I'm going to keep the shop names anonymous for now since I'm not looking to call anyone out, but need some advice on how I should address an ongoing issue.

Earlier this year I had Shop A rebuild my transmission and transfer case and swap the stock front diff for a Wavetrac.

Fast forward a couple months and 1-2k miles I started getting a strange sound and feeling in the steering and pedals when turning. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was, so I took it to my more local Shop B.

Immediately once the car was up on the lift the problem was clear. All of the bolts around the transfer case had started to loosen and back out. Shop B torqued everything back down and had me drive around a little to check to see if the problem went away.

The shake and strange feelings stopped, however when putting the car back on the lift a small continuous leak was happening around the transfer case. Shop B thinks that at least one of the seals is out of place or ruined and is worried the one on the transmission side could be out of place or ruined too. They advised to stop driving it immediately just in case any transmission fluid had gotten into the transfer case.

Now when I contacted Shop A about all of this I had asked either to have them get the car towed from Shop B or just cover the cost of labor and parts for Shop B to check and replace any seals if needed. Rather than that, they just told me to check the fluid level and to drive it out to them and said it's highly unlikely that the transmission fluid would have leaked into the transfer case.

Personally I think Shop A really should take one of the options I asked them to do, since I worry about any additional driving I'd put on the car in its current state. Not only that, but due to scheduling conflicts I can't even get it out to them until late next week at the earliest, so I'm racking up storage fees at Shop B.

What do you guys think should be done?

 

You should have taken it back to Shop A and not Shop B in the first place. How does Shop A know what Shop B actually did?

They can't warranty their work if someone else has worked on it as well. Yes, they may have only tightened up the bolts but how do we know aside from what you say? For all Shop A knows, Shop B may have pulled the T-Case and reinstalled it incorrectly and now Shop A feels like you're putting them on the hook for fixing something that they didn't do.

I'd be annoyed if I were Shop A and you didn't contact me in the first place when you were having issues and instead took it somewhere else. Paying to have your car towed to them is on your dime, not theirs. Paying to have Shop B store your car is on your dime, not anyone else's. Since you're already at Shop B, just have them do the work that you need done; you might be able to negotiate waiving the storage fee as well if they do the work on the car to get it fixed.

 

Should have went to shop A in the first place.


Its either missing the little oring that seals the fluid passage for the front diff, or the big oring that seals the tcase to the trans output got messed up and is leaking.

 

When the noise and feeling started happening I had no idea what it was. I took it to Shop B since they're my local shop and are about 3 times closer, 25min drive vs an hour and half to Shop A. The car had only gone to Shop A for the transfer case and transmission since they have someone in house doing rebuilds.

Immediately upon diagnosis by Shop B I did contact Shop A to let them know exactly what was found. Understandably they wanted to check for themselves, the owner of Shop A just told me to check the fill level and drive it out. Shop B is also a long term reputable shop, so I'm sure the owner would be willing to confirm exactly what has or hasn't been done to my car since I got it back from Shop A. I guess where my biggest hang up is that I'm concerned about driving it that additional distance now since it's unknown what if any damage has happened while I was driving it loose.

Maybe I should come back to Shop A and say if I have it towed on my dime and that it's found to be their fault they cover the tow. Though, I still think they should have just offered to tow it from the outset as a matter of good customer service. I've never had an issue with that when dealing with VW/Audi/BMW, hmm I guess German shops..

 

Damn this suck dude.... hopefully it works out.

And as what to do at this point, I would just let shop B take care of it because of already mentioned reasons.

 

If the bolts attaching the transfer case were loose it is going to leak. There's a little o-ring towards the top of the transfer case that is pinched between the transfer case and the transmission when the six bolts are tightened. If still leaking the o-ring fell out. Otherwise, still there.

 

It's still leaking even though everything was tightened down.

 

^^^


this, you are lucky seems the TC was coming lose and could have destroyed itself, its going to have to come off again and o rings checked, stop posting on here and get the thing to the shop and report back on what they say

 

Definitely going to, main question is do I press them on having it towed out or just make sure the fluid levels are full and drive it like they said?

 

Might be worth just paying a tow truck to take it. Usually shops have somebody they work with that gives better deals than a standard tow truck cost.

 

If it was me and there was no noise coming from the TC or Gearbox now, I would put it up on the ramps and check the oil levels in the gear box and TC and do any top ups required then I would drive it out very carefully, no boost. Its probably already shared oil if the o rings have been damaged, I would also tell them I am driving it out too, but you see I have pulled a TC down before being the fool I am and know how they go together, but for you if you are not confident on the condition of the TC then flat bed it over but like above said, see if the shop can get you a discount, don't toe it, it must be flat bedded. Maybe get the other shop to write you a note or email saying that they only torqued up the bolts so you can show them.

 

The bigger issue is still that you had Shop B work on the car. It doesn't matter how much or how little they did; when they diagnosed and told you "hey, all these bolts on the T-Case are loose" you should have contacted Shop A immediately. Shop B never should have touched the car, aside from putting it on the lift and helping you look through it, and you should have put it on a trailer and got it over to Shop A to fix any issues.

I would still recommend talking to Shop B since the car is already there. You're going to be paying them for a storage fee anyways, why not try and negate that payment in lieu of labor?

 

Shop B didn't do any work to the car other than the diagnosis once the issue came up. I immediately stopped driving the car and contacted Shop A that same day.

Yep, that's what I'm negotiating now with Shop B. Doesn't make sense to pay to tow it on my dime especially after paying to have it sitting around.

 

Shop B did work. They didn't rip anything apart, but they worked on the car. Unless they did only a visual inspection, they worked on it

 

Ah ok, then yes they did since they re-torqued the bolts after the visual inspection.