Tacoma747
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Location
- Winston-Salem
A few months ago I was needing head gaskets put on my Excursion (yes, 6.0 diesel). I had been driving it with them blown for a few months, it ran fine, just built too much pressure in the system (17-20psi). It never really got oil in the coolant, but it did push some out of the reservoir at times. Anyways, I needed headgaskets/studs.
I was referred to a guy up in Madison by Snappy named Jerome, I talked with him a few times on the phone as I am very particular about my Excursion and I HATE paying a mechanic to do anything on it. Local guy near me is a Ford guru (trucks unlimited) that seems to know his stuff, but I just don't really like him (cocky, and gets mad when asked to diagnose a problem but not fix it, to further go into detail on that I got him to scan my Excursion with his snap-on scanner, offered to pay him to scan it, he said no, but gets mad when I want to fix the issue myself--injectors)
Anyways, so Jerome works for himself, low overhead, which makes the price cheaper to repair. He quoted me $3k for the below:
Installation
Taking heads to be checked/machined at machine shop
Headgaskets (ford OEM)
ARP studs
some various little seals and other stuff (which I question if he actually replaced--turbo drain line and such)
Anyways, I SPECIFICALLY told him I wanted the heads taken to a machine shop to be checked for cracks, and machined if need be. He said OK.
My mistake, I didn't get anything in writing before taking him the Excursion...
Anyways, he said 3-day turnaround, I took it on Monday afternoon. He was nice enough to let me come up while the body was off to do some minor stuff to it (I replaced brakelines with SS lines, replaced the radiator with a Mishimoto, and replaced the water pump with a BP Diesel one). All this was done when he was not even working on it, so I wasn't in his way. Anyways, as of Thursday he still hadn't taken the heads off, but said he took them to be machined on Thursday evening and would pick them up from Greensboro (he led me to believe they would be machined at a shop in Greensboro) Friday morning. I went up Friday morning, when I was leaving I called to see if he wanted me to pick them up--he said he was 'there' so he had already picked them up (why drive 30+ minutes to Greensboro and not KNOW they were done?--he didn't actually say he went to Greensboro though). So anyways, I got there, felt like he was lying about having the heads checked, so I took pictures of the heads (they had just been scuffed with a scotch brite wheel, they had NOT been machined). This is where it gets ugly: I asked him again where he took them, he then changed his story and said "A1 Machine in Madison", gave me some long drawn out story about how the guy at A1 had a new machine and he wanted to see it in action... I went out at lunch to go to Orielly's, I stopped by A1 just because I felt he was lying to me, the guy at A1 said he hadn't touched a set of 6.0 heads in 6+ months. I needed to take the Excursion to the beach (left on the following Monday), so I didn't even mention I knew he had lied about this, because honestly, I didn't want him working on it KNOWING I knew he was lying about doing a proper job. He told me Friday it would be done Saturday by 2pm. As of Saturday at 7pm I had not heard from him, so I decided to go up to the shop (granted, it is an hour away from my house), he called me back about 8pm and said it would be Sunday or late that night, I told him to come fix it that evening and I'd take it home Saturday night. He had told me on the phone a couple things that he was held up on, one was he couldn't figure out the Oil cooler lines, but surprise surprise, the oil cooler lines were hooked up properly when he showed up (I was at the shop waiting on him).
Anyways, I helped him finish everything, bleed brakes, body bolts, etc. We got it running about 11pm or so, took it on a test drive, came back, tweaked the exhaust (was rubbing) and buttoned up a couple other things.
Then came the time to pay.... I started videoing with my phone discreetly, got him to write up everything on a bill, then I blew the news that I knew he had lied, of course he denied it. I ended up paying him $2k instead of $3k, I honestly feel I gave him too much and I should not have paid for anything more than just parts, BUT I also feel he is a good mechanic and was just trying to take a shortcut. He had said before he'd offer a 1-year warranty, at that point I knew I wouldn't bring it back to him regardless, he was cussing, coming up with lies to cover himself, etc. He was not happy, nor was I.
I had originally decided not to post this, but after talking with him again today (2+ months after he had done the work) and seeing he is not even willing to try and make it right and fess up to his screw up, I feel it needs to be said. If you take something to him, WATCH HIM LIKE A HAWK. I think he is a good mechanic but will cut corners that should NOT be cut (if these heads are cracked I just wasted $2k, but it might take awhile to show up). Some heads I might agree they might not need to be checked, but NOT a ford 6.0 head.
Anyways, I found a coolant leak today, it was dripping off the backside of the passenger side head so I thought it was the gasket (I had a pressure tester on it and it was dripping pretty bad). I called, he called me back a little later (not knowing it was me), in the time after I first called him to the time he called me back, I found it was actually part of the EGR delete system that was leaking. I tell him on the phone who I was, that I thought the gaskets were leaking but I found he was off the hook (granted, I knew he'd not stand behind his work, but I wanted to give him a chance). He didn't want to hear anything (even when I said he was off the hook), told me I hadn't paid in full so there was no warranty, cussed a few times, and hung up.
ADD ON: Well he just called me again while I have been typing this, said I need to pay the remainder of the bill or he will take me to court (I am not real worried as I never signed any work order, so if he writes one up and signs my name it will be forging my name).
Moral of the story: Get a work order stating ALL work to be done, and most of all, DON'T trust mechanics unless you know them well!
