Please Respond....email Welcomed

[krgoodman]

i have owned my 1985 corvette for i year. i figured it was time for a tune-up. i took the car to Allied Tires & Service to have the plugs changed-out (my wires were 6 monts old so i kept them, i asked them to use acdelco plugs, change the distributor-cap & rotor, adjust timing. by the way, they used autolite plugs. i left their shop and started to drive to a transmission-shop for a fluid/filter change. when i came to my first stop light i noticed that my brake pedal was very tight......i had to almost stand on it to stop the car, also the car was idling rough and it died 3 times on the way to the trannie shop, i turned around...took the car back to Allied and they quickly informed me that my "brake-booster" was faulty. ($700) i told them i had no brake problem until i left their shop. of couse they said it was coincidence that my booster failed at that point.

Sorry bout the long post, but i am going bananas.

took the car to the trannie place, dropped the pan(no metal bits). the next day, i noticed trannie-fluid on my driveway. i took the car back and they said a seal or spring must have broken inside and caused the leak the manager told me that when you change trannie-fluid all sorts of things can happen. sounds like crap to me.

please, somebody respond with an answer or opinion. my web tv loads this website slowly so email is quite welcome.
Thanks so much I would hate to sell my beloved vette at a loss because i have been screwed.

 

[JonM]

You may want to check for any vacuum hoses that are off near the manifold or brake booster. That would cause your problems with the brakes. Without getting under it, I wouldn't have a clue about the leak in the tranny. If you do need a new booster they can be had for about 100 bucks..and if you are at all handy you could save the other 600 for whatever...I will also e mail this to you.

 

[Vette_Newb2]

Yes, I would check vacuum first. If you have a line that broke or has come loose it will cause the rough idle and hard pedal. I have always been told that it is a coin toss to change tranny fluid because all kinda wierd stuff can happen.


gl

 

[tnovot]

Same ol' shi*. Happens all the time - 100's, maybe 1000's of times on all kinds of cars - not just Corvettes. That is why most of us do our own maintenance and repairs. What we don't know how to do, we learn - either from each other through the good advice and helpful experience from others on this site or through other means.
Yes - you've screwed by the inept auto repairs. My advice is to buy a repair manual and start learning the basics. You might also try to locate a nearby Corvette owners club where you could get good advice and/or get references for good repair shops in your area who work on Corvettes. Sorry about your bad experience

 

[vetteboy86]

I find it hard to believe that your brakes would fail right after the tune up. I dont know why they would've unhooked any vacum lines, but who knows. Because the brakes are screwed up, makes me believe you have a vacum problem instead of a crossed wire, or timing off, or possibly a wire that is not seated on the plug all the way. As far as the tranny goes, I am not sure. Try to locate the leak best you can. How much is leaking? I guess we could go from there.

Good Luck

Craig

 

[krgoodman]

I find it hard to believe that your brakes would fail right after the tune up. I dont know why they would've unhooked any vacum lines, but who knows. Because the brakes are screwed up, makes me believe you have a vacum problem instead of a crossed wire, or timing off, or possibly a wire that is not seated on the plug all the way. As far as the tranny goes, I am not sure. Try to locate the leak best you can. How much is leaking? I guess we could go from there.

Good Luck

Craig

it's not a lot of tran/fluid, i added a couple ounces yesterday, tightened my pan screws took it to another guy at Aamco who said i tightened then too much..i did'nt think so,they were not even snug so i just snugged them up. when i first noticed the leak i inspected my bell-housing for fluid. did not see any. looked at my gasket...that looked ok. is it possible that they over-filled it and i made it worse by adding approxamatly what i saw on the driveway? tranny works fine. i removed the shroud thats in front of the pan, looked inside and saw no fluid.
my brakes have not "failed" but the pedal is stiff and the car dies at almost every stoplight. it idles up and down fairly violently and the usually dies. When i turn the car off i do indeed hear air escaping from somewhere. by the way where is the brake booster? i'm hoping i have a worn hose.
thanks, kevin

 

[dman]

pinch off vac line at booster and see if it idles smooooooooth out .. if so . looks like boooster prob ??????

 

[BigRed]

My experiences say that the knocked off or broke off the steel/rubber vaccum line behind the plenum when they did the dist.cap....Ive done it myself actually.

If the transmission is just a few drops then it could as simple as them not cleaning after themselves.

Take it to a lube shop and look for yourself to verify

 

[JonM]

by the way where is the brake booster? i'm hoping i have a worn hose.
thanks, kevin

Open the hood...its the big round disk attached to the firewall on the drivers side. Its about the size of a dinner plate.

 

[Edmond]

Look where Jon said, it's between the master cylinder (2 little reservoirs of brake fluid) and the fire wall.

Like BigRed said, it's possible that they could've spilled some tranny fluid when they were refilling it. I know that it's happened to me. It's filled through the dipstick and it's probable that they spilled some.

 

[Rogue]

This is one of the reasons I refuse to take my Corvette to unknown independent shops or those franchise shops like Jiffy-lube, Midas, etc. If you think they have wrench monkeys at dealerships, you'd better believe they have bigger wrench monkeys at those little shops unless proven otherwise. I've personally heard some of those "mechanics" give advice to customers based on incorrect sources, faulty diagnosis, or just urban legends, etc.! I've also taken other cars there in the past and they always use substandard replacement parts that never work as well as the OEM parts. Saves some money but the car is never the same.

My only choice is the Chevy dealership right now. They are far from perfect but the one I use, always installs OEM parts, and they do have access to the factory service manuals, bulletins, computer diagrams, etc from GM. And although, this dealership has actually broken stuff on my Corvette, yes, BROKEN, when I returned to get them fixed by saying, "It wasn't broken when I brought it in", the dealership went and fixed it using OEM parts at NO CHARGE to me. Now that's better! The chances of something breaking by itself the time you bring your car in for service is very small to nil. Mechanical stuff normally will have symptoms before it goes.

 

[vee93]

I suggest this: The next time you MUST take your Vette in to be serviced-WHEREVER, make double dang sure you say (with a smile), "This is the ONLY problem my Vette has and that is what needs repairing. There is NOTHING else wrong with the car. 'Preciate it guys/ladies, thanks." Make sure it's written down on the service ticket in your presence. You initial it. Write down your mileage BEFORE you hand over your keys.

I actually caught some service techs doing donuts and burn-outs on a back lot in a customer's Torch Red droptop. When they finally parked the car, they scrubbed a wheel against the curb. They looked at the curb kisses on that expensive rim, shrugged their shoulders and walked off, slapping high-5s and grinning. I also noticed the tires were still smoking and stinkin' of burnt rubber. I meandered around the car lot for nearly 3 hrs. waiting for the owner to return. Sure enough, when she got in the car, her brakes were squeaking enough to cause her to frown, roll forward-stop-frown and start again-frowning more. I walked right up and tapped on her window. We talked for a good 20 minutes. All she'd needed was an oil change. I followed her into the Service Manager's office where she scared him AND me. I pointed out the offending pair. Y'all know they denied it!!! HA! Guess what!?!!! They forgot about the video camera up on the roof of the showroom pointing in their direction. They were fired that day. The Vette got 2 new rear wheels, plus new pads and rotors-free! The part I was told was out of stock miraculously became in-stock and free!!