Hi rat,
Remember, you are only indebted to Firestone for the agreed upon amount.
If for any reason they have to/or need to increase the amount, they have to
contact you and get you to agree upon it.
Now, It's been a while since I've done a ignition switch, some cars have two
parts, the keyed portion and the electrical portion, the keyed portion
allows the electrical part to turn. Now after getting the keyed portion to
turn, they have to determine if the electrical portion is doing it's job.
Lets say it is, Perhaps the starter went out (just because it wanted to)
It's difficult to say without doing it myself, for I may have a different
approach to check it all out.
The mechanic may be a lower level and taking him longer or the Service
Manager may not be letting him have the time HE Needs to get a good look at
it and solve the problem. I don't know I'm not there.


Today, a Ford truck came in and we mentioned he had one Brake light out and
no backup lights. He agreed to the cost of the bulbs, but after replacing
the bulb on the brake light and it still didn't work, farther looking was
needed. Now this is going to take time, and was not included in the quote
for bulbs. We may have to open a wire harness and look for the short or open
wire. We can't do the work until he authorizes us to, and we could also
spend 2 hours looking into something we are only getting paid 1/2 hour to
do. In this case we didn't charge him and put his truck back together. He
elected not to do farther work.

Steve
--
Stephen W. Hansen
ASE Master Certified Auto Technician



"Rattus the RAT" <rats_and_guns_n_rosesREMOVE-THIS@yahoo.com> wrote in
message news:32pgclF3q8mfnU1@individual.net...
>I have a big problem now! I hope you can give me your opinion in the next
>12
> hours:
>
> My '91 Accord LX's ignition switch has been acting funny lately (hard to
> turn the key to start the car, able to remove the key when the car is
> running, stuff like that...). I was hoping to take advantage of my week
> off
> (this week) to go to my favourite honest honda specialist mechanic (25-30
> miles away) to fix the problem BUT, the stupid thing died this weekend,
> they
> key won't turn, the car won't start (obviously).
>
> So I called a few places nearby this morning, Firestone gave me the best
> quote ($225) so I got my car towed there this morning and asked them to
> fix
> the problem, the guy said no problem, should be ready by 5pm, call us or
> we'll call you. At 3pm I get a call, he's telling me the technician is not
> sure what the problem is and it seems long to find out, but he didn't have
> anything new to say. Finally at 6pm I call them and the car is not ready.
> He
> tells me that the technician did the following:
>
> Apparently there is a "top part" and a "bottom part" to this thing, he
> said
> the tech cleaned the debris from the "top part" but the "bottom part" is
> not
> working. Car is not starting. Not a very clear description but that's all
> I
> know. He still couldn't give me any quote or anything, he said we'll call
> you tomorrow morning.
>
> Now, what I need to know is: what the heck is that "top part" and "bottom
> part", how expensive each of them are? Also I am affraid they want to
> charge
> me a lot of labor for finding out the problem, which really sucks.
>
> What kind of Attitude I shouild have tomorrow when they call me or when I
> call them?
>
> This whole thing sucks, i dont want to end up paying $500 for a stupid
> ignition switch!
>
> please tell me what you think!
>
> RAT
>
>