I took my truck into Express Lube needing a rear main seal replaced. While on the way home, I made the mistake of mentioning that I might need a clutch. They told me the seal would be replaced and I'd have my truck back late that day or early the next.
I spoke to them at the end of the first day, and they said they'd had trouble getting the rear main seal, so they hadn't done any work on my truck that day. They said it would be the end of the second day when I got my vehicle back. Halfway through the second day they called me and said it did, in fact, need a clutch. I inspected the old clutch disc personally and I believe it would have been fine.
However, since the transmission was off and the disc had 175,000 miles on it, I decided to let them replace the whole clutch. They charged me and additional $270 for the parts alone. I was quoted $150 for a clutch right after I got the truck, so I wonder where the extra $120 came from.
Labor to remove the transmission was almost $400 as it was. I do not see charing an extra $120 to install a clutch in addition to the $150 the clutch should have cost.
I called them at the end of the second day, and miraculously they had had some problems getting the parts—again! Then they had "simply run out of time" and decided to keep my truck a third day.
I got my vehicle back the third day, and that's when the real fun began. I drove it a bit, and I felt something vibrating the floorboard. A couple of days later I took it back in and told them something was loose. They had it in the shop for about 30 minutes, and I heard the mechanic tighten at least three different things. He showed me a guard that had not been bolted back up, and then he bolted it up.
The floorboard stopped shaking, but something began to squeak loudly under the frame and there is a very loud rattle. I took the vehicle back a couple of days after that, and I told the mechanic that the rattle was intermittent. He drove my truck around the block and put it in the shop for about five minutes. He then told me that my catalytic converter (the cat) had something loose inside it, and he could install a "straight pipe" in place of the two cats to eliminate the rattle.
I told him that I'd moved the guards around and it stopped the rattle for a while. He said no, that had been tightened and it had to be the cats. I got under the vehicle later and put my hand on the muffler. When I pushed on that, I could see the exhaust pipe that comes from the engine raise up off the frame where it was mounted by at least a quarter inch.
First off, if the cats had loose stuff in them, it would emit a muffled rattle. Second, you CANNOT remove the cats from a fuel injected vehicle with the OBD-II system and expect it to run correctly. These mechanics should know this. Third, if they have so much trouble getting clutch parts (which are very common), how long will it take them to get an exhaust pipe!?
I'm sick of having to take my truck back every couple of days. I'm not going to go in there and get nasty with them over it. I shouldn't have to. I spent $780 on a clutch, a rear main seal, and an oil change, and for that price I expect my vehicle to run the way it's supposed to—not to rattle loud enough to wake the dead. I also expect the work to be guaranteed for, say, 30 days or something, but these folks simply will not fix their mistakes.
DO NOT have your car worked on at Express Lube and Auto sales. This shop was good for oil changes when it was Tune Up Masters, but I wouldn't take any vehicle within fifty feet of the place now. They WILL break stuff on your car, and they will not fix it when they do. They won't even admit that they have broken something.
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