I have a 2007 Chevy Aveo LS 1.6L 4Cyl with 140,143 miles that won't start after I had the Water pump, gasket and Timing chain replaced and a Cooling System Flush which they recommended. Cost me over $1000 and when I picked it up I noticed a severe lack of acceleration and the coolant was grayish in color. I took it back the next day and told them about the acceleration problem and showed them a coolant sample. They said the poor acceleration was because the computer had to adjust itself to the new timing belt and the coolant was a 50/50 multiple coolant they used saying the acceleration would improve the more I drove it. The next day my wife had trouble starting it. She drove it around the block and it overheated and hasn't run since. It has a new radiator, tune up and a new throttle position sensor so we are wondering if, because of where the water pump is, could they have damaged the head gasket or something else that could be causing the problem? Wish you were still in Houston so I could have had you fix it.
None of what they says makes sense... You are changing a physical mechanical parts with the car off, and your car ain't a 2015+ model so it would have a "sense" of when it was being worked on. It should be as smooth as before the timing replacement, IE, they screw up bad, there are causes where computer has to relearn but it should be subtle, not rough, they probably put the belt off by a couple notches. And then multiple coolant? Like what. No coolant is grey in color. Either they mixed up multiple coolants, which is horrible, or oil has started to mix in, considering that they couldn't even say that they screwed up, you sir are getting scammed.
They probably didn't put the timing belt on correctly and the valve timing is off. Don't let them get away with it.
If they keep passing the buck, have your car fixed correctly by a reputed place in the link below, and send your previous mechanic the bill -
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/mechanics/
