Eddie Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 So I work on cars as a side job. But I this past weekend I just finished another one I wanted to share. A co-worker wanted me to look at his son's car. It's a 1997 ford escort ZX2. He knew I recently did my top end of my engine on my escort. He said the car would run for a little bit and die out. And it was getting worse and worse. His local mechanic was going to charge him $500 to replace the torque converter and said that would fix the problem. So I told him bring it over. It wouldn't even keep running long enough to drive up a small incline into my garage. So the first thing did was pull the codes. It said Variable Control Timing (VCT). I check the fire order it was good. Then I looked at the spark plugs and wires. The plugs were supposed to be gapped at .48 to .52. They were gapped so big I didn't have enough feeler gauges to measure them. But that wasn't it. So, I started checking the timing. It turned out the timing belt was FUCT. 1/4 of the timing belt had no teeth. the car had 129,XXX miles. The belt was supposed to be changed every 60,000 miles. After talking to the guy he said the belt was never change. And he couldn't remember the last the oil, air filter and transmission filter were changed. So, I wound up giving the car a full tune-up and trans filter and oil change after I replaced the timing belt. I can't believe how some people treat the only means of transportation. The oil smelled burnt and was so dirty. The air was done along time ago. And this was the first time I saw tranny oil pitch black in color. He's lucky it didn't really mess up the engine and didn't break down on the freeway. I took a picture of all the timing belt teeth that fell out when I pulled the timing cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04CHASE Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 good ol ca. there are so many care like that here , people would rather just buy another one for 500 than spend the 500 on the one they have to keep it going . in reality if they spent the money the car would pay for itself in the next year. I genarally turn down side jobs like that just becasue i know what i will find and the owner wont want to spend the money to get it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90zxdriver Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I feel your pain. I recently got a 1997 Jetta from my neighbor that has been severely reglected over the years. I don't think anything has ever been done to it... ever, other than what was needed to keep it running. It only has 80k miles on it but even 80k on no maintenance is not good. Its my second vehicle so I'm slowly getting it back to a reliable state. I spent the day with my Adam's detail kit today. As you can imagine, if it mechanicly has not been taken care of, cosmeticly it has been neglected too. 14 years of Florida sun on a black car (and I don't think it has EVER had ANY wax applied to it) has taken its toll. Clear failure is clear failure and no product can help that but Adams has brought the areas without clear failure back to a mirror and is smooth as glass. Next is going to be the timing belt kit, water pump, thermostat, head gasket, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, plug wires, distributor, cooling system flus/re-fill and gear-oil drain and re-fill. Looks like I have my work cut out for me! I also have to rebuild the shift linkage and do brakes. THEN I can move on to the fun stuff (suspension, wheels, tires and exhaust). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diggerdan11 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thats why Im scared of used cars so much, Im always afraid the previous owner did not take care of it. I have been lucky so far, my first truck, my 89 ford was given to me by my dad so i knew that it was taken care of, and my next 2 trucks (2001 Chevy and the SS) had less than 10k on them when i bought them so there was not much to fear. My pontiac G6 had 30k on it but I knew the old owners and I know they took good care of it. Now my Tahoe I just bought has 140k on it and im a little scared that it might not have been taken care of very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bag Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 (edited) Yeah Eddie when I R&R'd my new trans the one in there was an LKQonline.com junkyard tranny. All the pan bolts were stripped, shifted like shit and who knows how many miles were even on it. Yes it's scary how people don't take care of their cars and we the ones who care are always stuck with the problems and cost later. Edited March 3, 2011 by Bad aSS Silvy (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted March 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 You guys are right. Some people jut don't care. All my side jobs are word of mouth referrals. I my stipulation is if I tell you it needs something we fix it. But I don't rip of my customers because I want them to tell their friends so I get more work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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