6.5 Mechanic or Shop in San Diego?

[surfbeetle]

Anyone know of a reputable shop or mechanic for the 6.5 diesel in San Diego CA, preferably East County? Thanks.

[a5150nut]

There's a guy hangs around here from Hemet. Might be worth the drive...

[surfbeetle]

Thanks, I don't know that I want to attempt to drive it that far. I have an appointment at the dealer on Thursday.

[More Power]

Diesel Tune
10780 Fairford
Downey, CA
562-929-6554

Mike, the owner, is a longtime member of the Page....

Jim

[surfbeetle]

Thanks Jim.
By the way, it's suffering from an intermittent lack of boost. I changed the vacuum pump last week and it went from having no power to being intermittent. Could this be the servo between the vacuum pump and the wastegate? Also, it makes a loud growling noise that stops if the brake pedal is applied hard or the steering wheel is turned full lock right or left.

[Billy V]

Diesel Tune was NOT a very good mechanic to me.

I drove over 100 Miles to visit their shop on a recommendation, and after paying $1969.92 for a job done by Mike, and His Staff I wound up in the local Chevy Dealer to repair my truck.

It cost an additional $664.54 at City Chevrolet in San Diego to repair the poor work done at Diesel Tune. I won some of the money back in a Visa Dispute.

I don't want to be negative, but it was not a fun experience dealing with these people. Documents on request.

[More Power]

Diesel Tune was NOT a very good mechanic to me.

I drove over 100 Miles to visit their shop on a recommendation, and after paying $1969.92 for a job done by Mike, and His Staff I wound up in the local Chevy Dealer to repair my truck.

It cost an additional $664.54 at City Chevrolet in San Diego to repair the poor work done at Diesel Tune. I won some of the money back in a Visa Dispute.

I don't want to be negative, but it was not a fun experience dealing with these people. Documents on request.


Sorry to hear it.... :( Dealers and shops that are good with the EFI 6.5 are hard to find. What did the dealer correct - if you don't mind saying it here?

Jim

[Billy V]

I don't mind at all.

I went to Diesel Tune in Downey for a seemingly easy install of New parts.

An HO Water Pump Kit, with 9 Blade Steel Cooling Fan, and a Kennedy Fan Clutch, with 190 Thermostats. New radiator hoses were also installed during this procedure.

Also, on the recommendation of Mike from DT, I had my Radiator removed and replaced at his shop.

All work was checked by Mike before turning the truck back over to me.
----------------------------
Upon my return back home that evening I noticed the truck was not running the same, like it was down on power. When I arrived home I noticed coolant leaking under the truck and checked the overflow which was empty.

I let it cool and checked the radiator which was also Very Low.

--I called Mike and told him about the problem, he said to add coolant and watch for leaks.
There were so many I didn't know where to start first.

The next day I asked him to repair the the leaks and also asked him about the low power feel from the truck. I asked if he installed the correct 190 thermostats to which he said Yes.

The truck was leaking from enough places that I asked for his shop to pick it up and make the repairs. He refused to send a flat bed to do that. He insisted that I drive it back there 100+ miles and stop to refill coolant along the way. I did not think under the circumstances that was appropriate, and again asked for a tow truck to collect my vehicle, or for another shop to make the repairs and Mike to refund the difference.

-Mike refused to allow another shop in my area to do any work, and said He would not refund the difference.
{But that is exactly what wound up happening in the end}

City Chevrolet in San Diego did all the repairs necessary to correct the problems.

-They found that the New Radiator that Diesel Tune sold me has (2) holes in it in the core, and had also been placed into the truck directly onto the metal of the radiator support without any rubber insulators causing a 3rd. leak

In addition to that, Diesel Tune failed to use any Water Pipe Crossover Gaskets up at the manifold which also manifested a leak.

Lastly DT installed the wrong temp Thermostats (180) verses the (190) which I specified before they started the work. The reason the truck felt down on power.

City Chevrolet did all the repairs, and I paid them $664.54 to correct all the problems.
-Diesel Tune refused to credit me back that amount, so I disputed the charge with Visa and they deducted the amount off the Diesel Tune bill.

[More Power]

I'd be pissed too....

Too many screw-ups to be attributed to bad luck.... In my humble opinion, DT should have tried harder to get it right - both the first time as well as after the fact.

Some here have had problems with a shop in the SE as well - one that I recommended. In one case, the shop sent a roll-back across two states to retreive a problem truck, so they could correct the problem in their own shop - then the repaired truck was driven back to the owner. Point being, both good and bad service can happen at the same shop.

Jim

[surfbeetle]

Well, I am glad to get all sides of this prior to also driving 100 miles there. I have mine at the dealer right now for a few things including a bad dampener and a crossover leak. As I mentioned in another thread, they think the IP is bad. I don't think so yet on that one. I can do alot of my own work, but was stumped on the dampener so I brought it in. As for the IP, I really think that it's the vacuum operated boost control servo. Since it's cheap, I will do that after the dealer replaces the dampener.

[ronniejoe]

The dealer may be taking advantage of you here. If it is the pulley, as I discussed in your other thread, that comes off easily...remove the belt, remove four bolts and it's in your hand. The actual damper needs a puller. I had a damper come apart completely. It didn't make any growling noise. There was a vibration and you could hear the inertia ring slowing to a stop after shutting off the engine, but no growling noise. The failed pulley that I showed in the other thread made a terrible growling noise at idle that quit with brake apply or power steering use or increase in engine speed (read increased accessory load).

[surfbeetle]

The dealer may be taking advantage of you here. If it is the pulley, as I discussed in your other thread, that comes off easily...remove the belt, remove four bolts and it's in your hand. The actual damper needs a puller. I had a damper come apart completely. It didn't make any growling noise. There was a vibration and you could hear the inertia ring slowing to a stop after shutting off the engine, but no growling noise. The failed pulley that I showed in the other thread made a terrible growling noise at idle that quit with brake apply or power steering use or increase in engine speed (read increased accessory load).

ronniejoe,
I haven't had a chance to speak with the dealer since they left a message on the 3rd. I will have to get with them on Monday to sort it all out. I am worried about pulling the damper, I don't think I have a puller that will do that and since it's my wife's car, I was going to just have them do that and the coolant leak. I figured I would buy the boost controller and take care of that and see what happens.

I appreciate everyone's willingness to help. Sometimes I feel in the dark with the 6.5. It's nice to have this forum as a resource.