friend thinks I sabotaged her car. Can anyone offer suggestions on how
to handle this situation?
I'm tempted to file this in the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" file
and tell her to go F___ herself, but I don't really want to do that, I'm
not that way usually.
Any input is appreciated, Tom
db...@sprynet.com
you... you can take the car back and do a complete brake job and then
fix the timing belt and the valve?? and one week later the starter might
go out and she will blame you... if you are a mech or used to be one you
should be used to that..... the last one who had it when it ran right is
the one we blame when something goes bad.... never in a million years
are you gonna get this person to say to themself that this car is junk
and i never took care of it so that is the reason i have the problems
with this car...
Remo von Dach
c palmer
no matter what happens or happened to the car she is gonna blame it on
you... you can take the car back and do a complete brake job and then
fix the timing belt and the valve?? and one week later the starter might
go out and she will blame you... if you are a mech or used to be one you
should be used to that..... the last one who had it when it ran right is
the one we blame when something goes bad....
ain't it the truth........ i got cured of helping friends and others
for free with i was 19. i was very good at what i did in mechanical
work at the time. (long before the hi tech that's on cars now) all
cars were basically the same. i did a friend a favor and gave his 59
chevy with a 348 a tune up. it was just plugs and points. he ripped
out the rear end the following week and guess was getting the blame for
it??
the final cure came from my own brother and his wife. his car, 1969
ford 302, needed a tune up really bad and they were going to drive it
back home - a 1000 mile trip. so, good old me, did a great job, and my
brother even helped me put the parts in.............only to have the car
develop a crack in a cast iron intake manifold two weeks later. guess
who got blamed for cracking their manifold.
and it just doesn't stop there. i owned a video store. i've had them
come back telling me, that my tape ate their VCR.....huh? or it was my
video tape that caused their tv to go bad because the video was playing
on the tv when it went out.
and i owned a coined laundry. they put 18 pairs of very dirty blue
jeans in one washer, put one small box of soap in, and guess who gets
blamed because the clothes didn't come clean. or put reds and whites
together and blame my washer because they have pink whites.
the list goes on, and on. but the best one was when they called the
emergency number to report the washer was on fire. they had put 22
pairs of jeans, some shirts and other clothes in one washer and
overloaded it big time. the belt was slipping and causing the smoke.
they thought the washer was on fire and were highly upset because they
were afraid their clothes were going to caught on fire.
hello.........the clothes are wet and in water..........here's your
sign........
~ curtis
knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
SSaund9084
year at 143,000. Really was my wife's car. It became mine when the valve seat
broke and she bought a new car. Cost $110, at the local machine shop, to fix.
The new timing belt is a stright forward job once the plastic, inner fender is
removed from the passenger side wheel well. You need to support the engine with
an extra scissors jack while you remove the passenger side engine mount. It's a
real good idea to replace the water pump now, with that kind of milage. I got
mine on ebay. Was new, in the box for $15. A remanufactured pump is $24 at
Autozone but it doesn't have the idler pulley for the timing belt with it. I
had another '95 Escort wear that pulley out and burned up it's timing belt. The
idler pulley is a dealer item and will cost $90 !! Oop's, might as well change
the radiator hoses and heater core hoses as long as the water pump is off. The
lower hose is a bitch to replace unless you're already in there. The job just
gets bigger and bigger. Maybe a new thermostat too. It's kind of a bitch too,
under the ignition coils. Be very careful with those tiny 4mm screws for the
thermostat housing. They have been in that aluminum head for years and they
DON'T want to come out. Have 174,000 on the car now. Think it is worth it.
I also have two daughters with matching Ford Probes. You get used to getting
blamed for fixes that don't go just right.
Scott
Ssaun...@aol.com