Need advice confronting shop.

[R055]

Hey guys. So a week ago gave my boat(2003 maxum 1900sr with 4.3 mercruiser) to the shop for them to fix an outdrive leak(they said it was leaking below the impellor). They "discovered" the hose that takes water from the drive to the motor was old so I had them replace that too. They never gave me a real qoutes but the shop owner said it would be about 800-900 dollar so I let him do the work. Picked up the boat with a surprise bill of $1200 after tax but paid it without throwing a big fit.
Went out on the lake today and assumed everything would be good. Start cruising at 3500 rpms for about 30 seconds and smell something burning. I stop the boat and open the engine cover and there was a decent amount of smoke.
Waited 5 minutes and turned the boat on and felt the hose that goes to the water thermostat in the front and it was dry(no water running through it). Waited 30 minutes and drove half way to the dock. Waited another 30 minutes and drove to the dock.
Planning to take it back to the shop to have them fix it but what other possible damage could have happened? Is the shop responsible for all the other damage(if any) too?

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I certainly would have asked why 300 more than the quote. Here in Ontario any repairs that exceed the quote by 10% the owner has to be notified and told why, some do some don't. I do have to ask is there not a temperature gauge or warning horn on that boat when water flow is low or zero? On my outboard I get an alarm if water isn't pumping to the engine. Did you have any water coming out the overflow?

As far as responsibility it all depends on whom you are dealing with and whether they admit they are responsible or it is just a mechanical failure in their eyes. I personally would want to be there when they drop the outdrive and see for myself if the cooling line is attached properly. You have some reason not to have full trust in these guys based if only on the inflated bill. It's one reason our county that has a population of only 45,000 citizens there is a full page of Lawyers available in the Yellow Pages.

Without cooling a number of things may have been compromised some minor some major, maybe nothing because you did let it cool down before restarting. I would have gotten a tow myself unless I was close to somewhere to dock quickly which I did when my alarm once went off during our first spring run. They most probably will say you never should have run the boat knowing you didn't have proper cooling even if the root cause was theirs. You didn't mitigate damages when you ran her may be their answer.

 

[tpenfield]

This is a good example of why I do my own work . . .

I would think the engine is probably OK, since you let the engine cool down, etc.

Have them make the boat good for the amount that you already paid. After that, don't go back there again.

 

[southkogs]

I'm with Ted ^^^ ... with the caveat that sometimes stuff goes wrong and a good tech monkeys up. Give him a chance to make it right, and start out easy. There's always the chance that he's an honest dude who'll fix it proper, and make good.

 

[R055]

I certainly would have asked why 300 more than the quote. Here in Ontario any repairs that exceed the quote by 10% the owner has to be notified and told why, some do some don't. I do have to ask is there not a temperature gauge or warning horn on that boat when water flow is low or zero? On my outboard I get an alarm if water isn't pumping to the engine. Did you have any water coming out the overflow?

As far as responsibility it all depends on whom you are dealing with and whether they admit they are responsible or it is just a mechanical failure in their eyes. I personally would want to be there when they drop the outdrive and see for myself if the cooling line is attached properly. You have some reason not to have full trust in these guys based if only on the inflated bill. It's one reason our county that has a population of only 45,000 citizens there is a full page of Lawyers available in the Yellow Pages.

Without cooling a number of things may have been compromised some minor some major, maybe nothing because you did let it cool down before restarting. I would have gotten a tow myself unless I was close to somewhere to dock quickly which I did when my alarm once went off during our first spring run. They most probably will say you never should have run the boat knowing you didn't have proper cooling even if the root cause was theirs. You didn't mitigate damages when you ran her may be their answer.

The temperture guage didn't raise fast enough, smelled the smoke first. Don't want to deal with this shop anymore considering they can't even put an outdrive together but short on money so can't have another shop do the work and then attempt to have these guys foot the bill.

 

[R055]

I'm with Ted ^^^ ... with the caveat that sometimes stuff goes wrong and a good tech monkeys up. Give him a chance to make it right, and start out easy. There's always the chance that he's an honest dude who'll fix it proper, and make good.

Hope fully, my biggest concern is the smoke in the engine bay that happened the first time when I ran at 3500 rpms for a good 45 seconds after warming up at the dock for a good 2 minutes. Was that most likely exhaust shutters burning?

BTW after letting it cool down I turned it on and felt the water intake holes on the outdrive and no sunction at all.

 

[R055]

Called the shop and talked to the scum bag owner. He claims they tested the boat on muffs for 5 minutes after repairing and that everything was fine. Then tried telling me that I ran it dry or that there was a bag or seaweeds in the water at the dock I launched at that covered up the water holes even though the lake I went to is a reservoir that gets drained and refilled every year and no weeds or garbage floating in there.

