psykoTA

iTrader: (4)

mc01ta, where in VA are you?

Vertigo

iTrader: (1)

I live in Va, and there are two Chevy/ Pontiac dealerships within 10miles of each other. Its rediculus how i can get a diag. of something at on place ..that's a HUGE ISSUE and is going to cost me $500+ and at the other place its $235???? I was blown away!!

psykoTA

iTrader: (4)

Hey Vertigo, I know some people at a chevy dealer. Everytime I go in there I get the parts either at cost or slightly above cost. I called one time and they didn't reconize me, quoted me $20 for a part. I went in there only charged me $10. I go there for all parts, tired of using Autozone/Pepboys parts. Let me know if you ever need something.

mc01ta

I'm in Fairfax. J Koons Pontiac in Tysons VA quoted me $900 for everything, i laughed and couldn't believe it. I told them they could kiss my ***. I've tried Farrish Pontiac in Fairfax, they are ok. They are really slow to do anything for example they had my car for over a week to fix a power steering pump. I would love to hear of one good pontiac/gm dealer within an hour of where i live, i don't mind driving a lil to get good service for once.

psykoTA

iTrader: (4)

No one works on my car but me, except for exhaust and welding, but that will soon stop. Hmmm......I can't think of any good shops around here, or near you. I can ask around for you though. Have you been to some other Fbody sites? I don't know if Ill get in trouble for posting their links, but they are more local to us. Let me know if you want the links, ill PM them to you.

mc01ta

send me the links, i'm tired of all the that dealerships give me.

BDiddy#11

As I wrote before......I know people are in business to make money. Its the **** rape at dealerships that **** me off. Did you not read what I said? I'm sure there are good dealers in this world, just not here. Not to mention some of the mechanics around here might as well be REAL monkeys as some of these guys are not the brightest crayon in the box. It is not just dealers some people in other shops will **** rape you also. So don't take it personnal if you work at a dealership and I'm sure it is expensive to run a dealership but I also know how much my SS cost me too. You make more money in the long run by not ripping people off, instead of hit them with one BIG hit so think about that for awhile.

anthony m

iTrader: (1)

Whatever dude it sounds like he is getting an estimate for more than the check valves.Usually moisture and condensation eat up the air pump.That is why his estimate is so high.

INMY01TA

iTrader: (1)

We're all well aware he needs new air pump (read the post you quoted). $900 is insane any way you look at it.

BDiddy#11

I agree, I would have taken it off and deleted the code. $900. to warm up the cats? WTF? Can you say.......Dealer trick? I already took mine off as well as the EGR and the cats. I live in Alabama no no sniffer test. WOOOOHOOO! No **** rape for me!

mc01ta

I have emissions tho (I was the one with the problem in this post orginally). $900 was for the check valves and the air pump assembly, thats it (including labor). I was hoping with that cost they were flying me to Cancun and order me some lap dances...anyways parts alone for everything was $260 without tax so do the math. Over six hundred dollars to fix these parts, the dealerships i've come into contact with in Northern VA are awful! If anybody knows of 1 good dealership that deals with GM cars, tell me, i will drive to them in the future and tell them they were recommended. Until then, i've lost all patience for gm dealers where i live, nothing is ever covered under warranty, take forever with your car for repairs, never the nicest people on the phone and in person, are absolutely suprised when you know more than they do and can actually point it out in person to them what is wrong or give them details about the car they did not know about. I am a true believer in you should know more about this car than anybody if you sell it, work on it, etc. Know your product, they never seem to, its poor customer service and salesmenship. Maybe we should all work at one big GM dealership and do it the way we want to, I wanna b a service tech, i got dibs!

INMY01TA

iTrader: (1)

I hear OBDII is coming to VA. We got it in Md. and I passed. !air !cats.

