I took my vehicle to the Randolph AFB Firestone location to have an oil leak checked and fixed. They added an oil leak detection dye to make sure where the leak was coming from. They said the leak was coming from the camshaft seal and since that seal needed to be replaced I should go ahead and replace about five more seals and the all the belts since in order to get to the damaged seal all those items would need to be taken apart. The vehicle has 109,000 miles on it so it made perfect since to me to go ahead and take care of it now and save on extra costs in the future.
AND SO THE NIGHTMARE BEGAN; I get my car back supposedly fixed. A couple days later I notice oil spots on my driveway, I get under the car and it was leaking from the same spot. As I am driving back to Firestone to get them to fix the leak again, the belts they installed start making noise. I tell them what’s going on and they say they will take care of it. That day I get a call back from Steve the service manager saying they can’t see a leak anywhere and maybe it’s just residue oil from the old leak. I pick up the vehicle and as soon as I drive into my driveway I get under the vehicle and see a drop of oil coming from the same location. I take the vehicle back the next day and they say they will take care of it. I call back later in the day to find out what’s going on (at this point all the conversations I had with the service manager Steve and the manager Bill where initiated by me since they never had the courtesy to call me and give updates) and they say the leak is coming from the oil filter gasket. They would have to order the part and it would not arrive until Friday. They finally get the part and they finish installing it by Monday. Guess what happens next; the car is steal leaking oil. I call the firestone corporate offices and the District manager Roy calls me. I explain everything that has happened he apologizes and tells me to take the car back to them and he will make sure it gets fixed. They redo all the work they initially did, I was told to pick up my vehicle at 5:30pm, by the time they got done it was 7:45pm and there I was waiting. I run the vehicle for a couple of days and what a “shock” (not really)! The car is still leaking oil, its making a loud noise and is completely out of timing. I call the district manager and we agree to take the care to another Firestone location on FM 78. When I take them the car and they take it apart it was like they had let a 6 year old kid play mechanic with my car. The camshaft seal was still leaking, they did not install a screw on the oil pump so there was even more oil leaking, the timing belt was installed incorrectly to the point that the timing arrows where at complete opposites of each other and the newly installed pulley had to be replaced because of damage, and to top it off, they had left a belt loose which was scraping against the oil pump and had damaged it to the point that it needed to be replaced.
I finally got some competent individuals at this Firestone location and they fixed everything on the vehicle. Since there were parts damaged due to the incompetence and unprofessionalism of the Randolph AFB Firestone mechanics, they had to order them and it took an extra 4 days to finally get my car back. This time it was fixed correctly and I have had no issues with it so far.
In summary, it took them 37 days to fix an oil leak and caused additional damage to my car. The fact that this location mainly serves the military is shameful. You would think they would have the most competent people working there but they obviously have what was left over from whatever mechanic school they graduated from. Apparently they got there technician licenses and customer service skills from a cereal box. Do not use this location unless you want your vehicle to fall apart the moment you leave their shop.
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