Car mechanic replaces y8 head with non-vtec head
 

So i have a 98 civic ex with a d16y8 engine. I dont know a ton about cars but probably more than your average joe. Anyway i blew a spark plug out of the socket and stripped the threads off beyond repair acording to the honda dealership and they quoted me something in the 1000's to replace the head.

so instead, I took it to an independant mechanic and he also told me id need the head replaced and quoted me about 700$ for the whole job. Just went to pick it up tonight and stupidly diddnt even bother looking under the hood as i was in a hurry. After driving smoothly for about 10 minutes the car started lurching pretty violently and the check engine light came on. Pulled into a gas station, popped the hood, and couldnt believe what i saw.

The vtec solenoid wasnt attached to anything, just tossed aside, still hooked up to all the wiring. The head diddnt even have a place for it to bolt on like the other one. So i immediately called him back and asked why the solenoid wasnt attached to anything and was just sitting there and why there was no place on the head for it to hook up to. His response, and i kid you not: "Oh you noticed that, yeah". I had no idea what to even say.

He kept insisting that the lurching was unrelated to the new head and to bring it back. He just couldnt understand why i would even need vtec or how i even noticed it wasnt working. He even straight up told me he diddnt really know what vtec was. And this isnt some guy in his garage fixing cars either, its a pretty decent sized shop thats been around for years.

Im guessing what he did was replace the y8 head with a y7 which is not what i paid for. I paid for a replacement, not a substitute, and it clearly says that on the invoice.

Im so pissed for even taking it to him in the first place, they came highly recommend for their lower prices compared to the dealership by quite a few friends. But anyway, this is a big deal to me and im willing to take it all the way to court if it comes to it. But i just want to make sure im not crazy. Im going to go in tomorrow and tell them they need to replace it with the right parts at no extra cost. This isnt unreasonable is it? I mean the head is obviously not a y8 head and the solenoid is just tossed aside!

If anyone has any advice on how to proceed or what the mechanic might have been thinking i would really appreciate it.

thanks :)

Re: Car mechanic replaces y8 head with non-vtec head
 

You often get exactly what you pay for.


But.
Wow. Just....WOW.
They either owe you a CORRECT repair, or a complete 100% refund of every dime you paid to them.

(Um, that's JMHO as a professional technician. I'm not a lawyer or anything.)


Get your original cylinder head back too. Before they ship it off to Timbuk2 Cylinder Head Exchange.

And the blown spark plug hole may have been repairable if you had taken it to "someone else". Could still be, get it back and take it to a machine shop.


You REALLY don't want me to go there.