Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  February 2022 February 15th, 2022 I took my 1999 **** F-250 truck to Elite Automotive for a knocking connecting rod bearing which is fatal for the motor if not addressed in a timely manner. I did what any responsible person would do to save the truck engine from further damage and left the vehicle with elite auto while they put together a parts and labor quote for my truck repair. Estimated repair time 2 weeks. A few days into February of ************************* and I go to the shop to meet with *********************, the tech/diesel mechanic who would be doing my truck repair who says i should be replacing everything I can while the engine is apart to avoid other old parts in the engine breaking as the one that broke, as well as having the engine cylinder heads machined and checked for damage. Other parts included all new camshaft bearings, pistons, gaskets, connecting rods, other engine bearings, all old engine internals, exterior engine parts such as water pump, belt, hoses, oil cooler, radiator, fan, condenser and others, new everything. *** had mentioned he found a kit online that comes with all the engine internal parts except connecting rods but comes with a better camshaft to keep my exhaust gas temperatures down. *** then proceeds to recommend a set of ******** connecting rods to complete the set, and additional gasket kit to avoid reusing any old gaskets or paying for them separately. I had asked *** several times as well as the owner ******************* what my warranty would be for this engine overhaul, both stated ****** miles or one year, whichever is first. I agreed to the total price of $18,966.21 including parts and labor. An invoice was printed stating all parts and labor costs and my ****** mile one year warranty. February 14 2022 a pre-payment of $11,703.77 for parts was made via credit card to elite automotive so that they may begin their work on my engine overhaul. Estimated repair time was extended by a bit to allow HBR machine shop to do their part on the cylinder heads and for parts to be ordered and arrive. So i rented a car from enterprise in the meantime. February 15th 2022 August 17th 2022 Engine teardown begins, *** contacts me to come down and discuss an issue with the engine block. He informs me the engine block cylinder bores contain rust and would need to be machined to avoid future engine failure or leaks, That the machine shop (HBR) would also check the block for cracks and leaks along with the cylinder heads as apart of the machining process, this was agreed to for an additional charge. HBR, the machine shop performing the machine work on the engine block and cylinder heads states the rust in the cylinder bores was deep enough to require more material removed from the bores to clean the surfaces of any rust. This was agreed to, and warranty status remained unchanged from the original quote, ****** miles or one year. **** machine work took about 6 months to complete, much longer than quoted, racking up my rental car bill of nearly $11,000. While machine work was being done to the engine, I decided it was a good idea to have the transmission worked on as well, an additional $6,000 payment was made on August 17th 2022 so that transmission work could begin. Transmission work was completed before anything else was ready and did not present any additional delays. August 17th 2022 April 28th 2023 ********************* quits his job at elite automotive leaving the job to an unqualified mechanic, *****************. The shop informs me they are having someone from ****, ****** come down and assist with checking tolerances within the engine, I never personally met this guy and took the word of the shop that everything would be checked. The guy from **** does his job and leaves **** to assemble the motor. This extends the repair time significantly, and i could no longer keep the rental car I was in, I proceeded to purchase a vehicle from a dealer for $10,000. I was allowed to stop by frequently, and check out the progress of the overhaul, during these visits I was made aware by employees and **** himself that he encountered numerous issues assembling the motor. The motor was assembled and put back in the truck, the engine is started and has no oil pressure. **** states to me it is probably a bad oil pressure sensor, replaces it and the vehicle still has no oil pressure. I was present at elite auto during this testing, **** was revving the truck very hard repeatedly trying to make the truck build oil pressure. Running an engine with no or low oil pressure is known to cause major damage, especially when revving the engine as hard as he was for as long as he did. After no success in getting the truck to build oil pressure this way, the engine was taken back out of the truck. **** states the oil pickup tube gasket has probably come loose or fell off and needed to be taken back apart extending time of repair even more. The engine is disassembled and is found that the oil galley plugs were never installed and would have never built oil pressure with them missing. This concerned me and I asked if it could have damaged any parts from having no oil pressure, I was told it should not. A few weeks pass while the engine is being reassembled and I am contacted by ******************* a manager/owner of elite auto, he wants to go over what will be covered by their warranty on this overhaul. I meet with **** and ***, who both state anything inside the engine will not be covered by warranty because it is a custom build and that the truck is tuned. This aggravates me as the parts were recommended by their former employee *********************, and