After thousands and thousands of miles I finally broke the throttle plate in my 1974 2002tii fuel pump. Even though I worked on this car for many years my body was not up to the task, so I took the car to Granny’s Garage. I talked to the original owner and he told me about the many 2002’s he once owned, so I felt comfortable leaving my car with him. I told him what the problem was, gave him the part, how to fix it, and who rebuilds these pumps. Unfortunately, he was going into semi-retirement, and I did not realize so was my car.
My car sat in the shop for over a month. They ended up taking the pump off and sending it to Wes at Ingram Enterprises inc Fuel Injection Specialists. Then Wes called me and told me he fixed my pump with the he gave me. The shop called and I went to pick my car up. I know what the pump rebuilder charged them. So figured they would charge me for a few of hours to remove and install – so about $500 to $750 – it was $1,600. I was thinking all they needed to do was remove four bolts on the intake manifold to have easy access to the pump. So, I had sticker shock. The son explained that they removed and replaced my high-performance spark plugs because the engine was running rough.
I paid the son of the original owner. He went out to get my car. I realize this is an auto repair shop, but the car was filthy and the tires were noticeably low. He started the tii, it ran rough. He said the gas must have gone bad. He left the door open so I could go in a drive away. And there on the passenger front seat was the upper stabilization bar which they took off and did not replace. I asked and they did replace the stabilization bar. I immediately went to a gas station to clean the windows, put in gas, and put air in the tires.
As I drove down the freeway, I realized the throttle would not open up more than 3,000 rpms when the car can easily do 6,000 plus. Fortunately, I could limp the car home and I was feeling much better so I could diagnose the problems. They had incorrectly adjusted the linkage. And as the car had an erratic idle I set to adjusting the idle. In the process I felt this air on my arm; I looked over at the intake manifold. I could clearly see a huge gap in the intake gasket. They broke the intake gasket and didn’t replace with a new one. After purchasing a Victor Reinz complete gasket set $110.00. I reinstalled the gasket, and started the car. The car purred. The cap to my window washer reservoir was missing also. I noticed it because I had finally found a original new window washer reservoir.
I told the shop how to fix the pump with the provided part. They choose to send it to where I told them it was rebuilt, Ingram Enterprises. They did reinstall the pump correctly. But by not replacing the used intake gaskets they created the rough idle. I am not sure why they adjusted the linkage, incorrectly. I am not sure why they took the stabilization bar off. Or why they charged me for a warmup regulator. Which wasn’t replaced. I do know removing and replacing high-performance spark plugs for $20 stock spark plugs did not solve the problem they created by NOT installing new gaskets. I do know what the pump rebuilder charged them. I know it took me, an old man 2 hours to diagnose the new problems and fix them.
