Black Belt Academy

Dear [redacted] came in with a complaint that states a week ago noticed a vibration coming from the car with a vibration at highway cruising speed, the vibration goes away when coasting or accelerating, also hears a clunking noise when going ove ra speed bump also stated that the noise coming from mid to rear of the vehicleHe had stated that the vibration is there all the time at highway speed between to mph while cruising , steady throttle under a light load, when asked what has been done recently, only thing he mentioned was an oil change, he said he maintains all the records and was to bring all the records, which he never did Also, he had brought the vehicle with fuel level warning light on , for testing purpose we had to put $worth of gas , during the road test while monitoring the powertrain system, we had put about miles on the vehicle During the troubleshooting of his vehicle, and monitoring, we had noticed an intermittent misfire on cylinder #6, not eough to trigger a hard fault code, also an intermittent clunk on downshift from 3rd to 2nd while decelerating on stop and go traffic There were no codes on transmission, and while monitoring the data on trans, pcm command of the shift and the corresponding gears when commanded was ok, We did experienced a vibration at highway speed, initially we had suspected a torque converter shudder, when the tcc solenoid was enabled, data stream was showing indeterminate During the extended stop and go traffic while monitoring the system, we noticed a power loss, as if there was a restriction on the engine as we would have to rev up more to pick up speed, brought vehicle back to the shop, found an unusually high temperature on the right front rotor, ispected the brake system customer had put new brake pads and rotors on the front and when asked how long ago was it that he had the front brake pads and rotors were replaced, he stated months ago, We have also asked him that what was the condition of the pads and rotors when he had them replaced, and most likely the right side had likely worn down completely on both inner and outer pads on the right side and he stated yes We told him that when his mechanic replaced the front brake pads and rotors, he likely missed the tell tale sign of hydraulic concerns that when one side of the brakes worn out faster than the other side that likely he had missed on the cause of the failure When the inner pads are worn more than the outside pad, it would be a caliper issue, when the outside pad is worn more than the inside pads, it would be the caliper slide sticking, if both inner and outer pads are worn down evenly only on one side , it would be a hydaulic issue, the brake hose had collapsed or bloated up inside causing restriction on the release pressure on the caliper We informed him of our findings and told him that we need to address the hydraulic issue When asked about the price, we recommended replacement of the both front brake hoses and re test As for the vibration at highway speed under a light load would likely due to the faulty right front brake hose as if the right side brake is engaged enough to cause vibration that he felt The quote that was given to him was for the additional parts and labor and additional time to address his concern The parts and labor was quoted based on alldata time for replacement of the hoses and bleed the system and re test What the customer need to realize is that his mechanic could not figure the problem out and likely was told that he suspect that he had a problem with the transmission that's why he came in The reason why his mechanic couldn't find nothing wrong with his brake system is first he address the failure but not the cause the first time Second, he still either doesn't know how to check the brake system If he drove the vehicle in without road testing and put on the lift, he will not find the issue If the vehicle sits and put on a lift, he will completely miss the locking up of the front brake, even if the vehicle sit on the lift for few minutes, it will release the pressure back If he look close enough one can see the evidence of discoloration of the rotor and caliper due to the extreme heat generated from the friction Hindsight is always 20/Once you know what the problem is , it's only a matter of what needs to be fixed and how long and how much it will cost I have even offered him to show what was going on with right front brakehe refused.In another instance, a customer with a Lincoln Navigator was told by a dealership that he needs transmission replaced at a cost of $5,, He wanted to have a second opinion and brought into our shop for diagnosis, We have discovered , yes he has the shudder at highway speed when the tcc goes into lockup, likely suspect a faulty torque converter, after further troubleshooting, it was due to engine performance concern of intermittent misfire at a certain load condition, We have addressed his misfire issues and he didn't need to replace a transmission The vibration can come from a multiple different concern, could be a faulty driveshaft, center support bearings, axles, etc Also , it could be a multiple layer of issues at hand You need to address the concerns one at a time I am sorry [redacted] doesn't see the value of what we had done If you have any questions regarding this please call us at ###-###-#### Thank you

From: Keith K [redacted] Date: Wed, Aug 26, at 4:PMSubject: case id [redacted] .To: [redacted] @myRevdex.com.orgThis reply is in response to the customer with the [redacted] On December 27,, the vehicle came into the shop with transmission problem with miles She had an extended warranty through 3rd partyThe Extended warranty cocovered majority of the repair that was needed and she paid the difference, The 2nd time she towed the vehicle in was on October 01,with miles When we went out to check the vehicle, the battery was nearly dead, had to jump start the vehicle, Had codes stored, one was [redacted] shift malfunction and [redacted] fuel system lean bank2, During the road test vehicle didn't have much power , slow to take off, when we load tested the battery, it failed the load testDuring the brief road test , the transmission went through all the gears and informed customer that the battery need to be replaced and re test as the pcm needs stable voltage and to chk for lack of power bank system lean code, customer did not want to hear any of it and had the vehicle towed out and towed it outAt a later time that she told us that they had replaced the fuel pump assby She accused us of doing something to the fuel pumpThe third time she brought the vehicle in was to the rockville location on October 07,stating that she experinced a revving of rpm while driving She brought the vehicle in at miles When we test drove the vehicle , it went through all the gears, when scanned, had a history code of postored Since it is a history code, we had cleared the code and road tested the vehicle, we could not duplicate her concern nor the code came back, if it is an internal transmission problem, the code would have set and we would have experienced the problem with the transmission We have test driven the car for an extended time so as to duplicate the customer's concern We have even offered the customer to go for a ride together and to see if we can duplicate the concern while she was in the vehicleShe said she has no time to come down and she had medical issue where she couldn't come We have experienced on a different [redacted] years ago where the faulty camshaft sensor which at a certain time and under certain condtion had made the transmission go into a limp/failsafe mode triggering a transmission code, but once the engine is turned off and restarted, you only see the trans code stored The only way to see the soft code for the camshaft sensor is when it happens to go to the engine side and scan for the codes while the vehicle is running I have informed the customer that we can replace the camshaft sensors or continue to road test until we can duplicate the condition she 's experiencingShe came on October 30,to pick up the vehicle at which the mileage out was She had written that we drove her car for over miles is absolutely not true Yes we did log about miles the last time she brought it in That was done with her consent and to confirm that the code hadn't come back and also confirms that the triggering of the code is caused by external issues not related to the transmission She had complained to the corporate and I was told that she wanted to take it to another aamco centerThat was the last time I had heard from her I have repeatedly told her I would be more than happy to go for a road test with her anytime The vehicle had logged almost miles since she brought the vehicle in the first time If it was an internal issue with the transmission, she would not have driven that far since the repair Thank you for your time If you have any questions regarding this matter please do not hesitate to contact me