Beware [Euroquipe] Mechanic Shop - St. Charles, IL – [My Story]

I will warn you this is long, but if you are an Illinois resident and want to save yourself thousands of dollars, never ending problems, and weeks of downtime, and the general frustration I have had to deal with over the past few months, please read my story.

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Preventative maintenance; this is something every 360 owner is aware of, and something that must be done if the ownership period exceeds a couple years. Right around the 2-year mark of owning my 360, I decided to go forth and have the timing/belt service performed, along with switching out the spark plugs for good measure. I have had a mechanic for the past few years who does wonderful work and performs all my regular maintenance for my 360, (oil changes, etc.), whom I was considering having perform the service, although he advised me to search for a specialized Ferrari shop, having never done it himself.

Thus, after searching online, I found a shop with “Ferrari experience,” and a trained former Ferrari technician (along with being a mechanic of just about every car manufacturer out there, according to his 13 different certificates hanging in the waiting area), to perform the work…

I have had nothing but problems with my 360 since the service was performed, I have not been able to drive more than 80 miles without something going wrong time and time and time again. I brought in a trouble free Ferrari 360 for preventative maintenance and have been doing nothing but performing maintenance to the car since. And as I was told by the owner of Euroquipe, Brad Schrock, when I brought this up, I apparently am the only Ferrari owner to have had a trouble free Ferrari, “they are very touchy, finicky cars,” he said.

First off, middle of May 2010, I brought my 360 in, as stated, for timing/belt service and a change of the spark plugs. A week later and charged $2723.44 my car was back, everything seemed well, drove home and drove the car over the next few weeks. As a usual owner, my car was not driven excessively. One Saturday, took the car out for a drive and my CEL popped up, although the car drove fairly normal, with concern I went straight home and parked it. It sat till Monday, and when it was started to check, the car was running very wrong. (I even started a thread on the forum about the issue,
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291543.)

The next day I took the worried drive to my mechanic who scanned it as cylinders 2-8 were misfiring. I called Euroquipe, thus they had performed the last service, and had the car towed to their shop. They stated an ignition coil had failed yet stated I should replaced all of them since they were deemed to go bad shortly thereafter at a price of over $3000.00, I said only to replace the one that needed replacing, completely negating the possibility of all 8 coils going bad at the same time in the same period of time, (I may not be a mechanic but the idea of replacing coils that are not bad, is completely absurd), and while the owner wasn’t happy with my decision a single coil was replaced, ($518.95 for the tow, coil and labor) the CEL was cleared and the car seemed the run better… only to have my CEL again pop up on my next ride 50 miles later… Cylinders misfiring (scanned at my mechanic).

Called Euroquipe again, which was a mistake, at this point I should’ve gone straight to Ferrari, and brought the car in again, and after 3 hours of investigating, (i.e. labor I was billed for), it was “found” that my air intake compensation ducting rods, lever, pneumatic actuator motor and related components were damaged and needed replacing. Thus, trusting their Ferrari technician said to go ahead with the service. The next week I had my car back, the “bad” parts back, and a bill for $3065.43. A week after that, and 80 miles later, my CEL is back on… Cylinders misfiring.

Directly after receiving my car back I drove immediately to my mechanic with the parts. He then hooked up my air intake compensation ducting rods, lever, pneumatic actuator to a vacuum and it everything worked perfectly. He then performed a visual inspection and tested the parts in various other ways and said the unit is fine, it’s in perfect working condition, there was no need for replacing the part at all, “drive the car until the CEL comes back on, I’m sure it will,” and he was right.

Without having any intention of Euroquipe continue to work on my car, I went over Tuesday, September 7th 2010, to seek some resolution with a perfect scenario to have my air intake compensation ducting rods, lever, pneumatic actuator motor reinstalled and my entire bill refunded, but at the very least have my labor refunded since a new part had been installed. To say the least, this did not happen… I was very cordial, calm, and collective, I explained everything that had been found out, and was greeted back to a very hostile and defensive Brad, his attitude was as if, he had been paid and being nice was no longer needed. He stated (as before) I was the ONLY Ferrari owner to never have had any problems before. He went on that the last CEL problem was fixed, the new CEL that appeared after 80 miles is something entirely different and is not at all related to their work.

At this point I decided to take the car to Ferrari in Hinsdale, and on September 14th, in it went. The scan resulted in multiple misfires, and major emission errors. They advised that poor grounds can cause the errors and recommended a complete engine ground sweep. As I write this in March of 2011, my CEL has not once reappeared. I also explained my situation with Euroquipe to the Technical Services Manager of Ferrari and had him inspect the “bad” parts I asked to have back, he said (also received in writing) that since the 360 was released in 1999 they have never replaced those parts in their shop, and a visual inspection proved perfect working parts, and I received the same results at Lake Forest SportsCars.

