Well... I have learned a lesson. Not even a GM dealership can be trusted to properly change the oil in a Fiero.

My 87 GT needed an oil change and with family over I wanted to make it quick and easy. So I took it my local GM dealership. I had a bad feeling when the initial conersation with one of the clerks went like:

Me: "How much for an oil change?"
Lady: "What type of car?"
Me: "87 Fiero GT"
Lady: (Has a look on her face similar to a confused puppy)
Me: "... It's a Pontiac"

Well, I figured that she was just a counter person. No big deal, there would be at least a few techs who have seen them. But it keeps getting better...

Service writer: "Hi, what can we do for you?"
Me: "I just need an oil change for my car."
SW: "What type?"
Me: "The 87 Fiero GT over there."
SW: "Wow, never seen one of those in here."
Me: "Uh oh..."

We go to get the info of my car, which has now been sandwhiched between two massive SUVs. He starts to write all the info down and comments on my nice paint. We head back to the service write up area and I warn him to start the car in gear as the Clutch Master Cyl isn't working quite right. He starts to write that in the report and I quickly stop him. The car is still being restored and all I want is an oil change. NOTHING more. He understands.

So I go and check out a few Vettes. The interior feels a lot like a Fiero. Very nice. If only I had the money. After about 30 minutes of purusing the show room I head back out intime to see one of the techs drive my car, parking break still on and squeeling all the way, into the shop. My anger meeter rises to a 3 out of 10 at this point.

He brings the car over to the lift and pops the hood. I grone (4 out of 10 now) as his dumbfounded face tells me he didn't know it was mid-engine. Ok...it's a fairly uncommon car. I let it slide.

I walk around for a bit and chill out. I return to see my car being lifted...and starting to droop on the backside. It droops more. It starts to rock. Thankfully he had enough sense at this poin to put it back down.

I then, in utter disbelief, watch 5 more attempts to get my car up on the lift. When the car made a sudden "BANG" I knew it was past time to get it out of there. I get intercepted by another tech who tells me he will check it out and not to worry. Ok... If something just broke, they can fix it...more exactly, they can pay for someone who knows Fieros to fix it. Lucky for him another tech came over and fixed the lift.

Well, the oil gets changed out, now with me eyeing the techs every move (AND THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!). The car goes down, and he drives out front and parks it in a handicap place...but not before trying to get my Service Advisor to tell me my car needed upwards of $1500 worth of work. In reality, it needs maybe $300 in parts. Nothing more. The service advisor seeing my general mood (about an 8 out of 10 on the anger scale now), decides not to bother talking to me about that.

Moral of this long story... Just because it's a GM dealership, doesn't mean they will know what a Fiero is, or how to service it. Buy a book and do it yourself.

[This message has been edited by JEDI (edited 06-16-2003).]

The Chev/Olds dealership(Dean Myers in Toronto) my car has gone to loves my car. They've done all the oil changes, changed my clutch(insurance claim, people that stole it didn't just burn it, they shattered it), tranny service(tranny oil change) and I've had nothing but compliments about it from the techs and service managers.

Even though they cost an arm and a leg(it's hard to do my own work living in an apartment building ), I've never had a problem with their work. Only part I don't like is the kids that they hire to bring them around front, I almost had one jump my car through the car in front of it because, "It's a wierd gearbox."

In my experience, it doesn't matter if it's a dealership or private repair shop. None of them seem to know anything about Fieros. In all fairness though, the car hasn't been made in 15 years. Combine that with the fact that it only had a 5 year run, so most techs probably see few or no Fieros.

But I don't think it's just a Fiero thing. I took my wife's Camry into a local shop a few weeks ago because I didn't have time to work on it, and she needed it fixed ASAP. Now, they've made millions of Camrys. It's one of the most common cars around. But the service guy was concerned because "it's one of those foriegn cars. Might cost you extra". Took it back home and made time to fix it myself. Most shops I've been to don't seem concerned with fixing your car, just that you pay the bill. I know that's unfair to all the honest shops out there, but there are a lot of crooked shops around.

The best investment I ever made was a good set of tools and a quality repair manual for whatever car I'm working on. Saves me lots of $$ and I know that the repair/maintenance is done right.

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Brad
86 GT 5 speed
Aren't all Fieros project cars?

