The steering problem and alignment problems have been alleviated... along with the transmission grind. but NOW I have a new set of problems...

1. The temp. needle almost hit H and stayed high throughout the drive not coming down
2. There is a "humming" sound emitting from the engine bay, which goes away when i turn the steering wheel all the way in one direction.
3. Car died in the middle of the road, but seemed fine once it was started up again.

These are more serious than the ones I went in for... I think I may have a very good case for a new car.

 

Holy sh*t. Sorry, man. I would have lost it, parked it on the side of the road and set it on fire.

 

Ok... all three of these problems have subsided after some driving...

1. The coolant cap was missing... service center apologized and replaced it.

2. Steering pump probably had to "bleed" in... no more humming sound.

3. Car didn't die ever since that one time.

I made sure these problems wouldn't show up by doing some real hard driving on some deserted roads... car is running nicely, doesn't have ANY problems in terms of drivability, and whatever they did to the transmission is making it shift like it was originally intended to... feels like the clutch engages higher up now, i noticed going into 1st gear from a standstill felt a bit different. NOW this car is starting to please me.

 

If I were you I'd get the "service" center to document that they left that coolant cap off. If you have problems with the engine down the road due to overheating you probably want some kind of documentation.

 

Good thing you didn't set it on fire for just the rad cap missing.
Droid....if we set the car on fire for a missing rad cap what do we do for the bad Bose Stereo -- set it on fire and ram it through the dealership showroom window?

Okay end of flame