- Report: #904631
Complaint Review: Connecting Rods Northwest - Seattle Washington
Reported By:
rvndmnmt -
Kent, Washington, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Connecting Rods Northwest
1705 S 93rd St Ste F7, Seattle, WA Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Phone:
(206) 763-2487
Web:
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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Connecting Rods Northwest Charged for work never done, held my vehicle for an obscene amount of time Seattle, Washington
I've been a mechanic on and off since I was 15, so a little more than half my life. Since I'm getting a bit older i'm in an off phase since my body can't handle this kind of work anymore. The only tools I keep are for basic maintenance. I didn't have the tools or the time to fix it so I took it in.
Back a couple years ago I cracked a ring and my truck started burning oil badly. So instead of looking around for places to get the block re-sleeved I just took it back to the place that did the work, Connecting Rods Northwest. This turned into a nightmare.
Granted, I drive a rare vehicle. A 1981 Toyota 2.2l 1L Diesel pickup. Parts availability isn't all that great. It's tough to find parts for a vehicle that Toyota only sold 4000 of and even tougher due to the age. I am taking everything into consideration before writing this down.
On the phone the owner, Jerry, was cordial enough. I brought my truck in and we agreed on a price of $2400 after it was looked at. And since this place specialized in VW engines, I informed him that I possessed a set of dealer manuals (the holy grail literally) for the vehicle if he ran into problems. This covers engine, body, electronics, Toyota part numbers, specifications, the works. A valuable set of books to have in anyone's bookshelf. I also left the books on the front seat of the truck when I left with a timing belt.
Well, I left and days turned into weeks turned into months. It was always this issue or that issue that kept the truck from leaving the shop. The last two months it was there was due to the radiator. Had a leak in it around the filler cap. Easy enough to braze however they informed me that the radiator had other damage to it and couldn't be repaired. They did throw in a thermostatic switch for the electric fan I modded onto it, but it shouldn't take two months to find a radiator, fabricate a housing for the switch, and mount the radiator. Finally, I needed the truck desperately and got on the phone and pleaded to have my truck back. Jerry said to come the next day.
Well I arrived, found out the bill was $2000 more than agreed to. I know that SOME extra work was done on the vehicle. But $2000 worth of work? He showed me the radiator, looked like someone attempted to braze the leak. Also looked like someone took a ball peen hammer to it. Had it not been for my desperate situation I would have called him on it.
The truck was running and that was fine. The injector pump that had started to seep when I brought it in wasn't working according to Jerry. So he rigged a cheap siphon pump up to it and called it good despite my misgivings. I drove it home and it seemed sluggish. I re-tuned it, drove it to school. When I left school I found out that the voltage regulator on the alternator was wired wrong. Drove it home minus tail lights and dash lights.
The next day my brother and I went through the wiring and found out that the alternator wasn't the only thing wrong. Found out that the voltage wire for the fuel cut solenoid wasn't connected, which would explain why he had to rig the pump. He had to force fuel past the piston into the pump to get it to work. Consulting the wire schematics and five min of tracing wires would have resolved this. So, in short, my injector pump was blown now with the alternator. Then there was the issue of the glow plugs. They didn't work anymore. Jerry said that one of his mechanics noticed that they were on all the time. Guess it could have been because someone wired it wrong. But they were toast as well. I just spent over $4000 dollars, which is way more than I was willing to spend to begin with, on a truck that would sit for the two weeks while I tracked down and had the parts delivered to rebuild my alternator. I found out that when the alternator went out the last time I had bought the last one in stock in North America. In the mean time I had finally gotten around to fixing one of my roommates cars so I wasn't totally hung out to dry on vehicles.
So despite the problems I could see, I ran the vehicle since I needed to get back and forth to work and school. I needed the truck. The timing belt light was still on so I figured they forgot to reset the mechanical counter when they replaced the timing belt. After all, I had one sitting on the front seat when I dropped it off. They had the motor completely torn down. They would have replaced it upon reassembly right?
Just to be safe I pulled the timing cover to check the timing belt only to find an extremely worn belt had been placed back on. Diesels are non-interference engines. Meaning that if that if that timing belt snaps the valves are going into the head of the piston just ruining my day. Replaced the timing belt that was STILL sitting in my truck. They stuck it behind the seat. Then I reset the counter.
The blown pump quit working, ended up pulling that one and having it rebuilt at a reputable shop. I know I should have done it much sooner since I was a rolling fire hazard with as bad as the fuel was spraying from the pump but I had no choice. Money was tight. Another $800 down the drain but well spent.
