My car had a warning signal indicating an overheating situation but no physical effect, such as boiling coolant, yet because the overheating signal was on, it caused the A/C to shut down which is what happens with car equipped with sensors. I had that car for over 10 years, and I have watched dozens upon dozens of YouTube videos about my car... I knew that the problem was the coolant heat sensor.
So I brought my car to Paul's Service because I am a local and the repair shop was on my way back to home.
After looking at the overflow bottle from a distance, the shop owner/manager adventured to say that there may be some oil deposit in the coolant due to a possible deteriorating gasket (...) - perplex, I looked carefully into the overflow bottle and was not convince of it - for his defense it was hard to determine whether or not there was oil.
I asked him if he was equipped with a purging tool to force the coolant out and put a new coolant, he said yes.
At this point, I decided to leave the car for the day and get an update by the end of day.
All I knew from driving the car for 10 years was that the heat sensor was the problem , and all I asked was to purge and replace the coolant. It is now 9:00 AM
Later in the after afternoon, at exactly 4:00 PM, he called me and assured me, according to his "professional opinion," that the car was fine and only the sensor needed to be replaced - wow, amazing discovery! The bad news was that he didn't have it and it would take another day to have the sensor replaced.
Well, if you are a little bit like me you have already looked at your options and decided the best and least expensive way to take care of the problem; I replied that I will pick up the car and replace the sensor over the weekend... he paused before answering back and replied: "I still have to charge you for the diagnosis!"
Understand one thing, nowadays cars have computers on board, all accessible with an ODB device that can be read on your smartphone... in other words I knew all the codes my car had issues with.
Coming to pick up my car at the repair shop, the owner went on to tell how much time he took driving the car around the station, not even on a road, how he used his diagnosis tool, overall charging me $135 (Diagnosis only). When asked if he, at least, purged the cooling system, his reply was that his tool broke few days ago - I guess forgetting telling me yes in the morning was due to an unusual case of memory loss toward the end of the day.
I will say, in all fairness, the owner is a likeable person, he just runs his business like a doctor's office and I don't have a medical plan for my car; he gets 2 stars for his professional demeanor but it can turn into a trap if you let it, so caveat emptor (Buyer beware).
Tips:
1- Know your car (YouTube)
2- Inquire about cost of parts i.e partsgeek.com
3- Always, always and always ask the repair shop to call you before doing the repair and the estimate.
4- If the repair/problem is obvious always get an estimate.
I knew 1 & 2 and I didn't follow my own advice of 3 & 4. read more
