Kettlecorn:
I'm a bit confused after reading the synopsis of work done vs the complaints the OP has. Looks like his principal complaints are twofold. First, the blue smoke from exhaust on startup and second, the Christmas Lights on the dashboard. Below is what he said was done on the car. I do not see any of these addressing any of those 2 issues, unless there is more detail under #1. Everything that has been done is straight R&R, nothing really technically challenging. The R&R stuff, although being the easiest to resolve should have been tackled last after figuring out the real major stuff.

1) Engine tune-up: a combination of services
2) Remove and replace steering rack, pinion assembly and tie rod
3) Remove and replace control arms (both)
4) Remove and replace rear axle
5) Remove and replace front CV axle
6) Remove and replace oil sump
7) Materials required

In my mind, the real question here is an issue of how the repairs were prioritized. [b]I would have started with the #1 priority thing to resolve which is the blue smoke from the engine. [/b]They should have figured out what was causing this and if it can be cost effectively repaired. If the remedy will cost more than the car is worth and or if the owner is unwilling to spend that amount, the other issues would be a moot point. The logical thing to do would then be to cut your losses, dump the car with full disclosure and move on. Too late for that now. If the blue smoke remedy ends up being a new engine or internal engine work, the OP will end up spending much more than that car is worth at this point. Having said that, I also think opening up a thread on the issue is a bit premature being that OP was asked to bring the car back and told that a warranty is in effect.

radautoworks:
that's what we did. Makes no sense to address suspension if engine is shot. Did you watch the video?

Crocif:
After what I felt was an expert diagnosis of the problems and the accompanying prognosis, we moved to the next phase: drawing up an estimate of the cost of repairs. The first cost estimate they came up with was approximately N1.37m. I did a quick analysis of the estimates to see if it was fair. I focused my analysis on the cost of parts because it was approximately N1.2m out of the N1.37m representing about 87.6% of the total cost. I decided to use the cost of an item I already purchased from radautorworks i.e. spark plugs.

The lowest cost of spark plugs (6x) @ radautoworks = N40,291.20
Cost on Amazon ($57.86 @ N480/$) = N27,772.80 (Includes cost of shipping)
Difference = N12,518.40

Considering the significant difference in cost I decided to opt for the option of providing my own parts. Thence, I requested for a revised cost estimate which quickly went from N201,028.78 to the final bill of N254,306.84 (most of this represents the cost of labour). Though there were some back and forth on this (which I have decided to leave out of my posts) I felt this was a small price to pay for the level of quality I expect from them. So they promised that my vehicle would be ready for pick-up in a condition I would be happy with.

I was now faced with the problem of providing good parts for the job. I did not want to risk ordering them from Amazon for two reasons:

1) I would not be able to tell which parts were genuine even if they came from Acura themselves.
2) I was not willing to wait another two weeks to get the parts to Nigeria.

So I buzzed GAZZUZZ to help out with this difficulty. I know it would cost a premium price because of the added professional services I would get from them. So the parts I ordered were inspected by the owner of GAZZUZZ autos before they came. I must say here that they came in timely without any issues and they were inspected by the technician assigned to my job before they were used. The only part (Something called Bushing) I had problems with (not supplied by GAZZUZZ) the technician helped to purchase and I paid for those separate from what was billed me. I believe I paid an extra 12k for those, to include some steering fluids.

To cut the very long story short, I, my wife and my son went yesterday to get the vehicle and we received a shocker. Some of the problems with the vehicle engine were very much with the vehicle. The engine oil light was still pinging as though no work was done. The steering seemed stiffer than when it came in, there were lights all over the dashboard area (to include the check engine light) amongst other issues. To make matters worse, no one was on hand to explain what happened. They simply handed the key and left us to our fate at the reception. My wife was so upset that she called the attention of the front desk officer and the technician who scanned the vehicle at the beginning. They took a look and concluded that we would have to come back some other time to get those things checked and fixed at no cost to us. To avoid making a scene I asked my wife to go with the vehicle while I follow her in our other car. We got home very disappointed and I decided to tell my story.

PS: I noticed smoke from the exhaust when we started the vehicle yesterday after the vehicle cooled off and we restarted it. I felt very bad about this but decided to check again this morning before I post something because I was upset. I did this morning and behold the smoke (heavy blue smoke) came up again from the exhaust. It is not noticeable when I drive. It only comes up when the engine is cool and at start-up. It made me a bit nervous going back to radautoworks, even when they offered to check for free. If the technicians could not notice something I found out within an hour after having the vehicle for over a week would it be logical to go back to them? This is what I struggle with currently.

Thank you.

