By Mac in Fort Worth on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 09:47 am: Edit

I just bought a '94 Discovery that appeared to have a slight oil leak. It has an after-market warranty, so I took it to the local LR dealer. He wasn't busy, which should have been a warning to me. The leak was caused by faulty valve cover gaskets, an easy diagnosis.

The dealer Service Rep proceeded to remove the heads and called to try and sell me a valve job. According to him, the heads had heavy "gunk" and in his professional opinion, a valve job was needed. He said it would be a bargain, as he only needed to charge for 3 hours labor, the warranty having covered the 7 hours to tear down and reassemble.

My son (an ASE tech who is a GM Service Writer)and I agreed that this guy was not quite shooting straight, as he (the Dealer Rep) never said anything about compression. Moreover, there was no driveability problem, just a few drops of oil in the driveway.

We think he was trying to charge the warranty company for its cost share for a valve job, but in reality, he was going to do an in-house cleaning for the 3 hours his tech would charge.

If he had tried to sell me a "Head job", where they merely clean the heads, instead of a valve job, I might have agreed.

Another clue that this guy was more salesman than technician was when he wanted to sell replacement spark plugs for the 3-day old ones I have. I think it's better form to look at the plugs before you pronounce them worn out.

If you're ever in Fort Worth, there are plenty of honest independent shops where you can get your Discovery worked on, but I'm not too sure about the LR dealer.

By peter matusov on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 09:56 am: Edit

>The dealer Service Rep proceeded to remove the heads

did you mean valve covers?
he shouldn't even bother touching the head bolts.

peter

By Bluegill (Bluegill) on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 09:58 am: Edit

valve job may have been needed - it's an all-too-common problem with the Disco's V8. Since you're under warranty, who cares about "a bargain"? Unless he wanted YOU to pay for the extra three hours and the warranty company to pay for the 7 hours. That would be weird. If his professional opinion indicates that valve job is needed, then warranty should cover it. Get it done under warranty if it's really needed.

and didn't you know that you are supposed to change out plugs every three days?

By peter matusov on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 10:55 am: Edit

Bluegill,

it's on the jeeps you need to change spark plugs every three days. rovers go long way between the changes. sometimes a week or two.

peter

By Kyle on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 02:48 pm: Edit

Keep in mind that the service writers are salesman. Thats all they are. They know squat and their sole purpose in life is to get you to spend money.Its amazing to me that they dont get busted more often. I have heard service writers spin some pretty serious tales in my life and they were complete bullshit....lol Not even close to reality. If you wanna really get back at the dude take some good solid facts from here and set him up. Ask him certain questions and then bust him on his answers. Thats a fun game....

Kyle