About 24k miles later the head gasket blew between the number 2-3 cylinders. I thought it could have been from a burned intake valve (which almost never happens). Nope. Pulled the head and found out they coated the old head gasket in copper RTV and threw it back on. Was cleaning that crap off of the head and block for a while. Nice to know that something got done though. Block was re-sleeved and had new pistons. Got the head back on and found out one of my injectors blew at probably the same time since I didn't notice it before. The injectors that he supposedly had tested before he through the engine back together.......
It's been two years now. The truck has been running about 7 months of that. I'm tired of shelling out more and more to fix issues that were caused or should have been resolved by CNW. WHAT IN THE H**L DID I SPEND $4400 ON!!!!!!!
I will never go back to this place. They are supposedly great with VW's. But even if I had one I wouldn't take it to Connecting Rods Northwest. I was overcharged and they did absolutely shitty work if they did work at all.
Back a couple years ago I cracked a ring and my truck started burning oil badly. So instead of looking around for places to get the block re-sleeved I just took it back to the place that did the work, Connecting Rods Northwest. This turned into a nightmare.
Granted, I drive a rare vehicle. A 1981 Toyota 2.2l 1L Diesel pickup. Parts availability isn't all that great. It's tough to find parts for a vehicle that Toyota only sold 4000 of and even tougher due to the age. I am taking everything into consideration before writing this down.
On the phone the owner, Jerry, was cordial enough. I brought my truck in and we agreed on a price of $2400 after it was looked at. And since this place specialized in VW engines, I informed him that I possessed a set of dealer manuals (the holy grail literally) for the vehicle if he ran into problems. This covers engine, body, electronics, Toyota part numbers, specifications, the works. A valuable set of books to have in anyone's bookshelf. I also left the books on the front seat of the truck when I left with a timing belt.
Well, I left and days turned into weeks turned into months. It was always this issue or that issue that kept the truck from leaving the shop. The last two months it was there was due to the radiator. Had a leak in it around the filler cap. Easy enough to braze however they informed me that the radiator had other damage to it and couldn't be repaired. They did throw in a thermostatic switch for the electric fan I modded onto it, but it shouldn't take two months to find a radiator, fabricate a housing for the switch, and mount the radiator. Finally, I needed the truck desperately and got on the phone and pleaded to have my truck back. Jerry said to come the next day.
Well I arrived, found out the bill was $2000 more than agreed to. I know that SOME extra work was done on the vehicle. But $2000 worth of work? He showed me the radiator, looked like someone attempted to braze the leak. Also looked like someone took a ball peen hammer to it. Had it not been for my desperate situation I would have called him on it.
The truck was running and that was fine. The injector pump that had started to seep when I brought it in wasn't working according to Jerry. So he rigged a cheap siphon pump up to it and called it good despite my misgivings. I drove it home and it seemed sluggish. I re-tuned it, drove it to school. When I left school I found out that the voltage regulator on the alternator was wired wrong. Drove it home minus tail lights and dash lights.
The next day my brother and I went through the wiring and found out that the alternator wasn't the only thing wrong. Found out that the voltage wire for the fuel cut solenoid wasn't connected, which would explain why he had to rig the pump. He had to force fuel past the piston into the pump to get it to work. Consulting the wire schematics and five min of tracing wires would have resolved this. So, in short, my injector pump was blown now with the alternator. Then there was the issue of the glow plugs. They didn't work anymore. Jerry said that one of his mechanics noticed that they were on all the time. Guess it could have been because someone wired it wrong. But they were toast as well. I just spent over $4000 dollars, which is way more than I was willing to spend to begin with, on a truck that would sit for the two weeks while I tracked down and had the parts delivered to rebuild my alternator. I found out that when the alternator went out the last time I had bought the last one in stock in North America. In the mean time I had finally gotten around to fixing one of my roommates cars so I wasn't totally hung out to dry on vehicles.
So despite the problems I could see, I ran the vehicle since I needed to get back and forth to work and school. I needed the truck. The timing belt light was still on so I figured they forgot to reset the mechanical counter when they replaced the timing belt. After all, I had one sitting on the front seat when I dropped it off. They had the motor completely torn down. They would have replaced it upon reassembly right?
Just to be safe I pulled the timing cover to check the timing belt only to find an extremely worn belt had been placed back on. Diesels are non-interference engines. Meaning that if that if that timing belt snaps the valves are going into the head of the piston just ruining my day. Replaced the timing belt that was STILL sitting in my truck. They stuck it behind the seat. Then I reset the counter.
