long post sorry in advance I need some help, on February 4th I was heading from Indiana to Florida for work when I stopped to get fuel in bessemmer, al in my 2002 f350 7.3 auto with 300k on the odometer. Its been a great truck owned it for 17 yeard and ive did 90% of maintenance on the truck. When I pulled back onto the interstate the truck wouldn't go into 3rd or even try. I stopped at the next exit and started trouble shooting and found the range sensor on the side of transmission had some bare wires. So I found a new pigtail and I rewired the transmission harness the next morning and tried the truck and still same problem it won't take 3rd gear. So I called a few local shops and found one that could get me right in so I limped the truck there. We had someone bring our other truck down from Indiana and we continued on to Florida and was planning on coming back after the truck as soon as repaired. Fast forward a month and 9 days and my truck is still stuck in bessemmer, al and still not fixed. First the transmission shop told me it was solenoid pack so we replaced them with no fix, then said OD wires had rubbed in half and we replaced steering colum and fixed wires, then they said it was a wiring issue so they spent a week tracing wires no luck, then they rewired the harness that i had just wired and messed it all up because the pigtail i bought didnt have the same color wires so i had to make a diagram and wire them by position of the pins not by color of the wire, so i had to rewire it back the right way, then they dropped the transmission and said it needed rebuild so they did that and then it would shift but extremely hard and wasn't right, then they said PCM was bad so I ordered a used $600 PCM off ebay with no fix. They have been all over the truck and messed with everything and no luck. Next they tell me the 2nd PCM is messed up and want me to order a brand new one from a company they trust so I shell out another $1000 and we order that PCM and somehow between swapping 3 PCMs the truck won't even start now it just cranks no matter what PCM they put in it. I need the truck so I tell them to tell me what I owe them and he says $3500 and it won't run or move now. I've got over $2000 in PCMs and sensors, another $1000 in hotels and 2 12 hour round trips from florida up to Alabama. I am afraid its going to end in a lawsuit if they would fix the truck I'd gladly give him what he wants but I am not giving $3500 for a truck that's in a lot worse shape then when I dropped it off it won't even run currently. Anyone ever ran into a situation like this or have any idea why switching PCMs would give the truck no start? I have had 2 7.3 trucks and know a decent amount about them but I am 500 miles from the truck and just want the dang thing fixed.

Thanks

 

The no-start could be a bad/incorrect PCM, or they screwed something else up in the process. Unless they said they didn't know what it would take to fix it and you authorized them to take guesses at your expense, it sounds like an open & shut case of them screwing up and trying to make you pay for it.

They currently have your truck hostage so the first step is getting it outa there. If they don't secure it at night you could go with a trailer and just take it. Or pay the bill with a CC and immediately contest the charge. Amex is great with helping its customers, but the others are usually pretty good too. If you pay make sure they give you all the parts that have been removed. Record the interaction if you go pay to get it, might come in handy later. Alabama is a single consent state meaning you can legally record without telling them and it can be used in court.

 

WOW! that sucks.
Are they a reputable company? Have you googled their name to see if others have had problems? What kind of things do they say when its going from bad to worse?

 

So after they rebuilt the tranny would it shift into third? If so I think any decision to hunt down other sources for the problem to be extremely reckless. Maybe it was your tranny and they possibly made an error in the overhaul.

 

Sorry to hear about your nightmare.
I own a auto repair shop and we work very hard to avoid situations like that... including knowing when to throw in the towel.

Sorry to say it sounds like someone has been loading the parts shotgun with your credit card.

I'd have a hard time asking for $3500 for a 'repair' that resulted in the truck not running. At this point I think a consultation with a good lawyer is in order. Sometimes rattling cages a little is enough to adjust attitudes.

Normally I'd say a shop should get paid for work done, but it sounds like they were not verifying diagnostics and simply guessing. Of course I only have half the story, but it's a scary one....