Actually took mine to one of those hole-in-the-wall lube places, last weekend. (It needed an oil change, and I didn't have the time or the patience to mess with it.)
They were a little bit puzzled, but not completely clueless.
"Can you pop the decklid? I'm not sure we've got the right filter."
"It takes a 3980."
"Ok. cool. No problem."

When I pulled it onto the lift, (wheel lift, NOT a frame lift) several of the guys came over and were asking questions. One of the younger ones looked at the Fiero plenum and insisted that it couldn't be stock.
Only thing outwardly different from stock was the coated Sprint manifolds and crossover.
When he was filling it I told them "It'll probably take all 5 quarts."
So he put in four. Then added the additional quart in half-pint increments, checking the dipstick each time. (Although he was having a difficult time reading the stick, as this was only the third oil change, and the oil was very clean.)
When I finally told him it was really a 3.4 Camaro motor, he seemed satisfied that he was right about it not being stock. I could almost read his mind... "So THAT'S why it took all five quarts!"

They did forget to lube the front end, but no matter. It had been done within the past 1000 miles anyway. Better to not tempt fate.

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Raydar

88 3.4 coupe. 17s, cut springs 'n all.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 06-16-2003).]

Quickie Lube Places never seem to lube the front end on my vehicles. I have gotten into the habit of asking the service advisor to tell the tech to count the grease fittings. When I get a response back like "4", I know I have to break my lube gun out...

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--Dillon

"And this one time, on the Fiero Forum..."

heck your still doing better then me...i went to do one of my safety recalls a while back...they thought my car was a 6000!!!!! thats when i said to myself i rather burn then let them work on my car.....

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If you find my signature offensive, simply dont look at it or call 1-800-WAA-AAAH.
zr-2 hoodscoop, 6"wingstands, ARchie rocker scoops, CRX INtake..MORE

quote Originally posted by jubjub2m6: heck your still doing better then me...i went to do one of my safety recalls a while back...they thought my car was a 6000!!!!! thats when i said to myself i rather burn then let them work on my car.....

I feel the same way as you do man. I won't let GM do the recall on my car because theres a bunch of BS they told me about ME having to pay for their dumb@$$ mistake if they break any exhaust manifold studs. The service advisor even told me he once owned a Fiero, you would think he might try to help me. but alas he was as dumb as they come. I'd also rather NOT have a GM tech screw me and my car over by working on it.

Only me and my friends and one trusted mechanic will work on my car.

I take both cars to an oil change place that has a pit insted of the lift. That way I don't have to worry about my rocker panels getting crushed.

JEDI...

I surprised the kid got the front hood open !!

When I got my Fiero, I had to look through the owner's manual (the car was only 2.5 years old, so it was there) to find out how to open it, as well as the fuel filler door.

Twice, I've had a Tech (not GM) snap off the fuel filler door pull handle thinking that was the rear deck release!!

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1987 GT www.fierosound.com
2002/2003 World of Wheels Winner &
Multiple IASCA Stereo Award Winner

quote Originally posted by Raydar: They did forget to lube the front end, but no matter. It had been done within the past 1000 miles anyway. Better to not tempt fate.

Sorry if I sound like one of the dumb mechanics, but when you say lube the front end exactly what all do you have them lube. I'm not sure that's done to my GT when I take it to have an oil change.

Jan

quote Originally posted by FieroRunner: Sorry if I sound like one of the dumb mechanics, but when you say lube the front end exactly what all do you have them lube. I'm not sure that's done to my GT when I take it to have an oil change. Jan

tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints should all be greased. Some guys also have sway bar bushings with grease fittings too. Thats about all on cars with rack and pinion, if it is a car with a steering box then the inner tie rods and idler arm have grease fittings as well.

That's exactly why I do the minor (fun) stuff like oil changes myself. I had a similar experience at a quick lube in SC right before the Williamsburg show a few years ago. They had the front of my car under the pit and asked me how to open the hood. I politely asked for my keys to leave, and they got defensive. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I don't think this pertains to Fieros only either. Many years ago I took my old roommate's Miata to the Mazda dealership for a new battery. I was checking out the RX-7's when a Mazda certified mechanic tracked me down to ask me where the battery was. At that point I asked for a jump and I was outta there!

The closest my Fiero comes to dealership Pontiac Service is when I cruise by real slow and look for traded-in Fieros. Last time a few of the mechanics came out to check out my Fiero.

Wow, I cannot believe some of the stories... ok I can.

