UGH! Auto Repairs

Dads truck had water trickling out from under it, ARGH!

I have had a complete brain fart.

Why in the heck did Ford put the thermostat facing forward instead of up??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Christo_pull_hair.gif

I think I got it fixed, but I'll know more tomorrow.

And I rather hate working on cars and trucks... but am pretty good at it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

I feel for ya man /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

I just called today and made an apointment to take mine in.
I have a rear brake leaking bad, and a rather disturbing clicking comming from the engine.
The brake I could probbly deal with myself, but sense its gonna be in the shop, wth.

Engines are one thing I wont work on, and I cant determine what is wrong by sound, so /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

-John

clicking-probably a lifter or a connecting rod bearing

I remember working on cars about ten years ago, 12 years ago I got a job at a chrysler dealer. We worked on all but chryslers. I was an expert with small engines, so I got to play with them. Did a lot of :go-fir: work and engine tranny swaps. I spent many weekends at the kidney foundation junk yard getting parts dirt cheap. They gave half the stuff too me and allowed me to swap a bad part for a good one. I got a nice 1.7l diesel engine complete for 79 bucks, just had to remove it myself. Included all accessories adn everything "attached" to it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Man I wish I could do that ype of work again.

My car tale of woe this year...sorry can't resist posting!

I know nothing about engine repair so other then changing the oil which I haven't done in 15 years I am at the mercy of the serviceman for whatever my needs.

I had a 1998 Subaru Impreza Outback. This Spring I had the clutch replaced at the dealer for a quoted price of $900. While on the lift, the dealer called and said there were several oil leaks going on including one at the oil pump and part of the exhaust was gone. Also he said while changing the oil pump, you might as well replace a couple of belts as it will be parts cost only. So I okayed everything and my $900 became $1700. Shortly after that, the knock sensor went bad and I had the AC recharged. Tack on another $200. Then in July I had four new tires installed for $340. That was a tough call but I figured I'd spent this much on the car already and I really did want to drive it for a couple more years so now I would no longer have to worry about tires. At the end of the summer I heard that old familiar whine starting in the right rear which I know from experiences twice before, the wheel bearing was on it's way out. But I never got to the point of replacing it. Shortly after that, my timing belt snapped, later determined to be caused by a bad idler pulley that froze. There was all kinds of hairy damage in that area. $700 later, the car was at the point where it could be started again. That's when we found out two cylinders had zero compression. An estimation was given of possibly up to two thousand dollars to have it fixed. This was at a little local garage and while the guy was honest, he definitely had the back yard mechanic mentality as I have been told since that before I put $700 into having the timing belt, pulley area repaired, they could have done a leakage test and found out the cylinders were bad. But I said enough was enough and washed my hands of that car after more then $3k repairs in five months time. I did get $500 when I sold it to salvage. So now I drive a used 2002 Saturn SL1. It's an ok car but the gears whine terribly and there is a constant whine at highway speeds. Regardless I just hope to get three years trouble free service out of it as that is what I took the small loan out for. So in a nutshell sure wish I was good at repairing cars. Or I had enough money so it didn't matter. Oh well...

Wow geepondy after reading that I am glad I spin my own wrench.
I have a friend who would always get robbed-in my opinion-every time he had his car worked on.

your subaru is only 7 years old-how many miles are on it ?

Most people would look at my old 88 grand am and think it is junk.

it has a new motor and transmission and is maintained well.

I have owned it long enough to know for the next 80,000 to 120,000 miles it will be trouble free.

The ac is super cold it will blow you out of the car
and it has nerver been serviced-never needed it.

My mom would never let me touch her 97 van until the warranty expired and she took it to a shop and got a quote for well over 1 grand to replace the water pump.

Before that according to her I did not know how to work on newer cars. She changed her tune when I changed the water pump-timing belt and tensioner-all of the water hoses and the spark plugs and distributor cap and wires rotor etc for under 350.00
I can quit now my mom has never thought of me as a good mechanic-actually I think she gets jealous because she can not repair her own car.

the mitsubishi ohc 3.0 v6 in her 97 car was designed in 1985.

the ho quad four in my 88 car was designed in 1987.
The american designed engine is a lot higher quality
and it is actually kinda fun to work on.

The repair seems to have "took"

Dad is happy.

Yeah, its hard to say if your ripped off or not in some situations. On one hand, once you got the car apart, its cheaper to do stuff while you ar ein there, like engine and trans seals while working on a clutch and replacing the fly wheel and pressure plate, throwout bearing. Then you have cascade failure. You work on something and the AC quits cause the hoses were disturbed while it was in the shop or the old swellen radiator hoses or starter, etc, etc, etc.