BDiddy#11

All the air pump does is warm the cats. So if your car is warm for the inspection it doesn't matter. It heats up the cats so there is lower emissions at start up. I also agree, they should know about the product they sell or work on. My mom was buying an avalanche with the 5.3 and I asked how many cubes it was and he said I don't know. I told him it was a 327,but how can you sell anything you don't know about? There is not that many Chevy models so LEARN IT IF YOU SELL IT!

psykoTA

iTrader: (4)

I have been hearing that DEQ (department of enviromental quality) is going to be setting up smog dogs in certain areas, such as, spotsylvania, and other high traffic places that currently do not have emissions testing, in order to see if there is a need for the testing. It would be happening in the next couple of years. I took emissions in college (actually am certified by DEQ to make emissions repairs ) my teacher works closely with DEQ and he would tell us about what is coming to VA. Especially since OBD III is on its way. Also, I read a large article in the Free Lance Star explaining the same thing. This is why I am staying smog legal with my TA. And most are misinformed about their emissions equip. Like EGR, yes it is an emissions device as it lowers NOX, but it does that through cooling down the combustion process with inert gases. When it is not there, you get pinging, because of the increase in temp. inside the cylinder. And it seems KR is a problem for some........

When you said OBD II is coming to VA. Did you mean OBDII testing?

One more thing when I ran my TA on the emissions dyno , it came out cleaner than most hondas . Teacher couldn't believe it. All the ricers were stunned, couldn't believe a "V8" could be cleaner than there four bangers.

Sorry for the long post.
And I will PM you the links.

ss rally red

iTrader: (8)

I cant quailfy to be an expert for every states EMI program but I have done over 20000 Et's in Ga. over the last 6+ years, our program is based on California's which is accepted as the toughest in the nation, we have been performing OBD testing since 99, in our program we do no visual inspection as to emissions equipment, we #1 have to verify that the SES light comes on when the key is turned to the on position, after that the test consists of checking for codes/readiness monitors and in the case of 00 & up cars/light trucks it may scan for the vin in the PCM. for 96 to 2000 veh. there can be 2 "not readys" and the car will still pass, for 01 & up only 1 not ready monitor and the car will still pass. As long some "edit" has been performed the test should be no problem.

98BlackBird

Dealers do suck! Sorry Andy. I had to teach their guys how to use the computer to look up parts. They were pathetic! I got a part CD off EBay for $7! Also, check out www.GMPartsDirect.com everything is practically half price that of list. Now I can look up part numbers and order them myself.

The installation part is still a chore due to lack of specialized tools/equipment but I'm learning about my car and loving it. I recently had the P1416 code pop up as well. Fixed it by changing the 2nd bank air check valve ($15 at GMPD.com). I love my car!

jaberwaki

First,
most people fresh out of automotive school go to dealerships to work...
after they get good they open there own shop or go work someplace that will pay them to be good.
EVERYONE knows a dealer will charge you anything they think they can get out of you.

as to the original post.
bud, F-Body Central is right up the beltway from you. Jason and his crew can handle ANY fbody job you throw at them
as to the more simple stuff... look me up on www.easternfbody.com and wait for one of our install parties, we'd be happy to help you out. price = a case or 2 of beer.

jaberwaki

by the way....
so anthony m . do you guys charge people 125 bucks to tell them they need new plugs and wires then tell them it will be 200 bucks parts and 200 bucks labor?
this happened to a chick friend of mine this week.
she called me up crying cause she didn't know how she was going to pay for it(she did not have 400 bucks for P&L) i ran to Advanced auto picked up her cars(kia) 4 plugs and wires $35, drove to the dealership, had her pop the hood ,swapped em in 15 mins.(only took that long cause i added 5 mins to smoke a cig. ) closed the hood gave the "techs " the finger and drove off.
explain to me how you validate charging someone 400 buck to swap 4 plugs and 4 wires and all of them right on top of the motor in front no special tools needed.

psykoTA

iTrader: (4)

Hi BTW (from eastern fbody)

jaberwaki

whats up psyco?