1989 Galant LS
4G63 2.0L SOHC
KM-175 Automatic Transmission



I couldn't get my car to start a while back, everything was fine but no 'spark'; I checked all the usuals battery etc. the starter would turn over but no 'spark'.

This is my first car and at this point I had just learned how ot change the pil so I wasn't very mechanically enclined (not saying I'm a pro now or anything) but my first guess wasa nuteral safty switch. and every mechanic told me that wasn't possable because those only kill the starter and the starter was still working.

so I bought and replaced every piece i nthe ignitions system still no luck of course electronic pieces, no return on those. so finally I broke down and pulled it to a shop where it sat for 8 months while they repleaced the entire ignition system because I "must have done it wrong".

finally they found it was

A NUTERAL SAFTY SWITCH! in mitsubishi's there is a 3 phase switch that kills the fule pump, the ingnition system, and the starter respectively, the 2nd phase in my switch went out.

8 months and 1000$ later it works. 1000$ not including my time and money put in to it before the shop.

1993 Dodge Shadow ES V6 (6G72) Automatic

Before I ever started working on cars, I beat on them. I hit a curb doing 55MPH. I went through 6 alignments in 2 years before the place I had been taking my car to told me that my upper control arm was bent. DUH.

1998 Mitsubishi Galant ES Automatic

Same shop, different car. My alternator, idler pulley, and belts were all replaced. I then heard the same high-pitched squealing that had been happening, so after 3 free retightens on the belts, they finally told me that a bolt had rusted out of the tensioner pulley and I need a new one with a retap.

2003 Mitsubishi Lancer ES Automatic

I do all my work myself. I work on my parents' cars, my sister's car, etc. I work at a Nissan dealer. Part of this is because I NEVER want to have anyone else work on my car again.

1988 Jeep Cherokee: 4.0L I6 with a manual tranny (Peugot brand, I believe)

I had a mechanic tell that to change the rear shocks he needed to take the gas tank out. Funny thing, since the next day I crawled under and replaced them myself. His car hoist must have been in the way.

My senior year of high school the tranny and shifter jammed into first gear. Had a neighbor fix it in like 15 minutes (he said it was temporary). A year later it jammed into first again. I had the local tranny shop look at it. They gave me two options $50 (temporary fix, no tranny removal, would last about a year), $250 (take apart the tranny and find the root cause of the problem). Sure enough a year later, it jammed into first. I took it back and said fix it for good, $250 basically to take out the tranny and put it back in, seems the problem was caused by something in the shifter (shrug, i'm not a car expert).

1994 Jeep Wrangler Sahara: Sitting in my garage in pieces waiting to be put back together.

No horror stories. Oh wait, I was driving home from college and about 3 hours from home, my 6th cylinder rod snaps, shatters the pistons, breaks off part of the block and shoots through the oil pan. Not so exciting at 70 mph. I didn't know any shops in the area, so I took it to the shop that the tow truck guy recommended. They gave me too options, #1-used engine with 90,000 miles (90 day warranty), #2-brand new engine (reman) with 3 year, 60,000 mile warranty. The new engine was $1,000 more, but I went that route. A year later the rear main seal starts leaking, got screwed with trying to get the warranty to cover it. It ends up, that the engine company only pays for labor up $45 an hour. Find me a shop that charges that much (good luck). And it took me a few months to get them to send me a check (since I had to pay for the repairs and submit it to them). Stay away from ATK engines. The guy who installed the engine says he doesn't use them anymore. The rear main started leaking again a couple of months later, it's not bad so I said screw it. Later I find out that the rear main is a two-piece seal (no one-piece is available either, unlike the 4 cylinder Jeep engines).

2005 Mitsubishi Lancer ES (the econo-box)

I've done all the work myself, and haven't really had to to anything besides oil changes and plugs. I'm a little over 45,000 miles and am not looking forward to the timing belt change @ 60,000 miles. I've never changed one, so obviously i'm taking it to the dealer.

The only beef I've had with this car is the muffler shop who did my cat back exhaust. When I went in there I specifically told them to do the piping in stainless. Even when I left the shop the guy was like "now you have all shiny stainless steel pipes". Well, I was crawling under my car and noticed the pipes were spray painted with chrome spray paint. I know what stainless steel looks like, and I know the pipes were sprayed (since I could see overspray under my car). I go back to the shop and ask them about it and they say "well we spray them to protect them". I can't really prove what metal the pipe is made of, since I'm not at college anymore and don't have access to an XRF machine. I just won't use that shop again.

I don't really have any good horror stories. Most of my experiences with shops have been good because I go to the shop with an idea of what needs to be fixed and how they're going to do it. If I don't know what is wrong I make sure to get an estimate prior to doing the work, so I can research if that's really how long it takes, part prices, etc. That way they have to try harder to screw me over. I do try to avoid small shops, and prefer the dealer because they are the best at working on my car (that's why they have Techs).