Car Maintenance Headaches!

[Knottscott]

This is nothing but a little rant, so if you're not up to it stop here! We've got 6 kids and currently have 4 cars on the road, one actually owned by my oldest son. Today we have 3 of them being serviced, all for minor stuff. We typically do basics like oil changes, starters, brakes, water pumps, alternator, battery changes, etc. ourselves, but when it's 15°F outside, I'm usually opt to pay to have it done.

Here's the skinny on today's saga:

1. Oldest son's car has been having starter troubles, but he seemed to be unmotived to fix it as long as he's been able to bang on the starter with a tire iron and get it started....Saturday night it didn't start so we had to get him and have to towed to a place to put a new starter in it (AAA to the rescue!). It'll likely run ~ $200 (out of his pocket) but he still needs transportation help and it's 25 miles from home. No big deal really...

2. My wife's car needs new tires. I do a little research, makes some calls, find a fair deal and take it to have two new front tires put on....I contemplated getting all 4 but decided to hold off until spring for the rears. It comes time to pay and the total is twice what I had thought....you guessed it, they put 4 on by mistake. I get the feeling it was an honest mistake, he offers to take them off, but ultimately it was inevitable and it's safer to have all 4 now, so we strike a better deal on all 4 and go with it. No big deal here either...just a $350 expense before Christmas, but everyone's safer for it!

3. I arranged to have new brake pads put on a '98 Civic (3rd string car), and initially sent number 2 son to drop it off and wait with it. The tires were done on my wife's car sooner than I had planned, so I relieved #2 son of his duties of waiting for the brakes, which was suppose to take 30 minutes or so....it turned out to be a good thing, because naturally they found all kinds of horrible things wrong and want $1000 to fix them all....here we go.... . They show me all the horrible things and I start negotiating about what has to be done vs what they're suggesting, and I ask for price explanations along the way.... . Twice I told him to just take it off the lift.....he ended up going from $1000, to $500 something, to $300 something, to $150 something, and finally to $100 for agreed upon pads plus another $25 for "caliper service", but they didn't even have those pads available for the deal we had originally made prior to dropping off the car! They don't usually stock those because they're not recommended, and they have to get them from the warehouse! What crock! They were certainly recommended to get you into the store! Fortunately while the manager fielded a phone call, I asked the mechanic to treat it like he would his daughter's car if the money was coming out of his pocket. I called #2 son to come back and get me. We went back later and picked up the car, and darned if those cheap pads and that caliper service doesn't work just fine. No doubt we'll be replacing several brake components eventually...prolly next summer, but the car is safe for winter.

I hate that game....it's alot like buying a car. They're betting heavily that most people will agree with their recommendations with little hesitation. Even though we ended up getting a reasonable deal, there are enough other places that can do brakes that I'll won't be going back anytime soon unless I have no other choice....stupit bastages sure know how to ruin a Monday morning!

Rant off!

[crokett]

You have to keep them honest. I am lucky enough to have an honest mechanic within walking distance of my parents'. On the old van (in October when we thought we'd have it another 6 months) it needed brakes and rotors. He also said the fluid should be changed - another hundred bucks but then said if I was getting rid of it in 6months, don't bother since it will work just fine. When we were getting misfires on the van this past summer (no engine code to read) he turned down the diagnostic work and said my money was better spent at the dealer who could diagnose which cylinder it was much faster than he could guess.

I wouldn't call a water pump basic though. Oil changes is about as far as I go.

[Ed62]

And I thought all the auto repair businesses in NY held their heads high, and did only what the customer wanted or actually needed.

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

I tell them all that I have two mechanics... And that anything "extra" that one of them finds, I'll have fixed by the other, and anything the other finds, I'll have fixed by the first. Seems to keep them in line...

[Alex Franke]

That's a lot of cars!

Check out tirerack.com for tires -- I've used them for years. Great prices, plus they ship the tires to a local installer for you.

I took the car in for hesitation. The dealer didn't realize that the repair was covered under a special warranty extension for that very issue. (Isn't the deal supposed to know this stuff?)

