Back in the summer of '13 when my dad's 98 Olds Bravada needed a new engine, we had no choice other than to limp to this service station. It was a general consensus between us that Hi Tech Tune & Lube was a shady place to get a new engine installed. However, we were encumbered by the $200 towing charge that every wrecker was quoting us to take our truck to our goto guy (Tony from WAR Automotive on Rohlwing rd). It was subsequently decided which engine to get and from where. Unbeknownst to Rashid, the company I had selected to get the engine from had prior business dealings with me in VA (I own a performance tuning business). Rashid thought that car-part.com was something only he knew about.
Anyway, couple of hours later I was contacted by a timid-sounding Rashid asking me to get the replacement engine from another source and I declined the offer. This went on for two more days but I didnt relent. On the fourth day Rashid calls me to let me know that the engine I had select has been received at his shop. I immediately call the company on car-part.com to ask if they sold any engine in Addison IL in the last two days, to which they answered in the negative. Now equipped with the knowledge that we were being shafted, we traveled by foot for two miles to Rashid's shop to confront him. The engine had 127,000 mi on it compared to the 68,000mi one that we asked him to order. I snapped some pics of the engine and asked him politely to get me the engine I want. By this time Mr. Rashid was crapping bricks and basically asked me to get the engine myself. I told him I would and then I bugged my dad's truck with a small camera. Later that day, I reviewed the pics and used the inventory no. on the crappy engine to trace it back to the wrecking yard it came from.
Basically, Mr. greedy was attempting to make many many hundreds of dollars on the engine sale! Two days later, our engine arrived and we rushed to the shop on foot again to inspect it. Right off the bat we asked him to wait while we got the Fel-pro problem solver intake gasket kit and he agreed. So we travelled 5miles in the smoldering heat to the autopart store that carried the kit and presented it to Rashid. Next day we got a call from him telling us that everything had been taken care of and that we could pickup the truck. While we were walking to the shop, my dad asked me to shut up if I spotted anything suspicious because he had already been late to work about 7 days in a row and that getting the truck back was a higher priority. So it took me less than a minute to realize that they just trashed the $80 gasket kit that I wanted them to install, because the rtv bead that had been squished out from between the intake manifold and block was same color and dirty (some rtv is also used along with the gasket kit). So I turned on my voice recorder in my pocket and asked him if they had installed the gasket as I requested and he answered in the affirmative. Therefore, we picked up the truck and left.
A day or two later the quick disconnect lines from the tranny cooler came out and dumped every quart of transmission oil on the pavement. We were able to save the tranny by shutting off the engine and pulling off the road instantaneously. Turns out when they removed the tranny lines they didnt replace the fittings. Couple of months later in '14, my dad was on the highway when the intake gasket gave out and dumped a gallon of coolant in the crankcase. I visited him from VA a month later, took the car apart (this time dad bought his own house, so I could work on the truck myself) and found that the bearings had spun and the engine was developing about 0 psi of oil pressure! Guess which intake gasket came out of the manifold? The original one over 70,000 mi old then!! I reexamined the spycam video and it does reaffirm my findings. I now have the option to goto a court and get Rashid's a$$ locked up or just drive his customers away. I heard he has kids that depend on him and that he's diabetic, so I havent gotten around pursuing the matter legally yet. I'm putting this story on here so you can make an informed decision and reiterate the fact that the only mechanic you can trust is your family mechanic; one that has been helping your entire family out for years..
Khawar Rashid Reviews
Back in the summer of '13 when my dad's 98 Olds Bravada needed a new engine, we had no choice other than to limp to this service station. It was a general consensus between us that Hi Tech Tune & Lube was a shady place to get a new engine installed. However, we were encumbered by the $200 towing charge that every wrecker was quoting us to take our truck to our goto guy (Tony from WAR Automotive on Rohlwing rd). It was subsequently decided which engine to get and from where. Unbeknownst to Rashid, the company I had selected to get the engine from had prior business dealings with me in VA (I own a performance tuning business). Rashid thought that car-part.com was something only he knew about.
Anyway, couple of hours later I was contacted by a timid-sounding Rashid asking me to get the replacement engine from another source and I declined the offer. This went on for two more days but I didnt relent. On the fourth day Rashid calls me to let me know that the engine I had select has been received at his shop. I immediately call the company on car-part.com to ask if they sold any engine in Addison IL in the last two days, to which they answered in the negative. Now equipped with the knowledge that we were being shafted, we traveled by foot for two miles to Rashid's shop to confront him. The engine had 127,000 mi on it compared to the 68,000mi one that we asked him to order. I snapped some pics of the engine and asked him politely to get me the engine I want. By this time Mr. Rashid was crapping bricks and basically asked me to get the engine myself. I told him I would and then I bugged my dad's truck with a small camera. Later that day, I reviewed the pics and used the inventory no. on the crappy engine to trace it back to the wrecking yard it came from.
Basically, Mr. greedy was attempting to make many many hundreds of dollars on the engine sale! Two days later, our engine arrived and we rushed to the shop on foot again to inspect it. Right off the bat we asked him to wait while we got the Fel-pro problem solver intake gasket kit and he agreed. So we travelled 5miles in the smoldering heat to the autopart store that carried the kit and presented it to Rashid. Next day we got a call from him telling us that everything had been taken care of and that we could pickup the truck. While we were walking to the shop, my dad asked me to shut up if I spotted anything suspicious because he had already been late to work about 7 days in a row and that getting the truck back was a higher priority. So it took me less than a minute to realize that they just trashed the $80 gasket kit that I wanted them to install, because the rtv bead that had been squished out from between the intake manifold and block was same color and dirty (some rtv is also used along with the gasket kit). So I turned on my voice recorder in my pocket and asked him if they had installed the gasket as I requested and he answered in the affirmative. Therefore, we picked up the truck and left.
A day or two later the quick disconnect lines from the tranny cooler came out and dumped every quart of transmission oil on the pavement. We were able to save the tranny by shutting off the engine and pulling off the road instantaneously. Turns out when they removed the tranny lines they didnt replace the fittings. Couple of months later in '14, my dad was on the highway when the intake gasket gave out and dumped a gallon of coolant in the crankcase. I visited him from VA a month later, took the car apart (this time dad bought his own house, so I could work on the truck myself) and found that the bearings had spun and the engine was developing about 0 psi of oil pressure! Guess which intake gasket came out of the manifold? The original one over 70,000 mi old then!! I reexamined the spycam video and it does reaffirm my findings. I now have the option to goto a court and get Rashid's a$$ locked up or just drive his customers away. I heard he has kids that depend on him and that he's diabetic, so I havent gotten around pursuing the matter legally yet. I'm putting this story on here so you can make an informed decision and reiterate the fact that the only mechanic you can trust is your family mechanic; one that has been helping your entire family out for years..