squidlb

Okay so I have a 2000 Acura TL. 118,000. Last saturday, the car was driving perfectly fine. No problems whatsoever. Then at night, i was driving home, on the freeway interchange, its a large left turn. The steering wheel accidentally slipped out of my hand, and the car hit the side wall and bounced off. The passenger airbag in the chair deployed. I got off the freeway to see the damage. The rim was scuffed up and the alignment was WAY out of way. And just a scrape on the side of the fender. It was drivable so i drove it home. It still felt perfectly fine, the only thing noticeable was that it needed an alignment. None of my lights were on except the Maintenance light. The next day i took it to Firestone because my company does business with them so we trade services. This is what I was charged for:
Oil filter, R/F Ball Joint Adjuster, L/R Caber(Camber?) Arm Adjuster, Trans Flush, OE Trans Fluid Modifier, Air Filter, New tires, Wheel Weights. Everything totaled to $994.00. I picked up the car and first thing i noticed was the Check Engine light and TCS Light on and wouldnt go off. I drove the car down a block and i noticed it idled REALLY rough. And up till 3k RPMs, it felt like it didnt want to accelerate. In higher RPMs it felt fine. Then at 50+ the car would shake when i let off the gas for a second then get smooth again. I went back to them and told them. They cleared the Check engine light and the TCS light stayed on still. He popped the hood, tapped 2 vacuum lines but not changing anything and said "well if the light comes on again let us know."

On the way home, the light came on again, but i just went home because i had to go to work. That was yesterday. Today, the check engine light is blinking constantly and the car shakes even MORE now. The only time it doesnt shake is if im moving and not pressing the gas. When i put it in park, or Neutral, it doesnt shake at all. Did they forget something? Vacuum line? Or is it an axle?

TLsMD

There is really no way for us to know what it is 100%.

If I were you...I would take the car to another mechanic, def not FIRESTONE because they usually dont know crap.

rcb2000

this is your issue, should have never flushed the tranny then to add insult to injury they didn't use the correct fluid, thus the fluid modifier charge.

01tl4tl

Im going to partially agree on the trans- especially with a `modifier` in it
That does not sound like honda atf to me~

of course there may be an issue with bent axle if you hurt the other parts, all that force goes somewhere,,that will make it shake bad

I would go to acura and let them document what was replaced and whats still bad, and get their pro opinion on that fluid issue and trans condition
its pretty high miles to do a 3x3 on it,,,

If dealer says that fluid caused problem then firestone owes you a trans

AlanW

Exactly what did you tell them you wanted done when you left the car?

What does an oil filter, tranmission flush and fluid change and new air filter have to do with suspension problem from scraping the wall???

New tires? How many? All 4?? Was that needed anyway ? If one tire was damaged, did all 4 need replacing??

squidlb

I dropped it off while they were closed so on the paper i put oil change and tires because it was time for servicing. They replaced 2. I HOPE its not the transmission. I was hoping they wouldnt touch the transmission because of what I have read on here. I should have told them NOT to do that because im sure they dont know much about these cars. Could there have been damage to the trans due to the impact? I read another thread on here saying that it could be the "inner axle" because its smooths out when i let off the gas. If i take it to Acura and let them check it out, how much will they charge to document what was replaced and whats still bad? Once i know whats wrong, I can just take it to a different mechanic. After doing all that work on my car and its still running totally shitty, they should do it for free. Afterall, my company has been doing business with them for 15+ years. And one more thing, before i took it in, the brakes needed changing badly. Then when i got in the accident, they didnt sound as bad. Sounded like that had been replaced, but they werent. I thought that was odd.

russianDude

say goodbye to your tranny.... if legally you did not ask them to replace transmission fluid you have to go to acura and get official opinion that fluid caused transmission failure and since it was done without your permission Firestone has to pay for it.
Forget about this forum, didn't you read the manual that you can only put Honda ATF in your tranny?

totaledTL

Why in the world would they do a "Trans Flush", or anything else that you didn't ask for, in the first place?? You just paid the nearly $1000 and left, no questions asked?? I just don't understand that.

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

wow.. you asked for a simple oil change and they did all that for you automatically without your permission?

01tl4tl

there must have been a phone call to the cars owner regarding the suspension parts, and any work that was more than the requested: replace tires and change engine oil

And they didnt talk to you with brake pad measurments and time to replace- thats really bad,,

when a car is dropped off after hours the shop has to make an estimate for needed and the requested repairs, call customer with a price and get ok--if that was not done- you only pay for what you wrote down that you wanted

did they even do an alignment after the new parts?- required after tie rod end and especially after a curb shot--

yes on possible damage to the cv axle assembly--all that energy gets passed thru each part

only work you authorized is what they can charge you for
I ran a shop and know the govt rules on this

they should have discussed what tires you wanted too- not go with the expensive and not great mx because thats what was on it

basically someone decided this was like any other company car--- do what they want, it gets paid without question and...well you know the rest
I can see how finding a car with damaged suspension would lead them to believe you wanted it fixed,,but a call is required

acura will charge you an hour ~$100 to look over the car and document whats done and not done
they cant tell if the trans fluid has done its damage--need an oil analysis and see how it drives,,,or have to risk a real 3x3 to get rid of the fluid

How many Qts of trans fluid did they charge for--that also has to be detailed on the invoice

bl3ujay07

I feel sorry for you. I work for a car rental place that is in contract with firestone. Although they are really cool and stuff, there is no way in hell MY car is ever going there unless i am buying new tires and need them installed.

Even so, they should have called you as they call our work place everytime they plan on doing something else. I.E., tire blew, i never checked how bad it was, took it to them and they said that the whole tire needed to be replaced bc the sidewall was torn. Its not my car, i told them to do what they had to do. They at least had called and told me/us what will need to be done before they did it.