timing belt jumped

[IndianaVX]

too many mechanics,
this boil is comming to a head.
today, i called the origonal shop, and told them i refuse to pay my 70 dollar bill, until my truck is running. the mechanic asked why. i told him that i have spent 1700.00 dollars already, and the truck still doesnt run, and the cats are bad. i told him i thought it was pretty shoddy that he give me my truck back as repaired, and the egr was disconnected, and about not test driving it enough to see that its throwing codes.
his response was, the egr nut "just fell off" and that "we took it for a 7 mile test drive to painted hills" which no one in their right mind could go any faster than 40 mph. i told him that it was still shoddy, and should have been taken on the highway atleast a bit to get up to "normal" speeds of 60. he was irritated.
then i call the isuzu dealer who is looking at the cats. their shop manager has quit, but as stated a couple of threads above, he told me no charge. i talk to the new guy, and he seemed to think that the truck was repaired with new cats, and was ready to go. the claims guy at isuzu of America had heard a word back from the couple of messages he left with the dealer.
so as it stands now, i may or may not have new cats. i may or may not have a running vx. it has gotton so confusing. monday, i was told nothing could be done, that guy quits, new guy says it looks like its done, but doesnt see any parts listed on the paper work, but i could come and pick it up, and doesnt know what my charges are. arent dealers supposed to contact you befor they do any work?? i even told them that, to contact me befor any parts were put on.
heck, i may have a 2000.00 dollar bill tommorow, which i dont have this week, so my vx may become a "hostage"
*sigh*

[IndianaVX]

drum roll please......
cedar point doesnt have a roller coaster that compairs to the one ive been on today.
thismorining i call the isuzu dealer to clarify what was going on with the vx. he told me that the techs determined that the timing belt was installed WRONG. with the timing being off, this caused the engine to start pouring gas down the cats which is why i was getting the codes. this is why my repiar was denied, and why the good will repair was denied also. so we closed the conversation with me asking what my bill was, and the isuzu guy said 90.00, which i thought was alright, i would at least know what was the matter, no, it wasnt running, cats wernt put on, but i knew what was wrong.

THEN..........

after struggling thru my day, with all this grinding in my head and trying to work, i get a call at 5:30. its the isuzu dealer. mind you, this is his second day on the job as service manager. so he calls and says "david, i have good news for you" and then my connection goes out on my cell phone. AGGGGGHHHHHH, so i drive up to the top of the proporty where i have a signal, call him back, and he continues with the good news.

YES, my timing is off, and thats why my cats went bad, BUT, (heres the good part....
wait for it.....)

he made some phone calls, had a pow wow with some people, and discoverd a federal emmisions act of some sort, and isuzu is going to replace my cats, apparantly at NO CHARGE!!!!!! he also said that he will make sure that my timing is set correctly, but that he would probably have to charge a little for that service, but with the other news he had given me, that is no problem AT ALL!!!!
i dont know what emmisions act or thing hes talking about, but hey, im not complaining. WHAT A GUY!!!
he also said he would give me a full write up on what is wrong with the timing for my suit against the other shop so that i would have a good offense!!!

he did say, that that the parts were on order as we spoke, he didnt know when they would be in, but they were ordered. from another recent post, theere seems to be SOME wait, but im getting pretty good at that.

wow, what a relief....i still have a bit of a battle, but my vx is in goood hands now, and thats worth alot.

[Chopper]

Sometimes ya just don't go to the dentist for a haircut, no matter how confident he is. Cool that it's almost comming home, and ironed out. My son just did an engine swap on his toy, and ended up shipping it to a tuning specialist on that particular engine. He's in S.E. Pennsylvania, the tuner is in Texas. He is going to fly down, pick it up, drive it here( E. central Fla.), then back home. Has an iron butt, that one has. Good vacation, expensive tune-up Fortunate you had another vehicle, while this saga played out. Were it your one and only, this ugly situation would have been uglier. By the way, SUE them, don't forget extra vehicle costs, time out of work,etc.. Get some counsel...yesterday. Wayne

[IndianaVX]

for those interested, heres the latest update........

this past thursday i called the isuzu dealer, and he said that on tuesday 1 of my cats came in, and he is waiting on the other one. he had no idea when that one would be in, but aparently my name is high on the list for the next available one. i dont know if that list is country wide, or COUNTY......lol.....but anyway, this guy is going the extra mile to get my truck back on the road. although im not in it yet, i am very pleased with the service i am gettin from Bob Rohman Isuzu hundia. its been a long time, cant wait to get her back again. its even worse that its 20 or so miles away and i cant just go drive by and look at it. sigh........thats about it for now.

developing one virtue more than others......lol......is that healthy???

