After a 160,000 miles of excellent care and maintence, PepBoys has successfully managed to cause some damage to my 1991 Mazda Miata, and are not able to pinpoint it. They put a bad part in during a simple repair (valve cover gasket) which escalated into hesitation during acceleration, loud rattling and hard to start. There was oil sludge all over everything under the hood. It really was a mess. It took about a month for the car to start acting up after the repair (granted I only drove the car 120 miles in that month).

After diagnosing the car, they have replaced the bad valve cover gasket, sparkplugs and wires, camshaft position sensor and coil and continue to give it back to me in the same condition. I don't know what else it could possibly be, just that my car had no problems until after the oil change/valve cover gasket repair. What else could the bad part have damaged?

I found this forum trying to diagnose the problem myself, before I take the car back a fourth, or is it fifth day.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

I would check all vaccum lines or anything that draws a vaccum. That would cause the simptoms you describe. The rattle is probably caused by the rough idle. You maybe sucking air into your fuel lines but i doubt it. It is easy to check

 

a vacuum leak might cause these issues, but i'm not 100% convinced on that one.

associated with the work;
check the crankcase vent and see if they reconnected the line. also, check to see if the intake tubing is in good shape. they may have punctured it while working on the car.

not associated with the work;
check fuel pressure and check compression. is there any smoke involved?

 

also, take it somewhere else to get work done. i think that is reasonable at this point.

 

Just got my car back. Unfixed So pepboys has diagnosed the problem as the catalytic converter. I checked online and sure enough, this seems right.

"Driveability symptoms such as a drop in fuel economy, lack of high speed power, rough idle or stalling are classic symptoms of excessive backpressure due to a plugged converter." http://www.aa1car.com/library/converter.htm


It's unfixed because Pepboys does not fix catalytic converters. This KILLS me because there was NOTHING wrong with mine until my engine sucked all the oil into the valve guides and who knows where else, and it would not have done this had the valve cover gasket been done correctly the first time. It ruined my plugs and wires, causeing the misfire and higher emissions damaging the converter.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/oil_consumption.htm


They are adament that the bad cover gasket which ruined all those other parts has absolutely nothing to do with clogging my catalytic converter.


So, I guess I'm on the hunt for a new mechanic and a new catalytic converter. Aye yi yi

 

After getting a new cat welded in yesterday, there has been zero change in car performance. Car takes three or four tries before it starts up, then is rough idling at between 500 and 1,000 rpms, still hesitates on acceleration, loud rattling .... OC Muffler says bring it back to Pep Boys and have them fix whatever the problem is because my new cat will be ruined within a month if the misfire isn't solved. Oh, and there is a slight white smoke from the latest time I picked it up, wich I couldn't tell then because it was raining. I only noticed this as I was driving to the muffler shop. I have a new radiator that the dealer put in, andd my car isn't loosing coolant. Could it be steam, and if so, why would it be from under the hood? I HATE bringing this back to PepBoys but I'm a fulltime student, who just coughed up over $300 for a new cat that made no change, so spending money on another mechanic is not feasible! :-(

ideas anyone?

 

well to be honest those auto companys will not really try to fix anything unless you get nasty with them it sucks but thats what you have to do if your car is idleing ruff the check engin light should be on or atleast flash and if so they can put a computer on it and find out what the problem is but they need to fix it so if they dont just tell them you will go to b.a.r. beuro of auto repair if you tell them that they will get it fix and quick anyways good luck

 

wow, thanks so much for the tip. I had never even heard of the Bureau of automotive repair.

I went back after getting the cat installed and told them it wasn't the problem and they basically told me they had no idea what the problem was and that I needed to take my car to the dealer for diagnosis. They said after the dealer diagnoses the problem, bring the diagnosis back to them and if it is something they caused then they will fix it.

OF COURSE they caused it. There's no doubt in my mind. My car was great, no problems until this last oil change/valve repair. I'm already out $for the cat, now I'm going to be out another $150 from the dealer just so I can have the Manager at Pepboys MAYBE agree to fix it?

my car is not giving off a check engine signal -it never has (except on start up as it supposed to). I'm stumped. And I'm perturbed that they won't accept another certified mechanics diagnosis, there are 3 mobile certified mechanics in my area who will diagnose fully with printed scans for 75.

I think i'm just going to go straight through the BAR and stop wastinng time trying to get them to help me.

 

i use to be a tech at a speed shop and any time someone even said the name bar we would crap our pants lol. good luck

 

I am a certified mechanic and really am against anyone working on my vehicles besides me so am a bit of a biased opinion. That being said, whenever I go to pick up parts through PepBoys and am waiting at the service counter I am amazed at the complete lack of knowledge and ability of their staff. On my last visit I stood and watched as the service manager explained to a mom and her daughter that her car's brakes were not under warranty although they installed them earlier that day and the rotors vibrated terribly and had zero braking ability. Apparently "PepBoys is not liable to check the rotors unless it's noted on the service sheet when written up" and "we're sorry about the brakes not working, we will look at it". In my opinion complete incompetence on their part and unfortunately can have damaging (if not life threatening) affects on their unknowing customers.