A dealership story...

[Red]

I've dealt with Lou Fusz Toyota for over 15 years, dating back to before there was an internet and damn few dealers would mail order parts at a discount. They were among the first and whenever I had any question, they'd answer it even if that meant putting one of the service guys on the phone--free.

Your experience is totally unlike the respect and professionalism they've always shown me. The shipped a wrong part once, and when I pointed out it was more expensive than the one I had ordered, they said simply keep it, we'll credit you the difference too.

So, maybe things have changed.

But then again when you say "and that with the battery minus terminal disconnected and the car running on alternator it revs just about as fine as i want it to" that frankly scares me. There is never, ever, a reason to disconnect the master ground from the battery. NEVER.

And that also means you have free-floated the alternator, which can cause all sorts of odd effects including burning out the alternator--and god knows what else to the electrics. They are ALL designed in the fixed concept that the master ground is ALWAYS connected when the car is running.

So, pardon me but I have to look askance at your protest and wonder what the other guys would have said. Electrical work is the hardest diagnostic work--even in these primitive cars. And if I were running a shop and a customer told me "but it runs fine without the battery" I would HAVE TO run all my diagnostics from scratch, knowing the customer didn't really know the systems. Add to that a custom car (20V engine in a 16V model, with what, a custom harness or custom electrical works?) and I doubly can't just make assumptions that anything is stock.

$120 an hour is steep, sure. But that's shop rate in dealerships in many, if not most, major US cities. The only question is, whether they can do the job in reasonable time. And with electronics? Sad to say, I've met few dealers who really can.

Did you sign a shop order authorizing work when you dropped the car off? Well, I guess if they don't come after you for not paying them, you'll know there are still professionals working there.