So I had to take the S into the shop to have some work done. It was misfiring. I took the car into the shop on Tuesday Sept. 22. Later that day, the shop called me and told me that the car had burnt exhaust valves and that the head needed to be re-machined. They send the head out to a machine shop apparently. So here it is Oct 14, more than 3 weeks later. I just got off the phone with the shop manager after calling numerous times since the car has been in, and he told me the head is STILL at the machine shop and has been for the last 2+ weeks. The "holdup" is due to the fact that not only are the exhaust valves burnt, but the exhaust valve guides are bad as well. Apparently the car "should" be ready to go by Friday.

My issue is this, the car has been in the shop 22 days so far. I have called the shop multiple times and left messages with various people never to get a callback. Also, the shop has never called me to let me know what is going on. I really doubt it takes 3 weeks to remachine a head regardless of the problems with it. What can I do in this situation? I am probably looking at a 1500 dollar bill at this point. Should I ask for some sort of break? I really dont think its fair for them to expect me to pay full price for something that has taken 3 weeks to fix. Maybe I'm just whining, but this seems crazy to me.

 

Why the hell are they machining your head? Did you okay that? I absolutely would NOT have agreed to it.

 

The shop took a look at the car and said "burnt exhaust valves" and "the head needs to be remachined". After dealing with a unsolvable misfire problem for months I said ok thinking that this would fix the problem finally. Is remachining a problem?

 

I'm not in the loop as far as engines specifically, but you can't simply remachine something. You always remove material. If it's not at the proper specification any more, you can't simply add material back.

Maybe they're talking about adding some sleeves after it's machined, but I'd be very careful here.

Please someone else chime in.

 

You could have bought a used head for $400.

 

You live and learn. The shop will most likely NOT give you a price break since they never gave you a deadline with the machine job. It may not take 2+ weeks to machine a head but there may have been other jobs backed up ahead of yours.