American Automobile Association [AAA]

On 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the steering, had coupons for the ac, fluid, and free alignment check, on 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the alignment and gave the several coupons from link below.ac, fluid, and free alignment check, and a few other too. Http://midatlantic. aaa.com/~/media/files/automotivepdfs/coupons_ccit_2015_01_09. Ashx while the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $259.71 labor, including $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charge included "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold, why they took that off is mystery to me. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why $260.00 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have vacuumed in a lot of rain water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have vacuumed in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00 * (How to define all repair services, per bill 20 percent would $116.00) plus the coupons.ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 the free alignment check was never done. Sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the steering, hey had coupon for that too. Let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free. On 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the steering, had coupons for the ac, fluid, and steering check, and a few other too. While the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charged me $259.71 to "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold... Makes no sense to me at all. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why 300 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. When I told the car set for 4 days, until I repaired brakes... He was kind of shocked that I did that work myself. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have vacuumed in a lot of water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have vacuumed in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00? Ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the steering, hey had coupon for that too. Let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free. On 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the steering, had coupons for the ac, fluid, and steering check, and a few other too. While the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charged me $259.71 to "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold... Makes no sense to me at all. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why 300 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. When I told the car set for 4 days, until I repaired brakes... He was kind of shocked that I did that work myself. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have vacuumed in a lot of water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have pulled in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00? Ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the steering, hey had coupon for that too. Let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free. On 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the steering, had coupons for the ac, fluid, and steering check, and a few other too. While the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charged me $259.71 to "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold... Makes no sense to me at all. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why 300 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. When I told the car set for 4 days, until I repaired brakes... He was kind of shocked that I did that work myself. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have pulled in a lot of water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have pulled in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00? Ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the steering, hey had coupon for that too. Let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free. On 11/6/2015, I took my 2004 cadillac deville, with the north star engine, to aaa, annapolis, maryland, as it had a bad miss at idle, and at idle fumes in the cabin I told then service manager, chris, that autozone, on the way over, performed a free diagnostics for me and gave me printouts and explanations on each, found 22 codes, mostly environmental control system related. Aaa would have to do it's own. $99.89 for diagnostics, same result. Aaa then found 1/2 inch vacuum hose, had hole in it, little chunk out dime size. This was generating almost all the codes. Also, had aaa flush my cooling system, charge my ac, asked them to check the steering, had coupons for the ac, fluid, and steering check, and a few other too. While the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charged me $259.71 to "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold... Makes no sense to me at all. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why 300 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. When I told the car set for 4 days, until I repaired brakes... He was kind of shocked that I did that work myself. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have pulled in a lot of water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have pulled in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00? Ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the steering, hey had coupon for that too. Let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free. While the 1/2 inch 3 inch pvc tube is under the engine cover and partly under the plenum, another cover, under the first one, did not see any reason to go any further with the vacuum leak repair... That was the fix. I was charged labor, $99.89 [guess aaa thinks that number is better than $100.00] to r and r plenum, the hose is partly under it. The hose was about 3 inches long with 90 degree bend, vibration damper, between metal line and an the manifold intake pipe. I have since seen several examples of this and the repair work on youtube... $14.60 for pvc three inch by 1/2 tube. Then aaa charged me $259.71 to "r&i" [remove and inspect] the intake manifold... Makes no sense to me at all. Then $35.58 for new manifold gasket. I fail to understand why this was ever removed once the hole was found prior to that. On you tube, shows a rubber collar, between intake and manifold, about 4 inches thick and accordion like... That often gets a tear in it... Think they should have inspected and replaced that, at the time... The intake manifold does not have to be removed for that collar replacement either. Once the hose was replaced, they should have checked out the running of the engine... Before removing the manifold... What were they thinking, or not. On november 11, 2015, when I picked car up, seemed to run fine, no miss. When took it in was missing really bad at idle, but not when on the highway. I drove it home, about 15 miles, parked it, on my driveway, in front of my garage. Until, nice sunny day, 11/16/2015, as previously, on the way up from florida, to aaa, the right front caliper had froze up and metal to metal on passenger front inside pad. I replaced caliper, pad, and rotor on monday.. As soon as I started the car for a test drive, the engine was missing again. Moreover, at idle, again fumes were coming into the cabin... Also, took car up to one of sia's son's phet, he is ase and has his own every expensive test equipment, yesterday. He