Tldr; I needed help with a hardstart/idle issue and was charged $100 for a Quick OBD II scan (which I didn’t need), a car start, and an oil check. Will not use, nor recommend these guys.
I have a car that has a hardstart/idle issue. After spending a lot of time and effort trying to solve it myself and failing, I decided I needed help from someone with more than the meager knowledge I have; so I took it to Automotive Diagnostic Center to have them find the problem.
I made sure that I provided them, both in written and verbal form, a comprehensive description of the problem and the actions that I had taken to try to solve it so that they would have a good starting point.
I received a call from them saying that the oil needed changed and I could come pay the diagnostic fee, $100, and pick up my car, or they could change the oil, $60, but they couldn’t proceed with the diagnosis until the oil had been changed.
To be clear, I am not complaining that they said the oil needed changed because, it did. I’m not even complaining about the cost they quoted me for the oil change; $60 is reasonable, a bit steep, but not horrible. My problem is, they charged me $100 to do a surface scan with an OBD II, start the car and check the oil. I’m sorry, but, can you not see the issue here, ADC? This is the kind of stuff that so many shops pull that make people distrust and dislike you.
For $100, you could have done any number of things (all things that I don’t have the tools to do nor the knowledge to know what to look for and why I took to someone who should):
• Compression test
• Blow by test
• Intake manifold vacuum test
• Fuel pressure test
• Check the spark plugs
• Use a fancier OBD II to do a more in depth diagnosis to see what each of the components are actually doing to see if one is just barely working or acting in a way that indicates a short or bad wire/connection.
Those are just some examples off the top of my head. I’m sure that other things could have been done. What you did do, I could have done, and had done myself and would not have brought it to you had that been what needed to be done.
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I have a car that has a hardstart/idle issue. After spending a lot of time and effort trying to solve it myself and failing, I decided I needed help from someone with more than the meager knowledge I have; so I took it to Automotive Diagnostic Center to have them find the problem.
I made sure that I provided them, both in written and verbal form, a comprehensive description of the problem and the actions that I had taken to try to solve it so that they would have a good starting point.
I received a call from them saying that the oil needed changed and I could come pay the diagnostic fee, $100, and pick up my car, or they could change the oil, $60, but they couldn’t proceed with the diagnosis until the oil had been changed.
To be clear, I am not complaining that they said the oil needed changed because, it did. I’m not even complaining about the cost they quoted me for the oil change; $60 is reasonable, a bit steep, but not horrible. My problem is, they charged me $100 to do a surface scan with an OBD II, start the car and check the oil. I’m sorry, but, can you not see the issue here, ADC? This is the kind of stuff that so many shops pull that make people distrust and dislike you.
For $100, you could have done any number of things (all things that I don’t have the tools to do nor the knowledge to know what to look for and why I took to someone who should):
• Compression test
• Blow by test
• Intake manifold vacuum test
• Fuel pressure test
• Check the spark plugs
• Use a fancier OBD II to do a more in depth diagnosis to see what each of the components are actually doing to see if one is just barely working or acting in a way that indicates a short or bad wire/connection.
Those are just some examples off the top of my head. I’m sure that other things could have been done. What you did do, I could have done, and had done myself and would not have brought it to you had that been what needed to be done.