[IndianaVX]

the latest,
i called isuzu of America customer service on monday, and told them the situation with not having catalitc converters available, and got a case number and a promise that the agent would be looking into the matter, and i would get a phone call if they found anything out.
so naturally, i figured i would just have to call back in a couple of days, or in a week.... welll,
tuesday morning, i got a call from i of A , and they left a message that they authorized the replacement of my cats with aftermarkt, so i could get back on the road. GREAT, although i usually like to go with orig. equip, i am at the point i will take exception.
today, i called the dealer, just for my week end update, and he told me that they have been looking since tuesday afternoon to find some aftermarket cats, again to get me on the road, AND GET THIS..... (if i understood him right) then, when the other factory cat comes in......wait....waaaait....they will schedule me to come in and have the aftermarkets replaced with the factory cats.......and still on isuzus bill, as of now.

so i am now putting the apb, (i think thats the code) for catalitic converters, both the driver, and passenger sides. aprihend at all costs, if not for me, do it for yourself, for when the time comes.

is there finally a factory part to dethrone the roof rack from the "impossible part to replace" throne

so in summary, although im am still without my vx, MY experiance, (so far) has been GOOD, with isuzu. and i have nothing but great things, (so far again) to say about bob rhorman isuzu, indianapolis, take care of your cats, and, tonight, before you go to sleep.......be sure to peek into the garage and check on your vx.......maybe go out, and give your it a hug. (make sure hood is cool) and appreciate how much pleasure that unique little suv brings you.
(ok dave....keep it together..... )


thanks people,

david

[cyronman]

Hey Indiana,

clear out your PM box, I got a message to send ya.

[IndianaVX]

hey cyronman,
can you email it to me??? bucks are tight till i know what truck repairs gonna cost me, gotta re-up my support here, and cant do it yet.....i weeded out old messages, and still not under limit here......
maroonghia@yahoo.com
thanks, ill be watching for it.
david

[Y33TREKker]

Any chance MagnaFlow would have an applicable high-flow aftermarket catalytic converter for the VX? Maybe something from a Trooper, etc. would be close enough in fit to swap in for the time being?

Either that, or just hollow those suckers out.

[IndianaVX]

after a looooong wait, i got a call tonight. it was the dealer asking what time i wanted to pick my vx up in the morning!!!!!!! Honestly, im scared to death. i asked if they found out what was throwning the codes, and he said it wasnt throwing any codes. hmmmm.......it was throwing codes before the cats went out..........man, i just dont know. my stomach is in knots. i even told him, "as much as i want to pick it up in the morning, do you want to keep it till monday, to make sure timings set alright, and no codes are being thrown?" he said no, its not throwing any codes, come and get it, and if it does ruin these cats, isuzu is payin for it.........i am worried about ruining a vx.

he told me also that isuzu is stamping out my replacement factory cats on the 27th of sept.
I am excited, but it is a muffeled excited, im afraid im gonna be driving home, and not be able to go above 50........keep your fingers crossed

[Y33TREKker]

There are drumrolls......and then there are drumrolls.

No doubt we all know what kind this one is.

[IndianaVX]

YUP, ITS TRUE!!! i went and picked up, (man, i have to come up with a name for her..... lol ) my truck!!!!! and it feels gooooooood. i had almost forgotten how good. so yeah, ive already put 100 miles on her, im driving my wife crazy with the "you thirsty, im thirsty, lets go get a drink." and the "do we need bread? ill go get some..... "
so im pretty happy, but down deep in the dark corners of the vx, the computer looms, just wanting to take my happiness away with a P0154......AWW CRAP, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT......"honney, i gotta go to autozone, ya wanna go?"
P0154 = 02 sensor no activity bank 2 sensor 1
i figure, no problem, they forgot to plug the 02 sensor in. but the truck is running great!! it was raining, so i didnt crawl under there then. so on the drive back home, it quit raining, so i went to roll my window down, and it seems the glue i used (JB KWICK) had given up on keeping the clips and glass together, and my widow comes off track. well i get home, and crawl under there to plug the thing in, and for some reason they put, what i can only asuume is an 02 sensor, and cut the wires off right at the sensor!!??!!
and there sits my female plug above it getting wet, and dirty. so i cut the male plug off my old sensor and plug it into the female to keep stuff outta there. then it starts sprinkling again, so i do my widow fix in the sprinkles, and actually, the glue i used ELMERS ULTIMATE GLUE (gorilla glue knockoff) needs some water to set up, so it was alright.
but why X100, would they do that, cut those wires, and is the truck going to go up in a puff of smoke? only time will tell, no later than monday morning, when i call the dealership.

but even all this couldnt take the simle off my face. since ive picked it up, my mind has been all a twitter on the things i want to do. i even found myself in radio shack, looking at mercury switches, and lights for etls engine compart light. and oh, my hood insert needs work, gotta get that done, oh, and the magnetic bra.......how those holding up???
ahhhh, its good to be back in the vx again.....

[Ldub]

[IndianaVX]

its funny too, i pulled up on the wrong side to get gas, and i dont care how many times ive done it, but ive forgtten how to set the clock, and to set the clock/station mode......gotta look that up AGAIN.......

man, i love this truck.......

[Chopper]

Wow, been waiting a long time for that post. Congrats brother. O2 sensor is no big deal...you won't become a Car-B-Q. Might not have had an O2 wrench, and cut them...then did a crap job of rejoining them...heat, rain etc. Really bad excuse...but I've certainly seen techs do dumber stuff. Again welcome back to the world of the living.

[etlsport]

awesome! glad to hear you got it back... very strange about the o2 sensor... buddy of mine had his front radiator support replaced a couople years ago.. got his car back and they had cut the wires to the electric fan... who knows why people do things


p.s. the magnet bra is holding up great... i emailed bob the other day.. email got bounced back to me saying his inbox was full.. but he still replied a couple of days later so i dunno if that was just a mistake or what.. but if you cant get ahold of him for whatever reason let me know, ive got a second bra in the box i would consider selling (still undecided but pm me and we'll talk if you can't get one from bob)