said he could hear a vacuum leak still, around cylinder 1, and his test showed repeated missing on that cylinder too, and few misses on number eight. He also pointed out aaa had left the big shroud off the top of the radiator, and a cap off the ac schrader valve too. Moreover, aaa does this whole car inspection, when you bring it in too... Phet found, on the lift, the oil filter was leaking on to the exhaust and cleaned it all up with some type of spray and tightened up the filter too. He also found small, not enough to worry about power steering leak on the uv joint on passenger side to the drive wheel... Besides aaa not catching that stuff... I had requested they check out the front end steering, as had a coupon for that too... It failed to do that job too... Have bit of play in the steering now... Not to bad but not tight. Phet also found the plastic caps, 6, for the shroud, in the hinge area of the hood too. I drove back to aaa, they still had the shroud and put it on. I told the service manager very disappointed... This time... Really have gone to downhill, so many things not right. I also found out chris, my service manager for this job, was not longer at this location now. Also the manger, a jim s, not at that location anymore either, he was good guy too. The service manager last night just tried to make excuses, had no answer on why 300 to remove and inspect the manifold, after finding the hole in the hose on top. When I told the car set for 4 days, until I repaired brakes... He was kind of shocked that I did that work myself. Today, I called the manager, a t parker. He just made excuses too. Got no where, want me to bring it back... I said, frankly, can't trust you now... I feel like you took advantage of me this time, for all I know you never removed the manifold and charged me. Why didn't you use new bolts then too, anytime you take bolts from the heads, they should be replaced, due to stretching... If use again could break... He said if they come out ok we use them again. He also said he did me favor by letting me drive the car home, with the safety issue on the brakes... They were going to have it towed... I said that is new to me. Do me a favor! The intake collar on per you tube videos, is systemic problem on the northstar... No doubt if they did have manifold off it should have been replaced. I didn't think to have phet check, the intake manifold, for broken bolts, or if they really had removed it... To remove manifold, one also has to take, per youtube, have to take all the injector piping off too, and recommends greasing them when putting them back in and cleaning out the holes first too. On the way up to phet, in catonsville, got 3/4 tank of gas at costco, and miss was not as bad after fill up. We drove in the rain, heavy, from richmond to here, that hole could have pulled in a lot of water too... The ecs re-burns fumes and sends stuff back to the tank too... So I got some stp gas treatment, that cleans injectors and gets water out too... And plan to drive it empty couple of times... See if that helps. On you tube, they showed examples of miss on cylinder one, then sprayed starter fluid around intake collar and it cleared up for a while... Indicates a tear in the collar. Also, another guy just put a screw driver down there and pushed it together and the miss cleared up too... I took car to him to look at aaa's work. But failed to have him check if they really removed and replaced the intake manifold... Hard to see where it is for me. Wonder if they snapped off some of the bolts... And it was fine leaving but then... With heating and cooling... Got leak. I also had fume in the cabin... Aaa is supposed to a inspection of every car, check up... Phet found one of the ac, caps was missing on the valve, he gave me a new one, also, put on lift, the jiffy lube filter was loose and leaking oil and that was burning off the exhaust and apparently causing the fumes in the cabin, at idle only. He cleaned with some spray stuff and tightened it up. Also, he pointed out a wee bit of power steering fluid was leaking from right side joint or connection... But not enough to worry about. Also, he has high tech, monitor and found cylinder one, was missing a lot, and 8 sometimes. I had stopped for gas on the way up, at costco, had 3/8 tank... After fill up was not missing as much... From richmond to here, is was raining hard and had that home in hose, vacuum, and car kept running more poorly as we went... I think may have pulled in a lot of water... And some of that got into the gas tank too. I added a can of stp to the tank yesterday... Has dry gas and cleaner agents in it for the injectors... Aaa should have cleaned the tb instead of removing and manifold. I went back for the shroud, they still had it. I gave the service manager an ear job. Sloppy and very disappointing this time... Didn't catch oil leak, failed to replace, one ac cap, failed to replace the huge shroud over the radiator and all, but said it serves to keep the heat out of the engine compartment. That I saw no reason to remove and inspect the intake manifold... For $259.00 and gasket. He said you had a bunch of codes. I replied, none of them said anything about he intake manifold. They almost all, were focused on sensors and such, as due to the vacuum line hole, they were not getting readings, the whole environmental control system was messed up. Moreover, it has been my understanding, that when ever you take bolts from the head, you need to replace with new ones, as the old ones get stretched and weak, from the high temps, and tend to shear off if used again. He said that depends on the car... I said perhaps the miss now is from some missing or broken bolts in the manifold. He wanted me to leave the car again. I said, want to have another ase mechanic check the head out first, see if it was really removed and if it is in tact. I also had paid about $100 to have radiator flush and $89.09 for ac evacuate and re-charge...11 years old and first ac problem... They said could not find leak and put dye in... For next time. R134 refrigerant $13.84 cooling system flush, refill and test, $73.85, two part cooling system kit $19.95, anti freeze $33.00 they did have veterans 20 percent discount "for all automotive repair services." - $75.00? Ac coupon - $25.00, fluid coupon - $10.00 sub totals, bit of mystery to me: labor $580.61 discount $58.01 [10 percent] = $522.54 parts 128.93 discount 11.96 [less then 10] = 116.97 shop fee 25.00 25.00 coupons - 110.00 sales tax 8.52 total $563.03 I advised the t. Parker, facility manager, of my complaints on 11/18, by phone, telling him on the other cars, over the last few year, aaa did a good job, but this time really disappointed me... Very sloppy and questionable work. Missed two oil leaks, shroud, which is huge, ac cap, failed to check the alignment, coupon for that too. Mr. T. Parker, only made excuses for the work and asked me to bring car back for recheck... I told him aaa let me down and can't trust them anymore... Will have someone else check it out and may end up stopping payment on the master card in the meantime and what goes around comes around and I hung up. Then keep thinking, he did me a favor to let me drive a car out, they thought was not safe, "as a favor to me." aaa towing would have done for first 6 miles free, about $1.00 a mile for the next 9 to my home. Plus the $4.00 for the toll. Which I had to pay when I back to get the shroud, rt 30 miles.