Do you believe Hyundai Service Depts. are too quick to sell you replacement parts (that are unnecessary) ?

I was on my way to Florida and had to swing into a Hyundai Dealer in Birmington, Al. because my 2002 SantaFe died all of a sudden on the Interstate ; fortunately, it re-started after a few minutes but ran rough. The Service Dept. read the Engine Code and it indicated the Mass Airflow Sensor was defective ; the Service Advisor said it was shorted and the installation would run a few hundred dollars and that they had it in stock. I was skeptical , so i declined the repair and paid their $89 diagnosis fee . When i got some distance from the Dealership, i pulled the intake hose from the MAF Sensor housing ...and low and behold ... i immediately found the problem : A small piece of debris had lodged itself on the inlet screen . I removed that and the engine ran normal again and has not been a problem since. Obviously, the Service Dept. was more interested in making profit on parts changing than anything else.

Im sure its a scenario thats repeated many thousands of times each day in America .

Reply to
IlBeBauck
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I don't really believe that Service Depts are deliberately dishonest. The computer tells them the most likely cause of the problem. For the sake of saving time and getting to as many cars a day as possible they'll do what the computer suggests. However, in your case, what you don't know is if you had OK'd the repair and in the process of changing the sensor they discovered the same blockage would they have changed their diagnosis and only charged you the labor for removing the debris or gone ahead and replaced the part.

Reply to
Mike Edwards

You have no way to know that. They may simply took what the scan tool said as the initial indication and may well have found the debris had you authorized the repair and they then pulled the hose. I'm not too surprised that they wouldn't pull all hoses and electrical connectors and check everything else if you had just dropped in with no appointment and they were simply trying to get you back on your way quickly.

Reply to
Voyager

Yes and no. They read a computer that said the sensor was no operating properly. They may or may not have found the debris and may or may not have changed the sensor.

I've run into similar situations at assorted dealers and independent shops over the years. Some are honest and would do the exact required service, others will replace parts until things work again. Some have poor diagnostic ability, some are incredibly sharp.

A little story. My brother, an engineer, could have been one of the top auto machanics in the world if he chose it as a profession instead of a hobby. One day a co-worker asked my brother to bring him back to work after dropping off his car for repair. He said the generator (remember them?) and voltage regulator had to be replaced. My brother said "no, one or the other, rarely both are bad, let me check it first." They went out to the parking lot, popped the hood and my brother tightened the fan belt. Case closed.

Was the shop dishonest? Dumb? Hard to say, maybe both.

I have other stories and I'm sure others here do also. IMO, service departments do try to sell you unneeded services, transmission flushes, polish the wheel studs or nitrogen blast the muffler brackets, but most do what they say they do. Some independents will scam you, others are great money savers on good, reliable, honest, service.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I think for $89 , they should have pulled the hose off of the MAF sensor housing as well as reading a simple code. I just think that they didnt have much integrity ; as for honesty...I cant say for sure.

Reply to
IlBeBauck

Should have, yes. Deliberately selling you something you didn't need? Probably not. 2.4 and 3.5L air flow sensors are among high frequency failures. Not as much on 2.7.

Here's the root problem to all this-- mechanics' pay methods. In an effort to keep mechanics working quickly, nearly all mechanics are paid on some sort of commision basis. In most dealers, it's based on billable labor hours. This causes the mechanic to attempt to diagnose and repair the problem as quickly as possible, often taking shortcuts in the process. In your case, the shortcut occurred by not physically inspecting the air flow sensor.

Reply to
hyundaitech

Methinks you doth protest too much with too little information.

Speaking of integrity: how much do you think someone has who posts an impugning message in public based on almost no data? Maybe you should pull Webster's off the shelf and look up "integrity."

Matt

Reply to
Voyager

If you knew anything about Dave Brown's history on the interent (with him using over 2 dozen different nics so far) you'd know he has ABSOLUTELY no integrity, little common sense, mental stablilty, rational thought, honesty, or much of anything else to offer up, other than having a big mouth (and NEVER being wrong)

Reply to
Ken

I assume the same thing you do. OTOH, all the tech did is read the code and report it. Nobody looked at the sensor like you did. it would be nice to assume that they would notice the debris when they took it apart. Your real problem with the diagnosis is the high reliance on instrumentation and a service writer that doesn't know a short from an open circuit but tosses terms around.

Reply to
nothermark

Sounds like they gave a quick analysis and a worst-case estimate on it.

If you'd quietly put everything back, taken it in again and got them to perform the test, and they'd charged for a new sensor I think you'd have a stronger case for them being dishonest. But that would have been silly.

Personally, I'm always happy when I pay less than the initial estimate on a repair.

Steve

Reply to
Steven Fisher

I meant to say "perform the repair."

Steve

Reply to
Steven Fisher

I don't know if you should question the integrity of the dealership, unless you had some sort of proof that they were trying to cheat you. I would question the 'integrity' of your intake system ducting. The MAF should be downstream of the air filter. No dirt or debris should be able to get to the MAF under normal conditions.

Reply to
Gothumbs

Sorry all; a little late getting my input on this...(Hank- ssshhhsss!)

Anyway, I agree that most dealerships are quick to sell services. In an earlier post, someone in the group inquired about the 30k mile service and HT promptly corrected the "discrepancy". My dealer wants to do the following at 30k miles:

  1. Tranny Flush
  2. Coolant Flush
  3. Serpentine Belt
  4. Cabin Air Filter
  5. Air filter and LOF

Now, understand that I am in good with my service department and they know that I was a mechanic before career change to IT Management. When confronted about what the manual for my 08 Sonata SE states, they didn't balk, rather told me that would be for "normal" environments. I'm in AZ and already went down the KN filter route...

Nonetheless, I told them thanks, but no thanks. No where in my manual does it differentiate between severe and normal environments with the exception of oil changes, which get done at 3k religiously (and they use Castrol!)

So in short, consumers MUST be educated and realize that as the quality of vehicles increase, more and more of the shop's profit will need to come from services rather than warranty work.

By the way- my 08 has inferior front window rails and the windows squeak, so it's going back tomorrow for new ones- upgraded from HMC...

Steve in AZ

Reply to
Steve in AZ

THE STEALER is exposed again!

Reply to
Slim

Bullshit.

They were trying to separate him from his money as quickly as possible.

Reply to
Slim

STEALERS have a looooooong way to go to before you can use the "I" word to describe them.

Reply to
Slim

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