Kwik Kar on Frankford Rd runs a scam involving cleaning the throttle body Dallas Texas
I took my car in for a simple inspection. The guy doing the inspection called me into the bay area and as standing there by my car holding his finger up so I could see it with a white rubber glove on. There was some type of gunk on his finger (more dramatic because of the white rubber glove). The air cleaner housing was off, exposing the throttle body.
He said the inside the throttle body needed to be cleaned and wiped another finger onto the inside and got some more gunk on another finger and showed it to me. He said this gunk was robbing my engine of power and if I had them clean it (for $70), it would give my engine more power and would increase my gas mileage.
I was sold by what he said and told him to go ahead and do it. After several weeks of driving, I did not notice any increase power, my gas mileage was the same as it had always been, and I realized I had been scammed.
I spoke to a friend of mine that is very car knowledgeable he said this was one of the most popular scams with mechanics. He said that a small layer of gunk naturally accumulates in the throttle body and it does not harm anything or rob you of gas mileage. In fact after several months after being cleaned, my throttle body was probably already back to the way it looked before it was cleaned.
What the Kwik Kar mechanic did was simply spray some kind of solvent into the throttle body to dissolve this small layer of gunk and ripped me off of $70 for this two minute cleaning.
I took my car in only to have it inspected and ended up getting scammed for $70. I would advise anyone against taking their car to any Kwik Kar as I would imagine this scam goes on at other locations. I will never go back again.
Kent
Richardson, Texas
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Howard
Dallas,Texas,
U.S.A.
What he forgot to mention
#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, April 24, 2009
Yes, the employee was probably wearing latex gloves, since most of our employees do. It's not for effect, it's to keep our hands clean, so that as we get in and out of cars all day, we don't get the inside dirty. This is standard practice throughout most of the automotive industry.
The "Gunk" in the throttle body is only one of 3 places that get cleaned during the "Fuel System Service" that we did to his vehicle. We clean the Throttle Body area, because build up in this area can affect the way the throttle position sensor works. We also use another chemical that is introduced through one of the large intake vacuum hoses, to clean the intake runners, intake chambers, and valve train. It also works to loosen deposits in the combustion chamber. Finally we use a very strong fuel additive that is poured into the tank, so that it can clean the spray nozzles of the injectors and also finish cleaning the valve train and the combustion chamber. As you can see, a little more than just spraying something in the throttle body.
He forgot to mention the fact that this service is only sold as preventative maintenance. We don't promise that the fuel mileage is going to increase dramatically , or that your vehicle will suddenly develop an extra 50hp. Every vehicle will react differently, depending on how well the customer has maintained the vehicle in the past. We also put mileage restrictions on how often this service is suggested, to make sure that we are not suggesting a service that was possibly done a few thousand miles ago.
As for his friend, if he is such a knowledgable mechanic, he should know all these details and should know better than to make blanket accusations against a shop without having all the facts. If this "mechanic" doesn't think that maintenance should be done and only wants to address things when they are finally broken, I sure don't want to have him working on my vehicle.
Oh, and one other thing he forgot to mention. While talking with my Asst. Manager yesterday, when he was asked when this all occurred, his response was "about 2 years ago". I have to wonder why it took so long for him to become so upset if this was such a rip off.