Adams Garage — Local services in Terre Haute

I took my car in for engine coolant disappearing from the reservoir and a rough idle. It never showed that It was overheating on the dash, but you could smell it when you turned on the car. They put it on diagnostics, and it came back the water pump, the timing belt and spark plugs and boots, which was $2300.00. By me getting all that fixed? I was still stuck with the car. That was doing the very same thing as before I took it in. So even though the leaky water pump was an issue, it didn't affect the way the car was driving at all. Whether it was fixed or not. A few days later, it was still doing the same thing. Rough idol,coolant disappearing, sweet smell from engine. I had to wait a week and a half to take it back due to my work schedule. They diagnosed it with block or head gasket issues. I have recently learned , after the fact that the engine did have a recall on it from FORD for that very problem. So the first time it was on diagnostics, that's what they should have told me instead of having me pay all of that money for the other things that I got fixed. So when I took it back there was going to be another charge of like $4000 or something to get me back on the road with a one year warranty. Or I could do $9 000 for a new engine and have a three year warranty. What I was upset about was that the symptoms never changed from when I first got, the car looked at until now. Even with the work that was done on it. So the recall's been on the engine for a long time. Even though I didn't know anything about it. So the engine recall issues were always there, so I don't see how it didn't show up in diagnostics the first time. When it was pressure tested supposedly, but the symptoms never changed. They were one hundred percent the same. So now, Im not only out the money , I no longer have a vehicle. Very nice people at the desk, but really nothing was explained when I asked several questions on how it didn't show up on the diagnostics in the first place. They just kept saying that when they pressure tested it, they didn't see an issue, Which is strange, because it has had a head gasket problem for quite a while. And that information came from FORD. The car runs worse than ever. It shakes it putters. The engine light is on. I got some kind of message talking about the 4 wheel drive. And this all happened in a matter of three weeks. I've had the car since 2021 And scheduled all routine maintenance. So I guess to sum it up...The car was put on diagnostics and nothing about the engine block showed up, but when I took it home, (every) symptom was still there, including the sweet smell coming from the engine. Just by the way, it smelled, it seemed like there was a coolant problem when I took it in, so I can't believe that that was overlooked or it didn't show up. I was referred there...

Edit after Andy'(owner)s reply below: What the owner says does not change the fact that they missed the diagnosis in the first place and only confirms it that they overlooked the root cause.

Andy, the only thing i asked was an apology from your rude manager when i spoke with you in the meeting which you had agreed. When i came back to pick up the car, he completely ignored me and avoided eye contacts. Andy, you didnt hold up to your word, primary reason I decided to leave these comments. People, just know that you have better options than Adam's and absolutely no reason to take chances. I will give my money else where for the way i was trested.

Origianl comments: Do NOT take your car to Adam's. I have a 5 year old car with 77,000 miles had heating not working properly. Heating worked well while running but cooled down when at stop.

Initial diagnose called for replacing water pump cost $420. Picked up the car and as I was pulling in to my garage on the same day it got fixed, one of the hoses came off and got a puddles of coolant all over. They towed the car back and told me further diagnose shows head gasket needed replaced which would cost $1600.

Biggest mistake to let them work on it. They destoyed threads on one of bolts as they were taking the head off and told me to pay $800 and blamed the design of the engine. I couldnt do anything about it other than taking Andy(owner) to court. When I called around no one would take a car with head off to finish the job. Ended up costing me $2800 to fix the issue. Completely wrong diagnosis and mess up on tool handling and make the customer pay for all.

Their time lines mean nothing. Promised to be done and no call. When follwed up at 3pm to pick up the car, parts not showed up and no heads up and multiple day delay. Planned to use the car over the holiday and ruined the plan. And no apologies.

I have all conversation recorded. If Andy says anything else id be happy to post it on youtube.

Do not have these guys fix your car.

By the way, i am a medical device engineer with a master's in business admin(MBA). I cant believe how these con men stay...

I can't afford 35 dollars every 15 minutes for labor, alone. Last visit was a whole lot of uninformed consent. The way they bill you now it's 281 dollars the 1st hour. 140 an hour and 141 for the comprehensive inspection. Auto zone does it for free, they will plug in and give you a free readout for any codes. I didn't even get the 50 off they mentioned. The guard plate was the problem. Still isn't fastened down. Said they fastened it. It's not fastened. Rides the same, same problem, it was not the ball joint at all, don't know why they would do this to me, but it is what it is. 500 bucks for nothing... and still sounds awful. I literally asked if they are sure they did the right car. Nothing has been done. It's not even fastened down like they claimed. Can't trust anyone anymore and I walked into a financial ambush. 35 dollars every 15 minutes. Real life highway robbery. B/S~!

Update: New shop quoted well under 300 dollars, like Kia once charged, last year or 1 1/2 ago. (In other words, should not have needed replaced, but Adam's did not know that) I have the receipt. The new shop quoted round 240-280 for ball joint replacement. NOT HALF A GRAND~! They were gonna even keep the car over 141 dollars for checking for a code, that elsewhere does for free, that was not requested, mind you. Then the tariffs, the mentioning thereof... not everyone is stupid. We've been paying those for a long time, my friend. We are now placing tariffs on them for a change. Using tariffs as a gaslighting talking point. I don't know why tariffs have not been fully explained to the people but, whatever... look dude, I was thinking about you today, then someone clicks on this, now I'm editing it, again. Do you understand? Both eyes, direct, there is no whatever... that, and your tone, my dear friend, bless your...