Hi everyone. This is my first post. I came here for some advice about what to do with my car. Here is the story:

I was driving on the Pennsylvania turnpike when my car's ( 1991 Formula Firebird ) engine shut off. None of the gauges had any electricity running through them either, they were on the 'zero' position. So i rolled over to the side of the road, and eventually I got toed to a local car repair shop. I had to go back to Virginia, and I would have to pick up the car when it was finished.

Three weeks later they tell me that they have narrowed the problem down to a wire short. They think it's the Pass-key.

My questions: Is this a reasonable amount of time to wait? Should I pick the car up and take it somewhere else?

Thanks for your responses.

-Confused and a little angry

 

Well that depends on what you told them when you had it towed, did you say I need my car fast or did you say get it done when you can. Oh and by the way did they have ASE techs or is it a do it yourself shade tree operation. Alot depends on what kind of shop you had it towed to, did you call for dailey reports or did you just wait to hear from them. and just as a reminder I would bypass that pass key it's nothing but a pain in the *** to deal with. Just go to radioshack and get the correct risisstor and bypass that piece of s***. If your worried about theft then install a cutoff switch to your fuel pump and put it somewhere inconspicous like inside the sidewall of your center console. Hope you get your wheels back and keep the burnoutsd coming.

 

There wasn't a clear-cut understanding when I left that place. I had to get home, and I figured the car would be ready to go within a week. I called every other day asking what was happening, and every time they told me they thought it was a short and they have a mess of a wiring job to try and figure out what is the problem. This continued until last week I gave them a break on calling them. I called back today and they gave me the same story. I must have given them my number 3 times, and every time either they or I asked them to please call me back. No one has yet to call me over the last three weeks, and every time I call, "the guy" working on it is not there.

The place probably does not have the tech guys you are talking about.

If I tell them to bypass the pass-key would they understand, or would they just fumble around for another 3 weeks?

Thanks for your reply!

-Dan

 

Take it someplace else or you might have more of a mess than you had originally. It is easy to bypass the pass-key system, you just need to find out what resistance the key is set at your local dealer can help, mine did. Then you just install a resistor on the electrical line underneath the dash coming from the key switch and wa lah no more pass-key problems. Any compentant mechanic can do this. It ain't rocket science. Good luck fellow bowtie.

 

Sounds like B.S. the VATS system should not be able to kill the car while driving. If you have no power the battery is dead or you blew a fuse. It should not take three weeks and still not know what is wrong. The longest I have ever spent looking for a short was two days on and off. I would take it else were before they screw it up worse. Mike

 

I agree with 83z28,a passkey should continue to work evan when it may see an open after the you started the car.It should continue to run.

 

Thanks all of you for the replies.
I am in a very odd situation because I am 8 hours away from the shop and everytime I call they say the same thing. I never talk to the person that is actually working on it, and that person never calls me back. To get the car I will need to rent a towing device from U-Haul or something. This would be A LOT easier if they could just fix the problem there so i can just drive it home!

I will call them tomorrow and see what kind of response they give me.