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Date:         Thu, 11 Jun 1998 02:25:55 EDT
Reply-To:     Modl6971@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Modl <Modl6971@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Mechanics just dont listen!!!!! (no VW, long)reply
Comments: To: Benjita@aol.com, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In a message dated 98-06-10 15:23:32 EDT, Benjita@AOL.COM writes:

<< I have a grotesque example of mechanic error and not listening. This was several years ago when I had a BMW 325ix. For those of you who are not familiar with BMW's they have a series of lights on the dashboard that indicate when it's time for a service. Sort of like a countdown. Anyway my service lights had counted down to the point where it was time for a tune up. So I brought the car into MARK'S FOREIGN CAR SERVICE OF BOULDER CO. and made an appointment to have the tune up done. I come back that day to pick up the car and everything is A-Okay, I drive about 20 miles and the car is feeling a little more peppy thanks to the tune up, when I notice that the service indicator lights have not been reset. So I turn around and bring the car back to MARK'S. Mark himself says okay no problem he'll reset the lights. To do this you need to have a special reset tool that hooks up to the ECU and you need to follow a specific procedure. Mark tells mechanic #1 to go take care of it. I wait. Mechanic #1 comes back to mark in a few minutes with the special BMW tool and says that he doesn't know how the tool works. At this point I stand up and say, "You need to be carefull resetting the lights because you can damage the brain." both of them look at my with thinly veiled contempt. And Mark says in his thick German accent, "Vee know vhat ve are doing here!". I sit down properly chagrined. A few minutes later Mechanic # 1 comes in and says that the lights have been reset and I'm ready to go. I go out to start the car and absolutely nothing happens, dashboard lights up but the car won't turn over. I tell Mark he says that he will look into it but can't today so call him tomarrow. I walk home.

The next day I stop in hoping that the car has been fixed. It hasn't. I talk to mark and he says that my ECU has been fried and that I need a new one which will be about $900. I of course tell him this is your fault you did this to the car. And I pull out my Bentley manual which specifically states that failure to follow the proper reset procudure may cause damage to the ECU. He absolutely denies it!! He tells me I don't know anything. I am literally too shocked to speak. I finally say, "How can you say that, it is obvious that you are responsible for this." At which point he tells me to get my car off of his property!?? At this point I'm thinking that this guys nuts and if I don't leave he's probably going to beat me. My friend and I push the poor car across the street. A few days later I go back there and tell Mark that I am taking him to court. He does not even look at me or acknowledge my presence. 6 weeks later is the big day I've done all this research into the problem, I have my Bentlry, and I have my own personal testimony that I typed up and sent to myself immediately following the event, which had remained sealed and dated by the post office waiting for it's day in court. I go to court and Mark doesn't show up. The judge asks me, " Do you swear this is the truth?" I say yes he bangs his gavel. I have the judgement against Mark for $1000 + court costs. In my elation I go straight over to Mark's and show him the judgement, he looks at it, and writes me up a check, and says, "You are not right here, you have punished me for something that I did not do, I would lose more money by having to go to court(and missing work) than I will paying this judgement, that is why you won." I just walked out. They guy's obvoiusly in his own little world, and thought that he could push me around because I was a young 18 year old.

Thanks to any of you who read through this. Outside of the people who were involved I've never talked about it....feeeels gooood:-)

As a side note Mark's Foreign Car Service continues to grow they just expanded and remodled their facility??? Mystery to me.

Cory '86 Syncro Westfalia >> HI Cory, congradulations on your win in court for getting something for free. I used to work in a BMW dealership and I can say that simply plugging in that reset tool to reset the service lights, wouldn't damage the ECU. Those service lights are part of the instrument cluster supported by two AA batteries to maintain memory of the service lights, and are in no way tide into the ECU wireing. I just had a customer today that said ever since you checked the tire pressure on my car, the car doesn't run the same. The car was a piece of S''''T VW Fox, never been serviced. We blew his ass right out the door. Michael M.87 syncro.


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