A-OK tried to scam me into unneeded repair, charged the equivalent of $420/hour for a short term patch and for reading and clearing an engine code (which parts stores do free), and cracked a rear brake line. Another shop sent me to A-OK to fabricate a replacement Y-pipe for my exhaust. It had two tiny leaks that were apparently interfering with the oxygen sensor and causing an engine code. Two A-OK mechanics immediately told me that both front and both rear catalytic converters were bad and that the entire exhaust past the manifold had to be replaced, at an unspecified cost more than "you could buy a car for." Since the rear catalytic converters had only surface rust and the front catalytic converters were merely dull from road grime, I asked how A-OK knew that they were bad. In response, one mechanic began trying to jab holes with a screw driver in the rear catalytic converters, as if to guarantee that they had to be replaced. The covers on the rear catalytic converters not only held, but rang from the blows, so he pointed to the front catalytic converters and said, "See! They're ALL bad! You have to replace the whole thing! EX-PEN-SIVE!" I did not see, and asked, again, "How can you tell that the catalytic converters are bad, just by looking at them?" Rather than answer the question, both mechanics immediately decided that the exhaust was "good, fine," after all, and, without asking me, smeared "pipe dope" on the part that the first shop had sent me to them for replacement. By this point, I did not trust A-OK, but decided that even their short-term patch would at least let me clear the engine code and verify its cause, while I searched for a replacement Y-pipe. Without waiting for the lift to completely lower, A-OK pulled back the lift arms on the driver's side--a detail that would soon learn was very important. A-OK's striking careless with its tools and materials and its comically clumsy workmanship did nothing to inspire my confidence in its competence, so, when A-OK told me they needed to reread and clear the engine code, I almost refused. While struggling to decide how much to charge me, the chief mechanic asked me what I did for a living, then immediately brightened and announced that the approximately five minutes labor came to $35 plus tax ($37.28). He repeatedly stressed that this was for "smearing pipe dope AND clearing the CODE," and said "THAT (clearing the code) oughta be WORTH SOMETHING, right?" (Parts stores think it is worth good will!) Looking out the window to my car, I was surprised to see a pool of watery-looking fluid, midway between the wheels on the driver's side. I could think of no other explanation, so, even though no other car had been there for at least an hour, and the day was hot and sunny, I passed it off as condensation from someone else's car that had a working AC. When I braked, before pulling onto the street from A-OK's lot, I was surprised by how soft the brakes were, but did not immediately connection that with the fluid under my car. The brakes were rapidly getting worse, fading out completely at traffic lights, so I stopped and checked the brake fluid level. It was fine. Again, I noticed a watery fluid, midway between the wheels on the driver's side, but did not crawl under to investigate, reasoning that a brake fluid leak bad enough to have produced it would have been evident in the fluid level. On my way back to the first shop (which also does brakes), the brake light came on. The first shop quickly discovered a crack in the driver's side brake line, midway between the wheels, which neither I nor their two mechanics had seen two hours earlier, and which neither I nor two mechanics at A-OK had seen while the car was on the lift. The second shop agreed that it was "plausible" that A-OK had broken the brake line by removing the lift arms before they were completely clear of the undercarriage, noting that the crack was "in just the right spot, for that to occur." "That's a HEAVY DUTY brake line! It would take QUITE A BLOW to break it" The line had to be ordered (I found it at $50), and, by the time I got home, I had a "FLUIDS" warning and very little braking capacity. Thanks to A-OK, I still need to replace the Y-pipe now need to replace the brake line.
