My 2002 PT Cruiser’s dashboard lights, horn and fans (heating) only worked intermittently. I took it to Kirkpatrick’s to get it fixed, hoping they were all connected. The horn and lights were fixed, the problem being a loose ground. While doing the job the mechanic broke my Pee Wee Herman bobble head that was mounted to the dash. They took $30 off the bill (roughly 1/2 the retail cost after tax & shipping). Accidents happen, no big deal. I was told the problem with the fans was due to the heater coil needing to be replaced (a $1400+ job).
I made an appointment to have it replaced.
I was told it would be an all day job so I had a neighbour drive me from Hope to Chilliwack to have it done. After getting back to Hope I received a phone call informing me that they would not be able to proceed due to high hydrocarbons in the AC (a result of Red-Tek being used on the AC). I had the neighbour drive me back to pick up the cruiser.
(The neighbour crashed his car on the way back due to the snow storm, not that I blame Kirkpatrick’s directly for that.)
I found a mechanic that had the equipment to drain the AC and returned to Kirkpatrick’s 2 weeks later to finish the job. On the way there I began to overheat. Their diagnosis was a loose hose (best case scenario). This time I brought my dog and planned to spend the day in Chilliwack while they did the work (a 6 1/2 hr estimated job). I returned to the shop at 3 and at 3:30 was informed that they would still need a few more hours to finish the job. This was a Saturday so the job would not be finished till Monday. Although they knew I was killing time in town awaiting the vehicle, they didn’t inform me it wouldn’t be finished till a half hour before closing. To their credit, the service manager drove me back to Hope.
I returned on Monday to pick up the car. I was told it was good to go and would have heat and AC no problem. The transmission leak was fixed. Driving back I noticed the RPM light on the dash was out, but did not want to deal with returning to the shop and decided to let it go. Unfortunately, the heat was still only coming on intermittently. I called and made an appointment to have it checked.
In the meantime my car overheated. The loose hose was not the problem with the transmission apparently. I added coolant but could not make it from Hope to Chilliwack. I needed to be towed. Kirkpatrick’s called and paid for the tow truck.
I was told the problem was coolant in the engine and would need a new head gasket or engine. Approximately $2000. At that point I decided to cut my losses, having spend just over $2100 and 6 weeks at Kirkpatrick’s without a single problem being fixed.
I was told they would contact salvage yards and get me a few bucks for the vehicle. After 3 weeks there was no contact from them. I went in to see what’s happening and they gave the car to Pick-A-Part for the price of a tow.
They were all very friendly at Kirkpatrick’s but I feel the problems were misdiagnosed and I wasted a couple of thousand dollars because of it. I won’t be taking any vehicles there in the future, and will be bad mouthing them well into the future.