Dave Walter, Inc.

[redacted] had brought his 2002 Passat in with 152,641 miles to have the thermostat housing replaced. While making this appointment he stated that it felt like his car was misfiring but declined any diagnosis at check in. He had asked if we would install a provided...

new part (non OE) and I told him that we would be more than happy to as long as he understood that there would be no warranty provided with an aftermarket part.  He stated he understood and handed me the part.  He had actually gotten the incorrect part and provided the coolant flange that lives towards the back of the motor.  When we realized this I let him know that this was the wrong part.  I let him know that he could either let the car stay here while he got the right part or we had the part he needed in stock and could install it the same day.  He requested we use our part due to his needing the vehicle.  We continued by performing the replacement of the thermostat housing and advised him that that the flange on the back of the motor was leaking also.  The customer declined further repairs when this was brought up due to the availability of funds.  We asked the customer to sign an additional line (in addition to the normal line we have customers sign) to remind him of this and to let him know that we would not be responsible for any further complications that may arise from not performing this repair.  He understood and left with the vehicle.         Roughly a week or two ago, he called to speak to me stating that his car was at an independent repair facility, or at his friend’s house (I’m sorry, I can’t remember at this time) stating that we had installed the thermostat housing and the coolant flange incorrectly.  I reminded him that we never touched the flange because he waived off that repair and that it’s pretty hard to screw up the thermostat housing.  When I asked him how it was installed incorrectly he replied that he didn’t know.  When I told him to bring it in so that we could take a look at it to see what was screwed up with it he told me that it was already taken off the motor with other pieces as well.  I let him know that I wouldn’t be able to verify our workmanship since it had already been removed and he stated he understood.          After this portion of the conversation he stated that his mom said that he should call the Revdex.com because this is the second thing that we had screwed up on his car (allegedly).  When I asked him to explain what the first thing was he told me that we had done a timing belt and water pump on his vehicle (8/25/16 with 149,027 miles) and when he took it home that night it developed a misfire.  I followed this question up with asking whether the misfire was in a single cylinder or across all four.  [redacted] stated that it was only in one cylinder.  [redacted] had brought the vehicle in on 8/31/16 stating it felt like it was misfiring.  When we scanned for faults we found cylinder three misfire faults but none were happening at time of inspection.   I explained to him that if there was a timing issue there would likely be faults in all four cylinders and not just in one cylinder, tapping due to valves being bent and faults for cam correlation faults (no faults like this were present when last scanned).  I explained to him that if it was still there after the repairs that he was having performed elsewhere were done, we’d be more than happy to inspect for the issue and if it was related to the repairs we performed, the diagnostic charges would be absorbed and we would stand behind our work.  He thanked me and hung up.  When the vehicle was brought in for the thermostat housing, [redacted] waived off any diagnosis for misfires.         [redacted] called in yesterday and spoke to one of my advisors.  He told the advisor now that ALL the cylinders are misfiring and that we needed to look at it.  My advisor told him that we would be more than happy to but that he would have to authorize the time to diagnose why the misfires were happening. She explained that if the issue was at all related to any of the prior work we performed that we would stand behind our work.  He proceeded to state that he couldn’t afford to pay for the diagnostics and hung up.   Thank you! Aaron H.Service Manager Dave W.W: [redacted]C: [redacted] Tell us why here...