Yesterday I took my IROC to pep boys to have the steering gear box, Motor mounts and transmission mount replaced. Ever since I got it back last night I immediately noticed the RPM guage bouncing around like crazy. I took the car back and the guy stated it was my spark plug wire sitting on the exhaust manifold on the drivers side which was causing it to do that and it needed to be replaced due to it heating up and burning through. I do not see any burn marks on the spark plug wire though. As for today, I noticed the car behaving differently and does not shift smoothly. The coolant resevoir box level reads hot now instead of where it should be.. " cool ". Can someone tell me what is going on? Seems like anytime I take a car to a shop, something else comes up. I know sure as hell it ain't coincidence!

 

We dont have too many pep boys where I live (AZ) but they dont have a very good rep. They may have pinched the wire harness where it runs behind the distributor, Very common to do that when replacing motor mounts.

 

No kidding eh? From what I have seen while taking a look at the car when on the lift.. I did not see any wires anywhere near where the motor mounts are. Do you or anyone have pics to share? Thanks.

 

I dont have any pics, but if you look behind your distributor, you will notice a FAT wire loom that is basically between the distrubutor and the firewall. there isnt much clearance there. When picking up your motor to change the mounts, if you pick it up too far, it can pinch that loom between the firewall and the distributor. As for the coolant level, it may be that they thought it was a little low and added water to it. That harness behind the dist, contains the tach signal wire.

 

I pretty much agree. They had to have jacked the motor up to do mounts. So therefore pinching that wire or sometime the distributor can hit the firewall itself could deffinately damage those wires or dist. They probably topped off your coolant. Basically the cool, hot levels mean. when the car is cool the coolant should at least be there and when warm the coolant should be there. I really wouldnt worry about that.

 

make sure the connectors on the coil are both completely plugged in. if the clips are broke put on new connectors because they will bounce around when the engine is running and maybe give a bad reading on the tach.

 

This is why the majority of us do our own work.

 

Well I checked the car again this morning when it was cool and took a good look at my spark plug wires. They are fine and intact, however one of them was pulled off the block in the back on the drivers side. Tach is back to normal now. I checked the wire loom in the back and it was not pinched. I have for the most part been doing my own work for the past several years, however with my job I currently have, I do not have the time to do so anymore, which is why I bring my car to a shop to have things done. Looks like I will have to start making time for it because it seems like people are getting harder to trust these days. Especially shady mechanics.