The blown pump quit working, ended up pulling that one and having it rebuilt at a reputable shop. I know I should have done it much sooner since I was a rolling fire hazard with as bad as the fuel was spraying from the pump but I had no choice. Money was tight. Another $800 down the drain but well spent.
About 24k miles later the head gasket blew between the number 2-3 cylinders. I thought it could have been from a burned intake valve (which almost never happens). Nope. Pulled the head and found out they coated the old head gasket in copper RTV and threw it back on. Was cleaning that crap off of the head and block for a while. Nice to know that something got done though. Block was re-sleeved and had new pistons. Got the head back on and found out one of my injectors blew at probably the same time since I didn't notice it before. The injectors that he supposedly had tested before he through the engine back together.......
It's been two years now. The truck has been running about 7 months of that. I'm tired of shelling out more and more to fix issues that were caused or should have been resolved by CNW. WHAT IN THE H**L DID I SPEND $4400 ON!!!!!!!
I will never go back to this place. They are supposedly great with VW's. But even if I had one I wouldn't take it to Connecting Rods Northwest. I was overcharged and they did absolutely shitty work if they did work at all.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Jerry Koepping
Kent,Washington,
USA
Show the invoice!
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, January 05, 2016
Just because you read it on the internet doesn't make it true! This website although well intentioned should not allow bitter people to post negative and untrue reports to the internet without first fact checking the content! Then hide behind their disclaimers and not remove the post "once the truth be known".Have this guy post his invoice and provide a picture of his POS Truck which he's in love with and keeping it going despite all it's 30 year old wiring issues! His complaint was generated 24000 miles after he picked up the vehicle.up til then no compaint with the Better Bussiness Bureau. In fact none ever against Northwest Connecting Rod!This customer contacted me several times before bringing in his truck to have it's engine rebuilt. His radiator was leaking prior to bringing in the Truck. He had over heated it because his radiator leaked coolant and had low compression as a result of the over heating. So low he was using starting fluid to get it going which is why the compression rings were broken. He was quoted $2400 for rebuilding of the longblock plus installation and any accessorys. I ask that his invoice be posted before accuzations of overcharging be posted! Upon removal,teardown and inspection we found the wear in the cylinders was excessive requireing the replacement of the blocks cylinder sleaves. Only available in China, India, and New Zealand. He was informed him of this and NZ was chosen for the order. After weeks of waitng the prized sleaves cleared customs and they arrived.We rebuilt the engine with a kit that contained New Pistons and Rings, Bearings ,Complete gasket set with a NEW Head Gasket and a NEW Timing Belt and Tensioner.His new head gasket was returned to him as a spare. The engine was installed along with a new clutch kit I Believe? Don't have his invoice in front of me but that's our normal procedure when the engine gets R&R'd. Took he leaking radiator to a well known Radiator Shop for repairs. They declined to work on it due to its age,condition, and someones prior attempt to repair it, Not by us, we rebuild engine's not Radiators! We found him a new one close in size to his original and adapted it in with custom hoses and mounts along with a spcial cooling fan which would help pass cooling air thru it at low speeds. He had allready replaced his injectors thinking they were the reason the truck would not start on its own. the injctors were cheched out by a Seattle area injecton shop an found to be -OK. The truck wouldn't start! Checked and found that the injection pump wouldn't pull feul to itself. And yes the wire to the feul cutoff swiitch was connected and had power. I went to South Seattle Community College in 1976 & 1977 and completed their HD/Diesel Machanic Program. We added a primer pump to supply feul to the injection pump and it started right up. These primer pumps run at 3-5 pounds of pressure an in no way would that cause any damage to the injection pump! Once running the pump leaked feul at several seals although not excessive! The feul pump relay was stuck on and would not shut off the glow plugs once the engine was started.I notified him of these issues and he told me he'd track down a new relay and beause he didn't have the money to rebuild the pump ($800) he would put up with the leaks ti he could afford the rebuilding of it! Test driving showed poor performance so we rechecked the pump timing which we found was right on. This also indicated that the pump needed rebuilding. His loosening and turning the pump to advance it just masked the fact it really did need rebuilding. As for his alternator,the chargelight indicator would go out once the engine was started indicating the it was charging at the time he picked up the vehicle! Also R&R ing thr engine woul have nothing to do with his Dash & Tailight wireing. This complaint is feuled by his frustration on have to spend more the he wants to to keep his prized 1981, 4000 only in the US truck on the road! Injectors somtimes fail! "Let the truth be Known" I ask that this rebuttal be posted in full and not edited. JERRY KOEPPING-OWNER