It gets worse, in June shortly after my timing belt service, I had ordered a new set of tires for my car, and decided to have them mounted, installed and have my wheel alignment done at Euroquipe. It was noted that prior to my wheels alignment their tech stated the right front wheel bearing was loose and at a cost of $945.00 it was replaced. After everything that went wrong I decided to have the wheels bearing checked out, at 2 independent mechanic shops and Hinsdale Ferrari, it was described as a perfect working wheel bearing. It was not loose.

Now, an experience like this with 1 car could, while very improbable, be chalked up to coincidence, yet, after my timing/belt service was performed on my 360 and before any of the problems had arisen, I thought of Euroquipe as a good, reputable shop, and thus took my 2001 BMW X5 in for service as well. The park distance control wasn’t functioning properly and I wanted an extra key, I also asked they perform an inspection of the whole car since it was recently purchased. Over $1000.00 later I had a new key, (which I was charged an extra $120.00 for because they could not figure out how to program it why should I be charged something they can’t figure out?), a park distance control system that completely failed a week later, and a nonworking AM radio which worked perfectly before. And 4 miles (literally) after leaving their shop, my engine started smoking, my entire dash lit up and I had to pull over. Later, Euroquipe claimed this to be the power steering pump failing, because it was inspected to be showing signs of wear while at their shop. My mechanic found out the actual problem, the alternator and belts were bad, and were replaced. He said my power steering pump was like new probably replaced by the previous owner shortly before I purchased it used in May for a work vehicle. Also, to get my AM radio back the car was just at BMW for service, Euroquipe said a new antenna/wiring harness was needed for the PDC as it would eventually go bad… BMW found a cable disconnected, which was connected and now my PDC front and back works perfectly.

At this point I would just advise anyone to stay away from Euroquipe, they “work” on Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, MINI and Porsche. It had been a terrible summer for my 360; I have been unable to enjoy the car most of the summer. Having to experience weeks of downtime not wanting to drive with a CEL, during the time when I should have been enjoying it the most…

Some may say it’s coincidence, yet I refuse to believe so much going wrong in such a short amount of time. My 360 previous to Euroquipe was an immensely solid 360. Preventative maintenance earns a whole new meaning when you visit Euroquipe.

 

The time line of events is presented very clearly - Thus the wheels were performed within the "gap" of problems shortly after the belt service and before the problems started appearing

And as stated i brought the parts to my mechanic and it was only after the last service i started checking their work

I was quoted around 5k at Ferrari, they did it for almost half - i got what i paid for....

Exactly, never again will i choose a shop based on price

Point taken - although, wanting to charge me 3k for 8 "bad" ignition coils going back at the same exact time and being upset i only wanted to change out the bad one... doesn't seem like an honest shop

 

I returned to my mechanic with the parts that i received from Euroquipe to check if they were in fact bad. My mechanic had never performed a belt service in a 360, thus he suggested another place. Although the parts brought to him were car parts, they are not some alien parts that only Ferrari tech's have seen, therefore he was able to test the parts out. His findings were the same as Continental and LFSC, thus consistent with those, who work extensively with Ferrari's. I wish in fact, i had used him for the belt service.

Finally, I have purchased 8 cars from Chicago Motor Cars since 2007, including my 360 - i have personal relationship with Parin, and many others there, and CMC does NOT use Euroquipe to service their cars. Parin would not use them after hearing of my ordeal, and in fact helped me get in touch with LFSC to help.

My accusations are based on fact. I have not made anything up.

Apparently i have not made this crystal clear - But the parts were TESTED, by 3 different shops, 2 who work extensively on Ferrari's and were tested to be working parts. I have IN WRITING from Continental Ferrari's Technical Service Manager that the parts (air intake compensation ducting rods and components, and my wheel bearing) are working parts, that were not in need of replacing. I have IN WRITING, that since the 360 was released in 1999, Continental Ferrari, has NOT ONCE, replaced an air intake compensation ducting rods and components. I advise you to call and ask since you say my accusations are misguided. I have IN WRITING from Brad Schrock, that although 1 ignition coil was replaced, the remaining 7 should be replaced because they are bad or will be bad shortly at a cost of 3000.00. That fact alone, does not speak of an honest shop. An honest shop should replace parts when they go bad, not replace good parts - But apparently replacing good parts is Euroquipes modus operandi.

My only misguided act, was to ever go back after things started going wrong and trust them.

I urge anyone considering of going to Euroquipe for service to look elsewhere.

 

I would like to clarify the statement that was removed was not a personal attack as said by me, but rather a remark that I had quoted as said by an employee of another shop - i would never put someone down just due to my experience - I am not trying to get my words across in such a manner

I'm doing nothing but stating the facts in this event

 

Thank you for completely reading the story - Exactly the proof of good parts