Kelvin30286063:

You were billed 250k without replacing engine when the complete engine that ces withost of the parts you bought separately sells for about 350k or so.
How stupid is that to you bro? Maybe you have to much money to throw around I don't know. I drive an acura TL and that so called kazeem repairs my car day in day out. I have a personal scanner. I just scan my car, research on the error I get on Google and YouTube and tell my kazeem exactly what to do.
You bought spark plugs for 28k! Bro, I buy original spark plugs for 2k each and they fire fine.

Now you will eventually end up buying that same engine you spent so much trying to fix.
Personally I think you should have waited for GAZZUZZ. He's not cheap too but he doesn't charge 250k and let you leave with a smoking engine and a bad steering rack!

Kelvin30286063:

You were billed 250k without replacing engine when the complete engine that comes with almost all the parts you bought separately sells for about 350k or so.
How stupid is that to you bro? Maybe you have to much money to throw around I don't know. I drive an acura TL and that so called kazeem repairs my car day in day out. I have a personal scanner. I just scan my car, research on the error I get on Google and YouTube and tell my kazeem exactly what to do.
You bought spark plugs for 28k! Bro, I buy original spark plugs for 2k each and they fire fine.

Now you will eventually end up buying that same engine you spent so much trying to fix.
Personally I think you should have waited for GAZZUZZ. He's not cheap too but he doesn't charge 250k and let you leave with a smoking engine and a bad steering rack!

radautoworks:


Thank you!

I've sent screenshot to Blessing. She'll reach out to confirm.

Crocif:


I think I understand how it may look stupid but if I was a betting man I can wager that you won't get a first-grade 2007/2008 Acura MDX engine for about N350k. I am not an expert but I am thinking it may be about $1,000 (@N480/$) if not more.

Even with that, I can still understand why you may think it's stupid, but the thing here is that I believe professionals should be trusted (my opinion) in the same way I trust my doctor. If I can trust my life to a mere mortal simply because of the expert knowledge he/she possesses then I don't see why I shouldn't have trusted radautoworks' team of experts with an ordinary vehicle (just comparing it with human life).

Their professional opinion was that the engine is fine and needs a simple tune-up. If this is the case, buying an engine at that point can be compared to someone using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. Anyways, as I mentioned before: water under the bridge. What I need now are workable solutions. I would prefer to learn from the past while looking forward.

Kelvin30286063:

You were billed 250k without replacing engine when the complete engine that comes with almost all the parts you bought separately sells for about 350k or so.
How stupid is that to you bro? Maybe you have to much money to throw around I don't know. I drive an acura TL and that so called kazeem repairs my car day in day out. I have a personal scanner. I just scan my car, research on the error I get on Google and YouTube and tell my kazeem exactly what to do.
You bought spark plugs for 28k! Bro, I buy original spark plugs for 2k each and they fire fine.

Now you will eventually end up buying that same engine you spent so much trying to fix.
Personally I think you should have waited for GAZZUZZ. He's not cheap too but he doesn't charge 250k and let you leave with a smoking engine and a bad steering rack!

radautoworks:


So let me understand what you are saying. A 350k engine would have resolved all the leaks, computer codes and suspension problems? There would also have been no labor charge? We should have also changed the engine when he didn't need a new one since Nigerians think an engine is a consumable part of a car? I guess that's what your professional kazeem would have recommended? Okay.

I missed the part where you were there for both the purchase and the diagnosis. Op told you what he spent on the car purchase. I'm assuming he was aware it was that price for a reason. And that reason had not been resolved before he came to us. I guess none of the other kazeems had Google, youtube, a scanner and you to tell them how to fix the problem. And yet he had no warranty at any of the other places. I am open to you using Google, youtube and your scanner to help us solve the problem. In fact, I will pay you to come here and tell our techs what to do to fix the problem like you do with your engineer. I will only pay if the problem is solved in one visit with no follow up. Even doctors require follow up with major illnesses which this car has but by all means please come and tell us how to fix it.

Maybe show your professional kazeem the video as well as the computer readout and ask him what would have fixed the car first? I don't mind you doing that then coming to show us the solution. And then if his solution doesn't work the first time he won't charge you anything for additional follow up right?

I'm going to stop before I lose my professionalism.

P.S: In case you are not aware, the person you mentioned actually charges more than we do in some cases and won't even touch some repairs like this.

P.S.S: telling another man he is stupid with his own money without knowing the situation and/or having contributed to said money is rude and ignorant and you could have kept that. The fact that you do not value not having to do research and babysit the person you are paying to do a job does not mean others don't.

Crocif:


I think I understand how it may look stupid but if I was a betting man I can wager that you won't get a first-grade 2007/2008 Acura MDX engine for about N350k. I am not an expert but I am thinking it may be about $1,000 (@N480/$) if not more.