While there, they rattled off hundreds of dollars of additional repairs because I was starting to get some power steering squeal. A few days later the squeal was getting worse in the cold, so I opened the hood to have a look. First thing I noticed was low power steering fluid, so I filled it up for about $2 and guess what? No more squeal.

I tell them all that I have two mechanics... And that anything "extra" that one of them finds, I'll have fixed by the other, and anything the other finds, I'll have fixed by the first. Seems to keep them in line...

That's pretty clever.

[tribalwind]

i just did my rear brakes a few days ago too...

for whatever reason the brake dummy light didnt go on.maybe its just on front brakes or rear sensors busted,but i had to drive back from NYC and it was down to metal pad onto rotors ,crunching badly .so i got new pads and rotors.. the driver-side tire went fairly easy(though i REALLY need to get myself a caliper-piston tool/wrench...the vice-grip/C-clamp method sucks!)
then i get to the right-side.UGH. one of the caliper pins was rusted/seized into the bracket around the rotor...and Both the bolts holding the bracket on were rusted tightly in place..took a whole day + with propane torch/wd-40/hammer/wrench etc to get those loose,then same application to get that dammned pin out of the bracket ,insane! if i could i woulda just got another bracket but i wouldve needed to buy the whole caliper set LOL,least that was story at auto-zone,theyre usually good to me at the store by me.some helpful staffers go outta their way(i tip em when that happens)
well i finally got it done, i'm sure it woulda cost a heck of a lot more at a shop considering the pin and rotors etc, they woulda just made me buy new parts i think than trying too hard to get the pin freed. a real PITA but glad i was able to do it and save that $ for something else~

[jking]

The search for an honest auto mechanic continues...

Seriously, when you find one you can trust, I think you still want to take everything they say with a grain of salt. Like everything else, there are good & bad. We all just seem to hear about the bad ones.

I had a shop I thought I could trust, but, when the mechanic started telling me things I knew to be false, I learned quickly otherwise. They ended up losing their service manager & after that the place just wasn't the same.

I guess I'm saying "I hear ya".

[BerniePA]

That's why I use my cousin -- a state certified inspection mechanic. We grew up like brothers and I KNOW he won't do a job on me. He has three rates -- general public, friends, and family. When you can get an entire exhaust system and front brakes replaced for $20 over HIS cost of parts, you're doin' OK.

[tribalwind]

wonder how well this'd work on a sable wagon piston hm
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95713

[drillman88]

This is one of those things I do because I dont trust mechanics.I really dislike working on newer vehicles.Car manufacturers seem to go out off there way to complicate and cram things in to make it difficult for the do it yourself people.I recently had to replace timing tensioners on my explorer I did it for $60 dealer wanted $600.That was best case.It took me about 5 hours to do it so I figure it might take someone familiar about half as long.
I had a mechanic try to get me on a part about a year ago he said I needed a new part for $250 I took it to work fixed it and brought it back.Its still in and works fine.He acted like I was an idiot until I brought it back and he saw the repair.I guess they aren't used to dealing with capable people.That is the last time I used a mechanic.
I figured I could get over my dislike of newer cars easier than I could get over my dislike of mechanics.

[Thalermade]

I know what you guys mean. For awhile I used to let the dealer or a independent shop fix most things. The independent guy did a good job of diagnosing and repairing a broken motor mount on our car. Though he didn't cut me a break when I had to make a special trip to get him the second set of keys (because we didn't "leave the first set"). The first set was hanging right on his key board when I dropped off the second.
When my gas gauge quit working, he quoted me $600 plus dollars to replace the fuel pump and sending unit - I was a bit skeptical. Gotta do the whole unit -separate parts aren't available. The dealer was about 15% higher. According to both the gas tank had to be dropped to do the repair.
I did someresearch on line and I found the parts (fuel pump and sending unit) for about $200. Then I found out that I needed to check under the carpet in my trunk for an access hatch. Seems only the first year or two of my car model needed the gas tank dropped, then GM wised up and put in the access hatch. I also found out that all I needed was a $29.95 part - not available from the parts store- but readily available from an eBay store (the online article had a link). 3 days for the part to arrive and it took me less than hour to do the repair.