On the other hand, you got guys who need to meet quotas in shops and change stuff like shocks and what not rathe ryou need them or not. Of course chaning a shock is way difference than a clutch or pressure plate or throw out bearing.

Its a tough business. I had folks bring in a car from the junk yard and expected a 69 dollar tune up to make it brand new. They expected me to fix other stuff while it was there and afterwards wanted other stuff fixed or adjusted. I just did what the sheet asked for and went to the next job. There is only but so much you can do and now days you do more replacing than fixing. With labor rates, even if you could fix something it would be cheaper to just replace it.

So far I've been able to do all my own work and even buying tools and fixing my mistakes I have still come out way ahead. My 1988 S10 that came from a repo auction in 1990 for $4500 with 70,000 on it I put less than that into it until 2001 with 179k on it when I bought my 2000 s10. Thats counting oil changes, tires, brakes, etc anything that wasn't covered by insurance when it was in two accidents, stolen or shot. Plus doing your own work you get to know your vehicle better, I know what every noise is or means.

Oh yeah, considering the price of labor and cheap aftermarket parts, you can easily buy new tools to work on your car and still come out ahead, not to mention a nice tool collection every time.

geepondy, man that's bad luck.

Just to help 'cheer' you up, I'll tell you about the best used vehicle I've ever had. I bought a 1987 Ford Ranger for $2000.00 when it had 100K miles on it. After fixing the initial problems (U Joints and trottle position sensor) I drove it for seven years with only oil changes, brakes and tires. When the winter salt finally rusted it off the frame it had 270K miles on it.

I got $2500.00 trade in for it when a bought a two year old 1997 Ranger to replace it.

Best vehicle I ever owned hands down. I hope the second Ranger will be as kind; it's only got 70K on it now and doesn't see the yearly miles the old one did. So hopefully it will be around more than 7 years...

Best vehicle we ever had was an '88 F150 with a 6cyl and 5 speed shift yourself trans. Had 225k when we sold it. Recently heard it's STILL going.

Funny about Rangers. The only two I ever drove were an early 80's V6 auto and a late 80's V6 auto. I could NEVER like those trucks!

Another good vehicle was a '78 Datsun truck.

I rather like the simplicity of the non turbo Diesel in the Beast....

The cars that I liked to work on- they quit making about 33 years ago. Yep -good old 1971 and prior Detroit iron-high performance cars!

And when you were finished working on one of them, you had something worth driving.

Of course gas was $.35 a gallon, too!!

Well sure Rodfran.

My '64 Malibu with a 427 was fun until it was taken...

[ QUOTE ]
cobb said:
Oh yeah, considering the price of labor and cheap aftermarket parts, you can easily buy new tools to work on your car and still come out ahead, not to mention a nice tool collection every time.

[/ QUOTE ]
I even buy high end aftermarket parts, Just bought a set of Raybestos super stop heady duty brake pads for the truck so I have a spare in the garage for when the ones on it get worn down.
Its funny to hear people in the office complaining about a $900 timing belt job on their Honda or the guy with the $500 Toyota brakes but I spend less and buy better stuff.

That sucks geepondy! I had looked at buying a subaru but after seeing how odd the engine is I thought otherwise of buying one.

I try todo My own vehical work but not having a garage to work on things makes large jobs nearly imposible. I fix My own stuff to learn how it works and to save money as well, I would rather pay my self the labor rate, I saved about 800 bucks replaceing the exaust manifold on My jeep my self, that took 9 hours as the intake manifold had to be removed as well. My most reliable vehical has been My 1988 S-10, it was given to Me in 1993 and I still have the now rusting hulk. It still runs great with 181k miles with the orginal engine and transmition but since a Deer decided to run in front of it while I was going about 60 mph it's no longer driveable. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif
I also have a 2001 buick regal gs that I just got from My dad and I intend to do what ever repairs that I can on it. A friend of mine says it will not be possible to work on cuse it's a "newer car" well We shall see about that!
I ain't afraide of no buick! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/str.gif
Gave Me a reason to buy a scan tool for the OBD II system and I highly recomend a factory service manual set rather then a after market "chilton's, or other" there is mutch more detal in a factory manual set.

Had a 94 stanza I bought for $900 with 175k on it. Drove it for 4 years, and put another 100k on it. Sold it for $500. It is still going....