My usual mechanic retired and the new guy wrecked my truck's timing

I took my old F150 into Mike's shop on Lomas last Tuesday for a simple tune up. He passed the business to his nephew back in March, and the kid tried to save me money by reusing an old timing chain tensioner. It snapped three days later on I-25, bent two valves, and cost me $1,400 to fix. Has anybody else had a shop go downhill fast after the original owner left?

2 comments

2 Comments

alexc937h ago

Yeah I used to be one of those people who said "just give the new guy a chance, it's still the same shop" but after reading this I'm rethinking that completely. I always figured family businesses just passed down the same work ethic and knowledge, you know? But it sounds like the nephew didn't learn half of what Mike knew, especially cutting corners on a timing chain of all things. That's the kind of mistake that tells you everything you need to know about someone's priorities. Sorry you had to pay $1,400 to find out what I'm only now realizing from your story.

kelly_west7412h ago

My cousin's old shop over on Montgomery went the exact same way. Gary ran it for like 30 years, never had a problem, but when his son took over in 2021 everything got sloppy. I used to tell people to just trust whoever the new guy is because "it's still the same family business". Then my brother's transmission started slipping two weeks after the son did a fluid change. Turns out he put the wrong fluid in, cheap stuff from O'Reilly's. Cost me $800 to flush it all out and do it right. I learned my lesson the hard way too, just like you did. It's rough because you want to support a local shop but the new owner just doesn't have the same pride or standards.