I am venting ... I do most of my own work but occasionally if I am too busy I bring it in for a professional look over and/or major work.
Once we had the valves gapped and timing adjusted and the car was overheating terribly when it came back. I had to readjust the timing myself.
Another time I got it back after having the valves adjusted and the rear wheels almost fell off on the highway. I checked the lug nuts and they were hand tight. A day later my girlfriend calls me because the front wheel is making a bad noise. I tell her to pull over immediately. I drive out to get her. Turns out the front wheels were also hand tight. WTF!
6 months later I have an electrical problem fixed and ask to have the valves adjusted while it's there. When we bring the car in the mechanic sees a sticker from the "other" local VW mechanic and starts going on about how we must be taking the car to this "other" mechanic. When my girlfriend says no, that her boyfriend (me) is the one who does the oil changes and valve adjustments he starts going on about how it's been such a long time since he's worked on the car... (yeah I wonder why, the last visit they left all four wheels loose) but in reality it's only been about 6-8 months.Anyhow, the gf leaves the car and later in the day the mechanic reports back to my girlfriend the engine is "tired" and needs to be rebuilt. He proceeds to tell her that there is no way on god's green earth that the engine is going to last another 6 months. This is her pride and joy, fully restored beetle, so she gets upset and calls me.
Now this is confusing since the engine is only 5 years old.... I called him up and asked why he said it was tired and his response was that "it's just tired". Um... ok... so I pressed a little more and he told me the heads were loose and that the studs were probably pulling and that it needs a complete rebuild.
Hmmm... ok. Sounds reasonable i guess. I get the feeling something wasn't right as he's telling me he will do a rebuild for $1300...so I say well let me think about it and get back with you...
Later that night my girlfriend tries to drive the car home to find that the headlights dont work. He fixed the ignition problem and messed up the headlights. I drive out to her, look, and find the relay unplugged and laying in the trunk space.
Ok, thinking about it today, I get a little pissed off and decide to have a look for myself. The gaskets are stuck to the valve covers and head (you know, the "click" when you break them free) and have obviously not been removed by the mechanic at any point. I look further and see that the engine has 8mm studs (and thus probably case savers), all torqued perfectly to 18 ft lbs.
At this point I am almost positive this mechanic is trying to screw me. I can only assume he's mad about the sticker from his competitor or maybe the fact that I have been doing the valves and oil changes on my girlfriend's car.
Does anyone else have this problem with mechanics? This is just B.S. Are there any mechanics left that you can trust?