I took my car to mechanic to fix an egr flow code, P 0400. After code was fixed (new egr valve and solenoid) salesman told me another code popped up and it was the mass air flow sensor. He said the car would start and then die. He said the reason the mass air flow sensor code wasn’t on before I brought car in was because the computer compensated for the 0400 code and that’s why there was no mass air flow sensor code. Once the egr flow code, P 0400 was fixed the computer registered the mass air flow sensor. He asked me what I wanted to do.
Well at this point my options are limited ( I was waiting at garage) so I said fix it. The part cost $300 but no labor was charged. The car was running fine prior to bringing car to garage other than P0400 code light on. If the computer compensated for the mass air flow sensor by making other adjustments (thus enabling the car to operate fine) in the engine system why wouldn’t it be able to after the new egr valve and solenoid were replaced? Something doesn’t sound right?
Also as the car was being worked on I needed something out of the car so I looked under the hood to see how they got to the egr valve. While looking at the engine the mechanic, a younger adult around 24, said he cleaned and pointed to the mass air flow sensor. At the time I didn’t know what it was and thought that was nice of him. Now I looked it up and realize he pointed to the mass air flow sensor.
I already paid for the part and they didn’t charge labor. Which is odd because I never seen a mechanic work for free and wouldn’t expect one to. Can anyone tell me if the mechanic messed up the mass air flow sensor?
Thanks
Frank
Without being directly involved and seeing what was done during the repair, etc it is too difficult to know for certain. Why a mechanic would clean or be near the MAF Sensor if you paid for a egr doesn’t make sense to me. But, Once you authorize the work to be done and you receive what you agreed to pay for, not a whole lot you can do at this point.
Not at all. The likely-hood that the mechanic messed up is very high. With that said when my car is stuck at this point you have to do what you have to do.
The last thing I want to do is leave the car there or piss the guy off and have him retaliate on my vehicle by challenging his mechanic. Once I get the car out of the garage then I can call garage and talk to them about my concerns and see if we can come to an amicable remedy.
When paying by credit card I can contest the charge, and contact the Better Business Bureau.
Of course I will give the garage the opportunity to split the cost of the part 50/50 since it is possible the sensor could have gone out at the time it did (which is like winner the lottery) and it is possible the mechanic, trying to go above and beyond, in the cleaning of the sensor cleaned the coating off the sensor causing damage to it. So I can see either possibility, a 50/50 split on cost of part would seem appropriate, at the very least the garage can deduct it’s markup on the part (probably $70).
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