Wow, let me start by saying i'm really, really pissed right now. After this, i'm about to go grab a coffee and smoke a few out of the dugout. Very stressed. This may or may not be a long post, but PLEASE I NEED ADVICE, anything helps. So i'm a senior in highschool this year (Yes I am 18) I work for Best Buy. Although i've lived my entire life with my parents, and they did an excellent job rasing me, and I have been more fortionate than a lot of people in the sense my parents make more than the average household, so I have had my fair share of freebies. However, ever since I got a job, I pay for my own stuff. Thats how I like it. I work for what I get, and wouldn't want it any other way. I bought my own car, pay insurence, and buy gas. My parents pay for my neccessities but any extras, are on me. I am not complaining at all, as I totally agree with this system. I LOVE MY CAR, I drive a 2000 Volkswagen GTI VR6. Its a 5speed. Its really fun, and my favorite material good that I own. I paid for all $5000 of it myself. I know its not much, but for a highschooler it was pretty hard to save all that cash. However, recently i've gotten shafted really hard. The economy has slowed sales at Best Buy, and i'm getting far less hours. My paychecks that were once very nice for a part timer, are getting lower and lower. Thats a little about how I came into this issue......... My mechanic is my neighbor and old friend. He is 21, and a certified Volkswagen mechanic at our local dealership. I trust people a lot, sometimes too much. He is one of these guys that I really trust, pretty well. He says somethings wrong, I give him money, he fixes it. He takes some money for labor, but its a steal for what a shop would charge, for sure. But it adds up, and I don't have a lot of cash. So 2 months ago my car breaks down. It ends up being an ECM, or engine control module. Very rare part to break. It ends up being 400 to fix, parts and labor. Not a big deal, sucks dropping the money but whats gotta be done has to be done right? I pay him, the car comes back a few days later working. I have no reciept for the part. So two weeks after that, my transmission seises. I tow the car to his house, and he says I need a new tranny and clutch. He says 725 for the tranny and clutch and 400 for labor. Yeah, thats $1125, RIGHT AFTER i just put in $400. Thats a big hit, and with my hours, I can't afford it, so the car gets parked for a month till I can get the money. Well, I got the money finally. Took me a long time to save it, but I did. So I give him the car, he "Fixes it" and I get it back about 4 days later. He gets the money. Now shit goes wrong. The SAME thing that happened to it before the transmission ( THE ECM) broke again! Gave me the same issue, and I know for sure what it is. I call him and ask whats up. He says that it is the old ECM, and not even the new one he bought! I ask why is it in there rather than the new one, and he says oh because the other one had an issue after the transmission work and is no longer working, but i thought i fixed this one. For those not into cars, the ECM and tranny are 2 COMPLETLY different things, and its highly unprobable that it broke due to tranny work. So, GC, what do you think. I've NEVER gotten any reciepts for any of the work he has done to my car. No part reciepts or anything. Now he is saying that he doesn't know what is wrong, he has all of my money, I am flat broke and my car is in my garage, broken. What the hell is going on. He says that he is going to come over later and talk about it, what do you think I should tell him. I'm honestly just dumbfounded right now because I work really hard, and have just dumped 2k in this car. That is a lot of money for me. This is just super shitty.
shit..he playin you cuz.. sucks that you didnt get no receipt...or else u wouldve gotten his ass... but iono...if he doesnt play by the rules..i guess u dont have to neither...i personally wouldnt put up with this kind of bullshit..and ima a real generous person.. i hate it when people use people cuz they think that they can... good luck brah
Yeah dude its super shitty. Like I don't even know what to think, I really trust the guy. But theres a point where its like damn how did 2 of these ECMs, which hardly EVER misfunction break?