Even with that, I can still understand why you may think it's stupid, but the thing here is that I believe professionals should be trusted (my opinion) in the same way I trust my doctor. If I can trust my life to a mere mortal simply because of the expert knowledge he/she possesses then I don't see why I shouldn't have trusted radautoworks' team of experts with an ordinary vehicle (just comparing it with human life).

Their professional opinion was that the engine is fine and needs a simple tune-up. If this is the case, buying an engine at that point can be compared to someone using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. Anyways, as I mentioned before: water under the bridge. What I need now are workable solutions. I would prefer to learn from the past while looking forward.

radautoworks:
I am going to say this one final time. The engine was diagnosed as not needing a replacement and I trust my team.

Kettlecorn:


Please don't take this the wrong way, I am not trying to malign you or your business or anything of the sort. But there seems to be a communication gap between you and the OP. He is a layman and needs more explanation and hand holding than "the engine does not need replacement" to solve the blue smoke issue or he wont have come on here prematurely in my humble opinion. He wants to know what exactly will solve the issue. You don't need to explain to folks online. Only the OP is "YOUR CUSTOMER" and you should continue to communicate and deal with him directly. When the issue is resolved, we fully expect that the OP will come back and sing your praises and testify to your expertise.

emeystan:
Greetings Gazzuzz, do you have front shock absorber for corolla 2003

radautoworks:
Thank you Kettlecorn and adanny01. My issue is with being incorrectly told repeatedly about the engine needing to be replaced by someone who has not seen the vehicle in person. I did acknowledge from my first post that there was no reason for op to have left without being able to have a discussion with our lead tech especially when there were still unresolved issues. The ball was definitely dropped and I appreciate the constructive criticism. If he didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known to improve further on processes.

While you are right and I don't owe anyone except op an explanation, I do believe in transparency and no one is perfect.

Thanks to op for taking advantage of his warranty and bringing the car back in today. I don't know what he is going to say but this is the status when it was brought back. I will update with status once the car is leaving again. I will also update with findings about the repairs that were done, the second diagnosis/remedies done by our lead tech and any errors or omissions if there were any.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPSS6uclMA

adanny01:


Exactly the point.

[b]Secondly, Engrs committed themselves to a layman assuring him the smoke and oil pressure light will stop without having to replace the engine. It's a big guarantee in my opinion that if not sorted will still disappoint the client. [/b]We all know what blue smoke is and being told otherwise by a professional, client held the words as cash in the bank.

More so, the op mentioned engine replacement, that meant he has been told by previous mechanic/s that an engine replacement was eminent then finally hope came from professionals but was soon dashed.

By returning the car op expects car to stop smoking and oil pressure light off. That's the focal point onwards.

Kettlecorn:


So far, that is still a valid statement. It could be the PCV valve, valve guides, rings or even something else. I have seen a transmission fluid leak cause blue smoke. All of these can be replaced/rectified without a need to replace the engine. Only Radautoworks have physically seen the engine and have provided a diagnosis, so we should give them the benefit of the doubt especially since they have provided a guarantee which they are honoring. At this point, we should leave this be and allow things to follow its logical path.

AlhajiBitcoin:
Nigerian mechanics and scam.

Using big English to confuse customers.

Sir, if the smoke coming from your engine early in the morning is small, then it's normal. There is no worry about that. If the engine still drops liquid while steaming early in the morning, there is no problem with your engine.

Once you don't have issues with power and acceleration. Once the exhaust doesn't smoke while you are driving.

radautoworks:
sounds good. Please give us a time window when we get closer.

radautoworks:


I agree. I'm saying the op seems to be under the impression we can't fix the vehicle for some reason. Everyone knows we fix any and everything regardless of year except maybe peugeot and innoson (those were touched by hands we do not comprehend ). From yaris to maserati comes through that shop. Cars get sent to us from all over the country for repair.

We are where people go when they've exhausted all other options. So an Acura MDX (which I personally drive) is not a problem. He just needs to send the car back.

The only problem we are having right now is struggling to keep up with demand. That's why we are trying to franchise and get other locations open to ease the burden. If you know of anyone who can open a franchise please send them our way.

Kettlecorn:


So far, that is still a valid statement. It could be the PCV valve, valve guides, rings or even something else. I have seen a transmission fluid leak cause blue smoke. All of these can be replaced/rectified without a need to replace the engine. Only Radautoworks have physically seen the engine and have provided a diagnosis, so we should give them the benefit of the doubt especially since they have provided a guarantee which they are honoring. At this point, we should leave this be and allow things to follow its logical path.

descarado:
Nigerian women rocks

If it's a man now, so so big grammar and insult

Haven't read something like this here for a long time.

freshvine:


Why not consider Port Harcourt.

freshvine:


Why not consider Port Harcourt.

freshvine:


Why not consider Port Harcourt.

Inception:

Kettlecorn:


I have seen a transmission fluid leak cause blue smoke.