Word for word from my Facebook post. Thought it was worth sharing here. This weekend was spent replacing a transmission on my buddies 2014 turbo Honda Civic Si. Yes, the owner can drive stick fine. No, the car doesn't come with a turbo so right there is an unsanctioned modification. That modification required a clutch when the turbo was installed approximately 5000 miles ago. My rant. So, why was the transmission blown. Initially, we thought it was due to the fact that the car had double the torque that the car shipped with initially. That turned out not to be the case, but with that said, that definitely did not help the situation. First thing I did was drain the old transmission once the car was on jack stands. Expecting the normal ~1.7 qts, I got no more than a tenth of quart. Come to realize that the bolts that hold the passenger side half shaft (axle) into place were missing along with many other bolts throughout the entire job. Because the half shaft bolts were missing, it was able to work itself about the transmission enough where the transmission leaked out all of its oil. Cotterpins missing on steering components. Impact tools used to tighten everything down. EVERYTHING. No torque specs. Nothing was absolutely correct. A starter bolt was missing. Just dumb stuff that should never have been overlooked. If you have spare parts at the end of a job, there's a reason for it. That's absolutely ridiculous that the transmission was without any oil. That could have cause a massive accident with himself or other people. If you don't take pride in your work, don't do it. It's absolutely insane that the transmission in a car with 17,000 miles even with its modifications needed to be replaced. It's hard to comprehend that the previous clutch installer was an ASE certified tech. The moral of the story is that, 1, if you don't take pride in your work, quit your job and go elsewhere. 2, get receipts for all work done to your cars and if you ever have problems with work done by other people to your car, if they are unwilling to make good on it and you can absolutely confirm it is their fault, make sure you make your problem known to the community to help others avoid shotty work. It cost the owner of the vehicle a lot of money that shouldn't have been lost. Cost him a transmission, clutch and flywheel and lots of time. All which totaled out to be about $2000 because of hookups that he had.
That's exactly why I only go to one particular mechanic. If he's busy, I wait. Anything that I know is beyond my ability to do 100% correctly, or something that I just dont have time for gets brought to him. He runs his own shop, used to modify his old Honda all the time, and has told me before that he enjoys working on mine as it breaks the monotony of routine maintenance on the same local vehicles. Always keep your receipts, especially on big jobs. It's also a good habit to look over anything the mechanic touched to get the job done. If you don't know all the steps he had to take, ask. It doesn't have to sound like you're questioning his work. Just ask in a way that sounds like you're curious how much labor was involved. If they don't want to answer that, they're probably trying to overcharge on labor anyway.
The guy who did the clutch originally was their, "performance car" guy. All of the problems would have been easily avoided if he actually cared. My friend is trying to work it out with the tech but nothing may come of it unfortunately it seems as there is no traceability.
Too bad your friend didn't look it over when he picked up the car, if he had found even one thing wrong before he drove away he could have held them responsible. Forget talking to the tech, speak to the manager.
This happens quite a lot, I assume. At Honda, when new cars came in, it was a 20 minute process and onto the next car. Should've been longer, but that's what keeps the money coming in. From my experience, an ASE certification is easy to come by nowadays. I've got a friend with a shop and I met him through his grandson. I ask him questions on what I need to do, and he's been right every single time. And if I need help doing wheel bearings/ axles, etc.. , he just helps me out and shows me how to do it, so I know how to do it next time. Plus it helps to have a friend with a shop for all those tools/machines. But we take all of our cars to him. Like Varnell said, if he doesn't have time, we wait.
Unfortunately, he didn't notice it. He isn't as savvy when it comes to these things. His friends set it up for him so it was a cash deal with no receipt. The guy who set it up is a personal friend of the tech so I think they are trying to work it out.
I vaguely remember a story I was told where two women who had never touched tools in their life and went through the motions of getting the certification online and by studying, they were able to pass all of the written tests so I guess if that story is true,it attests to what you were saying.
Well another one is work at Autozone for I think a year, they will pay for you to get one online I believe. Not saying Autozoners are bad, but online testing for mechanical ability is kind of hard to prove online.
ase certified doesn't really mean much cause there's different levels. like for auto part employees their certification is in part knowledge which just means they know what parts go where. I took the ASE practice test when I worked at advance and I passed it. You can get certified in HVAC, or transmissions and still not know much about motors. Personally I dont let anyone touch my cars except for when a need a rotate/balance or alignment. But even then i only have 2 shops I'll go to
