Hello Everyone,

Here is my story with my first used car. I bought my first used toyota camry car from private owner with 115k miles for $5200.Owner sold me the car with the bad battery .I got my new battery installed in the car .My car was working absolutely fine .after 1 week of buying the car i got my oil changed from Midas auto shop. My engine blew off the next day because of Midas mistake.Midas told me that engine is not working so need to replace it . The expense will be bare by Midas people ofcourse.But i did not trust them , i got the claim amount of $3500 to get the engine fix by myself. I search online and i found one small mom and pop auto shop to repair my car with used engine replacement at cost of $3400. I agreed to them.After auto shop fixed my car, they called me and informed me that car is making noise because of exhaust pipe leakage and also to put the front break pad.Actually It was the mechanic mistake who towed the car, brokes the exhaust pipe. I ended up paying for exhaust pipe to fixed. But still my battle with the car is going on. After paying the auto shop full amount, i discovered that the car shakes driving on freeway at 55-60 speed,even now i can see the check engine light. I took the car again to auto shop, the mechanic says its the cheap tire quality.and they cannot do anything now. after paying around $4000.I am facing the problem. Now the mechanic is not replying to my email and not responding. He says that he will charge me if the problem is not related to engine. what should i do now?

 

What year of car and engine type, V6 or 4 cylinder, auto or manual trans?

What happened to the engine, run out of oil due a mistake by Midas?

Why are you paying for the engine repairs if this is a Midas problem?

Did the car shake before the engine repairs?

Is the shop that is not responding to your emails the same shop that did the engine repairs?

 

----Car is of 4 cylinder, auto trans ------Yes it run out of oil.When we opend the car, we saw the oil filter lid sitting on the engine. -----I did not paid for the engine work,i got the appraisal amount $3500 from Midas insurance.. The car was working absolutely fine in high speed before the engine work done. ----The mechanic responsed after 6 days, he claims that since the car was non-runner when he got the car, so the shaking is previous problem ,not after the engine work.He is also claiming that he has already checked twice with everything, but he cannot fix the shaking problem, as he says the tires and rim are old. Thank you toyomoto for responding..

 

Shaking can be the result of many issues.

How does the car brake? Any additional vibration when braking.

When the car does vibrate, does the steering wheel shake?

Is the vibration limited to a certain MPH range and OK outside that range?

As a quick check swap the front and rear tires. If these are the problem you should notice a change in vibration or elimination.

When the tire is off the ground, rotate it and check for a bent rim or excess tire wobble.

Inspect the front tires for unusually wear patterns. An internet search will turn up hits on tire wear patterns. Inspect the rims for damage as in bent or a rim was hit by something when towed.

If the car drove OK prior to the engine work the repair shop or tow company may have done something to cause this.

The shop would need to take out the engine and transmission and most likely the complete front end with axles was removed.

If the tire swap and inspection does not find the cause suggest you have the car inspected by another mechanic. Have them look at the front end, axles, brakes, etc. This is more money but you may not have the experience to know what you are looking at. If the mechanic states the issue is related to engine repair job, you should seek recourse for expenses from that shop.

This is not a simple answer, but keep in mind the complete front end with tires, axles, etc may have been worked on. The tow company may done something, unlikely but they did damage the exhaust.

If you did not have all the work done plus the tow (and damage) then yes would suspect something like a tire issue, unbalanced tires, etc.

 

I did not notice any changes of vibration/shaking when i apply breaks. Yes the range of speed is when i goes up to 50 the vibration starts. Yes she steering wheel shakes badly.The last time i visited him after the everything done, he off the tire from the ground , shows me the tires wobbling.But the car was working absolutely fine and perfect before the engine work done.Below are the work done by him other than engine work. Front Brake Pads ( Bendix ) Installation of brake pads Right front Half Shaft (Axle ) Installation of axle included with engine Grease doors / hinges Camry 4cyl non-California -Mid-Pipe flex section exhaust Recomended Parts / Fixes Replace fan speed control resistor module ( Inside air conditioning control ) Alignment / tire balancing. Thanks a lot for helping me out

 

1. on shake - prolly tires need to be balanced.
2. on engine swap. pures, next time, buy online engine from Japan. they average less than a thousand for advanced engines (Mazda 323 one was $350) and come with warranty and certified low miles. it's long story why, but those engines do have low miles. toss in another thousand or so to have it dropped in. save a lot of money.
3. fix the car and rid of it. it's cursed. it's a project vehicle, apparently, so if you do not have skill and tools to DIY, rid of it. it already costs you about what you paid for it, don't keep going that path.

 

I think struggling with first used car is the experience of man in the life to face hardship and problems by determination. So struggling with first used car makes man perfect and trained to use second new car.

 

Thanks for the nice and useful thread. I really appreciate you efforts, because you work hard on the related topic. You should have to become fully trained on the first used car. After become perfect driver you will be illegible for the second new car.