How do you recognize a wall job?

Records from the shop that did the work?

 

Receipt for parts?

 

Well, maybe this is just stating the obvious, but if it was your car at the time - didn't you stop by the shop and SEE the engine out? I for one could not contain my curiosity to see the inner parts of the engine, and work out small details such as cosmetics - replaicng this or that hose, clamp, or wire; maybe the Testorossa heads need to be repainted, etc...

And, if you are prepping a car for resale, what would be wrong with taking some pictures? The new owner would feel a lot better having them, I would think.

 

In a word, not really. New cam cover gaskets do not indicate the valves were ever checked or adjusted. No way to know that it recieved new oil seals. New belts do not mean the engine valve timing was set correctly, or that it has new tensioner bearings.

If you see chalk marks on the belts or pulleys you could assume it wasnt really serviced. And a receipt for parts doesnt mean they are on that car, its just a parts reciept. If you find one single item that puts in question the work that was supposedly done, you could probably wipe with the parts receipt, thats about what its worth.

 

What kind of a car?

 

You have hit it on the head, really, I have bought Ferraris with 'recent service" that didn't last much longer before needing attention, then had cars that once serviced, seemed to run forever....identical 308GTBs.

So it's hard to generalize, I know from my last itemized bill, the guy went thru it fine tooth comb.....

 

I think we have decoded the date stamp on our belts......

 

Well gee that pretty much tells it all right there. Sounds fishy to me but impossible to really tell. A mechanic like this probably did the PO a good service because a crappy job would be way worse than an old good tired job.

Sometimes you can tell if a service was done by other tell tale signs. Like Bruno uses too much black rtv on everything. Lucas will polish bolt heads on carbs you can't see. Stuff I do you will see hondabond and redlocktite and smashed in lockring locks and no RTV.

 

This is why I bought my car IN NEED OF a major service. Still, you gotta trust the folks who do the work, but at least you get to choose them. Hopefully, you find someone good. And as was said above, stop and and see the progress of work such as a major being done. Helped me to sleep at night, and to rationalize the bill when I saw it.

John

 

yup, i concur. I rather buy a car that has not had the service done, and then make sure it was done properly. imho

 

I can't help you with how you tell, but your "tells" do seem suspicious. If you are tryign to decide if you should have the work done or not, I would assume it was not done and start anew. If you are trying to decide if you want to go after the guy for misrepresentation, cheating or whatever, I think it will be very hard to prove since all you'll have is circumstantial evidence (now I sound like a lawyer), but no concrete proof.

In the future, one way to tell that the work was done is to ask for all of you parts back (and if you are really suspicious, you can mark the belts and a few otehr things before they come out) and as mentioned, drop in to see the work in progress. It's neat to see anyway and that's the reason I do it, but it can be a check of the work of sorts (it still does not guarantee that everything was checked, aligned, etc., but there are no 100% guarantees in life).

Best of luck,
Alberto

 

This is a shame, but more common than you might think. I'm always wary of "just completed" major services that have no supporting documentation or any additional work noted besides just copying the maintenance manual recommendations.

A "wall job" to me is a situation where someone brings in the car and it sits for an extended period of time in the shop. The shop owner or foreman keeps putting the owner off and when push comes to shove, they do some of the things you've seen (a few new, easy to get to parts, lacquer spray "cosmetics") and push it out the door with a manufactured invoice. The biggest indicator of a "wall job" is dust inside or outside the cockpit area. Second biggest is dirty work area and clearly older parts that should be replaced or at least cleaned and resealed in the course or replacing regular items that need to be accessed.

I don't know how many times I've seen this, but in nearly every case it's done by an unrecognized independent or independent (and in a few cases, a franchised) dealer. All of the recognized independents don't do this, because we all see each others work and we all need to do everything we can to make the customer experience as enjoyable and reliable as it can be. Stanford, Pollard, Jones, Garre, Reineke and a few others on the East Coast come to mind.

It's a small community. Those without knowledge, experience or ethics are exposed quickly. For the OP, go back in RIGHT NOW and fix it right.