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| - Never again!
I've taken my car to this location 3 times, on two of those occasions I went ahead and authorized the repairs they suggested, even though I was skeptical of their diagnosis and costs.
One the first occasion my clutch had failed, so I take my car in, they agree that my clutch is fried and it'll be $400 to replace it. I have a limited edition vehicle with several high performance and/or aftermarket parts, so this seemed like reasonable price. All is well and good until the next day when they tell me that they put the new clutch in but my transmission is fried as well and it's going to cost an additional $1600 to replace it, as it has to be assembled by hand. This raised some red flags but I was in a jam so I authorized them to do it.
On the second occasion my mass air flow sensor died and they tell me it's going to $1200. That seemed incredibly high, but again I paid it.
On the last occasion it took it in to repair an exhaust pipe that had broken off at the first catalytic converter (I have dual CATs), I figured it just needed a quick weld. When they called me I was told that I have to replace the entire exhaust system, that the pipe had broken off inside the CAT and that the first CAT was "shoved halfway into the exhaust manifold". They said the cost was going to be $1600 for the exhaust system plus labor. This sounded like total BS to me, so I went to their shop and looked at it while it was on the rack. In regard to the CAT being "shoved halfway into the exhaust manifold", this was utter BS. The CAT and manifold where in perfect shape, the only damage was a small crack in bracket between them. What they said was true in regard to the pipe breaking off right at the CAT, but I could see immediately that it could be easily welded; weld a collar to the CAT, trim down the broken pipe and weld it to the collar...Viola! I point out that a weld can fix it and the mechanic tells me "No way, I even took pics off the damage and sent them to our exhaust specialist and he said it's impossible". So I tell them fine, cut out the first CAT, terminate the lead O2 sensor and I'll run it with one CAT and one O2 sensor. He tells me "you can't do that with a turbo, you'll get a check engine light if both CATs and sensors aren't working and connected, you'll never pass emissions." That's when I pointed out to him that due to the broken pipe there is no airflow at all to the second CAT and O2 sensor and I'm not getting any check engine light. He looked at me stunned for a few seconds and said "I'm just telling you what our exhaust guy told us.". That's when I knew he was full of it, so I told them thanks for nothing and took my car. The next day it dawned on my that a good friend of mine has an uncle who is a master welder and long story short, I took my car to his shop and he fixed it in less than 45 mins. It took longer to remove the CAT than it took him to weld the break. It was so easy that he refused to charge me.
What I learned from my last experience is that there were only two possible scenarios in that instance:
1. Either the mechanics on staff and their "exhaust specialist" were so inexperienced and ignorant they didn't understand that the exhaust could have been fixed with a simple weld
-or-
2. They knew that it could be fixed with a weld but were more interested in selling a $1600 exhaust system
Add either of the above to the fact that they straight up lied to me about the condition of my CAT and exhaust manifold and you can only conclude that when it comes to Sun Devil Auto at 43rd & Thunderbird, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.
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