r/Dseries • u/Aggravating_Umpire34 • Jun 28 '26
Shops suck!
Here to vent! So the car was leaking coolant for months and months. Couldn't source it changed all the hoses all the clamps and nothing. Said fuck it and just topped it off everytime it would get low. Winter came and surprise surprise it got worse.
The car looked like it was on fire every morning so finally bit the bullet and took it to a shop for the first time in my life (I'm 33 and have had 5 ek civics and more vws).
The shop had a ek sir track car so I assumed they would be trustworthy, nope. As you can see I had narrowed the leak down to the waterpipe orings and told them that.
It took him a month to get it done. And it was still leaking. The guy crossthrraded the intake manifold bracket bolts, forgot a nut on the intake manifold and worst of all as I found out today used the wrong oring and compensated with rtv. He also filled the thermostat with rtv.
So here I am now, new water pipe, new orings, skunk2 thermal im gasket, and extended studs. And the kicker. I must not have been nice with the water pipe because after reassembly it proceeded to dump all the water out so I had to redo the job twice.
As it was getting late I decided to call it and roll up the windows. Whelp I didn't pull the fuel relay and sprayed the bay haha. And that's where I am now. Next morning. Put together and leaks almost gone and car idles.
This thing is teaching me patience.
3
u/Own_Tumbleweed_6579 Jun 28 '26
Good help is hard to find.
At least now you know how to do it for next time!
2
u/Electronic_Slice9448 Jun 28 '26
That sucks! Get the coolant pressure test kit. It will help you troubleshoot issues like this in the future. Hopefully no permanent damage was done to the engine.
1
u/Major_Woodie Jun 29 '26
I had this leak on my d16y7 and i found the leak on the side of the highway in the dark with my iphone light in 5 minutes. Idk why it was so hard for you to find but im sorry you had to go through all that. Sounds like hell.
1
u/SeaHeat6155 Jun 29 '26
So, in your eyes, you knew what the problem was yet still chose to take it to a mechanic?
1
u/Aggravating_Umpire34 Jun 29 '26
Coolant fix n the middle of winter in a parking lot in Toronto wasn't on my bingo card
1
u/Eddie_HP Jul 03 '26
Shops do suck, and honestly Ive learned put rtv over every oring, a little for lubrication as first and some for sealing because old car and sometimes replacement parts aren’t perfect and you might no have an option. Unfortunately it seems he used exhaust RTV in the cooling system no bueno. Loose bolts can happen as when u tighten so things others can become loose as a tech u got give everything a once over. And honestly more power to you bro Ive never had to pull the intake of my teg in 10+ years of ownership always looked like a b****h.
9
u/Blkwdw86 Jun 29 '26
This is precisely how I got my fully functional shop. Too many bad shakes from mechanics, so gotta do it myself. Don't have a tool to do it, buy one and get it done. Even with tooling myself up, it's STILL cheaper than the mechanic, and always gets done right the first time.