Dealer woes
11-03-2005, 12:01 PM
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Dealer woes
I need advice on how to "talk" with the service manager at the dealership that screwed my car up.
In August I dropped my car off for a re-tension of the TB, and about a week later the power steering started leaking and screeching. This made me stop driving the car until I could look into it a little more. Well make a long story short, I take my wheels off to go get new tires and what do I see-- my PS pump is hanging by the adjusting spar and the last 2" of the mounting bolt. The nut on the end is nowhere to be seen, and the whole thing is wet with PS fluid.
I fire off a terse email to the owner, service manager, and GM of the dealership just sharing my disappointment. Today I get a call form the GM askingme to return his call. So my question is what now?
I expect he gets a goodly number of these calls, and is pretty good at deflecting or killing off these issues all together. Any strategies or suggestions? I REALLY want my car fixed, and don't really trust them anymore, especially after the last problem I had with them.
So lets hear it.
-Heybiff
BTW the dealership is Don Rosen in SE PA.
In August I dropped my car off for a re-tension of the TB, and about a week later the power steering started leaking and screeching. This made me stop driving the car until I could look into it a little more. Well make a long story short, I take my wheels off to go get new tires and what do I see-- my PS pump is hanging by the adjusting spar and the last 2" of the mounting bolt. The nut on the end is nowhere to be seen, and the whole thing is wet with PS fluid.
I fire off a terse email to the owner, service manager, and GM of the dealership just sharing my disappointment. Today I get a call form the GM askingme to return his call. So my question is what now?
I expect he gets a goodly number of these calls, and is pretty good at deflecting or killing off these issues all together. Any strategies or suggestions? I REALLY want my car fixed, and don't really trust them anymore, especially after the last problem I had with them.
So lets hear it.
-Heybiff
BTW the dealership is Don Rosen in SE PA.
11-03-2005, 12:08 PM
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That makes sense
...but I don't even think they will agree that it's their problem. I fully expect that the GM will "help"me to understand that someone else caused it, or the poor condition and age of my car is responsible, or too much tie has passed for them to be responsible.
Heybiff
Heybiff
11-03-2005, 02:07 PM
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I could be wrong but...
...to properly tension the TB and balance shaft belt you must remove the drive belts ( PS+ALT/AC), check tension, reapply drive belts, ad tension them as well.
The bolt on the PS pump would have fallen out if not for the pulley blocking it.
*I* haven't touched it since I put my TB on. *They* have touched it at least twice since then assuming they follow the service manual procedure.
I could be wrong, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Heybiff
The bolt on the PS pump would have fallen out if not for the pulley blocking it.
*I* haven't touched it since I put my TB on. *They* have touched it at least twice since then assuming they follow the service manual procedure.
I could be wrong, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Heybiff
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11-03-2005, 02:49 PM
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Agreed - never show your hand on the first conversation. Explain the situation exactly as you did here, went in for service, week later, etc. Let him make the first move. Go tit-for-tat only as a last resort. Then, lie, deny, make counter-accusations, then threaten to contact GM service at their Corporate office to complain. This will get their attention as they don't want their dealership under the microscope. Honestly, they will have record of what was done and they should take care of it.
11-03-2005, 03:26 PM
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Maybe the mechanic at the dealership didn't have a clue on how the retension the TB? Could have been the first 944 he'd ever worked on and he didn't want to follow the manual.
11-03-2005, 03:43 PM
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The mechanic that tensioned mine, has been working on Porsche's for over 30 years. He used the P9201 tool and did not remove any belts, all that has to be removed is the top belt cover.
Call and talk to the mechanic or have a friend call and find out their procedure for retensioning the TB before mentioning the power steering pump.
Call and talk to the mechanic or have a friend call and find out their procedure for retensioning the TB before mentioning the power steering pump.
Last edited by Charlie; 11-03-2005 at 11:13 PM.
11-03-2005, 10:22 PM
#12
Am I missing something here? You took your 944 to a GM dealership to retension your timing belt? Why not just unload a 44 Magnum into the block? There has to be a better place than that to have work done on your Porsche.... Also, I can't speak for the later cars but on my early 85, it is much more difficult to get the front belt cover off if you don't first remove the Alt/PS belts. If you look you'll see that these belts are very close to the cover.
11-03-2005, 10:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Mike C.
Am I missing something here? You took your 944 to a GM dealership to retension your timing belt? Why not just unload a 44 Magnum into the block? There has to be a better place than that to have work done on your Porsche.... Also, I can't speak for the later cars but on my early 85, it is much more difficult to get the front belt cover off if you don't first remove the Alt/PS belts. If you look you'll see that these belts are very close to the cover.
