Not in a good mood...

[1BadA4]

so i took my car into the shop to have it checked on to see what was wrong with it because it was not starting. So to my knowledge i thought it was something easy such as spark, because it was cranking but wouldnt turn over, i come to find out that my ECM wires are fried, ok cool, not to bad right just $160 of wires, well i had the guy install them and today he gives me a call "i have bad news" and i say ok lets hear it, "you need a new engine harness" im thinking what the hell, he tells me that when i installed the strobes into my headlights that it fried my harness, but finny thing is the wires go directly to a battery whihc go to a switch and to a ground, should i call bullshit on it because he wants me to pay 2400 for everything, i hate life.

[AudiA4Style]

I would take the car somewhere else to get a 2nd opinion

[koolade9]

I would take the car somewhere else to get a 2nd opinion

+1

shops love to blame electrical failures on aftermarket accesories...I've had to deal with that crap for years.

First call him out and tell him to explain EXACTLY how he came to this conclusion...and if you can get it in writing...oooooh, so much better...

Only situation I could see replacing the engine harness is if:

A. you had a fire under the hood
B. you got a little crazy and started removing/shortening/relocating wires from your harness.
C. you removed all your heat sheilds and found a way to route your harness through your exhaust manifold.

[1BadA4]

i just spoke with him over the phone and he says it was caused by water damage

[koolade9]

i just spoke with him over the phone and he says it was caused by water damage

tough to fight that one... did you frequently clean/hose down your engine bay? Any reason an abundance of water could've gotten in there?

[1BadA4]

no reason whatsoever as far as hosing down the engine bay, now it has been raining quite frequently here and i have been going through some larger puddles, but if that was the case cant i now claim water damage with insurence?

[dirtybrd]

Go look at the damage. Thats a lot of money, I'd want to see it first.

[koolade9]

Go look at the damage. Thats a lot of money, I'd want to see it first.

+1 for sure!!!

[jackyaudi]

so i took my car into the shop to have it checked on to see what was wrong with it because it was not starting. So to my knowledge i thought it was something easy such as spark, because it was cranking but wouldnt turn over, i come to find out that my ECM wires are fried, ok cool, not to bad right just $160 of wires, well i had the guy install them and today he gives me a call "i have bad news" and i say ok lets hear it, "you need a new engine harness" im thinking what the hell, he tells me that when i installed the strobes into my headlights that it fried my harness, but finny thing is the wires go directly to a battery whihc go to a switch and to a ground, should i call bullshit on it because he wants me to pay 2400 for everything, i hate life.

Like most said, take it elsewhere and ask for second opinion. You can even sometimes call different garages and ask them how much in total it will cost to fix this and that with labor and parts (I do that sometimes so I dont waste time going around here and there, but you have to be sure whats going on first.) EVEN if like he mentions its the engine harness that has to be replaced, that ALONE should never cost more than $800 to $1300. So whats that additional grand for? Ask him to tell you where exactly that $2400 is going to and how many total hours of labor he is charging you. Sometimes I stay on the top of their heads while repairing to know exactly how long it took them to fix my car. I dont wanna pay 2 hours labor for a 20 min fix. Lots of garages think coz you drive an Audi you have wide pockets.

Its hard to take you car around for second opinions, specially that its not running. It will cost maybe like $200 just to take it around different garages. Sometimes its worth, other times its not and could be the opposite.

Let us know how this turn out. Good luck~

[absolutegtr]

It wouldnt surpised me if his installation of the ECM wires, screwed up the engine harness

[1BadA4]

Like most said, take it elsewhere and ask for second opinion. You can even sometimes call different garages and ask them how much in total it will cost to fix this and that with labor and parts (I do that sometimes so I dont waste time going around here and there, but you have to be sure whats going on first.) EVEN if like he mentions its the engine harness that has to be replaced, that ALONE should never cost more than $800 to $1300. So whats that additional grand for? Ask him to tell you where exactly that $2400 is going to and how many total hours of labor he is charging you. Sometimes I stay on the top of their heads while repairing to know exactly how long it took them to fix my car. I dont wanna pay 2 hours labor for a 20 min fix. Lots of garages think coz you drive an Audi you have wide pockets.

Its hard to take you car around for second opinions, specially that its not running. It will cost maybe like $200 just to take it around different garages. Sometimes its worth, other times its not and could be the opposite.

Let us know how this turn out. Good luck~

i agree with you completely on everything you said, im going in tere tommorow to see what the hell is REALLY going on, and im going to take a few pictures and hae him write a full description of what he thinks and says has happened to see how many times he changes his story. Ill keep everyone updated

[1BadA4]

It wouldnt surpised me if his installation of the ECM wires, screwed up the engine harness

i was thinkig the same exact thing, blaming his mistakes on someone else, typical of shops to do. Oh i cant wait for morning time tommorow :)

[JMRQuattro]

shops suck. My dad just told me a story about our neighborhood shop. My neighbors own a shop and our tahoe broke down by our house... bad fuel pump. So they towed it and fixed it. So then it had a really weird idle and was skipping rythm so we took another look at it after asking him wtf he did. He says "oh there are 8 coils and so we must just need to replace the coils". So we go to look at the coils ourselves with one of my dad's friends, the coils are fine, and then we find out that in reality what was wrong was that one of the wires that goes to the spark plugs was left unplugged. So we plugged it back in... fixed. Now the question we had was why did he even unplug the wire on the spark plug in the first place? There's no reason he would have had to do that to replace the fuel pump. So of course i'm thinking it's his way of trying to get you to come back for more work. I hate shops, a lot of them are just like dealerships and they try to rob you blind.

[demea]

^^ yeah the legitimacy of repair shops/dealers has been debated for many years. It's tough to find one that you feel comfortable with to work on a German car, or any car for that matter...that wont try to pull some $hit like the Tahoe story.

[dougyfresh]

strobes?

[pondside36]

^^^ Yeah what is with the strobes? I still hope it all works out as well.

[1BadA4]

^^^ Yeah what is with the strobes? I still hope it all works out as well.

i got bored the other day and had 2 pairs of headlight strobe kits laying around from when i had my show truck. so i put them in to see what it would look like, it doesnt look bad actually i took it to a car meet by my house and everyone liked it .

[A4 KiDD 810]

I would do what everyone said, and if it feels awkward just tell him "im not trying to be over curious but $2400 doesnt just fall out of trees" because it doesnt lol. You need to see all the actual damage and what every last dollar will be spent on then hear other professional opinions so you know he's not BSing you.