LEE MYLES AUTOCARE + TRANSMISSIONS

Please see attachment for company response.

Ms. had originally called regarding a grinding noise when turning. During the call she explained that her vehicle had a similar issue within the past 6 months that was due to a tie rod end. When she brought the vehicle in to drop it off she advised us of the other issues. We test drove the truck & duplicated her noise concerns. Once in the shop we identified the right front axle CV boot was leaking grease, causing insufficient lubrication to the CV joint and was binding up. The front differential had multiple leaks with major leaks at the pinion seal and the left front axle seal. The vehicle also had multiple codes for engine issues and excessive rust everywhere on the undercarriage. When she was contacted regarding the issues with the vehicle, she was advised that the amount of work required to repair and correct everything would easily exceed the value of the vehicle and that the money would be better spent on a down payment towards a vehicle in better condition. She said that she was in a tough situation and fixing what she could on her current vehicle was her only option at this time. She requested an estimate for repairs that would keep her vehicle drivable and said her budget was around $1000. The front differential leaks and damaged CV axle were determined to be the most important items to repair since they could seize going down the road from lack of proper lubrication. The front differential cannot be bypassed on an all wheel drive vehicle like it can be on a true 4 wheel drive vehicle with a selectable transfer case to go between 2 and 4 wheel drive. In other words, the vehicle is not drivable if the front differential fails. The engine issues were deemed secondary since the motor was running even if a little roughly. So we wrote an estimate within her budget to correct the major fluid leaks on the front differential and replacing the right front axle assembly. These repairs totaled slightly over $1000 but we offered her a military discount to offset some of the cost and stay within her budget. During the repairs we were unable to replace the left front axle seal due to the axle shaft being seized into the front differential from driving the vehicle without proper lubrication. We spent over an hour trying to free the left front axle shaft to replace the seal without success. We advised her that the only way to remove the axle would be to remove and disassemble the front differential, which again would cost more than the value of the vehicle. She asked us to just fix what we could without costing her any more money. We did not charge her any labor for our efforts to free the seized axle and replaced the right front axle shaft assembly and front differential pinion seal and refilled the front differential with gear oil which was well below the recommended level when it came to us. We then test drove the vehicle and there was no grinding noise over a one mile test drive with at least 8 turns. So we felt the grinding noise had been eliminated with the repairs we made. When Ms. arrived to pick up her vehicle she asked if the engine was running better. We explained to her that we had not completed any engine repairs so the engine issues would be the same as before which had been made clear to her at the time the original estimate was presented. Two weeks after the repairs were completed Ms. contacted us again saying she was still having issues with her vehicle. We asked her to bring the vehicle back to our shop and that if the issues were related to any previous repairs they would be covered under warranty. She explained that she was no longer in the area so we gave her the phone number to our Certified Auto Repair warranty service that handles nationwide warranty work for our work. We explained that she should contact them and they would direct her to the nearest Certified Auto Repair facility in her immediate area and that if any of the repairs we had completed on her vehicle were causing her issues they would be covered. She did not contact us again about any issues. We feel we did good work and everything we replaced needed immediate attention to prevent catastrophic failures of the front differential and/or the right front axle. It is possible that there was more damage to the front differential than we could tell since we did not remove it and inspect the inside components. Since there was no grinding noise during the test drive it seemed we had fixed the root cause of the grinding noise. I believe the vehicle was also driven for three days before she started hearing grinding noise again. We feel we acted professionally and performed our work in the best interest of Ms ***. The work we did was to fix the current noise problem and prevent more serious catastrophic failure in the future. If there was a problem with the work or the parts we used they would be covered under the nationwide Certified Auto Care warranty provided. Therefore, we request that we be cleared from any wrong doing to Ms. or her vehicle. Feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.Sincerely