the machine work required on the engine was necessary to avoid future issues within the engine. The conversation of no warranty was never brought up during the process of getting parts or the process of having machine work done to the engine. On April 28th 2023 I was provided with an updated invoice totaling $43,170.61, this included misc. parts that were required to finish the overhaul. Current deposit was $18,584.96, remaining balance of $24,585.65. May 15th 2023 May 20th 2023 On May 15th 2023 I receive a final invoice, under duress and reluctantly I signed the paper stating no warranty so that I may take back possession of my truck after this long mess. My truck is returned to me and is driven home 8 miles where it is parked for 2 days without being started or driven. On May 18th 2023 I am able to remove tuning software installed on the truck (recommended by Elite). I am now able to start and drive my truck for a few more miles around my block to see if this new engine is going to transport me reliably. After a few miles of driving i bring the truck back to my house where i discover the engine coolant reservoir is very low, which I had marked with a sharpie marker to use as reference, I do have pictures of this. Very concerned and being mechanically inclined, I put a drain pan under my truck and removed the oil pan drain bolt for a split second, coolant is observed draining from the oil pan. Water in the oil will one hundred percent ruin an engine very quickly. The truck is parked and not driven or started to avoid anymore or further damage. I contact ******************* and ***************** by text message stating this issue. **** contacted me back saying he will send a tow truck to pick the truck up and be brought back to the shop even after stating no warranty will be given at previous delivery of the vehicle, this occurred on May 20th 2023. I signed no paperwork upon giving the truck back to Elite Automotive. May 20th 2023 September 8th 2023 I made a call to ******************* requesting an update on what happened, and he stated that the cylinder heads need to come back off and be rechecked for leaks and the engine needs to come back apart. During this phone call he also stated that **** didnt tighten or torque the head studs down completely causing head gasket failure. Around this time ***************** quits his job at Elite Automotive, yet again leaving my truck in pieces and no completion date in sight. The truck was put aside, as **** had told me the shop did not have enough techs to get my truck completed, and that **** was not the tech he said he was when he applied for the job at Elite Auto. With no other option I am forced to wait even longer as I did not believe it was fair to have to pay another shop to do it right. September 8th 2023 November 7th 2023 I sent a text message to **** requesting another update to see how things were going on putting the engine back together again, the job was given to another tech *****. **** states to me they were able to get the proper specifications for the head studs that **** had failed to do. About this time it is recommended to me that I now have the truck retuned properly and do not start or drive it when I get it back until this has been done. This raised a couple concerns. One, the truck would not be leaving the shop under its own power, rather on a tow truck. Two, the truck would not be test driven before being returned to me. **** again stating there will be no warranty. January 11th 2024 Current I pick my truck up from Elite Auto this time via tow truck company. No paperwork is provided to me or the tow driver for this repair, no signature is given. The tow driver states the tech started the vehicle and drove it out of the shop against their own recommendation that I have the truck tuned properly before running the truck. The concerns keep stacking up. The tow driver drops my truck off where it remained unstarted or driven until I was able to get assistance and recommendations from Sin City Deisel on how I was going to get my truck tuned properly. After installing proper tuning by recommendation of Sin City Deisel I was able to start my truck and drive it a few miles. ******* after this drive the engine coolant reservoir was again observed to be low on coolant. Knowing what happened the last time I again removed the oil drain pan bolt where coolant again comes out of the oil pan. I video recorded this instance. I contact Elite Auto again to inform them the same thing happened as before, coolant in the engine oil pan, this time ********************* answers the phone and says that no one is there to talk with me, that he is the only one there, and no warranty means no warranty. This is concerning and a feeling of they want to avoid me. To my surprise a few moments later I receive a call from ******************* the owner. On the phone with ******** expressed my anger and frustration about the whole ordeal and that the truck still doesnt work correctly, all this money in parts and labor, and they are all useless because all the engine internals have been exposed to water twice now and are liekly ruined. He tells me he has my signature on the paper stating no warranty and that the engine probably has cracked heads and there isnt much he can do. If this was the case, why was this issue not caught the second time the heads were tested for leaks? They no longer want to be responsible for their very poor ability to overhaul my engine. The truck was returned to me more than once in worse condition than it began. Elite Auto also dented and did not fix my hood and passenger front fender. They also broke my passenger headlight and headlight mounting bracket.