Jerome in Madison, NC. Commonly uses the shop beside Smart Chevrolet (I have nothing bad to say about the shop owner, I never met him, but I have talked with him over the phone)
If you want to watch the videos and see if you agree he was lying feel free: (there are a couple out of order)
https://goo.gl/photos/WZqDYw5zRg5ykobC9
I was referred to a guy up in Madison by Snappy named Jerome, I talked with him a few times on the phone as I am very particular about my Excursion and I HATE paying a mechanic to do anything on it. Local guy near me is a Ford guru (trucks unlimited) that seems to know his stuff, but I just don't really like him (cocky, and gets mad when asked to diagnose a problem but not fix it, to further go into detail on that I got him to scan my Excursion with his snap-on scanner, offered to pay him to scan it, he said no, but gets mad when I want to fix the issue myself--injectors)
Anyways, so Jerome works for himself, low overhead, which makes the price cheaper to repair. He quoted me $3k for the below:
Installation
Taking heads to be checked/machined at machine shop
Headgaskets (ford OEM)
ARP studs
some various little seals and other stuff (which I question if he actually replaced--turbo drain line and such)
Anyways, I SPECIFICALLY told him I wanted the heads taken to a machine shop to be checked for cracks, and machined if need be. He said OK.
My mistake, I didn't get anything in writing before taking him the Excursion...
Anyways, he said 3-day turnaround, I took it on Monday afternoon. He was nice enough to let me come up while the body was off to do some minor stuff to it (I replaced brakelines with SS lines, replaced the radiator with a Mishimoto, and replaced the water pump with a BP Diesel one). All this was done when he was not even working on it, so I wasn't in his way. Anyways, as of Thursday he still hadn't taken the heads off, but said he took them to be machined on Thursday evening and would pick them up from Greensboro (he led me to believe they would be machined at a shop in Greensboro) Friday morning. I went up Friday morning, when I was leaving I called to see if he wanted me to pick them up--he said he was 'there' so he had already picked them up (why drive 30+ minutes to Greensboro and not KNOW they were done?--he didn't actually say he went to Greensboro though). So anyways, I got there, felt like he was lying about having the heads checked, so I took pictures of the heads (they had just been scuffed with a scotch brite wheel, they had NOT been machined). This is where it gets ugly: I asked him again where he took them, he then changed his story and said "A1 Machine in Madison", gave me some long drawn out story about how the guy at A1 had a new machine and he wanted to see it in action... I went out at lunch to go to Orielly's, I stopped by A1 just because I felt he was lying to me, the guy at A1 said he hadn't touched a set of 6.0 heads in 6+ months. I needed to take the Excursion to the beach (left on the following Monday), so I didn't even mention I knew he had lied about this, because honestly, I didn't want him working on it KNOWING I knew he was lying about doing a proper job. He told me Friday it would be done Saturday by 2pm. As of Saturday at 7pm I had not heard from him, so I decided to go up to the shop (granted, it is an hour away from my house), he called me back about 8pm and said it would be Sunday or late that night, I told him to come fix it that evening and I'd take it home Saturday night. He had told me on the phone a couple things that he was held up on, one was he couldn't figure out the Oil cooler lines, but surprise surprise, the oil cooler lines were hooked up properly when he showed up (I was at the shop waiting on him).
Anyways, I helped him finish everything, bleed brakes, body bolts, etc. We got it running about 11pm or so, took it on a test drive, came back, tweaked the exhaust (was rubbing) and buttoned up a couple other things.
Then came the time to pay.... I started videoing with my phone discreetly, got him to write up everything on a bill, then I blew the news that I knew he had lied, of course he denied it. I ended up paying him $2k instead of $3k, I honestly feel I gave him too much and I should not have paid for anything more than just parts, BUT I also feel he is a good mechanic and was just trying to take a shortcut. He had said before he'd offer a 1-year warranty, at that point I knew I wouldn't bring it back to him regardless, he was cussing, coming up with lies to cover himself, etc. He was not happy, nor was I.
I had originally decided not to post this, but after talking with him again today (2+ months after he had done the work) and seeing he is not even willing to try and make it right and fess up to his screw up, I feel it needs to be said. If you take something to him, WATCH HIM LIKE A HAWK. I think he is a good mechanic but will cut corners that should NOT be cut (if these heads are cracked I just wasted $2k, but it might take awhile to show up). Some heads I might agree they might not need to be checked, but NOT a ford 6.0 head.
Anyways, I found a coolant leak today, it was dripping off the backside of the passenger side head so I thought it was the gasket (I had a pressure tester on it and it was dripping pretty bad). I called, he called me back a little later (not knowing it was me), in the time after I first called him to the time he called me back, I found it was actually part of the EGR delete system that was leaking. I tell him on the phone who I was, that I thought the gaskets were leaking but I found he was off the hook (granted, I knew he'd not stand behind his work, but I wanted to give him a chance). He didn't want to hear anything (even when I said he was off the hook), told me I hadn't paid in full so there was no warranty, cussed a few times, and hung up.
ADD ON: Well he just called me again while I have been typing this, said I need to pay the remainder of the bill or he will take me to court (I am not real worried as I never signed any work order, so if he writes one up and signs my name it will be forging my name).
Moral of the story: Get a work order stating ALL work to be done, and most of all, DON'T trust mechanics unless you know them well!
Jerome in Madison, NC. Commonly uses the shop beside Smart Chevrolet (I have nothing bad to say about the shop owner, I never met him, but I have talked with him over the phone)
If you want to watch the videos and see if you agree he was lying feel free: (there are a couple out of order)
https://goo.gl/photos/WZqDYw5zRg5ykobC9
