|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/samscars/ |
Upload File : |
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="Author" content="MARK GIAMMALVO">
<meta name="GENERATOR"
content="Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; U) [Netscape]">
<title>Something Isn't quite right - Mark Giammalvo</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<table border="1" cols="2" width="100%" cellpadding="20">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top" width="10%" height="10%">
<center><big><big><b><i><font color="#3333ff">Giammalvo Files</font></i></b></big></big></center>
<big><big> </big></big>
<center></center>
<img src="mark3.jpg" alt="Mark Giammalvo" height="180"
width="167">
<center></center>
<p><i><font color="#000000">Mark Giammalvo specializes in driveability
diagnostics </font><font color="#000000">at his family
business, Sam Giammalvo's Auto Sales & Service,
Inc. in New</font> <font color="#000000">Bedford, MA. </font> </i>
</p>
<p><i><font color="#000000">Mark, who has been with the business for
over 20 years, is an ASE Master
Technician and Parts Specialist. He also holds the ASE L1
certification, and has an associates degree in business</font>
<font color="#000000">management. <br>
Mark is also a writer for Motor Age Magazine
and is the past secretary of the Alliance of Automotive Service
Professionals, (AASP).<br>
</font> </i>
<br>
<br>
</p>
</td>
<td align="center" valign="CENTER"> <font
color="#000000"><a href="ourarticles.htm"><img src="sam-logo.gif"
alt="Return To Our Articles Page" border="0" height="71" width="351">
</a> </font>
<br>
<br>
<center></center>
<big><big><big><b><big><big><big><big><big><big><big> Something
Isn't Quite Right</big></big></big></big></big></big></big></b></big></big></big>
<div align="justify"> <br>
<p align="center"><small><i><font color="#000000">(Printed in the Journal
of The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, AASP) </font></i></small></p>
<div align="center"><br>
</div>
Have you ever been in the middle of a repair, then suddenly, you just get
the feeling that something isn't quite right? Well, I recently found myself
in that same situation. A customer had dropped off their 97 Infiniti I30
with a strange request: "underhood fire of unknown origin." That was exactly
what they wrote on the key drop envelope. The customer had also called and
said that since the fire, the check engine lamp had been on and the car was
not performing well. They also wanted to know how serious the damage was.
I was familiar with this vehicle as the customer had purchased it from us
about four years ago. Since this was a 97 Infiniti, my first thought was
the alternator fire recall. An underhood inspection, by yours truly, did
not reveal any obvious burn evidence at first glance. There were no signs
of fire damage on the alternator side of the engine compartment. However,
moving over to the driver's side did yield a few clues. The lower section
of the air cleaner box showed evidence of heat damage. There was some slight
black ash in this area. Some wire harness plugs exhibited a slightly melted
appearance. Three wires going to the throttle position sensor were new. Someone
had spliced in what looked like brown speaker wire from the main engine harness
to the TPS connector. The two fuel filter lines had a slight ash coating
as well. One thing stood out like a sore thumb though. The fuel filter was
unusually clean and shiny. It appeared that it was the only thing in this
area without heat damage. I started to get that, "something isn't quite right,"
feeling. It was time to call and interrogate the customer. Paul Harvey certainly
had a good saying with his: "and now, the rest of the story." That saying
definitely applied here. I asked the customer what the source of the fire
was. The customer stated that he and his brother-in-law were performing a
tune-up, when suddenly, there was a flash fire. In fact, he said "he had
never seen a car go up like that." He ended by saying that he would
have his brother-in-law give me a call. About an hour later, in came the
call. The brother-in-law was very courteous on the phone. He started by saying
that what he was about to tell me was, sort of, embarrassing. I could not
believe my ears as I heard the rest of the story. Turns out these two guys
were chatting over some beers while changing the fuel filter, when suddenly,
flames broke out under the car. The cause? They had a kerosene heater working
within 5 feet from the car. <br>
<br>
The brother-in-law also admitted to rewiring the TPS after the car started
running so poorly. The original wiring to it had burnt through. Well, the
story didn't end there. After I went back to test drive the car, I found
it was like riding like a bull. This thing was unreal! If you gave
less than 30% gas pedal, the car ran fine. If you gave more than 30% pedal,
the car surged violently as if someone were giving it full throttle, then
no throttle. A pull of computer codes revealed a total of nine. PCM faults,
transmission faults, you name it. Further visual inspection revealed additional
heat damaged areas of underhood wiring harnesses. Knowing I could be getting
myself trapped in a big job with a lot of hidden and hard to explain problems,
I called a service manager I knew at an Infiniti dealer and asked him if
he would be willing to give the car a thorough check out with his electrical
technician and the Infiniti Consult tool. He agreed, so I called the customer
to advise him of my idea. I told the customer that his vehicle should go
to the dealer as they could do much more pin point testing for a problem
of this complexity. The customer agreed and off the car went. About a week
later my buddy at the dealership called me back with the news. The service
manager wanted authorization for $2,200 to cover wiring harness replacement
and labor. However, he warned me that more repairs could be needed if any
modules had cooked due to the shorted wiring. Sounds good to me, I wondered
how good it would sound to the customer. I started thinking that, since this
was fire damage, his auto insurance might cover it. On a hunch, I called
my insurance agent to ask whether she thought that the customer's auto insurance
would cover a situation like this. My agent was pretty sure that his auto
policy would cover the damages, less his deductible. Now I had some good
news for the customer. I told him about the $2,200 estimate that the dealership
had proposed and how I was confident that his auto insurance policy would
handle this. Now you would think that this guy would be happy that I was
calling him with some promising news. He was not very happy at all. He told
me in no uncertain terms that the service manager was "full of it." Then
he made a really interesting statement. He said that he knew for a fact that
the dealer's price was too high since he had already received a $1,600 settlement
check from his insurance company. Stunned at this revelation, my voice cracked
as I said: "I'm sorry, did you say you already received an insurance check?"
Funny how this was never mentioned before. Now I knew exactly what was going
on. This guy was hoping I could correct the car with an inexpensive repair
so he could pocket the difference. That's never going to happen with hidden
fire damage. Now he wasn't happy knowing this repair was going to cost him
more than his insurance had already paid him. Regardless, I told him to call
back his insurance company for a supplement claim. I told him to have his
adjuster contact the dealerships' service manager so they could work out
the details. A full month has gone by now and I just got word from the dealer
that the car was finally done. All in all, the car required three wiring
harnesses. The total cost was just over 4,700! Ready for the best part? The
service manager told me that during the calls back and fourth, the customer
told him that the power antenna had not been working that well recently.
The customer wanted to know if the manager could "put it in" with the claim.
I laughed when the service manager told me what he told the customer: "Sorry
pal, that's a different end of the car." <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<p> </p>
<center><font color="#000000"> <a href="ourarticles.htm"><img
src="sam-logo_002.gif" alt="Return To Our Articles Page." border="0"
height="71" width="351">
</a> </font><font
color="#ff0000"><font size="+3"> </font></font> </center>
<center> </center>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</center>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>