MONRO MUFFLER BRAKE & SVC

unknown

I had just purchased an older vehicle, & was on my way to my insurance company when it began overheating into the redline. This store was the first location I came across, so decided to go ahead and get it fixed there (had considered just waiting in their lot until my engine cooled enough to continue home). I suspected it was the thermostat, as the top radiator hose had been collapsed as if it wasn't able to suck coolant through the thermostat (kinda like when you drink a Frosty through a straw) but it popped back into normal shape when I vented the radiator. I told the staff my thoughts & observations, and they said they'd have to check the whole system anyway just to be sure. After a while they came back & told me my entire cooling system needed replaced, thermostat, waterpump, radiator & hoses, and they ballparked it to be around $800. This seemed like a fair enough price for the work they proposed, but I was skeptical whether it was all really necessary. But it was a 19 yr old used car, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt & let them do the work. After a while the sales rep told me that he had called 3 locations, but nobody had the radiator in stock, So I told him to go ahead with the other parts & that I would just get the radiator at a later date. When the rest of the parts arrived about an hour later, The Sales rep gave me a price of $790 - about $10 less of his original estimate that included a radiator which left me wondering how much the total would actually been had it been in stock as well. I gave him the go-ahead & sat down to a magazine. Then I walked across the street to eat, came back & watched some TV... after a couple hours (3 if you include the wait on parts), I go & check on the status of the vehicle. The mechanic had the belt & housing off the waterpump, but was struggling to get the pump out because it wouldn't get past the alternator, and apparently didn't want to remove the alternator because of the extra work involved, and seemed to prefer fighting it. Now if you've ever done much mechanical work, you may know that changing an alternator is about as easy as changing a tire, and had I had my own tools & a garage to keep me out of the weather I'd have fixed it myself. But I digress. Anyway, about eight and a half hours later the mechanic handed me back my keys and said "Here you go, you shouldn't have any more problems with the car overheating." Halfway home from there, my car overheated. So I wonder if they even checked anything, or did they just decide to bumrush the entire coolant system hoping the problem would be solved after replacing everything? The world may never know. UPDATE: The following day I was heading to the BMV to pick up my title, and once again started to overheat. I pulled over to let it cool & add some more coolant, and what did I see but my old hoses still in there that I had paid them to replace. I looked at the seam on the thermostat housing, and I could see no signs of a new gasket having been put in. Livid, I returned to the shop & asked them why my old hoses that I paid for weren't installed, and asked wether they even put in the thermostat. They had no good answer for the hoses but the sales rep said he saw the mechanic put the thermostat in, and that they would put the new hoses in right away. So I left them to it and went & got a sandwich. They were done shortly after I got back, and called me into the garage. I could see the new hoses were installed, and miraculously I could now also see a new gasket in the thermostat housing where I couldn't see it before. So basically they lied to my face and quick tried to cover their tracks. While I was in the garage, the sales rep was telling me that when they opened the valve above the thermostat, that coolant shot out of the radiator, a "sure sign that i've got a blown head gasket" (about another $900 - 1200 repair). I suggested it was likely just air bubbles in the coolant system, as it probably wasn't cycled long enough after changing the hoses & topping the fluids. He seemed pretty sure of it being the worst case scenario though, but was unable to do a block test or see any signs of antifreeze in the oil on the dipstick, or anything else to show me I have a bad headgasket other than telling me about something the radiator did one time. Amazingly, the car did not overheat on the way home, I guess I am to believe it was just the hoses causing the overheating. I do still need some other work done on the car, but they will not be doing it.

The overall experience was fine once I got over the steep price tag.

They give good discounts and have great prices. They are good at providing warranties on the parts.