Driver's Auto Repair #804 Drivers Auto Repair #804 Grossly Inflated and Illegitimate Repair Recommendations after State Inspection Spring Texas

My wife, induced by a coupon for an inspection sticker, went to Driver's Auto Repair, #804 near our home.  She returned home with both a fresh inspection sticker and a list of recommended repairs that were 1) mostly untrue and 2) decidedly overpriced.

Untrue recommendations:

1) Valve cover leaking - absolutely untrue.

The valve cover oil filler cap had lost its seal ring and there was crankcase blow-by on the valve cover.  This was easily removed with a degreaser and the oil filler cap was replaced with one sporting a seal ring for $8.

But to be certain I also cleaned the entirety of the head and the block and drove the vehicle more than 50 miles on the road and had the vehicle running in the driveway for perhaps a total perhaps an hour.  No leak whatsoever was detected.

Price:

Driver's wanted $76 for the valve cover gasket and $120 to replace the old gasket with the new one for a total of about $300.  I would not consider this to be an unfair price for this work but for the fact that none of this work was needed, at all.

2)  Sparkplugs need replacing - absolutely untrue.

The valve cover is, in turn, covered by a plastic shield and under the shield the sparkplug wires can be found in an assembly that is bolted to the head.  Neither the bolts on the plastic shield nor the bolts holding the sparkplug wires had been loostened by the shop, as evidenced by the undisturbed dust and dirt on the bolts.  The sparkplugs had not been inspected but were still declared in need of replacement.

I put a vacuum gauge on the engine and didn't notice anything but a constant vacuum without any fluctuations whatsoever.  If a sparkplug is defective and the cylinder is not firing properly and on time that missfire would be apparent as a fluctuation in the intake vacuum.

 I removed two of the four sparkplugs and did not note any problems whatsoever, including no problems with the gap.

To replace a sparkplug one first removes four bolts from the plastic shield and then the shield and then a single bolt per sparkplug (there are four) to remove the sparkplug wire.  They are all 10mm bolts and come off quite easily and all of this for all four sparkplugs takes about 10 minutes, at worst.  Then the sparkplugs can be removed, about 1 minute each.  The insertion of new plugs and the replacement of the sparkplug wires and the plastic shield, again just 4 bolts for the wires and 4 for the shield, should take another 10 minutes at the worst.

Besides, had my wife consented to the valve cover repair the only thing then required to replace four spark plugs was to remove them and replace them with new.

Price:

The shop wanted $36 for the unneeded plugs and $120 in labor to replace them.  That a total of 12 bolts and plugs to be removed and 12 to be replaced.  And, that's completely ridiculous if they'd already had the valve cover off to replace the gasket.

3)  Fuel injection service (whatever that is) - absolutely unnecessary.

My wife adds fuel injection cleaner to the fuel tank at each fill-up.  The vehicle runs beautifully, does not emit the smell of over-rich combustion, has excellent pickup and excelleration and does not stumble either at idle or under load. 

Price:

Still, the shop wanted $200 to perform this "service".

Total price for recommendation and $40 inspection - $755.30.  All but the $40 inspection was completely unnecessary.

I share this story with my across the street lady neighbor and she related a story of Driver's having told her that the power steering system on her vehicle was leaking and needed an expensive repair.  She took the vehicle to her usual mechanic who 1) cleaned the system up and 2) drove it many miles without any hint of a power steering leak.  He charge them $10.

This place appears to be a ripoff that preys on women drivers.