Mechanic broke PCV grommet/hose

I took my car ('92 Acura Integra GS 1.8 L. non-VTEC, 142k miles)in to
Firestone last week cuz I had a free oil change there, & I had them replace
the old PCV valve, cuz I couldn't get the durn thing out myself. They
finally get it out, in pieces, after an hour of f'n with it, & do the oil
change. The store associate (guy at the desk) says I need to go to the
dealership (I know---"stealership")& get a rubber grommet for the PCV valve
to hold it in place there on the crankcase. Ok, well, I get home & pop the
hood. I look at the new PCV valve to make sure they did in fact replace it,
& they did, but it was just barely hanging in the hole that the PCV valve
fits into, & on top of that some hoses were still hanging free (not attached
to their bracket), & my short ram intake was off the throttle body. So, I
reattach the loose hoses & intake to throttle body, & go to the dealer ship
to get the new grommet (after trying my luck at a few parts houses), & I see
the grommet is actually attached to a 4-5" hose, that the PCV valve fits
into while in the crankcase/engine, that's attached to another small tube &
another grommet, before going into the breather thing. So, question
is---should Firestone charge me for having to get the grommet they broke? I
went ahead & got the extra parts, including the hose/grommet piece, from the
dealer, & I'll take back what is not needed. Thanx for any info!

 

I took my car ('92 Acura Integra GS 1.8 L. non-VTEC, 142k miles)in to

I worked as a mechanic for about 15 years and ran into the same
situation many times. Your rubber grommet/hose assembly has been
exposed to heat, oil and vapors for over 12 years. Rubber will get
very brittle under these conditions. I doubt ANYONE could have gotten
that thing apart without breaking it up.
I worked on a lot of Toyota 20/22Rs and 2/3t-Cs and my shop always
kept several PCV grommets in stock. I developed a technique which
allowed me to remove many of the valves without breaking the grommet,
but when it is as hard as a rock, there's little anyone can do except
replace it.

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking---it was just old/worn out, but do
you think it is the customer's responsibility to pay for the new part if the
mechanic broke the grommet? I mean, I guess I would think it is, but since
you said you kept the extra PCV grommet hoses on stock, did you charge your
customers for them when the old ones broke? Thanx.

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking---it was just old/worn out, but do

Of course they got charged - for the part only: installation took all
of ten seconds (if you were slow). I also kept all my used parts
until after the customer picked his/her car up. If there was any
questions, I could always show them the old part. Once we showed them
what condition it was in, they were happy to pay for it.

 

10 seconds? Really? I bought the part (4-5" hose & the 2 parts after that
piece, just in case) from dealer, & I took my car back in to Firestone this
morning. I called a few minutes ago & the guy said their mechanic (he called
this guy their "Honda expert) was having trouble getting to the part (pcv
hose/grommet just under valve cover), & would be a few more HOURS. That's
cool, though. We agreed on $50 for the whole labor anyway, & they're not
going to charge me any more labor for it, @ $80/hr. He also said the
"breather box" that the pcv hose goes to may need to be replaced also, so I
called dealer & it's $55, & not in stock. Thanx for the reply.

 

bring it back to firestone and have them repair it and then charge you
for the labor of putting it back in.. remind them that you supplied the
part. and you not gonna pay any extra for the part(like their markup)..
after hitting you with the $50 repair charge then just blow it off to
car troubles....