It's hard to break an ECM. I would have gotten a second opinion after that. And it's also really hard to seize a transmission, so you need to look into better daily maintenance. Sounds like he's playin' you man. An ECM is a simple thing to fix; it's all parts swapping. Take apart the dash, replace computer, put it all back together. It's really hard to diagnose your problem from here (I'm a huge car guy), so I would see what I could do about getting money back. Get reciepts, because the shop should have some. If this guy has been doing it under the table though, then you're S.O.L. Ask your parents to help you take it somewhere else and get it fixed right. Your last option is to do it yourself. Figure out what your problem is and start learning. In fact, I would check vwvortex.com for information (the biggest car forum on the internet). Chances are, someone has had a similar problem with an ECM and/or transmission. Good luck
Yeah dude there's no way the ECM broke twice in a row. Ask him if he'll fix it again for free, since his first work did fuck all. If he refuses, take appropriate action. And dont do business with him again
Thanks for the VWvortex idea, but i'm already a member there! My second favorite forum next to the GC
Well....tranny & ECM issues can be related. I do all the mechanical work for my (best) friend totally free of charge and I am not even a (certified) mechanic but I have years of experience and I get the job done well. My friend is currently financially in trouble but regardless I always have done the work (labor) free of charge. That's what friends are there for. So if that Dude really is your "friend" and he knows you're financially challenged IMHO he should (morally) not charge you for the labor.
They might be related if he used the wrong ECM (like one for an auto) and then it saw a new tranny and went nuts. But seriously, what are the chances. Even then, the guy used the wrong ECM in the first place, and homeboy is still in a shitty situation. So OP, you getting anything straightened out? And I know you're probably busy with it, but I'm interested if you have any mods or plans. Post in the "post your ride" thread. Good luck, again.
dude...no one can tell you for sure if he's fuckin with you or not but this seems pretty shady you definitely need to ask him for receipts and shit for the work he does even if you dont care or trust him, the person you sell the car to next will want that stuff
Blake - have I got this right ... your ecm goes he replaces the ecm then your tranny/clutch goes he replaces it then the ecm goes again but it's the original ecm that first went wrong if that's right then chances are he fucked you over completely and didnt replace your ecm - chances are that he only reset the fault codes and the original problem was fixed temporarily and then went faulty again did you even see a box for the new ecu??
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT GUYS!!! UPDATES..... So he came over last night, a half hour late Man I was tired and wanted to sleep. He said its the same fault, and he has no idea why it is happening. He seems to think it needs a new ECM. That is when I assertivly, but politely let him know that he is not getting any more money, and I expect a working car soon. He agreed and the car is back at his house, hes at work all day, but i'm excited for him to get off and hopefully give me some good news. The ABSOLUTE SHITTIEST part is I put the insurence back on my car yesterday. Once it is reinstated, you can't take it back off for 30 days. Meaning i'm going to be charged $164 by my insurence company, weather it is running or not. Thats what makes me most pissed, I mean I got a car I was told was running, so I put my insurence back on. Then it fucks up after 60 miles of driving it. Shit sucks. I hate Volkswagen engineering. Like I love Volkswagen, so much. The car is awesome when it runs, so so fun. But so many things go wrong! Especially electrical!
Yeah thats the problem with vw's and bmwers they are very finnicky and tend to fuck up alot. very very nice cars and germans are not the best electricians.
Thats what you get for dealing with a kid first all, And you think in the end you save. The dealership gives warranty, where he installs and gives you his word. Take it in and get it fixed right,
Thats what i'm wondering also. My car is chipped by GIAC, which is a direct sotter into the ECM. He thinks there may be a problem there. I'm contacting GIAC, and I think I may have to make up a few white lies and have them fix it. I'm generally a very honest person, but at this point i'm flat broke, my whip is broken, and I've been fucked around a bit. Oh and to Straighttodome...... I have a 2000 Volkswagen GTI VR6. Its a 5speed. It is really, really fun.
u shoulda got recipts and i think he's "fixing" your car in more ways than one kick his ass and take your money back
The car ran for as long as I had it fine with the GIAC chip. But I have the Origional chip out of a new ECM I bought. He knows that I think he is fucking me. Which is exactly why I think he's going to have this car magically working soon.
dude - work with me here - i've chipped and re-mapped plenty of cars and even re-written bmw codes for stealth chips how long did the car run fine for with the GIAC chip? A month, a week, a year?