Complaint Review: Precision Tune Auto Care

I recently purchased a used 1987 Honda Civic. It would not pass WA State vehicle emissions, so I took the car to Precission Tune Auto Care, listed a an authorized emission specialist to see what the problem was.
They stated on the invoice "Upon Insp we found a severe amount of oil inside of the dist cap O/A. We found the dist seal leaking, soaking both the dist cap and ignition rotor. The valves need to be adjusted and the valve cover is leaking also both the fuel filters original O/A The O2 sernsor in not swithcing O/A We found a vacuum lline broken O/A we plugged off the line."

They called me saying that the distributor needed to be replaced. Claimed this to be the problem, and that it could start a fire if not done. I opted to allow them to replace it with a used one, since it was an old car and I wanted to keep the expences down. They also replaced distributor cap/ignition rotor. I was charged $175.99 for the used distibutor and $39.99 for the dist cap and rotor. Labor was $153 for a total of $432.77 including $34.27 in taxes. I paid cash.

When I picked up the car, I took it directly to the WA State Vehicle Emissions, and it failed even worse then before. Since I spent over $150 in repairs, they WAIVED emissions.

In the days that followed, the car ran worse and worse, no power and dying constantly. A good friend of mine told me I should have NEVER taken it to Precision Tune, and had me take it to his trusted mechanic.


This mechanic, Jim, of Jim's Start-up foreign car repair found that the whole problem was no more then bad spark plugs! Someone had installed the wrong plugs. Said this vehicle required a special "hotter" plug. Two of the ones in it were literally "fried" That is why it was missing and running so poorly.
Further more he stated the it did not matter how much the distributor leaked oil. That would not effect emmisions in any way. He went on further to say that there was plenty of fuel pressure, the fuel filters were fine as well as the oxygen sensor. He also told me that he had several of used distributors lying around that he would have sold me for around $40!


So to sum this all up, ALL of the repairs preformed by Precision Tune were unnecissary to the reason I brought the vehicle in for! I paid $432.77 for nothing other then an oil leak.
Problem date: Oct 9, 2006
Center #041-36
Order #70606
Estimate #88118

No names of mechanics listed.

Since repairs were unneccisary, I feel I should recieve a TOTAL REFUND. If repairs were made correctly, they should have charged me $90 for the emissions diagnosis and a for a standard tune-up. Spark plugs, cap, and rotor.

Randal
Everett, Washington
U.S.A.