He's trying to get me to pay to "diagnose" the problem.

 

[tpenfield]

Well, looks like you should be done using that shop.

You may find some recourse by submitting a BBB.org complaint and let them pursue it from here. Small claims court can get sticky, given no way to prove anything. Others may have some additional ideas.

 

[R055]

Well, looks like you should be done using that shop.

You may find some recourse by submitting a BBB.org complaint and let them pursue it from here. Small claims court can get sticky, given no way to prove anything. Others may have some additional ideas.

Yeah seems like my best bet is going to a reputable shop and have them diagnose and fix whatever that shop screwed up and use the reputable shop as a witness in small claims court but at the moment I have a full time job and have a side business with 250 bee hives soon to bee 400 hives and don't have the time or money to mess around with small claims court.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Yeah seems like my best bet is going to a reputable shop and have them diagnose and fix whatever that shop screwed up and use the reputable shop as a witness in small claims court but at the moment I have a full time job and have a side business with 250 bee hives soon to bee 400 hives and don't have the time or money to mess around with small claims court.

That absolutely sucks. Please take the time to take it in to another reputable and recommended Marine repair to troubleshoot the failure and any damage that may have been incurred. You can't afford not to. The response you got was exactly what a fly by night duffus would give.

 

[R055]

That absolutely sucks. Please take the time to take it in to another reputable and recommended Marine repair to troubleshoot the failure and any damage that may have been incurred. You can't afford not to. The response you got was exactly what a fly by night duffus would give.

The problem is I've been investing all my money into my side business(beekeeping, spend 21k on it just this month, most of it because I bought a forklift) and I'm barley going to meet ends this month so can't afford to give another shop 1k and hope this shop will pay for the damages.

Bringing the boat to this shop tomorrow for him to "diagnose" it and told him not to do anything but check over his work and not do anything that requires me to pay.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Bummer. My first two experiences with repair shops were not good, but I was able to avoid any major problems or damage to my boat.

Be sure to leave a review of the first shop on Yelp or some similar social media site. It won't help you, but it may save the next guy a headache...

 

[R055]

I'll name the shop tomorrow once I figure out if they'll make it right or not so fellow iboaters in Seattle can avoid them.

 

[R055]

Bummer. My first two experiences with repair shops were not good, but I was able to avoid any major problems or damage to my boat.

Be sure to leave a review of the first shop on Yelp or some similar social media site. It won't help you, but it may save the next guy a headache...

They have a 3.3 on yelp and an a+ on BBC but that's only because nobody left reviews on BBC yet. Their Facebook has all 5 star reviews but I'm thinking those are paid fake reviews because two of the reviews are talking about cars but this is a boat repair shop.

I'll make sure to leave a ding in their reputation of they don't make it right.

 

[gm280]

Sorry to hear this. The only course of real action I can think of is word of mouth. Surprisingly enough word of mouth does get around. And if the shop doesn't make good on their work, tell them you will use word of mouth to tell others about their work ethics. They may tell you that they will sue you for that. And that is okay too because if it were ever to get to that point, your story will have a huge effect on their business. JMHO

 

[mr 88]

Put the earmuffs on and after removing the raw water hose that they replaced from the engine side fire it up to perform the following test. Water should be pumping through the hose,if it is I would check out the thermostat to make sure its opening. At that point I would just replace it with a 160* car unit. They may have replaced some items and never got to the thermo for whatever reason.

 

[TyeeMan]

Yeah that's a bummer. For what it's worth, for around $800 I had a new water pump installed, water supply hose, gear lube monitor hose, lower shift cable, all 3 bellows and a gimbal bearing. And ALL parts are genuine Mercruiser.

Hopefully they will do you right. Next time see if you can find a shop with certified Mercruiser techs. Not saying that is the end all be all but I'd like to think you have a better chance at having things done right the first time.

Good Luck!

 

[R055]

Put the earmuffs on and after removing the raw water hose that they replaced from the engine side fire it up to perform the following test. Water should be pumping through the hose,if it is I would check out the thermostat to make sure its opening. At that point I would just replace it with a 160* car unit. They may have replaced some items and never got to the thermo for whatever reason.

They only replaced like a 12 inch long piece coming from the drive to the bell housing.

 

[R055]

What are some other possible reasons it's not pumping? The shop changed a seal that was below the impellor and changed the water hose that's like 12 inches and goes from drive to bell housing. Now no water is pumping. I felt the inlet holes in the water and no sunction and no water running to the thermostat housing.

 

[GA_Boater]

To replace the seal below the impeller, the entire water pump has to be removed. Did they reuse the old impeller or is a new impeller on the parts list on the bill?

You can put muffs on with no impeller and 99.9% of the time you wouldn't know the impeller is missing. On the water, different story and it would show up in a few minutes.