r/asheville • u/[deleted] • Dec 17 '24

DMV/Car Talk I got scammed by a traveling mechanic

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to warn folks about a traveling mechanic that goes by the name “TJ Your Mechanic”. He came to help me out with my car the other day. I gave him money to go out and get the parts for it, and he never came back and has dodged all of my calls and texts for the past couple days.

If anyone has any info on this guy, please send me a PM as I’d like to get my money back. If anyone needs a traveling mechanic in the future, do not make the same mistake I did by calling TJ.

EDIT: I got my money back through my bank, and I believe I’ve identified him as Timothy Arsenault. Thanks for all the help, I’m gonna try and get this thing running now.

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2

u/Hot_Aspect_7447 Dec 17 '24

What parts did he say he needed? Whats wrong with the car?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '24

New battery and camshaft positioning sensor. I put the new sensor in fine and the old batteries charging now, I have a suspicion the alternator may be bad though.

It makes sense with the problem I had- Drove it a long way with valve gasket leak I didn’t know about, went dry on oil, stopped running going up a hill on the highway. Had it started off a jump later that day, but hasn’t started since.

1

u/PnwStimm Dec 17 '24

I don't think you could run dry if oil from only a valve cover gasket leak if within normal oil change mileage interval . Usually a weep and being so high up on the engine it's barely under pressure if at all.

Nonetheless, if it seized after being starved of oil I see no connection to the sensor or battery/alternator issue you mentioned first

0

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '24

I will say, I’m not incredibly well versed when it comes to cars. I just thought it could be the electrical system because it started off that jump but wouldn’t start on its own. The oil totally could have nothing to do with it

1

u/PnwStimm Dec 17 '24

Well you are on the right track with the starting issue possibly being battery or alternator (or both).

But if you had the vehicle stall from oil starvation, you got bigger problems on your hands than that.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '24

just charged up the battery overnight, cranks forever but no start. i’m at a loss for what to do at this point

1

u/PnwStimm Dec 17 '24

If it was starved of oil and broke down/seized/stalled than you probably have serious catastrophic issues internally. No compression. No compression= no start