bobjohnson

iTrader: (2)

Hello All. I never thought this would happen to me & im not sure if i truely am at fault or not so im asking everyone at the org for their opinion.
Truthful opinin please~

Ok, The Blue Maxima, Its hardly been driven the past 9mons to yr.
- Had my parents mechanic work on it this 1time......
$268.00 Dealership Altenator
$120.00 Injector
$50.00 Radiator Hose's

I paid him $220.00 to install all of this. Total bill: $ 658.00

Drove car home last thursday (10/12/06)- boy did she run beautiful..
Saturday night - very first night out w/her since thursday.
Well Saturday night at 5:30am driving, The Bottom Radiator Hose came off as i was driving home, all the Antifreeze drained out. The hose-clamp was extended all the way- he didnt even tighten it!

Oh yes!, i got out at 5:30am put water in, tightened the hose on, waited 15mins.

Started the Maxima. Transmission got overheated and is Toasted.
The car is stuck in 3rd, No Reverse, No 1st gear, No 2nd gear, Just 3rd.

Is this the Mechanics fault or Mine?

He did complete his job as described so i feel he is to blame for ruining my transmission. I wasnt drivin the car hard at all either- was out drinkin that night, just left the bar......

Any help/Advice is appreciated......thanks to all. Mwest.

95mtlMAXSE

man...i would speak to him...try to come up with something together...make him understand that his distraction caused this and you want him to replace the tranny....that's what i would do anyway

f550maranello2

iTrader: (2)

how would that be ur fault? he screwed up not you.. get back there and explain what happened..

-Sin-

you should have left everything alone and had it towed to his shop. Now he can say your making excuses for screwing up your own tranny.

Curt

iTrader: (27)

I'm not at all certain that (possibly) overheating the engine should have contributed to the trannie failing. Unless you can find a legitimate causal link, I think you're SOL. Granted he left the hose clamp untightened, but how does that cause the tranny to overheat?
And out drinking till 5:30AM - what's with that? Hate to tell you this, but if I was a small claims court judge and you came in with this story,...... sorry!

bobjohnson

iTrader: (2)

Anti-freeze runs through the transmission cooling it as well.
- we dont have transmission coolers as a stock option-

yep- out at 5:30am - dad, is that you?
(funny how you both said that exact same thing right away)LOL...

I already have plans to file this with small claims court and No i dont plan to tell the judge "yeahaw i was drinkn n drivin and my maxr broker downer" - nada

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Anti-freeze does NOT run though the tranny. The radiator DOES have an oem tranny cooler running though the bottom portion of the radiator. But tranny fluid runs though there. Not anti-freeze.

IMHO, you had better be alot smarter in your descriptions to the court if you expect to have any chance. The court will see the mechanic as the expert.

bobjohnson

iTrader: (2)

ok. Jeff ill take your advice on this but that leaves the question still.
How/Who is responsible for the transmission failing less than 72hrs after the vechile was serviced....????

How/ What would you do jeff if this happened to yourself.......?
i guess thats what im trying to figure out..

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

I'm not sure how the repairs are related to the function of the tranny. Or he could have abused the car. The burden of proof is unfortunately on you. You need to find out why the tranny failed and if the repairs could have been the cause. YOu might have to take it to another mechanic for their expert opinion.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

The trans fluid runs through the cooler in the bottom of the radiator, and not only does the radiator itself act as a large heatsink to the trans fluid, but the coolant also pulls heat away (depending on the heat differential between the two). Check the dipstick on the trans, look at the fluid...is it dark, does it smell burnt?

bobjohnson

iTrader: (2)

Jeff92se- see this is the type of advice or help i was looking for. Someone that could throughly explain how it "could of" been related to the antifreeze.
You seem to be more Negative to my situation... any reason why?

I check all fluids - Trans fluid was full, Engine oil was full as well.
Trans fluid was changed 30k miles ago-
Engine oil was changed 100miles ago-

**1 thing the mechanic did mention- he said the tensioner was stuck when he was replacing the altenator and he used a pry bar to free it.... <-this has me wondering. He said it wasnt anything out of the ordinary what he did.
And when i start the car.... the belts squeak first 10seconds of it idling.
-belt tension is good, belt is new- 6mos old.

pmohr- i appreciate your insight. thankyou

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Your tranny would not fail due to the short time the radiator was out of fluid.

I'll bow out of this and just wish you luck.

Zack342

iTrader: (89)

your claim would be hard to prove. Your tranny has nothing to do with your radiator running dry. if you engine overheated then you would have a shot

Dexter

my radiator hose came loose once on the highway and the engine bogged on me it wouldn't go over 20MPH so I shut it off before any damage could be done, towed it to the shop and got a new one, no permanent damage was done to the engine or the transmission, luckily. Did you drive it home even when u felt something "wrong" with yer car because you were afraid that if you called a tow-truck and they smelled booze on ya they might call the cops?

kcryan

iTrader: (1)

Unless you were driving with no rad fluid for a while, the immediate cause might have been a slight surge in heat, but it was prob on its way out before, and by that i mean it mighta had 500 miles left in it, its partly his fault, but for what youd be able to get its prob not worth it.

bobjohnson

iTrader: (2)

Ha no i wasnt worried about the cops at all. I did feel the car bogg out on me and i didnt think nething of it.... guages looked fine. Then about 5min later the heat went to ice cold.... i looked down saw temp on Hot, it started to stall and i just killed the engine and worked on it at the side of the highway.

And honestly guys, i wasnt drinkin - but i was torqued up~
At this point - guess ill ride it off - hustle - flow - be back next spring.
Its only money -

DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

The mechanic used a pry bar to free the belt tensioner??? That's a bit extreme!!! Regardless, its too far away from harming the transmission. Have you looked under your car to see if maybe, just maybe, the transmission was developing a problem all along, such as an external leak, and just so happens to crap out the same time your car overheated?

If you are planning to take this guy to court, make sure that first you've tried working things out with him in a reasonable way. If he is being outright unreasonable and impossible to work with, then that's the time to take him to court. Nothing p1sses off a judge more than a case that didn't have to end up in court which can work against you. Get opinions from different mechanics, go to a few transmission shops and make them think that you are going to take your broken-down transmission to them. They're usually more receptive to questions if they think they are going to get your business. Arm yourself with correct knowledge and by the time you go to court, at least you will be prepared to present a strong case.

Wish you the best on this one.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

You would have blown your engine due to an overheating issue way before the tranny would have overheated.

Your mechanic didn't touch your tranny.
Your tranny didn't fail because of an overheating issue. (see engine blowing 1st)
Your wasting your time trying to put blame on your mechanic.
Go shop for a rebuilt tranny or have yours rebuilt.

Those are the facts.