The Consumer Complaints Blog

Jim’s Auto Repair
Hamilton Rd,
London, On
CA

I have an old sportscar. It is German. It had a blown head gasket, clouds of white smoke out the tailpipe. The son said no problem. $700. I have all parts already.

Then when I talked to the owner, the dad: he told me he can’t do it for $700 and quoted $1000.00.

I had the head gasket replaced, water pump, timing belt and tentioner and the starter all replaced with new product.

The bill was $1030.00.

I went to pick up my car and they told me I need new plugs, as the engine was running on 5 out of 6 cylinders!

The washer pump did not work now (I had to re solder the wires they tore out) They did not understand why I had wires running into my hood…(heated washer jets)and they lost the retaining nut for my washer tank and -get this… they crammed foam into the engine bay.

Coolant was pouring out of one hose clamp…but I was told it was not leaking as they tested it.

I picked up new plugs and had them install… no change. Then they claimed after “testing” that there was only 60 psi on cylinder #4 and that it was dead.

Nothing they could do. I was told to buy an additive to free “stuck” rings.

I took my car to another garage and they found the compression to be 165 psi across all 6 cylinders, and that the injector was plugged. I replaced it and all was good for about 3 days…

The same thing happened.

Replaced the injector again and 4 days later… back to square one.

I inquired at many shops why my engine was doing this, and a main tech from my dealership told me there is only two likely reasons, first the head could be warped or cracked… or the gasket was improperly replaced. I am getting the engine inspected to find out the cause.

Jim’s Auto aslo did not bother to plane down the heads… Jim claimed he tested with a straight edge and it was only out .004″ well within spec. So he decided not to send it out to be re surfaced.

The mounting for the brand new water pump was also stripped and had to be re tapped at my expence.

All in all I spent about $2000 in labour and parts to have the head gasket blow again only 3 months later!

Jim said it is not his problem.

He feels that he did his job right.

Don’t ever take anything to Jim’s Auto.

Not only could they not even diagnose a simple injector fouling but their workmanship is very poor!

I heard from a neibour that they also scammed them.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.