Consumer Rights!! Bad work at my local Nissan

cakedaddy · Nov 12th, 2007, 09:14 AM

Well well well!!! I’m pissed!! I took my 98 Pathfinder in to Nissan for a quick evaluation after noticing the leak in pic number 1. After talking to the service guy at Nissan, he said it's a possible crank case seal or a cam seal, so he told me that they’d have to pull it apart to resolve the issue and I might as well get the belts,wp,alt belt, etc.. done. OK, sound good I’m due for that anyhow. I go pick up my car 7 hrs later and the service guy say, “good news it was the upper cam seal leaking” cool. $750 and I get my car; I go straight home and park the car. The next morning the car is dripping from the SAME place before they changed the belts in pic 2, plus 2 new leaks in pic 1. ;( WTF

My big question is:
What are my rights as a consumer? And what sould I say whenI revisit them this morning?

Pic1:
Newly created leak after timing belt change at Nissan

Pic 2:
Previous leaks before belt change and still leaking after belt change ;(

I look forward to keeping you all updated.

mrbillcollecta · Nov 12th, 2007, 01:29 PM

You have the right to go back to the dealership and demand that they fix the problem or give you your 750+ taxes back.

boogyman · Nov 12th, 2007, 02:19 PM

Since they said it wasn't the one problem, they are liable for putting your truck back the way it was and refunding your money. Basically if they say it's one thing and they change that and it doesn't fix it, they have to put the old part back on. In the case they threw the old part away, it's on them. I would have the local police number in your phone when you get there just in case.

rbo1577186 · Nov 12th, 2007, 04:41 PM

Before you jump the gun, give it a few days. They might not have cleaned up the existing fluids very well. Give them a call and let them know there might be a problem. They might clean it up for you if that's the case. A leak can drip somewhere that it puddles up in one spot and after enough builds up it runs off. Vibration from driving can cause the puddle to overflow, giving the appearance that it's still leaking somewhere.

I've spilled oil on an exhaust manifold. Couldn't really clean it all up without taking a bunch of stuff off, soooo I didn't. Smelled terrible the first time I drove it, and it dripped oil for 2 weeks.

hwystar1 · Nov 12th, 2007, 05:37 PM

dont jump the gun thinking there going to be a-holes. they have to stand behind their work. everyone makes mistakes, i'd give them the chance to make it right before i got too pissed off and started yelling. i'd also ask for a rental car for the day if popssible. the only thing your out now is time invested on a second trip to the dealer.

hwystar1

coolnesss · Nov 12th, 2007, 07:29 PM

I hope you paid on a credit card - and - call the credit card company and challenge the charge. That usually gets the dealer's attention.

Be careful what you say to the credit card company - your statement has to be that they committed fraud by telling you they would fix the car for XXX$ and they didn't.

cakedaddy · Nov 13th, 2007, 09:17 AM

Thanks for the replies! I’ll be taking the car tomorrow (Wednesday) and lucky for me I have a rental car for work and two other cars at home, but anyhow... The oil drip appears to be more than an over flow and I’ve cleaned the oil from the trouble spot just to see it drip again after 25 miles of driving. It looks like a bolt not being tighten or a bad gaskette. I did pay with a credit and that advice to call my credit card company is good to know. I’ve been calm and I’m willing to give those guys a second chance to resolve the issue. I went by to explain my case and it appears that they've had this/these issue(s) before, so... I want my truck fixed more than getting my money back. Thanks again and I’ll keep you all posted.

laxman0324 · Nov 13th, 2007, 09:49 AM

im glad your patient with your dealer, i just got into it with the service department this morning b.c they said they wont print me a service history report, even though honda, ford, and mercedes could all do it...

hopefully it was just a lack of clean up, i had that once with my old accord and the thing dripped oil for almost a month of driving, all from a sloppy oil change

smj999smj · Nov 15th, 2007, 12:57 PM

While the second pic definately looks like a front cam seal was leaking (or one of the front seals, at least), the first pic looks more like the rear main seal or it's retainer gasket/sealant is leaking, a fairly common issue on VG-engines. You could have two seperate leaks...

cakedaddy · Nov 15th, 2007, 01:55 PM

I dropped my pathfinder off yesterday and received a call todya with them expalining that they mis diagnosed it and it is the oil pump that is bad, so they will do the entire job and only charge me for the part which is $175. Its normally a 9 hr job! wow! They mentioned they should have caught it while they were in the changing the belts and seals.

coolnesss · Nov 16th, 2007, 12:39 AM

Just so you know, by law, you shouldn't have to pay them a damned cent more - if you brought it with an oil leak, and they said it'll be $X to fix it, then, they have to fix it for X dollars, not X plus whatever they figure out about their misdiagnosis later. As a practical matter, paying $175 may be worth getting the thing fixed rather than haggling endlessly - but - legally you don't owe them a cent more - but then - you seem to have already agreed to pay them, so, I guess you're stuck with it.

It would be nice to learn of a dealer sticking to its obligations once in a while rather than trying to shift the burden of their error to you, even partially.

boogyman · Nov 16th, 2007, 09:46 AM

I'm glad to hear the shop owned up to the mistake. Now you should be good to go for a while.

**88pathoffroad** · Nov 18th, 2007, 11:23 PM

I would definitely pay them $175 to change the oil pump. That's an all-day job and not an easy one.

cakedaddy · Nov 21st, 2007, 07:03 PM

Update: 11-21-07

I got a call today hoping I could pick up the patty, but it will remain hospitalized. They discovered that the rear main seal is bad along with the pump, so they will be taking care of that as well. They also mentioned that there will be no charge for that; only the price of the oil pump.

So, I guess I'm stuck driving my 03 M45 around until my truck is fixed

I'll keep you all posted.

Happy thanksgiving!!!

**88pathoffroad** · Nov 21st, 2007, 07:26 PM

Wow, they have to take the trans/t-case off to do that. That's a lot of work for free. You're SURE it's free? Wow again.