I was ready to install an exhaust system on my Jeep Wrangler a couple weeks ago, when I stumbled upon a local place that did it for $30 more than I would have paid for parts. I felt that was a fair deal, didn't really relish the idea of crawling around on the cold garage concrete floor.

Russ

[JimD]

I don't do big stuff anymore either. We had my wifes clutch replaced over a year ago now and she insisted on picking it up the day they promised it. I told her they had quoted too short a time but she did it anyway. My son had to fasten one of the motor mounts down when she got there. They forgot to tighten the bolt. Fortunately God protected her and she made it to somewhere where it got fixed. They gave us a $50 off coupon when she went in and complained which caused her to go back when her car started throwing a code that could be either the rear oxygen sensor or the catalytic. The rear sensor is a pain on her car but I could do it but was reluctant to just buy the parts and try. Catalytic was too expensive for a bolt on so I was willing to pay for that. I told her to ask if they could figure out which it was. They said they could so we gave it to them. They replaced both, of course. Won't see us again.

I'm sure they have their stories about customers too. Fortunately our 3 plus my sons 2 plus my daughter's 1 (newest) are all functioning OK at the moment. Our third likes to stall out but I'm the only one driving it at the moment and my son did the last attempt at repair so we can afford to mess around a little with it as long as everything else is running.

Jim

[docrowan]

It took me two years after we moved to North Mississippi, but I found two honest repair shops, one near my home and one near my work. The one near my home gets all my tires, oil changes, and minor work. The one near my work gets everything else.

I'm mechanically inclined, but I'm too slow to fix anything in a reasonable amount of time and we don't really have enough room or budget for a spare car. I handle all the discussions regarding repairs, my wife is smart but she's not mechanically inclined. They won't jerk her around, but she won't be able to give them specific enough information to help them troubleshoot.

I just dropped the wife's car off for a heater not blowing hot air at the shop near my work. They are not the cheapest place, but I've never had a rework, they always have time to look at it, when they quote me a price it is to the penny, and I've never had to pay a penny more (or less) than what they quote. I look at my cars as a business expense and businesses like certainty.

[Alex Franke]

I had a mechanic try to get me on a part about a year ago he said I needed a new part for $250 I took it to work fixed it and brought it back.Its still in and works fine.He acted like I was an idiot until I brought it back and he saw the repair.I guess they aren't used to dealing with capable people.

This is probably my biggest gripe... they go through their troubleshooting list and just start replacing stuff until the symptom is gone. They don't need to be used to dealing with capable people, but they sure as heck need to be capable people themselves! Shortly after I got my (now old) RX-7, they actually replaced the whole engine (on the company's dime fortunately) to fix an excessive oil use problem that turned out to be a tiny $5 metal tube that was crimped.

Later the clock on the idiot light panel was blinking on an off intermittently -- just as you would expect it to do if there was a loose wire. They told me (I think) $600 to repair. I went home, took it out (the hardest part), and immediately noticed a bad solder point. About 2 minutes later it worked like new.

The whole "throw it away and get a new one" mentality really bugs me -- the mechanics are like robots. They seem to be trained to follow only a checklist and not to think for themselves. I would gladly pay top dollar for a mechanic who could actually figure out stuff like this because in the end it would probably save me a lot of cash. The they're SO HARD to find!

And the latest one: When I took my Lincoln in for hesitation, the charged me nearly $100 to diagnose it, when all they did was plug in the OBD reader and look up the codes. Does the $100 apply to repairs? Of course not! Grrr...

[docrowan]

There is a great website - troubleshooters.com - that gives some great troubleshooting steps and advice. Works on computers, copiers, cars, industrial machinery, anything mechanical or electrical that can have a fault. I wish every technician in the world would read and apply the advice the author gives.