I had a Pontiac dealer take the car to try and diagnose a Vacumn leak for me as I was having little luck. They called back saying it needed new wires and a coil. I didn't have them do the work, as I had recently done a full tune up and replaced all of that. What they had done was poke a hole in the distributor to coil wire allowing it to arc at the coil, and make it appear bad. They also ground the boots of a couple wires down where they plug onto the spark plug to make them look like heat melted and cracked them. Needless to say I have never been back. They received some heat from the state over it, but the state did not make them replace the parts for me because "it is my word against theirs that the wires were good when it went in" even though I produced a month old receipt.

I do have a garage I trust locally. They have serviced my Fiero, my fathers, and two other peoples Fieros for years, so the guy who runs the place is fairly familiar with them. He also is very honest, and does good work.

I also use a quick lube place. I have been going to them for years too, and they know the car when I pull up. They even lube all of the suspension grease points! It took a while to find places I trust, and by the sounds of it I should consider myself lucky that I have!

Yeah, anytime you have a place you trust with your Fiero, give them your business and spread the word! Good Fiero service centers are rare.

Although I'll take my Olds Bravada & my wife's Corolla to the quick-lube places, I've never taken my Fiero to one... it's not worth the risk, and I use Amsoil products anyway.

As for more-major service, if I don't have the time or the skill to do something- there's only one place I'll take my car. For those in the Minnepolis/Metro area, look into "Integrity Auto" in Hopkins (off 169 & Excelsior). The shop is owned by PURPLE_REIGN (Shawn) here on the forum, and he does excellent work. There have been countless times when another shop has told me that something needs to be replaced, only to have Shawn point out that it's a different issue entirely!

And hey, you'll rarely ever see a shop with so many Fieros in & around it at any given time! https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000002/HTML/20030531-1-025370.html
(It's not uncommon to find myself at the shop at the same time as MOBILE, KEV, Standard, and somtimes more! ).

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Looking for Fiero posters?

I had a Pontiac dealer in Hazleton, PA tell me he had no one qualified to work on Fieros.

quote Originally posted by MinnGreenGT: Although I'll take my Olds Bravada & my wife's Corolla to the quick-lube places, I've never taken my Fiero to one... it's not worth the risk, and I use Amsoil products anyway. As for more-major service, if I don't have the time or the skill to do something- there's only one place I'll take my car. For those in the Minnepolis/Metro area, look into "Integrity Auto" in Hopkins (off 169 & Excelsior). The shop is owned by PURPLE_REIGN (Shawn) here on the forum, and he does excellent work. There have been countless times when another shop has told me that something needs to be replaced, only to have Shawn point out that it's a different issue entirely! And hey, you'll rarely ever see a shop with so many Fieros in & around it at any given time! https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000002/HTML/20030531-1-025370.html (It's not uncommon to find myself at the shop at the same time as MOBILE, KEV, Standard, and somtimes more! ).

I'LL second that.

Fiero has a couple odd bits but frankly there is NO excuse for the bullsh_t many shops try to foist on it.

The entire Fiero powertrain is exactly the same as the FWD cars it was taken from. If they can work on the FWD car then they should be able to handle Fiero. They use the fact it's a Fiero as an excuse to chicken sh_t cop outs. The shame is that these F'ing assholes screw it up for those of us that can do the work.

The simple fact is that many shops aren't worth a turd. This includes many shops that claim all staff are ASE certified. ASE is almost as big a joke as CompTIA (A+ and Net+) or CNE/MCSE are in the computer world. Alot of pinheads that can pass a test but still can't do any actual work without hosing it completely.

You should leave the shop the first second that crap like this starts. Don't even give them a second more time let alone a second chance.

I won't even let a tire place, like NTB, work on it unless I am there watching every second. If you don't watch they will crush the coolant pipes or worse.

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Screamin' Yellow Zonkers... If it's Screaming and Yellow, I aint eatin it.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 06-21-2003).]

I actually had a very good experience taking it to FireStone to get it aligned. took it there walked home (i live realy close to it) about half hour later get a call, expecting the usual "oh, it needs this replaced and this is worn..." but surprisingly he said its almost done if you want to come and pick it up now. Nothing was damaged and they did a great job on the alignment

When i saw this subject i thought it had to do with an engine swap the way you put GM (dis) service, thought you ment GM Distributerless Ignition System service

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--Adam--
1987 Blue GT 5-speed
IM AOL: FieroGT5speed