Did the dealer just rip me off??

686 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by [email protected], Nov 10, 2001

StealthMike2112

Discussion Starter · Nov 9, 2001

Dear folks-

Well, after just picking my '91 stealth R/T up from the local Dodge Dealership/service dept., I have to say that I am far from pleased. I ended up paying 584 bucks for a 60k mile tune up, since the car is approaching 120k miles. Well, they didn't replace the water pump, they didn't replace the timing belt, and the car seems like it's accelerating slower. It ended up being like 337 bucks in labor, seeing as I dropped the car off at 8am and didnt get it back till 4pm. All that is listed on the receipt, is an oil change, to what looks like non-synthetic, oil filter change, air filter change, some other misc. "filter" (thats all its listed as), valve - 29 bucks, cleaner for the following : throttle body, fuel injector, cooling sys, and windshield washer (which I just topped off this week, so i dont even know why they put more in, unless they flushed the cleaner resevoir). Other than that, everything was "checked". So, i guess that means, the tranny fluid wasnt changed also. The only thing i am happy with walking away from this was that the "ticking" we usually have with the cars was gone.
I don't know if this is a "common" thing associated with getting the 60k tune up at the dealer, but now what am I supposed to do about the timing belt? Wait till it goes and causes like 2g in valve damage?? I thought it was preventative maintenance, but I guess the dealer didnt think so. WTF???
All I know is that before I brought it in, i had Mobil-1 10w-30 in there, and everything else was pretty much fine, and in my opinion ran better in the sense that it was a bit quicker accelerating. I don't know, what do you guys think? THanks for listening to me rant, also. Enjoy the weekend.

Mike K

Save

1 - 3 of 3 Posts

ray pampena

· #2 · Nov 10, 2001

well i am a tech for a mitsu dealer. a 60k service here is all filters including the fuel filter, rotate and balance, change oil and coolant. the plugs get extra time on these because removal of the plenum. we always recommend the t-belt to the customer at this milage. dealers should be clearer with the customers about this.
as far as not running the same goes, when you change the fuel filter the battery is removed, and the adaptive learn in the computer is gone. this can make a low idle and feel sluggish especially in automatics.
it doesnt sound like you got ripped off its just that dealers are VERRY expensive and they should tell you up front what they will and will not do as part of a service. good luck!

Save

[email protected]

· #3 · Nov 10, 2001

That price seems a little hefty considering you could have changed all those filters yourself for a fraction of the cost. I would suggest asking ONLY for a drive belt, timing belt and water pump replacement. This will save you tons of money in comparison to paying close to $600 for something you could have done for much cheaper.

Since you mentioned the lifter noise going away, I'll tell you a theory I've heard: using Mitsu oil filters greatly reduces the amount of lifter tick. If it continues like this, I'd go to the parts dept. and buy some oil filters

Save

1 - 3 of 3 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month