About 8 weeks ago I spent over $600 having all the oil leaks fixed.
Looking after this car is like looking after a geriatric.
It has now blown whatever patches were applied and it's now DOUBLY INCONTINENT. Both transmission fluid and engine oil are pouring down the RH suspension arm and into the wheel rim. I just lost a litre of tranny fluid in less than a week and about the same in engine oil.
I am just totally pi**ed off with it. I would never ever look at a Max again that has the faintest drop of oil leaking, and frankly I am really getting turned right off this vehicle. Oh, yes, the CEL came back on again, too. I haven't had time to pull the codes yet, I am too busy cleaning the crap off the driveway.
Where the hell is all this fluid coming from? Why BOTH at the same time? ARGH!

 

Are you saying they "patched" up any oil leaks? For $600? If that was the case, then you got bent over... "Patching" is not the right way to fix leaks.

 

I had my mechanic "patch" a leak in the A/C compressor, and lemme tell you, patching is only good for tires. Hate to think you have a lemon on your hands. Has the car been in any accidents? Generally speaking, selling a car that has been in a front end collision is the best long term choice.

 

Time for a VQ35.......

 

Do you how all that crap started leaking?

 

It cost that much because they removed the motor. I can see RTV all around the chain cover. Useless stuff. I should have gone down there while the cover was off and made a cork gasket for it. Sometimes the old ways work best.
I do not want to go back there because they wrecked the aircon compressor and left half the sensors hanging by wires, broke all the harness clips and left the harness floating in the air, and other nuisances too numerous to mention. The guy that runs the place seems to spend most of his time building 'tubulars' with VW Beetle engines and leaves a 16 year old apprentice to do the work.

 

They pulled engine, took axles out. Either damaged the tranny outshaft seals or didn't replace them when the engine went back in. Thus the Exxon Valdez onto the ground. The shop should really know better (if my guess is really the real cause)

 

Not sure what you mean by that
One day it was fine. Completely dry. (After fixing the leaks I had it up on the stands and personally scrubbed the engine and tranny with degreaser and a brush). Then - blooey! At first I thought the brake caliper had blown its piston seals because pink fluid was all over the inside of the wheel. (Yeah I know, I should have realised, brake fluid isn't pink). So I took the wheel off to check the caliper and then I saw the fluid all over the motor near the oil filter and also running down the suspension arm. And that's when I checked and found my levels low on tranny and motor oil.
Ummm.... there is ONE thing that really worries me. There's no way on a Max, for the tranny fluid to get into the motor oil, or vice-versa? I bloody well hope not!

 

No good, What made you choice his shop?

 

Thanks for your note. It sounds likely, doesn't it. Especially bearing in mind the loving care they used doing the job... NOT! Hmm. I seem to recall the seals are not TOO bad. Which leaves the TC cover again, as the most likely cause. Honestly that damn cover . . . I feel like renting an argon arc machine and welding the thing shut.

 

I'm not 100% on auto stuff but I don't think the TC cover is going to prevent tranny fluid leaks.

 

Well, I've always been into engineering, though I am mainly a power and radio frequency person, and so I tend to respect engineers. Maybe this sounds crazy but what happened was, I was buying something next door to his place, and saw he had a big sign offering machine shop work - you know, stellite work, helicoils, bronze, head work and such. So I took a look inside and saw a pretty big lathe at the end, and next to it, a vertical press and other interesting mechanical engineering kit. So I thought 'Ha, must have been to engineering college if he has all this gear and knows how to use it'.
Then I noticed a couple of drag cars sitting inside. Smallblock Chevys, gutted bodies etc. One of them had a strip record showing a 11s run stuck on the side of it. And so I thought 'Ah this guy IS serious about engineering.'
But on the two occasions I went down there to check on progress I found this kid of about 16 dressed in a filthy old T-shirt working on my Max while the owner was amusing himself with a 'tubular' (car made of tubes like a Beach Buggy)

 

Stay far away from that first shop.
Find a good mechanic to diagnose and fix it right. Preferably a japanese car specialist.

 

Sounds like that shop did alot of damage =\

 

Wait dont you have to be atleast 18 to operate machinery? Or to even do such work in a automotive shop? I know at my work I cant be a mechanic because I am not 18

I would definately be finding out how old this kid is and you may be able to take the shop under and you come out on top.

 

In canada we don't sue people, but if i was in your shoes, i would sue their pants off and then mod the max

 

It's possible, but highly unlikely. The only way I can think of is if the trans cooler in the radiator leaked into the antifreeze, and if you had a blown headgasket or a crack where a water jacket ran near a cylinder or possibly oil gallery...like I said, highly unlikely.

 

I feel you man, samething happen to me, my whole right control arm is soaked with oil. One of my mechanic friend show me what are the problems. There are two problems, i cant really explain to you. But one of the major leaking is from the engine. You have to take yur engine out and silicon the right cover, thats where the oil is. I dun kno how else to explain it to you, but thats the best i can help. But since you take the whole engine out might as well do VQ35 swap.

 

- If this were in the USA, yes.
But this is Mexico.... probably that kid left school at 14 and got a job at a dollar an hour, changing oil or whatever, and he's gradually working his way up. But I would rather he didn't practice on *my* friggin' car! It's not his fault, I guess he did his best, it's the fault of the lazy owner. That's the problem here: all repairs cost a lot less than in the US, but finding a reliable honest place, that's the thing
I have decided to take the car to my original guy. He works out of his house in a rough area and it is about 5 miles away, not convenient, but he is patient and honest and has never messed up my vehicles. On my Sentra I discovered the previous owner had put the wrong spark plugs in, the threads were in the chamber and all full of carbon. The guy had the patience to work them back and forth for hours, with WD40 etc, and got them out with the threads in the alloy head intact. I'll take the Max there and have these serious problems fixed over the Easter holiday.